The Broken Kingdom (28 page)

‘I don’t like this.’ Rose said, turning
towards them. ‘But it is your choice. He does not know his own
mind, you cannot trust his seeming normalcy. Do not keep him here
any longer than necessary.’ she looked intently at Riley, who
merely nodded.

‘I will be careful. I have never been
before, with him, Rose. But I will be.’ Adila promised.

When Riley entered the campsite Aerlid was
already in his allocated, secluded corner. Karesh had helped him
set up. When Karesh saw Riley approaching he quietly drifted
off.

‘You have everything you need?’ Riley asked
brusquely.

‘To write a book and teach the gemengs? No,
but Karesh will make me parchment, pen and ink. I imagine I’ll have
to teach the gemengs how to read now too. And choose a language to
write in.’

‘They have been learning Astarian.’ Riley
replied. ‘I don’t care how you do it, as long as it gets done.’

He merely nodded.

‘The valkar made me new weapons. They don’t
work.’ Riley said and handed him her sword. ‘Adila told me they
have a soul. Can you fix them?’

Aerlid inspected the beautiful sword and
frowned in exasperation. ‘Fearlid made this, there can be no better
weapon for anything that doesn’t involve killing. I doubt they’ll
let me go make you a new one now. Hmm… let me think on it, I may be
able to do something.’

‘Fine. Is there any way to make Adila
respond quickly?’

‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

‘There have been times I needed her, but she
took a week or more to respond.’

‘Of course she can do better, if she feels
it necessary. But what you think of as vitally important and
requiring attention
now,
she may not. If I, or another
valkar, call her and tell her it is urgent, she will respond.’

‘Fine. I have some questions about Andalla
and his pot. What do you know of it?’

‘Riley, it is best you do not get involved
with Andalla.’ Aerlid warned as he put the weapons to the side.

‘Aerlid, you are here because you have use
to me. If you refuse to tell me, I’ll send you right back to
Rose.’

‘Well you’ve already gotten yourself
involved anyway.’ he paused. He leant back then and his expression
changed as he prepared himself for what could be a very long
lecture. ‘First Riley, I must give you another warning, though you
insist on ignoring them all.’

Riley observed him coolly and crossed her
arms over her chest. She stood while he sat, and she did not stand
close.

‘Andalla may act like a fool, and you may
think you’re playing him very nicely. But consider this Riley, he
has gotten something he has always wanted, a daughter of our Queen,
a valkar princess as he says, while you are still in a very sorry
predicament.’

She said nothing. He went on, ‘in many ways
Andalla is a fool. He believes his own rhetoric. But you’ll find
him far more stubborn if you try to trick him into doing something
not so obviously in his favour. And should he even suspect that you
think you’re fooling him he will destroy you.’ He sighed. ‘And then
there are the valkar. They may not kill, Riley, but they are not
above vengeance. They have done it before.’

‘What about the pot?’

‘Andalla’s pot? What exactly do you want to
know about it?’

‘How does it work, and can anyone use
it?’

‘I believe so, though getting access to it
would be impossible without Andalla’s permission.’ his eyes
narrowed. ‘The Andallites will not cross him, Riley. Don’t put your
trust in them.’

‘Aerlid, I do have other things to do
besides stand here and listen to you.’ she said, exasperated.

‘Anyone can use it, as for working it,
picture very clearly and precisely in your mind what you want to
create.’

Riley nodded curtly, he had confirmed what
she already knew. ‘Fine. What about the King, what is he likely to
do?’

‘Try and ruin things at the most inopportune
time.’

Riley nodded again, more slowly. ‘Alright.
What are the rules about courtship that Andalla follows?’

‘He draws most extensively from the Azarian
culture, they had very funny views about women, but he also picks
and chooses whatever pleases him. So Azarian courtship… well, he
certainly isn’t following their rules. It was less courtship than
selling the woman from one family to another.’

‘Tell me what you know of the cultures he is
aware of then.’

‘He’ll follow the romantics most likely,
read her poetry, take her out riding and so on, he’ll probably give
her gifts, he may even try to impress her family. It would help if
I knew what you were thinking.’

‘No. Think hard, Aerlid. I will come and ask
you again later. You should also start thinking about how I could
get to the Land of the Ehlkrid unassisted.’ and with that Riley
stalked off. She noted that Adila was not far away, she had been
watching out of earshot the whole time. She felt a little better at
that.

When night came even Vann’s presence did not
help Riley. She finally stood, her heart beating erratically, her
skin sweaty. She gazed at the fire, the light did not help.

‘Riley?’ Vann asked sleepily from behind
her.

‘I’m ok.’ she said quietly. ‘Go back to
sleep.’

‘No, you’re not.’

Riley heard the sounds of movement, then
Vann had his arms around her. ‘It’s because he’s here.’ he
whispered into her ear.

Riley nodded, unease thrumming through her.
She was wound tight like a wire, the slightest noise made her jump,
real or imagined.

‘Would it help if Adila was closer?’ he
asked, his voice still thick with sleep.

‘Maybe.’

‘I’ll go get her.’ he said, drawing away
from her.

‘Wait,’ she suddenly cried, the thought of
him venturing alone into the unempty darkness petrified her.
‘Please don’t go.’

He quickly came back. ‘You’re going to have
some grumpy gemengs tomorrow.’

‘What, why?’

And suddenly Vann was yelling for Adila. The
sound of movement filled the night, grumpy noises, exclamations of
surprise.

Riley couldn’t help but smile.

Adila was there in seconds. ‘What’s wrong?’
she asked, not sounding sleepy at all. The Sunsinger shone faintly,
lighting the darkness almost as well as the fire did. But she
hadn’t been doing that before.

‘Can you stay close?’ Vann asked. ‘Aerlid’s
presence is upsetting us.’

Adila paused for a moment, then she said,
‘come with me.’

Adila led them through the camp to the other
side, where Aerlid now lived. It was easy to step over grumbling
gemengs with her light.

Aerlid could soon be spotted by his own
glow, softer than Adila’s, not as bright. He was sitting up, very
clearly awake.

‘Surely you could have just thrown a pillow
or something at her, Vann.’ Aerlid murmured dryly.

Adila pointed her staff at the ground in
front of Aerlid. The ground glowed, then the glow spread out,
encircling Aerlid. He looked around in wry amusement. ‘What if I
want to have a bath?’ he asked.

‘Then I will escort you.’ Adila replied. She
turned to Riley and said, ‘he cannot cross this line, not unless I
allow it. I can stay here and guard him, or I can stay with you.
Which would you prefer?’

Riley breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Can you
stay here?’

Adila nodded. ‘He can’t leave, Riley. He
can’t hurt you.’

Riley nodded. She let Vann lead them back to
their spot. It was a bit harder without Adila lighting the way, and
some poor gemengs who had only just gotten back to sleep were woken
up again.

They arrived and lay back down. Riley looked
over to where she knew Aerlid was. She could see the faint glow
from the circle. It was not so dark in the campsite anymore. There
was the glow from the shield, from a few fires, and now from
Aerlid’s prison.

She curled up close to Vann. Sleep was still
not as easy as before, but at least it came.

Riley did not get her sword back for several
days. It took Aerlid longer to fix this sword than it had taken to
make her last one. While the ehlkrid had been coming closer every
day, they had not attacked the camp yet; merely the hunting
parties.

At least Riley had gotten used to fighting
with her bare hands.

When Aerlid handed her sword and dagger back
Riley inspected them carefully. They looked no different, and yet
somehow they felt strange. She couldn’t quite put her finger on
it.

‘The weapons will kill. I don’t need to tell
you the valkar will be very upset if they find out about this. If
the weapons cause you any problems you must tell me.’ Aerlid said
somewhat grimly. ‘I’m afraid I have done little work on my other
tasks while I was doing this.’

‘Fine. Now you can.’ was all she said before
leaving, not asking or caring how he had kept his work secret from
Adila.

She tested out her weapons that very day.
When she dealt the killing blow to an ehlkrid with sword rather
than fist, she smiled.

Chapter 36

V
ann repeated his
instructions calmly and clearly. Once again, the much larger woman
grunted at him and crossed her arms.

‘Galis,’ Vann repeated patiently, ‘you
cannot put the tent there. It’s right in the way of the door.’

Galis put her hands on her hips, making
herself even bigger, ‘Galis the
Strong.
’ she growled. The
little gemeng child at her feet hissed and copied her
movements.

‘Galis the Strong.’ Vann agreed pleasantly.
He was quite sure if he hadn’t come along and tried to move the
child’s tent, Galis would have done it as it was
clearly
a
bad place to the put the tent. But now that he’d suggested it be
moved, she wanted it to stay where it was.

‘Look, if we can’t agree, I’m going to have
to go get Riley.’ He hated having to rely on her, but so often
(several times a day), he was reduced to using Riley’s name to get
anything done.