The Lord of the Plains (95 page)

Riley watched the children race across the
field, chasing a small ball. Aerlid had chosen a perfect game.
Winning did not depend much on strength, but on teamwork, speed and
quick thinking. In fact, touching another player was forbidden,
only the ball could be touched.

Her purpose, however, was not to check up on
the success of the ball game. No, she had been invited here by one
of the council members. In fact, this particular game had been
organized by the council member.

‘You see, it’s a way for the children to
compete without violence.’ he said as he looked at her
earnestly.

Riley schooled her expression and let the
man convince her. The game was nearing the end. He’d been talking
for the duration of the game, presenting arguments carefully. ‘Yes,
I see that, Adlak.’

‘It encourages teamwork and skills other
than just fighting. The gemengs need a way to compete. My
suggestion, Master, is that this be it. I want to create a
tournament, with different teams competing. I think a children’s
and a warrior’s league would work. And then if you could award a
prize to the winning team…’

‘Hmm, what sort of prize?’

‘I think your congratulations would suffice.
Perhaps some sort of armband, like the warrior bands, which the
other teams could win back next time.’

‘I see. Well, Adlak, you’ve made some good
points.’ she mused. ‘You understand that you would have to be in
charge of organizing this.’

‘Yes!’ he eyes brightened.

‘Very well, you have my permission.’

‘Thank you, Master.’

Riley grinned as the gemeng eagerly hurried
off. Maybe, finally, things were starting to change.

Chapter 79

Vann stepped off the submarine onto the
stone wharf with a sigh. He quickly moved out of the way as other
submariners spilled onto the wharf. The fresh air, thick with the
smells of the sea and sweaty miners was wonderfully fresh and clean
after being inside the submarine for over a week.

Vann didn’t dawdle; he didn’t have much time
shoreside before he had to be back. Their mission had been to
escort a supply ship safely to the mines and back. Right now, the
supply ship was being loaded, once it was done they’d begin heading
back to Coastside. Even while the ship was in port, the submarine
needed to keep it safe, so while the ship was docked the
submariners would take turns shoreside, with near half the crew on
board at all times. The water close to the ports was mostly safe,
and there were other submarines about, but you could never be too
careful.

Vann quickly strode up the sloping rock
roadway. It switched back and forth along the face of the cliff. He
passed many doors and entrances into the cliff. The miners lived
and worked here. At the top was a wonderful view over the ocean and
an entrance into the mines. It was not a busy entrance, mainly it
was used by those inside the cliff to get to the top during a
moment of free time.

As he walked Vann smiled. It felt good to be
back on the submarines. It also felt good to not have everyone in
Coastside think he had gone stark raving mad. Once he had returned
he had quickly, and perhaps with more intent than usual, taken up
with the usual Coastside beauties. That, more than anything, had
convinced everyone his sanity had returned. Lillia had still
expressed some concern- especially as he mentioned Riley fairly
often (how could he not?) when he talked about his visit to the
Plains. He’d told her the Molk mission had affected him more than
he’d thought, but seeing Riley again had restored his senses.

He’d had a tense confrontation with Azra. It
did not take much digging to find out she had been the last person
to speak to Riley in Coastside before she’d left. In fact, he would
have found out earlier had he not been so distraught at her
supposed death. Even if she had always been planning on leaving,
Azra’s words to her could not be left unremarked.

Azra had not bothered him since.

Vann reached the top of the cliff. He turned
slowly towards the ocean and let the view creep into his sight. He
sighed. The ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see. The
waves, the clouds above, the golden sun. The wind, ruffling his
hair. The smell, cleaner now, coming off the ocean without any
human stench.

Vann stayed that way, absorbing the
moment.

Then a rough hand clamped down on his
shoulder. ‘Hey.’

Vann turned.

It was one of the miners, Vann knew quite a
few of them. Some, the older ones, had known his father, though
many of them had now retired, or moved on to less physically
demanding work and no longer lived here.

He didn’t know this one, though it soon
became apparent why the man had approached him.

‘Can I interest you in any stones? The
ladies love them.’ the man looked at him expectantly. In his hands
he held a tray with a few glittering gems and stones found from the
mines. The miners were not supposed to actively search for the
stones, but if they happened to find them in the course of what
they were supposed to be doing they were allowed to sell them and
keep the money. This man had probably not found all the stones
himself. The miners did not in fact have enough time to stand
outside the mines trying to sell things to submariners. Usually
they’d form something of a cooperative. They’d pool the gems they
found and whoever was on break would try and sell them. The money
would be split between the members.

Vann didn’t buy gifts for the women he saw.
Friends, yes, women he was casually seeing? No.

Vann shook his head. Then something caught
his eye.

‘Wait.’

The man, who had been about to move away,
stopped. ‘Something interest you?’

Vann paused a moment. Then he nodded.

Lillia opened her mouth, about to say
something along the lines of, ‘I don’t want to hear another word
about Riley!’, when she stopped. Vann was talking.

‘Can you hold onto this for me, Lillia?’ he
asked, his grey eyes on her blue ones. He held something in his
hand.

Lillia stared. ‘Vann.’ she said slowly. Then
she started laughing. She tried to hold it back and it came out
like a muffled giggle.

His grey eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘What?’
he snapped.

She stopped trying to resist and let her
laughter out.

Vann watched her silently, an injured look
on his face.

‘Oh, I’m sorry Vann!’ she gasped. ‘I just
can’t help remembering all those rants you made me listen to about
giving gifts to your lovers! Oh, and how you got so high and mighty
about
me
accepting gifts!’

Vann glared at her. ‘She’s my friend Lillia.
I buy my friends gifts.’ and he crossed his arms over his chest.
The necklace dangled from a closed hand. ‘I bought that paint for
you that you couldn’t find anywhere. Do you know how hard I had to
look for that colour? I had to ask someone to make it
specially.’

‘Yes, yes of course.’ she sobered. ‘Thank
you, it was very nice.’

He continued to glare at her, though it
softened somewhat.

‘So she’s a friend then.’ her smile faded
quickly then. ‘Vann, perhaps she shouldn’t even be that. She rules
the gemengs of the Plains, I expect her to put them first, not you.
Shouldn’t you put Coastside before her?’

Vann frowned, exasperated. ‘Lillia, I’m not
putting her before Coastside. Do you think my friendship with Zap
Zap is endangering Coastside too?’

‘Zap Zap isn’t the leader of the fish
people. And you haven’t bought him any necklaces.’

‘Well if he wanted one I’d get him one too.’
he said stiffly. ‘Are you going to look after it or not?’

Lillia held back a sigh and nodded. Nearly
all of their conversations since Vann’s return had been about Riley
and how good an alliance would be and how she wasn’t going to
attack Astar or Coastside. Lillia knew it annoyed Vann that she
wasn’t so eager about a possible alliance with the gemengs. She was
more wary. There was a reason they’d been fighting the gemengs so
long, and it certainly wasn’t because they were a peace loving
people. Besides, an awful lot of his talk lingered too much on
Riley personally. He was too involved with her, Lillia felt. His
judgement could not necessarily be trusted where she was
concerned.

Vann handed the necklace over, giving Lillia
a hard look in the process.

‘I’ll take care of it.’ Lillia said matter
of factly and stood. She walked into her bedroom and opened a
bedside drawer. She placed Vann’s necklace there, among many
others. Some were from men, others from friends, and some she had
bought for herself. She looked at it for a moment, lying among so
many others. The stone was green, the chain was plain. He must have
had that put on it in Coastside, she thought. Lillia had no
jewellery from the mines. She shut the drawer hard.

A girl had to aim for that sort of
jewellery. If a man offered her gifts in an attempt to get her
attention Lillia did not refuse. To her it was no different than
allowing a man to take her to a play or out to dinner. Vann of
course, considered it a matter of pride he could get a women’s
attention without showering her with presents. Besides, he thought
a woman should spend time with him because he was enjoyable
company, not because of his wages, which, as all submariners, he
was not in the habit of saving.

Lillia walked back into the main room of her
apartments, shutting her bedroom door behind her.

Vann had a thoughtful look on his face.

‘You know,’ he said, ‘I don’t mind if you
wear it.’

‘Hm? Wear it? Vann, that would give people
all sorts of ideas!’

‘I know.’ he smiled. It was a rather devious
smile.

‘How many people know you bought that?’
obviously a lot, she knew, if he was making such a suggestion, ‘the
other submariners won’t come near me if they think we’re together
again!’

‘Don’t worry about that, Lillia, I’ll let
them know it’s casual this time.’

Lillia frowned and crossed her arms. ‘I
don’t think it suits me. Besides, I’m not sure I want to be a part
of this.’

‘What? Buying presents for the lord of a
possibly hostile land? If it bothers you so much,’ he shrugged,
‘don’t wear it.’

Then that devious smirk came back. ‘But
darling,’ he said, ‘you know everything looks good on you.’

Lillia sighed and resisted the strong urge
to throw something at him. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

He smiled.

At the assigned time Vann made his way to
the Blocks. There, under the watchful eye of a disapproving
secretary he made contact with Riley via the radio.

He turned the knobs, hearing the familiar
crackle.

‘Vann?’ came her voice. It was distorted,
wavy and crackly, but it was still unmistakably her.

‘Riley.’ he smiled. Out of the corner of his
eye he saw the woman’s eyes narrow and her expression sour. He
tried to sound less happy as he said, ‘do you have any news?’