The Broken Kingdom (58 page)

The warriors appropriately examined, Riley
headed off to the human tents to find Vann. He wasn’t there, so she
headed to their tent. When she didn’t find him she asked
Karesh.

‘I haven’t seen him.’ Karesh said. ‘I’ll
ask.’

Riley frowned, fiddling with her necklace.
‘He’s not usually difficult to find.’

Karesh headed off to ask around for Vann.
Riley did the same.

Less than an hour after finishing up with
the warriors, it was blatantly apparent Vann was nowhere in the
camp.

‘Where is he?’ she demanded, fear and anger
making her voice harsh and her eyes blaze.

‘No one has seen him, Master. I don’t
understand. He wouldn’t have just wandered off.’

‘No, he wouldn’t have.’ Riley looked out
into the forest. ‘But how could they have taken him?’ she asked,
more to herself.

Without another word she ran off to Aerlid’s
tent. Before Aerlid could say anything Riley ordered, ‘if you see
any planes, stop them! Vann may be on one of them!’ and without any
more explanation she ran off in the direction of the planes.

She had not gotten far when she heard Ellis
calling her.

She didn’t stop. ‘Stay in the camp!’ she
ordered.

‘Master! We will send out patrols!’ Karesh
was calling.

Angry, Riley turned around and glared at the
two men. ‘Fine, Karesh, send out patrols in case I’m wrong. I’m
heading towards the planes!’

‘You know where they are?’ Ellis asked,
surprised. Karesh had already left, not needing any more
instruction.

‘Yes, you stay in the camp. I don’t have
time for you.’ She turned, her eyes on the forest. She wasn’t going
to bother trying to track the humans. There was only one place they
could have gone. There was only one place
Vann
could have
gone.

‘Let me help you!’

‘Stay in the camp!’ and she paid no more
attention to him. If he called after her or followed, she didn’t
notice.

Riley ran. She moved through the forest with
an ease only seen in animals. And she caught the humans before they
reached their planes.

And when she saw Vann tied up, slung over
someone’s shoulder, rage scoured any thoughts from her head.

‘We’re almost there.’ the Astarian girl
said. ‘We’re almost there.’

‘Be quiet.’ Azra snapped.

Her team obeyed.

And then a startled cry broke the silence.
They stopped, turned, and raised their weapons.

One of the Astarian men was on the ground.
But they didn’t have time to process that. Lillia caught a glimpse
of dark hair. And then she saw another of the team fall in startled
pain.

She raised her SIGPEW, not knowing where to
aim. It was all so fast.

Bright light lit the forest twilight. Azra
had fired.

And finally Lillia recognized the source of
the attack.

The light hit Riley in the side. But the
third Astarian was falling now, clubbed on the head with his own
SIGPEW.

Riley turned. Rage burned in her eyes.

Lillia instinctively dropped her SIGPEW and
raised her hands. The heavy weapon bumped into her hip, the strap
pulling at her neck.

Azra fired again. Riley dodged, somehow. And
she moved so fast Azra couldn’t fire again. And with a stolen
SIGPEW, Riley whacked her over the head. She crumpled.

Riley turned her furious gaze to Lillia.
When she saw Lillia was staying still and was unarmed, she turned.
She quickly knelt by a struggling Vann and untied him.

‘Ah!’ Vann gasped. ‘What in blazes, Lillia?!
Why did you do this to me?’

‘Are you alright?’ Riley asked gently. There
was some blood in his hair, a little on his forehead. Riley
tenderly touched his cheek.

There was no response from Lillia.

In the silence they both turned to look.
Lillia was on the ground. Ellis was there.

Riley stared at him.

‘I came to help.’ he panted.

‘Lillia!’ Vann called. He struggled to his
feet. Riley stood up too.

‘What did you do to her?!’ Vann
demanded.

‘Huh? She had a weapon.’ Ellis replied.

Vann knelt by Lillia, ‘Lillia!’

Fright flashed across his face for a moment,
but it was quickly controlled. He knelt back and looked at Riley.
‘We need to get her to Aerlid.’ he said firmly.

Anger was still surging through her. But
Vann was here. He was alive. She didn’t care about anything else.
‘Yes, ok.’ she replied. She turned to Ellis. ‘Go get Aerlid!’

‘No.’ Vann interjected, his voice cold and
controlled. ‘He did this to her.’

‘Then I’ll carry her.’

‘We can’t leave the others here- you
didn’t-’

‘They’re alive.’ Riley stated. ‘I think. I
will not leave you alone, Vann. Can Ellis watch them, while you and
I take her to Aerlid?’

‘I don’t trust him. You should go. Take
Ellis with you.’ he replied. ‘I have a SIGPEW. I’ll contact the
soldiers, they’re not far.’

‘I won’t. I’m not leaving you alone here.
Vann, let me make a decision.’

‘I trust you.’

Riley turned to Ellis. ‘You go get Aerlid.
Hurry.’ She glanced at Vann. He kept his mouth shut.

‘Go!’ she yelled at Ellis. He bolted.

Riley stalked over to one of the soldiers
and pulled a radio from him.

Vann heard her snappily tell the voice on
the other end of the line to come and rescue their fellows. The
radio was returned. Then she suddenly drew her sword and plunged it
into the earth near the soldiers.

‘We leave them here and go together. This
will have to be enough to keep the ehlkrid away. Let’s go.’

Despite everything, Vann looked relieved.
Riley carefully picked Lillia up. And then she set off towards the
camp at a punishing pace. She could go faster, but she would not
leave Vann behind.

As soon as they arrived at the campsite
Riley suddenly moved faster, leaving Vann behind.

‘Aerlid!’ she called when his tent was in
sight. He looked up, spotted Lillia in her arms.

Riley didn’t say anything else- she didn’t
have to. She carefully laid her down before him.

Aerlid did not wait a moment longer and
placed his hands on Lillia’s head.

Riley watched a moment and stood. She
spotted Vann approaching.

‘Stay here.’ she ordered. ‘I’ll go check on
the others.’

Vann nodded distractedly, his eyes were on
Lillia.

When Riley returned to the campsite it
seemed like a long time later. Her sword- which she had retrieved-
kept the soldiers safe. When the rest of Astarian team arrived she
escorted them and their injured fellows back to their planes. But
they weren’t leaving just yet- they intended to wait for
Lillia.

The soldiers had started to groggily awake
by the time they reached the planes. Riley had not asked them how
they’d managed to kidnap Vann. Seeing them had brought her anger
raging back, and she didn’t think she was capable of anything other
than screaming at them.

As soon as they arrived at the planes, Riley
left. When she arrived back at the campsite she spotted Ellis
approaching her. She ignored him.

It did not take her long to reach Aerlid’s
tent. Lillia was still there, as was Vann. Seeing Lillia’s prone
form, Riley feared the worst.

Aerlid looked up. He looked terrible.
‘She’ll live.’ he whispered quietly.

Vann looked up at her too and smiled.

Riley did not feel she could say anything
that would not upset Vann. She rested her hand on his shoulder and
stayed near him.

Vann stood up though and gave her a hug.
‘Thank you.’

‘Mm…’

‘How are the others?’

‘Alive, they’re with the planes now.’

‘Do they know what happened?’ he asked, not
letting go of her.

‘I didn’t ask. Do you?’

Vann shook his head. ‘I thought she
was-’

‘It’s alright. She’ll be ok.’

Vann nodded into her shoulder.

‘Are you hurt?’ he asked and for a moment
moved back a little.

Riley shook her head, ‘it’s not
important.’

‘
Riley.’

She hesitated and lifted the hem of her
shirt, showing a small burn near her hip. ‘It hurts a bit, but it’s
not serious.’

‘It hurts more than that, I’ll go find one
of the trainees. Maybe they can take the pain away.’

‘No, it’s ok. I’ll go.’

Vann frowned. Instead of agreeing he ordered
the nearest gemeng to drop what they were doing and go find
someone.

Soon one of Aerlid’s apprentices showed up.
Something that Riley thought smelled very strange was rubbed on her
wound. Despite the smell, it did lesson the constant burning
pain.

Once that was dealt with, Vann went back to
holding her. They stayed by Aerlid’s tent for a long time. Despite
Vann’s presence, Riley could not relax. She needed to know.

It was dark when Lillia awoke.

As soon as Vann noticed her moving he was
instantly by her side, calling her name.

‘Vann?’ Lillia said shakily. ‘What
happened?’

‘Are you ok?’ he asked.

‘Y-yes, I’m fine.’ and she sat up. ‘I feel a
bit tired, that’s all.’ Hearing that, Vann leant back from her in
relief.

‘May I ask you some questions?’ Aerlid
interrupted.

‘Huh?’ Lillia turned. ‘Yes, of course.’

She patiently answered all of Aerlid’s
seemingly simple questions. When he was done she asked, ‘why are
you asking me these things?’

Aerlid sighed. ‘You were hit very hard on
the head, but you seem fine. Excuse me, I’d like to get some rest
now.’

Riley gave him her permission to go and he
gingerly moved into his tent. Lillia looked at Riley
accusingly.

‘It wasn’t her.’ Vann said, then, anger
leaching into his voice he said ‘It was Ellis.’

‘Oh…’

Vann was quiet for a moment. ‘But now I have
some questions for you.’ and his voice was hard and edged with
anger.