The Lord of the Plains (101 page)

Turak glared at him a moment longer than
shrugged. He pushed the man back to the rest of the group. The
whole lot of them were scared.

Turak smiled at that. No matter how strange
they were, it was good to know they could recognize strength when
they saw it.

That evening, Turak made his report to the
Master.

‘He disappeared and was holding a rock?’
Riley asked in surprise.

Turak nodded. ‘Perhaps he was going to try
attacking me with it.’

‘That would be a very stupid thing to do.’
Riley frowned.

Turak nodded and smiled.

‘Hmm…’ Riley could not figure out what that
meant. Maybe it meant nothing.

Either way, Riley made time later that day
to go examine the place the humans had been. She saw nothing out of
the ordinary, and she looked carefully. Just caves and rocks. She
even picked up the rocks, checking them for any strangeness which
was beyond her ability to imagine.

But the rocks looked and felt like
rocks.

And so maybe it all meant nothing.

The humans stayed perhaps a week after that.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened, and Riley was pleased to see
them go.

Chapter 86

When the Sunsinger arrived a ripple went
through the gemengs of the caves. Even with news of Adila’s arrival
travelling fast, Riley did not hear of it until Adila was leaving
the caves.

Riley arrived at the surface just as Adila
did.

The Sunsinger turned to look at her and
smiled. ‘Hello, Riley.’ She said in Plains speech.

‘Adila.’ Riley greeted her. ‘What are you
doing here?’

‘Aerlid took some things from the city. I
had not felt them used so I worried he hadn’t been able to activate
them.’

Aerlid had brought the shields to the caves
some time ago, but with Adila’s sense of time, she probably thought
she had responded quite promptly.

‘We decided not to use them.’ Riley
replied.

‘Aerlid said as much.’

‘Adila,’ Riley began after a moment’s
thought, ‘would you be able to contact the Ehlkrid King for
me?’

Adila’s eyebrows rose. ‘Why would you want
to speak to him?’

‘Perhaps we can come to an agreement, stop
this fighting. I don’t know. I won’t know until I try.’

Adila was silent for a moment, a thoughtful
look on her face. ‘Have you asked Aerlid?’ she asked
eventually.

Riley nodded. ‘He won’t. He doesn’t think it
will help.’

‘He’s probably right.’ Adila said as she
observed her intently.

Riley shrugged. ‘The humans think the
gemengs are monsters and that they can never be anything but
enemies. Aerlid thinks the humans and gemengs are monsters. I
cannot trust another’s judgement on this. I need to try and make
peace for myself.’

‘Very well. I will speak with the Ehlkrid
King for you. I don’t know if he will agree to a meeting. But I
will try.’

Riley smiled, satisfied. She was not yet
relieved, nothing had been achieved yet, though at least there was
a chance now. ‘There’s something I’m curious about.’ Riley began
slowly. Aerlid would be angry for asking this, angry for even
asking to speak to the King.

‘Yes?’

‘The sun shield Aerlid brought. Is it very
hard to turn it on and off?’

‘For a Moonsinger? Very few would be able to
use it at all. For myself?’ she shrugged. ‘It would be…
disrespectful to turn it on and off like a switch. I could not do
it too often.’

‘I see. Aerlid mentioned something about
making shields that some people could pass through?’

‘Well, I could pass through a sunshield.
Aerlid could pass through a moonshield. But you mean the
gemengs?’

Riley nodded.

‘I suppose it could be done. I don’t know
how, it’s not something I’ve ever tried. You want to know if the
valkar will try.’

‘Yes. Aerlid would not be happy with me for
asking.’

‘No, he wouldn’t be. Alright. I will tell
you what I’ll do. I will suggest it as a challenge to some of the
valkar. If some are interested, they can try it of their own
accord. I will not tell them why.’

‘Thank you. That’s more than I
expected.’

‘You ask a lot.’ Adila said, it did not
sound like a criticism, merely a comment.

‘I won’t know the answer if I don’t ask. My
intention is not to hurt your people though.’

‘I can see that. If I thought you would hurt
the valkar, I would not even come here myself. Goodbye, Riley, and
good luck.’

Chapter 87

Sometime after Adila’s visit, Aerlid came to
Riley’s cave to speak with her.

‘Riley, I’ve been thinking.’ He began. ‘I
see that you want to find a way to end the fighting. The scouts
have still not found the ehlkrid?’

Riley shook her head. ‘No.’

‘They may be hiding themselves during the
day. I might be able to find them.’

Riley thought about it for a moment. He
would be gone and return within one day. It was far too dangerous
to be outside the caves during the night. ‘Alright. When would you
like to go?’

‘Two days should give me enough time to
prepare.’

‘Fine. But don’t try and fight them, Aerlid.
Finding them is enough.’

In amused irritation Aerlid said, ‘Yes,
Riley, I know that.’

When Karesh arrived not long after and asked
permission to go with Aerlid Riley had to think a bit harder.

Riley frowned. She glanced at him. At his
wings. He had not fought since he had rescued her, though his
strength was returning. If he had not come and tried to move her
away from the jellyfish, the acid would have hit her instead.

‘Very well.’ She said, hiding her
reluctance. ‘You understand there should be no fighting, don’t you,
Karesh?’

‘Yes, Master, I know. But I would like to
assist Aerlid.’

‘Yes, I know.’ It was a bit more than that,
she knew. But he ought to be in no danger. And besides, even if the
ehlkrid attacked, Aerlid could likely deal with them better than
she could.

Two days later, Karesh, Aerlid and nine
other gemengs left the caves. The scouting party was bigger than
usual, perhaps because it was more likely to be successful. Perhaps
because Riley didn’t want to have to find a new second in command.
They started out across the Plains, moving at an easy pace. Aerlid
was humming all the while. The day was warm. The sounds of insects
and the movement of the grasses were loud.

It was pleasant, relaxing in a way. Every
now and then Aerlid would gesture in a certain direction and they’d
change course.

Around noon they stopped by a stream. They
had not been moving so fast that a rest was necessary, but they did
drink and pause for a moment.

Karesh turned back towards the caves. It was
good to be outside again. It was good to be doing something useful
again. He had rescued the master, yes. Despite that, the gemengs he
commanded looked at him differently now that he couldn’t fight.

It won’t be forever,
he thought.
I
don’t need my wings to fight. I can be useful even without
them
. He had lived so long without his wings, it wasn’t so hard
to go back to them being useless. He didn’t think of the freedom,
the bliss of flying. He did not think about that at all.

He turned back to the group. Aerlid had a
slight frown on his face. His singing stopped.

‘I’m not familiar with their feel any more.
I don’t think they are too far. They’re hiding themselves with the
same power that allows you to fly.’ He said to Karesh.

Karesh said nothing.

Suddenly a dull boom rolled across the
Plains. Startled, Karesh looked at the sky. Was it thunder? The sky
was blue and clear.

A horrendous, booming, cracking sound
screamed through the caves. Riley had time for one startled look
around before the whole world collapsed to the tune of rock
breaking and shattering.