The Lord of the Plains (74 page)

Aerlid made a few more marks in the dirt
before turning back to Karesh. He was watching him intently with
those big dark eyes of his.

Aerlid’s eyes drifted to the things sticking
out of his back. One was a wing, a dark, bat-like wing. It looked
like it worked, but he couldn’t tell just from looking. He needed
to do calculations, examine it carefully to see how it would move.
Karesh was a very light man. That was good. But really, that wasn’t
the most important thing. Whether Karesh could summon his power and
manipulate it with his wings…. that was what would determine
whether he would fly or not.

And of course, whether Aerlid could fix that
other thing sticking out of his back. It was an ugly, twisted lump
that didn’t know whether it was an arm or a wing. Fixing that would
be challenging, to say the least. It couldn’t just
look
right, Karesh needed to be able to control it.

‘How is it you survived?’ Aerlid asked as he
leant back on his haunches.

‘I don’t get noticed.’

‘But you must have had to fight
sometime.’

Karesh nodded. ‘I’m fast and smart, and I
guess I cheat.’

Aerlid’s eyebrows rose.

Karesh reached into his voluminous clothes
and pulled out a thin, sharp shard of rock. He held it out to
Aerlid, who took it.

‘One of those in the right spot ends a fight
pretty quick.’

Aerlid handed it back. ‘And that’s
cheating?’

Karesh nodded.

‘Your master uses weapons.’

Karesh’s eyes widened and he tensed. ‘Where
I came from, it was cheating. But not here. The master can do
whatever she likes.’

Aerlid nodded. ‘Exactly.’

Karesh hesitated. ‘She is a very dangerous
woman.’

Aerlid couldn’t help the surprised look that
came to his face. It was necessary for the gemengs to think of her
that way, but he couldn’t help finding it strange.

‘She doesn’t
feel
dangerous. But she
must be, how else could she control a tribe? That’s what makes her
so dangerous.’ He said seriously. ‘You should be careful.’

‘Ah. Well. Riley isn’t dangerous if you
follow the rules.’ Aerlid went on cautiously. ‘And she doesn’t like
being avoided.’ Aerlid was well aware Karesh’s avoidance of her had
made Riley grumpy. Grumpy was the right word, though he didn’t
think that was the right word to use with a gemeng.

Karesh looked even more alarmed.

‘I suggest you don’t disappear next time she
attempts to speak to you. Now, let’s get back to your wings.’

Karesh hadn’t survived this long by making
himself known to his lord. The idea that he
should
,
well…

She was an odd creature. Everything was in
the right place with her. He was pretty damn sure she didn’t have
arm wings growing out of
her
back. She moved with grace and
ease. Like she belonged. And then there was that strange hair of
hers. Sometimes it reminded him of the grasses around him. Of fresh
air and spring time. And then it faded, her hair returning to the
colour of night. Such perfection was unknown to him. He didn’t see
her so much as beautiful, but
right
. Like the cats, and
wolves and grazing beasts. All their pieces fit together.
Everything belonged together, and they belonged here, in this
place.

Maybe she didn’t fit with the gemengs, but
she fit with the
world
.

Despite the conflicting emotions he felt he
stood his ground the next time he spotted her approaching him.
Every fibre was screaming at him to
run
! It didn’t matter if
she
seemed
safe, she was the lord of the tribe!

When Riley was finally standing before him
he had a very strange look on his face. So Riley gave him an odd
look in return.

‘Are you alright?’ she asked.

He nodded quickly.

She frowned slightly. ‘Are you entering the
tournament?’ she asked.

He shook his head, his mouth tightly
shut.

‘Oh,’ she actually looked pleased. ‘So
you’re not planning on challenging me?’

He was so surprised by the idea he actually
spoke. ‘No.’

She beamed. ‘That’s excellent. Karesh, will
you walk with me?’

He stared at her.

‘I had hoped to speak with you.’

‘Why?’ he squeaked. This woman was crazy.
Why couldn’t she just behave like a normal master? This was just
confusing him.

She frowned again. ‘Well, you seem quite
reasonable for a gemeng. You haven’t tried to kill anyone. You
haven’t gotten into any fights. I wanted to know why.’ she smiled,
‘if everyone here was like you I’d be very happy!’

Crazy was the only possible explanation.

‘I’m doing my rounds, will you come?’

He nodded. He felt… he didn’t know how he
felt. It wasn’t a good feeling.

But she was the master after all.

As far as Riley was concerned, the
tournament couldn’t have turned out better.

It had taken five days, but she had a
second. And it was one she knew, one who was familiar with her
rules.

Gakra seemed pretty happy too.

Riley kept a very close eye on him of
course. She didn’t want him falling back into his old ways, didn’t
want the authority to go to his head. Not that it was
much
authority. His sole job was to keep people from challenging
her
.

No, if she was going to give anyone real
authority, it would be Karesh. She had noted that he didn’t
like
spending time with her. But he’d gotten used to it; he
no longer looked like he was about to have a heart attack every
time she looked at him at any rate. He was different. Even if he
didn’t enjoy it, he was a breath of fresh air for her. He was proof
they could be different. Further, he wasn’t a potential rival, so
she wasn’t always worrying about coming off as weak when she was
with him.

Considering what she was trying to do for
his people, she felt he could put up with her company.

Chapter 68

‘I need some help, Karesh. Who would you
rather ask?’

‘Perhaps we shouldn’t then.’ Karesh replied
seriously.

‘No.’ He stood.

Karesh scrambled to his feet.

‘No! She’s the master! If she sees-’

‘Then what?’ Aerlid replied sharply.

‘It’s a sign of weakness!’ He cried,
‘letting my
master
see it, that’s just asking for it!’

Aerlid made a dismissive noise. ‘Karesh,
you’re acting like a fool. If you can’t trust me with this, how can
you trust me to tear your broken wing apart to fix it?’

‘Now,’ he said when Karesh didn’t reply,
‘I’m going to go get her.’

‘Why don’t you stop the pain?’ Riley asked
above the screaming.

‘I need you to be quiet.’ Aerlid panted. He
was cutting into the arm-wing. It bled profusely, Riley couldn’t
make out anything beneath the blood.

She was holding Karesh down. He felt so
fragile beneath her, she worried if she held too hard she’d break
him. But she needed to keep him still. He was writhing and
wriggling and trying to free himself. A thick stick was between his
teeth but he moaned and screamed around it.

‘I need to know what he’s feeling.’ Aerlid
said, pausing for a moment. He looked very tired. They’d been
working less than ten minutes. ‘I need to know how he’s feeling. I
can’t keep him unconscious, monitor his vitals, and do this all at
once. Now, please, don’t talk.’

And the screaming and bleeding went on.

It was over in less than an hour.

It felt like the longest hour of her
life.

Karesh’s arm-wing was carefully
bandaged.

It didn’t
look
much different, but
Aerlid said that this was just the beginning.

Karesh’s skin was waxy and sallow, dark
circles around his eyes. He gazed at her from his carefully made
hammock, hung inside Riley’s tent. They had to make sure he didn’t
lie on his wing.