The Lord of the Plains (60 page)

When she arrived back Leili was awake.

Riley noted it, but she did not think much
of it.

‘Where have you been?’ Leili demanded, there
was something ugly in her voice.

Riley turned warily and faced her. ‘The side
beach.’ she said honestly.

‘With a submariner.’

‘No.’ Riley replied, surprised.
Vann.

‘I don’t know why we let your kind into
Astar. You lead all these submariners on and then act like it’s not
your fault. You disgust me!’

‘You’re right.’ Riley agreed. She felt
strangely unaffected by Leili’s vitriol. There was nothing to say,
nothing that wouldn’t just anger the girl more. Riley didn’t know
where this came from and she didn’t really care.

She was leaving this place and these
people.

Chapter 48

Vann needed to find her. He knew she was
avoiding him, but he needed to find her.

When she nearly bumped into him they were
both surprised.

‘Vann.’ she said, her voice clearly saying
she didn’t expect to see him there. ‘Your cast is off.’

Vann guessed that was why she hadn’t
recognized and avoided him.

‘I got it off this morning.’ He said. That
was what he needed to talk to her about. He’d have an assignment by
the afternoon and could be on a sub as soon as dawn tomorrow.

He wondered if she’d still be here when he
came back.

‘Riley,’ he said suddenly, ‘would you mind
if I transferred to Astar?’

‘Huh? Astar? I don’t think you’d like it
there.’ she looked surprised.

‘But would it bother you?’

She shrugged uncertainly, as if she wasn’t
quite sure what that had to do with her. ‘If you wanted to.’

Vann suppressed a surge of hope. But he
couldn’t stop himself from grinning. Then he remembered. ‘Here,’ he
pulled something from his pocket. ‘I have something for you.’

As he spoke her expression changed to one of
worry, but when he handed it to her she beamed.

‘It’s a leaper claw.’ Vann explained.

She held it up and looking at it intently.
‘It’s long! Can I keep it?’

Vann nodded, warmth flooding his heart. ‘I
got it for you.’ He didn’t mention Zap Zap had found the claw. It
wasn’t as if he’d never fought a leaper, Vann thought.

‘Do
you
know how to attract leapers?’
she asked, her eyes on him.

Vann didn’t answer. Zap Zap told him
everything they talked about.

She sighed but then she brightened up and
said ‘Thank you.’ Her cheeks seemed a bit pinker than usual.

Then the happiness leached from her. ‘Vann…
I’m not staying here. I-it’s not you, I just need to leave. I need
to leave.’

He didn’t know why she wanted to leave so
bad, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she wanted
it.

Vann watched her. He felt strangely calm.
She was upset, he knew that.

But he could do something about that
now.

And he’d go to Astar with her.

‘Alright.’

‘Alright?’ she asked, confused.

He smiled. ‘I’m fit for a sub tour again.
I’ll talk to Commander Reista. We’ll take the Astarians down on a
sub. Show them that they don’t need to teach us anything about
gemengs.’

‘A sub…’ Her eyes were gleaming. ‘What sort
of gemengs will we see?’ she asked eagerly. ‘Splitters? Longtails?
Big Jaw?’

‘Riley…’ This was a strange woman, he
thought. But even though her eagerness was evident, he had to
disappoint her. ‘I can’t take you on a sub.’

‘What?’ The light faded from her eyes. She
was looking at him in a way that said
why-would-you-offer-me-that-and-then-take-it-away?

‘Riley, it’s dangerous. I don’t want you to
get hurt.’

She looked at him. Then she said, ‘but
you’re going.’

His cheeks flamed. He so wanted that to mean
she cared. ‘I’m a submariner.’ he managed to say calmly.

‘You’re a human. You’re soft and easily
damaged. If I get hurt, Vann, you’d be… you’d be hurt.’

He couldn’t help feeling a little
embarrassed. He couldn’t read the look in her eyes.

‘I won’t go.’ she suddenly relented.

He was surprised but he wasn’t about to
argue.

He smiled. ‘I’ll go talk to the Commander.’
He hesitated. He wanted to reach out and touch her.

But he didn’t.

His first stop wasn’t to the Commander’s
office, but to pick up a transfer request form.

The dark haired woman stepped from the
crowd. Her thick, dark, glossy hair was pinned up. Her eyes were
ice blue. They were astonishingly vivid. If she hadn’t been
scowling every time Riley saw her she might have wondered if she
was another of Vann’s beauties.

And once again Vann was inside her head.

She so wanted to go on a sub. She wanted to
see the ocean-going gemengs. Perhaps she could learn to swim and go
and try her luck with them. Though if Vann wasn’t even going to
help her fight leapers on a beach there was no way he was going to
let her come on a sub. Riley knew a pointless fight when she saw
one.

Besides. She might be a distraction to
him.

The woman was close to her now. She didn’t
stop where most of them did. She kept coming.

That caught her attention. What did the
woman want?

The woman stopped right in front of
Riley.

‘So you’re the one Vann’s so fascinated
with.’ The woman said as her eyes ran over Riley’s face. Her voice
had an unforgiving harshness to it. She was speaking quietly enough
that the conversation would be private.

That was enough to make Riley feel a touch
of unease.

Her words though were enough to make Riley’s
cheeks heat up.

She said nothing.

She didn’t like the way this woman was
looking at her.

It made Riley remember how she had felt in a
room full of Vann’s oh so pretty former lovers.

‘A gemeng.’ the woman said. ‘How special.
You know,’ pause, ‘the moment he has you he’ll lose interest.’

This horrible woman was a master of the
meaningful pause.

Riley felt her cheeks burning. It was
probably true. He’d lost interest in all the others. She’d seen
them, and all so lovely. But she wasn’t going to find out. She was
leaving. She wasn’t going to think about that.

‘I hear you’re opposed to the idea.’
Pause.

Riley hated her pauses as much as her
words.

‘But you should be honoured. A gemeng like
you.’

A spark of anger ignited in her. Honoured?
Because a human wanted her? She hadn’t felt
honoured
by
Peitar’s
affection
.

‘Just let him have you. Then this
embarrassment will be over.’

When Riley finally spoke her voice sounded
strange to her ears, after being so focussed on the dark haired
woman’s words.

‘Let him
have
me?’

Another of those pauses that screamed with
words.

‘I don’t really want to know the details.’
Pause. ‘Let him do what he likes to you.’ Pause. ‘You should be
pleased a human would want to touch you.’ Pause. ‘Then this farce
will be done with.’

Shock and outrage clashed inside her.
Riley’s mouth was clamped shut. Her eyes were afire with rage. She
was choking on things she couldn’t say or do. Things that weren’t
allowed out.

Her head was throbbing.

In this place, she could do nothing to this
woman, say nothing, scream nothing. And what did it matter what she
said or felt? She was a gemeng. She was supposed to let any human
who wanted her
have
her!

The image of the woman wavered before her
eyes.

Riley did nothing.

Said nothing.

And then something changed within her.

What did it matter what the icy-eyed woman
said, what she thought? She was a gemeng. No
human
could
touch her unless she allowed it. No human could control her unless
she allowed it.

In fact, they couldn’t do anything to her
unless she let them.

So softly the other woman barely caught it
Riley said, ‘You can’t hurt me unless I let you.’ But she wasn’t
talking to the other woman. It was for herself.

Riley did not bother to note the other
woman’s reaction. It meant less than nothing.

Riley turned and began walking away from the
courtyard.

People were calling to her.

She took no notice.

She walked out of the Blocks.

She wasn’t going to wait on anyone else’s
say so any more.

She wasn’t going to be here any longer.

Chapter 49

Coastside fell behind. Forest was ahead.

She ran. Trees whipped past. There was no
sound of her passage.

Her heart sang!

She ran as fast as she could. Faster.
Dodging trees, branches. She laughed.

She circled around Astar. Came in the other
side.

No one saw her. Not one patrol.

No one.

And then there was a city to sneak
through.

It was dark.

And she snuck through it.

She’d moved through the city unseen before,
avoided patrols before.

Her night time running was supposed to be
secret, after all.

And as easily as she’d run from Coastside to
Astar, she crept through Astar to her no-longer home.

Riley had not stopped to gather her things
in Coastside. There was nothing there she needed.

And so she found herself outside her door
without a key.

The door was locked.

The ease with which she forced the door open
only added to her elation.

She stood in an old, bare living room. The
bedroom door was closed.

She waited, rocking. She wondered if Aerlid
had noticed.

When Aerlid opened the bedroom door and
glared at her she was happy.

When his glare changed to one of surprised
pleasure she beamed back.

‘Riley! I thought you were a robber. What
are you doing here?’

‘We’re leaving.’ was her answer. ‘Right
now.’

‘The bags are ready.’ he caught on quickly.
‘Is the plan the same?’

‘There’s a slight change.’ she grinned
wickedly.