The Broken Kingdom (5 page)

She’d heard the sounds of the Predators
after. They hadn’t started firing until it was all over…
rationally, she knew, the Predators couldn’t have helped the people
of Garrondin. Gemengs would have been hurt with the ehlkrid. The
pilots were just as helpless as her, still, she hated them.

Her hands clenched as she saw another
shadow, the shadow of a creature far stronger than her, a creature
that had killed gemengs far stronger than her… even if she could
get past the shield, she couldn’t leave…not with the ehlkrid out
there.

No, she couldn’t leave. Not even after the
people of Astar (
and me too)
had abandoned the people of
Garrondin. Not even though she knew when the ehlkrid came, none of
her friends and family would be allowed into the shelters. They
would have to fight
(an impossible fight)
and die. Not even
when nearly every night now, for months, groups of human soldiers
had come here to the dormitories asking questions.

The soldiers had begun watching the
dormitories when Astar discovered Riley had faked her death, and
united the gemengs of the Plains. Jillia knew Riley’s other
friends, human ones, were being questioned too, but that didn’t
help. Was it as often as her and her family? Did they come by on a
weekly basis, not really asking much, just watching? Were Riley’s
human friends in the military scrutinized whenever they were handed
a weapon?

They think we’ll betray them, do
something, fight or leave. And I would have. If she’d asked.
But Riley hadn’t asked her to come with her, to leave Astar, never
even hinted. Never sent a message back, never gave her the
option.

We weren’t that close.
Jillia told
herself. The other gemengs were uncomfortable around Riley, and
Jillia had never put much effort into maintaining the friendship.
She was weird. And she didn’t even seem to realise it.
But…
but…
she knew. I’m sure she knew I would have…
For a while,
after hearing what Riley had done, after the enormity of what she’d
done had finally sunk in – how powerful her strange, dark haired
friend had been, Jillia had felt burning, expectant hope. She’d
waited, somehow every day thinking something would happen, and her
friend would come back for her and things would be…
different
.

And then… Jillia’s world hadn’t really
changed, yet somehow, after hearing that Astar had defeated her, it
had grown that much more unbearable. Her hope had been ripped away.
She’d been angry, at Riley for not living up to her new found
expectations of her, for not coming back for her, for daring to
leave and
do
something, and make her hope… pointlessly.

Pointlessly.

Another shadow darted across the sky, so
obvious against the glimmer of the shield. Jillia frowned,
wondering if there were more ehlkrid tonight than usual.

The Astarians didn’t trust them anymore, her
even less. Her family were afraid, they’d sensed something in her.
They
were not going to leave Astar. They’d beg and plead to
stay inside the shield, no matter what happened.

And I would too.
A tiny, traitorous
voice said.
I can’t leave.
With the ehlkrid out there, and
nowhere now to go to, she wouldn’t leave. She couldn’t leave.

Chapter 6

T
he first night they
spent on the other side of the mountains. Karesh could think of
nowhere else to go. The Plains were not an option, the forest was
better, but he wasn’t familiar with forests.

On the other side of the mountains was a
desert. There were deep cracks in the earth where the slopes of the
mountain levelled out and met the desert. Within these cracks the
air was cooler and greenery grew. There was a small stream that
bubbled up from deep within the earth. And there were supplies,
hidden here some time ago as a precaution when they moved into the
caves.

The night spent in the deep, narrow valley
was tense and fraught. They had been awake all day, and they stayed
awake all night. Ehlkrid slithered down the valley walls, came
close. The gemengs formed a circle, back to back. Aerlid, still
unresponsive was in the centre.

In the dark night Aerlid gleamed softly. His
whispered words, ‘seta… seta…’ sounded loud.

The ehlkrid came close. Terrifyingly close.
They sniffed, even bumped them. But they did not attack. And
eventually, they slithered away.

When morning came they still could not rest.
Karesh did not want to stay here another night. From the looks on
the other gemeng’s faces, neither did they.

There was another cave, more secure. It was
a tough day’s walk into the desert, but it was certainly possible
to reach it before nightfall.

And so they scaled the cliff walls, and
ventured out into the desert. The ground was baked hard by the
blazing sun. It felt like a different sun was shining down on them
than the sun that lived over the mountains. Harsher, hotter,
closer.

But they had water and food from the valley.
And the thought of spending another night out in the open spurred
them on.

They walked southeast, more south than
east.

As the afternoon passed the smell of salt
overlaid itself on top of the harsh, dusty smell of the desert.
Later, waves could be heard.

And then they came to the edge of a cliff.
Below, the sea raged. They walked along the edge of the cliff,
further and further from the mountains. Nearly all of them knew
this place, Riley had set up these locations in case of an
emergency.

Late afternoon, they arrived at their
destination. Ahead of them the cliff gave way to a short stretch of
beach before rising to become a cliff again. Karesh backtracked,
looked. Then he found it, a small hole in the ground, mostly hidden
by rock. He peered through. They could go through here, or go down
to the beach and climb along the cliff face til they reached the
cave. Or they could try and climb down from the top of the cliff,
though the cave could not be seen when standing on top of the
cliff.

Karesh looked over at the gemengs standing
behind him. He could squeeze through this hole, if he held his
wings in tight, but the others couldn’t.

He stood and led them down to the beach. The
sea was rough. The cliff face was slick and slimy with algae, and
sharp with barnacles.

‘We climb along here, the cave isn’t far.’
he said to the others.

They nodded, said little.

‘Aerlid, can you do it?’

He barely responded.

Karesh looked back to the cliff. He’d go
first, then when the rest of the gemengs were in the cave he’d come
back and try and bring Aerlid across.

And so he began climbing. He climbed above
where the algae and barnacles grew. Sea spray wet his legs and
back.

About four or five meters later, he came to
the cave. He jumped in. ‘Alright!’ he called. ‘Come on!’

He got out of the way. While he was waiting
he had a look inside.

It wasn’t very large. It would be cramped
with eleven people in there. The front of the cave was damp at the
moment, but even at high tide water would not come inside, though
if there was a storm that would be a different matter. It was dry
at the back of the cave. Coming out of the wall was a small trickle
of water which fed a precious pool of fresh water. Further back was
a glimmer of light, some dirt and rocks. That was where the hole
opened out to the surface.

The other gemengs were inside now. They
looked around and spread out.

Karesh made his way back to the beach.
‘Aerlid.’ he said and shook his arm. ‘Aerlid, you must come.’

Aerlid looked up at him, his dark, moonlit
eyes vague.

Karesh pointed. ‘Aerlid, do you know this
cave? You have to climb along the cliff. It’s not hard.’ Karesh
gave him a little push.

Finally, Aerlid started walking.

Karesh followed behind closely as he began
climbing along the cliff.

Soon they were all in the cave.

Karesh looked at the grimy faces around him;
Bulag, Shiressa, Telag, Gurak, Muress, Fenguk, Lakenda, Janisk and
Kalgen. Only nine gemengs, nine gemengs he knew well. He knew their
friends, their families that were gone, dead beneath the mountain.
He tried not to think of that. He needed to focus on keeping
everyone alive.

‘During the day we will rest. We’ll have to
drink that water carefully, it refills slowly. We can fish from the
beach, we’ll ration the supplies. During the night we must set a
watch and be wary. The ehlkrid can still attack us here.’

But they didn’t, not really. Whether it was
the location, the smell of sea water that hid their scent, their
low number, or the presence of Aerlid, the ehlkrid did not bother
them.

Aerlid snapped out of his daze enough to
focus on healing Karesh’s wings. He focused solely on that and
within a week Karesh was given permission to test out his
wings.

They ate fish mostly. Sea water encrusted
their clothes and most of the time they were damp and sticky. They
drank water sparingly. And they survived. There was nothing else
they could do.

Chapter 7

T
he desert was not so bad
when seen from above, Karesh found. Or perhaps he just enjoyed
flying.

The air was hot, even up here, though the
movement of the air helped to keep him cool.

The hard pan of the desert spread out below
him. He could see the ocean, the mountains, with a new profile that
he resolutely blocked from his mind. One peak of the mountains was
gone, collapsed into the caves below. Beyond the mountains,
nothing. He was not that high.

He was not the only one up here. Birds of
prey hunted in the skies. He watched and tried to copy. When he
couldn’t, he just admired. They flew higher and faster and with
more grace than he did. But he was learning, and he was stronger
than he’d ever been.

Movement down below caught his eye. He had
seen how the birds responded to this. He didn’t really intend to
catch whatever it was, just enjoy himself.

He dove, the air whistled past. The ground
hurtled closer. His heart soared.

The black shape got larger.
Very
large. Not mouse or snake shaped. Not at all.

Startled, he suddenly pulled up. He flew
down slower, more carefully.

Was he right?

But it had been so long, how could he be
right?

‘Master!’ he cried.

The person below looked up, startled.

Karesh landed before her.

Her eyes followed him, her brows drawn down
darkly. She was very dirty, a mess. Her clothes were nothing more
than rags, but she looked unharmed.

‘Master! You’re alive!’

‘Yes. It appears I am.’ She tilted her head,
a frown still curving her lips. ‘I see you are as well.’