The Lord of the Plains (80 page)

‘You’re right,’ the river said
apologetically, ‘it’s not much of a garden, but Caralid insists on
calling it that.’

‘It won’t fit.’ Riley stated, stunned.

‘It will be dreadfully crowded.’ the river
agreed.

‘I think it’s more a matter of weight.’ the
wind said. ‘Look how Caralid is struggling just with that little
house! Why, he won’t be able to fly at all once we get the
hornosaur on his back!’

Riley looked again at the moth. Frankly, the
idea that the moth was a valkar was no stranger than what they
already looked like.

‘The exercise will do him good! And we
should use the human name, otherwise she’ll be confused.’

‘What do you prefer, hornosaur or
rhinoceros?’ the wind asked Riley expectantly.

‘Well, that’s where he wants it delivered.’
the rock said obstinately, before Riley could answer. ‘He wants it
in his garden.’

Riley looked at the rhinoceros/hornosaur
again, then at the house.

‘He hasn’t been very cooperative.’ the river
nodded at the rhino. ‘We asked him nicely to get up there and he
just ignored us. Even after Caralid got down nice and low so he
could just step up.’

‘Perhaps he doesn’t like the garden.’ Riley
ventured.

‘You know, maybe if we put a female rhino up
there he’d be more cooperative.’

‘How are we going to get a female hornosaur
up there!’ the wind demanded.

‘And you’re making an assumption.’ the rock
added. ‘Maybe he doesn’t like female rhinos. Maybe he wants to be a
single rhino.’

The river frowned.

‘Perhaps if he just thinks there’s a female
up there.’ Riley said. ‘You could trick him.’

The river beamed, ‘that’s brilliant!’

‘You’re still making an assumption!’ the
rock demanded.

‘It’s blatantly obvious,’ a cool and
familiar voice said, ‘that that garden is far, far too small for a
rhinoceros, or even a small cat.’

Riley beamed at Aerlid, who was busy glaring
at the three other valkar.

‘And
why
,’ he said, ‘are you trying
to get a rhinoceros up there anyway?’

‘That’s where Caralid wanted it delivered.’
the rock replied. ‘And I don’t think it’s obvious at all!’

Aerlid’s eyes locked on to the moth. ‘Either
grow yourself Caralid, or shrink the beast. And do I want to know
where you got the beast from?’

‘It used to be a fish.’ the river said
brightly. ‘I asked around and this one said he wouldn’t mind a
change of pace.’

Aerlid sighed heavily.

‘I know.’ the wind said suddenly. ‘We need a
very pointy stick.’

‘Oh, that would definitely work.’ the river
said. ‘But where would we get a stick pointy enough?’

Suddenly the world went dark and Riley was
buffeted by a strong wind. She looked up, bewildered, she saw the
sky was covered by a giant purple moth.

‘Come on!’ Aerlid yelled over the sound of
the flapping to Riley. He took her hand and dragged her away from
the moth.

Once they were far enough away that light
had returned, Aerlid muttered ‘Never ask
why
with these
people.’

‘Aerlid.’ Riley interjected. ‘I’m very
hungry. And tired.’

Aerlid looked surprised for a moment, then
he said, ‘of course you are. But that presents a problem. Hmm,
alright, we’ll go to the Queen’s Garden. I wanted to take you there
anyway.’

‘Is there food there?’

‘Maybe. How did you get down here,
anyway?’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, suppressing
her disappointment at Aerlid’s answer.

Aerlid stared at her. ‘You’re on the
underside.’

‘What?’

‘The bottom of the city.’

Riley confused, looked around. The sky was
above, the ground was below. Everything looked normal.

‘Don’t trust that.’ Aerlid sighed. ‘They do
all sorts of things with the perspective here. You know, this place
was much more normal when it was on the ground. At least the sky
was always above you. Come, I’ll show you. The Garden is on the top
of the top side.’

Confused, Riley followed Aerlid. They took a
different path, and eventually, Riley realised what he meant by
being on the bottom side.

They came to a place where the perspective
didn’t
switch. It was more as if their feet became glued to
the ground and they were walking up the side of a wall. It was then
that she realised they were walking from beneath the city, around
the side (buildings and plants grew on the sides as they did the
bottom and top) to above. The city had apparently been in the sky
long enough that what had previously been within the earth had been
built upon.

Aerlid held her arm tightly. ‘Are you
alright?’

‘It’s a bit strange.’

‘That’s one word for it, yes. Be careful
when you walk around. There are places you don’t stick to the
ground.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean you’ll fall- not all the way, but
partly.’

Riley’s eyes widened.

‘Look.’ Aerlid pointed into the sky. Riley
didn’t know what at. And then sunlight sparkled off something in
the air, like a spider web forming translucent netting in the sky.
‘You’ll fall into that, or something else. It depends.’

‘But that’s up.’

Aerlid just looked at her.

‘Riley,’ Aerlid began cautiously as they
made their way through the city towards the Queen’s Garden. ‘If you
could, would you want to meet your mother?’

Riley, surprised by the question,
shrugged.

His mouth quirked down in mild irritation.
The word ‘mother’ simply meant nothing to Riley. Logically, it
should not have been surprising, considering her upbringing. Yet
still, Aerlid wished she cared. And even more… her mother…
delicate
, was perhaps the best word to describe her.
Introducing her to a daughter who didn’t care one way or the other
about her… Aerlid could only see it ending in her getting upset.
And so he wasn’t certain what he should do…

He looked at Riley again and sighed. Well,
she was never going to learn to care about her mother if she never
met
her. And wasn’t this partly, mostly, her mother’s fault
too? She
could
have come and visited her if she’d wanted.
Not that he was going to point that out to her.

‘Do you see?’ Aerlid said, coming out of his
thoughts. He pointed to the Garden, rising into view before them.
It was surrounded by a wavy fence made out of something white and
iridescent, like pearl. The fence was low enough to hop over in
some places, but taller than Aerlid in others. Over the top a lush
garden and tall trees were visible. The sound of birds twittering
came from all around, and especially from the garden.

Riley nodded. ‘That’s a big tree.’ her eyes
were instantly drawn to the tallest tree, its branches spread high
above the rest of the garden.

Aerlid glanced at her. ‘Yes,’ he sighed.
‘You can climb it.’

‘I need to eat first.’ she replied,
tiredness coming into her voice.

‘Yes, of course.’ The fact that she would
put off climbing up a giant tree told Aerlid how very tired she
was, even more so than her tone. ‘Wait a moment…’ and he touched
her arm. She stopped and looked at him. ‘We must talk first.’

He looked at her, glanced at the garden and
back again. ‘Your mother… she is in there.’

Riley did not look surprised this time. She
glanced at the garden. Her expression changed for a brief moment,
too fast to catch.

‘It’s… her garden.’

Riley looked back to him. As what he’d said
sunk in her eyes widened in alarm. Her mouth opened.

‘Yes.’ he said hurriedly. ‘The Queen.’

Riley looked back at the garden, then at
him. She closed her mouth. Her brow furrowed for a moment. Then she
focussed on him again. ‘Aerlid, what does this mean for me?’ she
said forcefully.

‘Oh, nothing, nothing.’ He said, surprised.
Riley sighed in relief as he went on. ‘No, Queen doesn’t quite mean
the same to the valkar as it does to humans. But besides that,
Rilodana- that’s her name- already has two other daughters. And
you’re not a valkar.’

Riley was relieved more than disappointed.
She didn’t seem aware of the uncomfortable silence that had settled
over Aerlid.

‘I mean,’ he said, ‘you’re only half
valkar.’

Riley’s eyes flicked to his. ‘They’re not
comfortable around humans.’

It was not a question.

‘No.’ Aerlid replied, somewhat stiffly.

‘Even half humans?’

Aerlid shook his head. ‘No, not even half
humans.’

Riley gazed towards the garden critically.
‘She didn’t want me, did she.’

Startled, Aerlid replied, ‘why do you say
that?’

Her eyes were on his as she said, ‘her other
two children are here, aren’t they?’ he hadn’t said it exactly, but
the way he’d said it… she wasn’t certain, but she thought she might
be right.

‘Yes, they are.’ he sighed again. ‘But
maybe… maybe that’s not the right way to put it.’ he looked around
and gently took her hand. They sat on some grass on the side of the
path that was not really much of a path. ‘Rilodana is… she’s not
always aware of what’s happening. She… she’s not all there. Being
separated from the earth… what led to this… it was too much for
her.’ he looked at Riley meaningly, hoping she understood. Her
green eyes were locked on his.

‘Her other children are here, but she
doesn’t always remember them. It’s not that she doesn’t care for
you… Riley,’ his tone changed a bit, as if he was changing tactics,
‘you know how many of the gemeng children turn out?’

She nodded.

‘Yes, well, human-valkar children turn out
like that, only much worse. You may have noticed… but valkar are
very different to humans. We always try, healers always try very
hard to make the children survive. But… if there isn’t something
physically wrong with them it’s usually mental. Even with all our
help, I think you are the only one who has lived past
fourteen.’

She stared. She was only seventeen.

‘But we tried even harder with you Riley.
Rilodana would have been devastated if there had been something
wrong with you, and she’s already so… delicate. So we tried even
harder. She may not always remember you, but she does love
you.’

‘Aerlid, am I going to die?’ she demanded,
alarmed.

Aerlid was momentarily caught off guard by
the question, that wasn’t what he had meant to tell her. He
recovered quickly. ‘I honestly don’t know how long you’re going to
live. Frankly, I think you should worry more about being eaten by
one of those damn cats you’re so enamoured with.’

His attempt to lighten the mood did not
help. ‘Aerlid,’ she pressed.

‘You’ll know.’ he said grimly, ‘it won’t be
sudden, Riley, you’ll… experience the symptoms of aging, sort of
what humans go through.’

She relaxed slightly. ‘How long?’

‘I’m not sure, but I would say you’ll live
to between thirty or forty years old.’

From the look on her face, he could tell it
did not seem enough time.

‘I’m sorry Riley, I should not have brought
it up, it slipped out.’ He reached out to touch her arm. ‘You’re
only seventeen, you have plenty of time. And I’ll be there, perhaps
I, or one of the other valkar can make it better. We put a city in
the air, extending your life should not be too difficult. Please,
don’t think about that now. You wanted something to eat?’

Riley let him help her to her feet. As they
walked the rest of the way up to the garden he tried to take her
mind off what he’d said. Perhaps it was what he was saying, or
maybe the walk itself, but by the time they reached the garden
she’d mostly recovered herself.

Riley had never thought about how old she
would live. Thirty or forty. She had never thought of being that
old. That was about half the expected life span of an Astarian.
Suddenly she thought,
for a submariner, that’s ancient
. And
her thoughts went to Vann.