The Broken Kingdom (53 page)

That afternoon Riley headed over to visit
Aerlid for another of their chats.

‘How are the students coming along?’ Riley
asked.

He looked up, his eyes narrowed. ‘They’re
fine.’

‘I have a question.’

‘I figured as much. What is it?’

‘Can the valkar make something that they
can’t undo?’

Aerlid frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Is there any way a valkar could make like…
a shield, that no other valkar would ever be able to undo?’

‘Well… the city is a bit like that… but that
wasn’t made by just one person, the entire population took part in
that. No one valkar could undo it, though if we all tried together
I think we could.’

‘Is it possible to make something you
couldn’t all undo?’

‘Well… maybe. That would be… difficult. Why,
isn’t resisting the attempts of a small group of valkar
enough?’

‘Maybe…’ she trailed off for a moment.
‘Well, is there anything else I should know?’

‘Maybe. Ellis’s been coming to see me. What
are you planning?’

‘Why?’ Riley asked in surprise, ignoring his
other question.

‘He wanted to know why you were keeping a
valkar prisoner. I think he expected… disloyalty from me.’

‘I see.’

‘He also asked how long I thought it would
take to teach the Mixed to build a castle.’

‘A castle? What… ’ Riley fell silent, a
pained and thoughtful look on her face. ‘Tell me what you think.’
she finally said. That seed of doubt was starting to sprout, and it
hurt
.

‘I think a man who comes half way around the
world to take over an empire doesn’t give up that easily. I think…
I can’t be sure, but he knows he’s going to outlive you and Vann.
Judging from the rumours he’s spreading, well I can’t
confirm
he started them-’

‘What rumours?’

‘That he’s a better match for you than
Vann.’

‘What?’ Riley spluttered, outraged. ‘How did
you even hear that when I haven’t?’

‘I have students.’ Aerlid shrugged. ‘Karesh
comes to visit me sometimes. Do you want to hear my theory or
not?’

‘Go ahead.’

‘I think he’s going to out wait you both and
make a power play after you’re gone. He’s popular, he’s made
friends with you. He’s going to position himself as the most likely
candidate.’ Aerlid paused. ‘But the man may be too impatient for
that. And he has poor judgement, and he’s got a very high, and
unfounded, opinion of himself. How could he think he could come
here and defeat the person who killed Andalla?’

‘Aerlid, Ellis has suggested Vann go out
hunting. I want you to go with him.’ Riley felt ill. This man was
supposed to be her friend.

‘A hunting accident is rather…
unimaginative. Very well.’

‘You can’t send Aerlid, Riley, that’s too
obvious he’s there to baby me.’

‘Vann, I’m not letting anything happen to
you.’ Riley replied in a tone that brooked no argument.

‘I know,’ he said more softly and rubbed her
arm. He could see the pain in her eyes. He didn’t bother asking
what she thought he needed protection from. ‘But maybe not
Aerlid.’

‘I’ll say he needs to get some exercise,
something. I can’t send Karesh, he… he may not be able to protect
you. I could go myself, but that’s even more obvious. And I can’t
heal you if something happens. Vann, you can take Aerlid or you’re
not going at all.’

Vann thought that over for a moment. And
then he kissed her. ‘Alright, Riley, I’ll take Aerlid with me.’

The hunting trip went off without a hitch.
And so did all the ones after that. Not that Vann was ever allowed
to go hunting without Aerlid.

By all reports, Ellis was very nice to Vann
while hunting, and had even given him tips. Though considering the
rumours going around, maybe that wasn’t a good thing.

The doubt did not grow, but it did not get
smaller either.

Maybe her fears had not been realized, but
she wasn’t going to put her hopes before Vann’s safety.

Chapter 65

R
iley did not seek Ellis
out for some time, and avoided him when he came looking. But
eventually, he found her.

‘Hey,’ a voice whispered near her elbow.

In her annoyance, Riley said nothing. She’d
felt him creeping up on her, but she’d been busy stalking some
dinner, which was now bounding away through the trees.

‘Thanks.’ Riley replied sarcastically.

‘Sorry. I need to talk to you.’

Riley stood up and stretched. She didn’t
feel like hiding in the bushes with him. ‘I’m afraid we can’t.’

‘What?’ he looked confused. Then he closed
his eyes and sighed. ‘You’ve been avoiding me.’

‘I have.’

‘Can I ask why?’

‘Have you heard some rumours going
around?’

He flushed red. ‘I hoped you wouldn’t
notice! Listen, I tell everyone its stupid, please, just ignore
it.’

Riley regarded him coolly. ‘I can’t. How I
am perceived, how Vann is perceived is very important. I can’t have
people thinking you would make a good replacement. You
wouldn’t
, by the way.’

Ellis was silent for a moment. ‘Why
not?’

Riley glared at him and crossed her arms
over her chest.

‘We’d be perfect for each other,’ he
suddenly said very seriously, his gaze boring into her. ‘I’m like
you. I’m like you in ways he can never be, I can understand you in
a way he never can. And honestly, he’s human. How can you even bear
to look at him? They’re so… so lifeless.’

‘It’s not my problem if you don’t
understand.’ She snapped, surprised and offended. ‘But lifeless?
You pale in comparison to him. And even if you didn’t, even if he
was the ugliest man on earth, I would still love him. You can stay
with the tribe. But you and I can no longer be friends.’ with that
she turned and stalked off towards the camp.

‘Wait-wait!’ Ellis was crashing after her.
‘I’m sorry! I had to say it, if you choose him over me, fine, but
that doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends-’

‘You don’t listen very well!’ she retorted
and kept walking.

Ellis didn’t stop though. Riley ignored him,
but he kept pace with her. And then they emerged from the forest
together near the camp. Riley suddenly felt a lot of eyes on her.
Swearing under her breath, Riley cursed herself for not thinking of
this. It seemed the tribe was going to interpret this in entirely
the wrong way.

Well, fine! They could believe it if they
wanted! As long as they saw Vann’s position didn’t change, they
could believe what they wanted about their relationship.

It didn’t stop her from wanting to hit
someone- Ellis, mostly. She stormed off to go look for Vann.

As she strode past Aerlid’s tent she saw him
and an unfamiliar valkar arranging a very large sheet on the
ground. Momentarily surprised out of her anger, she considered
asking what was going on. But she wasn’t in the mood and so she
continued on without pausing. It didn’t take her long to find
Vann.

He was in the middle of talking with some of
the Mixed on the council, but he immediately stopped and came to
meet her.

As soon as he touched her Riley calmed
down.

‘What’s up?’ he asked, an arm around
her.

‘It’s not important.’ Riley sighed. It no
longer seemed to matter, now that he was near.

Riley stood by the edge of the camp, waiting
for Vann to return. It had only been a few days since she had come
storming out of these bushes with Ellis.

She smiled as soon as she saw Vann emerge
from the bushes and return her grin.

He called out goodbye to the other hunters,
who were laden down with various animals, as he walked over to her.
Hunting wasn’t the only way they got their food of course, warriors
also went out foraging for various edible plants and roots.

‘Hey.’ he greeted her, putting an arm around
her waist.

‘You’re smelly.’ Riley noted.

‘I never complain about your smell.’

‘I don’t smell!’

Vann laughed. ‘You do now!’

They fell into a comfortable silence.

‘I have news.’ he said.

‘Hmm?’

‘I met someone out in the forest.’

‘Who?’

He smiled. ‘Lillia!’

‘Lillia!’ Riley exclaimed. ‘How can she be
here?’

‘I saw her out hunting. She was hiding in a
bush and called me over. She’s with others, soldiers. They wanted
me to escape with them. I think they must have been hiding out
around here for a few days at least. But they’re going to come
here, they’re going to come and talk.’

Riley frowned, not happy that the humans had
escaped notice. ‘How did they get here?’

‘Lillia wouldn’t tell me, she’s claiming
they walked. I think they must have flown though, and been dropped
off out of sight of our camp.’

‘And they found the camp.’ Riley said
grimly.