The Broken Kingdom (40 page)

‘I know, but I will go, Master, if you allow
me.’

Riley frowned. ‘Not yet. You have only just
recovered.’ She sighed. ‘It’s not a huge surprise, they attacked
the camp and we have a valkar
shield
. I will let you go,
Karesh, but not for a few more days.’

‘Master, I wanted to know about the hill…
the doorway was not made by natural means.’

‘Mmm. It’s probably a remnant from the
humans who lived here long ago. We…’ she hesitated, a flash of pain
crossing her face, and Karesh thought she must be thinking of
Aerlid, ‘we sometimes came across old ruins in our travels. If you
are interested,’ and her voice sounded forced, ‘talk to Aerlid
about it.’

‘No, I’m fine.’ He said, shaking his head,
uncomfortable that he had upset her.

Riley turned her attention to Avega. She
smiled, erasing the memory of her sadness, and said, ‘Avega,
yes?’

Avega quickly nodded and looked down, not
meeting her eyes.

‘Are you settling in well?’ Riley asked.

‘Yes, lord, we are well. It is everything
Karesh promised us.’

‘I’m glad to hear that. Excuse me, Karesh,
Avega.’

‘What will you be doing for the rest of the
day?’ Avega asked Karesh after Riley was gone.

‘Rest.’ He said, a trifle grumpily. ‘The
Master has assigned me few tasks for today. If you or the others
need any help, I am to assist you.’

‘Good.’

‘Do you need any help?’ he asked
curiously.

‘No, but it is good you are free. You have
no mate?’

‘…No.’ Karesh said, after hesitating a
moment. It was not a question he had expected.

‘So I had heard. You do not look it, but you
must be stronger than I. I offer myself to you.’

Karesh reacted immediately, flapping his
wings and flying up and away. ‘What?!’ he demanded.

Avega frowned, tilting her head to look up
at him. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘No! The Master will not allow it. No!’ and
he flew away, up into the trees.

Karesh did not look back, and flew high and
fast. He only stopped once he was above the canopy. He looked
around, at the green treetops below, at the mountains in the
distance. His heart was beating fast, panic coursing through his
veins. He controlled his breathing. He could not hide up here. It
could be
dangerous
up here. Slowly, he flew back down. He
did not land on the ground until he spotted the Master.

‘Hello.’ The Master replied quizzically as
he landed in front of her.

‘It is not allowed.’

Riley frowned.

‘It isn’t allowed.’ Karesh repeated in a
calmer tone, though his wings were twitching furiously. ‘If she
asks, you must say no. You will say no.’

‘If who asks what?’ Riley asked
patiently.

‘If Avega asks… the answer is no!’

‘Alright…’ Riley said slowly. ‘The answer is
no.’ she agreed.

‘I will not be anyone’s mate!’ he repeated,
seeing she didn’t understand what he was talking about.

Riley looked surprised for a moment. Then
she said calmly, ‘if you say no, the answer is no. Karesh, you have
seen many others ask me about this, you know what my response has
always been. There is no reason for you to be alarmed.’

Karesh nodded slowly. ‘Yes… yes.’

Riley observed him for a few more moments
and said, ‘I think I’ll go speak to Avega now.’

‘Yes!’ Karesh agreed, and flew up into the
trees to wait for her return.

Riley was more than a little surprised at
Karesh’s sudden request. He’d never displayed any interest in any
of the other gemengs, so she’d never thought of him having a mate
or a family.

She supposed she couldn’t be surprised at
his sudden, violent aversion to the idea though, considering what
the situation had been on the Plains.

When she found Avega the other gemeng would
not meet her eyes, and bowed her head submissively. This sort of
behaviour irritated Riley, but she was used to it.

When Riley finished explaining the rules
regarding courtship, Avega finally looked up, a frown on her
face.

‘I do not understand.’ She said finally.

‘Which part?’ she asked patiently.

‘No, I understand the rules. But I do not
understand. Karesh fought an ehlkrid, he must be stronger than me.
I offered myself.’

‘Oh? That’s…’

‘He is strong, and brave, and has been kind
and considerate with us. It is difficult to find warriors like
that. You do not often find strong and thoughtful warriors.’

‘Yes-‘

‘It is very surprising he does not have
someone already.’

‘I guess it is.’

‘I do not understand why he is afraid, when
he is so powerful.’

Riley thought she knew. Karesh didn’t think
of himself as strong. Until Aerlid had fixed his wings, he’d been
very vulnerable. Even though his wings gave him an advantage over
the other gemengs, he still felt overpowered by them. He was a
little bit shorter than her, which made him smaller than all the
other gemengs, except for the children.

Riley wasn’t sure how to approach this, and
briefly wished Vann was around.

‘Well,’ she said carefully, ‘I think it was
just a surprise. Since he said no, I think it best if you leave it.
I’ll… mention what you said. If he changes his mind…’ she
shrugged.

Avega nodded, clearly not satisfied with
that.

Riley left, to go find Karesh. She didn’t
find him. He found her. After leaving Avega, she walked around the
tribe for several minutes, and ended up outside the shield, where
Karesh flew down to her.

He did not approach her, and left himself
enough room to fly away if need be.

‘Karesh, I’ve explained things to Avega, and
she understands. She won’t mention it again.’

Karesh nodded, though he still looked
tense.

‘I don’t think she meant to upset you,
Karesh. Um… she seems to like you.’

Karesh’s wings flared in alarm.

‘Mostly because you seem kind.’ She
stressed. ‘She appreciates that. I told her no, and she won’t
approach you about it again. If you change your mind-‘

‘No!’

‘That’s fine too.’

Karesh nodded slowly.

‘Ok.’ She said after a while. ‘If you need
me, you know where I am.’

‘Yes.’ He agreed. ‘I know.’

Riley headed back to the camp, deciding it
would be better just to give Karesh some space to calm down.

Chapter 49

V
earla did not turn until
her visitor was right behind her.

‘Vearla,’ Skachi, Speaker for the Master of
the House of Corchanus, greeted her. ‘I have news.’

Vearla turned to regard the human. He smiled
when her eyes met his.

‘We will press the offensive against the
ehlkrid. We will not wait anymore.’

‘What?’ she gasped.

‘We will fight them, as you say-‘

Vearla could not help the moan that escaped
her.

‘Vearla, are you alright?’ he cried in alarm
as he leapt to her side.

‘P-please,’ she gasped, holding up her hand
to stall him, ‘you cannot say… you cannot say you will
kill
for me?’

‘We will fight. We fought the gemengs, we
will fight the ehlkrid.’

Waves of pain and confusion hit her. She
could barely think straight. She struggled to form thoughts, to
even remain sitting.

‘Vearla, are you alright?’

Panic ripped through her,
I cannot be
responsible for death, I cannot!
At the same time, she managed
to remind herself,
the humans mustn’t know…they must not
know…

Vearla managed a weak smile. ‘Skachi, you
know we only wish for peace.’

‘There can be no peace with these
creatures.’

‘I can… I can keep you safe from all but the
King, Skachi, and you cannot defeat the King anyway… there is no
need.’

‘There is a need. It has become dangerous to
leave Cavachi. We have lost our freedom. Astar suffers even more,
food may soon become a serious issue for them. We plan to avoid
going down that path ourselves. We will not let these creatures
imprison us anymore. We will fight them, and kill them as we did
the gemengs who once lived near our home.’

‘I can… I can protect you here…’ she managed
again, some of the terrible, suffocating pain in her mind easing as
she offered.

‘Vearla, you do not look well.’

‘I am fine.’ She managed. ‘I am fine. I can
protect you…’

Skachi shook his head. ‘We have voted on it.
We-‘

‘You are right, I feel unwell.’ She said
quickly. ‘Please, leave me be.’

‘Can I get you anything?’ he asked in
concern.

Vearla shook her head, and finally, the
human left.

After he was gone, Vearla let out a
shuddering sigh. The turmoil in her mind was far worse than the
panic that coursed through her body. She breathed slowly, thinking
to herself,
I offered an alternative. I offered an alternative.
I cannot control them. I am not responsible for them.

After several minutes of this Vearla shakily
got to her feet. The whole world seemed to swing around her. She
leant heavily against the mountain side, but even that seemed to
tremble. It had been so long since she had felt anything like
this.

Why did I stay with the humans? Why did I
not join the others in the city?

Moving carefully, taking only a few short
steps at a time, Vearla began walking down the tunnel. She hummed a
broken tune to the mountain.
I am sorry. I am sorry.

Despite her failure to prevent the human’s
plan to kill, the mountain hid her. No one saw her as she ventured
deep into the mountain, away from the humans, away from anyone.

When she was far, far away, deep in the
utter darkness of the depths of the mountain, she slowly crumpled
to her knees. She lay on the hard stone and listened to her
breathing. She felt ill. To her ears, her breath felt weak and
uneven. It would take a long time for this to pass.

‘Why did I stay?’ she murmured in Valkar to
the mountain. ‘Why did I stay?’

She listened for the mountain’s answer.

The sky was too far. There were no mountains
in the sky. That was why she had stayed.

‘But why with the humans? Why on earth did I
stay with the Raka?’

She listened again, focussing all her being
on the mountain, trying to forget what the Raka were planning.

‘Lonely? That seems a silly reason now…
better to be lonely, than to feel this…’

Above the mountain of Cavachi, white wisps
twisted in the sky. The wisps glinted in the sun like metal.

A winged monstrosity flew close. Sudden
activity exploded. The metal Worms broke apart, and bright light
flared. There was a horrible screech as metal was torn, and fell
from the sky. Light flared again, and the monstrosity hurtled down
out of the sky in a free fall. The Worms stayed in the sky a little
longer, watching. Then they returned to the mountain.