The Broken Kingdom (57 page)

Though she looked surprised she managed to
congratulate them and smile.

‘Maybe this isn’t a good time,’ Lillia said
a moment later, ‘but I have a question for Riley.’

‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘I don’t want you to take this as me not
supporting you,’ Lillia said with a look at Vann, ‘I just haven’t
had a chance to speak to Riley in private.’

‘Do you want Vann to leave?’

Lillia hesitated. ‘It’s up to you.’

‘I’ll stay.’ Vann said.

‘Ok.’ Lillia looked at Riley. ‘I want to
know if you’ll take revenge.’

‘Oh.’ Riley’s eyes widened. ‘No, Lillia, I
won’t, though it might not look that way to you..’

‘What do you mean?’

Riley suddenly shook her head. When she
spoke her tone was practical, ‘your people have certain biases
about me, Lillia. They’ll believe whatever they want, whether it’s
true or not.’

‘Well, thank you for answering. I guess I’ll
get back to the tents and leave you love birds alone.’ she said
with a smile.

Vann couldn’t tell if it was genuine or
not.

And a bit over a week after they’d left,
Karesh and his team returned.

Azra was escorted back to the
Astar-Coastside tents.

‘What happened?’ one of the Astarian men
asked. ‘Are the humans safe?’

Azra nodded. ‘The gemengs were true to their
word. The humans were returned safely. The one with wings speaks a
little of our language, not very well though. I asked the humans if
any other gemengs speak it, but they’ve never spent enough time
with them to know.’

‘What was it like?’ another woman asked. ‘I
can’t believe there are other humans out here.’

‘It was awful. They live on this tiny rock
shelf at the base of a sheer cliff. They have some caves, but they
aren’t very deep. This place may be full of gemengs, but it’s a far
sight better than where they live.’

‘Why would they teach gemengs our language?’
one of the men asked.

‘He told me he had to speak to Vann, until
he could learn the gemeng language. I can’t say if any others speak
it, or what it would mean if they did. What happened while I was
away?’

‘Vann got married.’ Lillia said. ‘Azra, he
won’t leave with us. This is really where he wants to be.’

Azra regarded Lillia with her ice-blue eyes
for a moment. Then she looked back at the rest of the group.
‘Taking Vann without Riley Meilis’ permission would be far too
dangerous. We’d never escape the camp.’

‘Riley Hilyard, now.’ Lillia murmured, a
slight frown on her face. She didn’t quite understand what Azra
meant, but there was grudging agreement from the Astarians.

‘Do you think they’re ready?’ Riley asked
Vann.

‘I think they’ll listen, they want to leave,
and they’re afraid of you.’

‘Good. Let’s go tell them the good
news.’

They walked together over to Azra and the
rest of her team. It was the day after Azra had returned with
Karesh.

‘Are you ready to leave?’ Riley asked.

‘We’ll be happy to leave.’ Azra said, ‘are
you ready to let us go?’

‘We are. But we have a message we need you
to take back to your commander.’

‘And what is that?’

‘I intend to end this war with the ehlkrid.
I have been fighting them while you’ve been trying to kill me and
my people. Now, the time for the final battle has come.’ Riley
picked up a stick and started drawing on the ground.
‘Unfortunately, it’s going to be near Astar.’ and she pointed to a
star she had drawn. She drew some lines, showing the ehlkrid coming
down north of Astar to a place just in front. She drew another line
from the east coming to meet up with the other line. ‘It’s not
intentional, but this is how it turned out. Astar needs to prepare
itself. I may lose. Even if I don’t, some of the ehlkrid may leave
the main group and attack Astar.’ and she absently touched her
necklace.

‘Wait,’ Azra said, ‘ehlkrid don’t attack in
groups.’

‘They do now. Their King is leading an army,
he has brought them together. Now, my tribe is going to be moving
closer to Astar to fight the ehlkrid. I’d prefer it if you didn’t
attack me, but I know that will be hard for you. Let me be clear,
my patience has run out. If Astar or Coastside make any move
against me, I will destroy them.’

She locked eyes with Azra.

‘Understood.’ Azra finally said.

‘Good. Now what are you going to tell your
commander?’

‘That an ehlkrid army will fight your
gemengs near Astar, and that Astar should be prepared for any
eventuality.’

‘Very good. I don’t want your help, and I
don’t need it. All I want is for you to stay nice and cosy inside
your shield and be ready to protect yourselves. I won’t be
protecting you.’

‘Is there anything else?’ Azra asked.

‘No.’ Vann replied. ‘You can put your armour
back on. We’ll escort you outside the camp, once you’re out we’ll
give you back your weapons.’

‘Fine. We’re ready when you are.’

That same day, Riley, some of the Mixed and
Vann stood between the Astarians and the camp. Lillia walked
quickly back to Vann as the rest of the team checked their
weapons.

‘Vann, I just want to say goodbye, and
congratulations on your wedding.’

‘Thank you, Lillia.’ and he smiled.

‘You know, I always thought eventually it
would be you and me… I see you really love her, Vann. Does she love
you too?’

‘She does.’

‘Then I’m happy for you.’ and she gave Vann
a quick hug. ‘I hope you can come back and visit Coastside one day.
Maybe the… the Mixed can give us another chance, and we can try
again.’

‘Me too. I’m really glad you think that way.
Goodbye, Lillia. And… make sure you stay in Coastside.’ He kept her
gaze for a moment until she nodded. ‘The ehlkrid shouldn’t go
anywhere near there if we fail.’

‘Don’t worry, that’s where I’m going.’

And then she headed back to the team, who
were ready to depart.

Vann walked back to Riley and together they
watched them leave. Once the humans were gone they headed back to
their own camp.

When they arrived Vann asked Riley, ‘are you
going yet?’

‘Not yet. I want to make sure they really do
leave. And we need to give them time to get back to Astar… I doubt
the King is just going to agree to my timeline.’

‘So what now?’

‘I’m going to go check on the warriors.
Maybe you should spend some more time with the humans who stayed,
this can’t be easy for them.’

Chapter 69

L
illia and the team
walked quickly through the forest. Azra had already contacted the
carrier pilots. They’d reach the planes and be heading back home
before nightfall.

There was a rustle from behind.

The team quickly turned, SIGPEWs ready.

Lillia’s heart was beating fast. This was
kind of exciting. But at the same time, she really didn’t want to
see an ehlkrid.

And then a man came out of the forest.
Lillia recognized him, he was the most handsome man she had ever
seen, though she couldn’t have said why.

‘I understand you people want Vann.’ he said
with a strong, strange accent. Only then did she realize he had a
body slung over his shoulder.

‘Who are you?’ Azra demanded, keeping the
SIGPEW aimed at his head.

‘My name isn’t important. I have Vann, you
want him.’

‘What did you do to him?’ Lillia demanded,
fear clutching at her heart.

‘Hit him over the head. He’ll be fine. Now
hurry up and take him. It wasn’t easy sneaking him out of here, and
the Master will realize he’s missing soon. They’re never apart for
very long.’

‘What do you want in return?’ Azra
asked.

‘Nothing. I just want him out of the
picture, without the blame falling on me.’

Azra nodded curtly. ‘Leave him on the
ground. Walk away.’

‘Fine.’ The man dumped Vann’s unconscious
body unceremoniously on the ground. Then he turned and quietly
slipped back into the forest.

‘Azra!’ Lillia exclaimed as the woman knelt
down by Vann and began tying him up. ’What are you doing? Vann
doesn’t need ‘rescuing’!’

‘Lillia, our mission was to bring back Vann.
We called it off because it was too dangerous, not because he
objected. That man is right, we need to get to the planes and
fast.’

Once she was finished one of the larger men
picked him up, draping him over his shoulder. His pack was
redistributed to some of the others. ‘Ready.’ he said.

‘Let’s move it. Lillia, I want you in front
of me.’ Azra said.

Lillia angrily walked in front of Azra. She
was jabbed hard in the back by Azra’s SIGPEW. ‘We have to move.’
Azra said.

The team took off at a jog that they could
sustain for hours if need be. Lillia was poked and prodded, keeping
her in front, away from Vann, and moving at a reasonable rate.

It didn’t take long for Vann to wake up. A
cloth had been tightly wound around his mouth. Furious, muffled
noises came from him. The man carrying him was kicked hard. They
stopped, tied up his legs and feet more securely. And they went
on.