The Lord of the Plains (86 page)

The convoy was hard to miss.

You heard them coming first. Armoured
vehicles roared through the Plains, leaving a trail of crushed and
broken grass in their wake.

Aerlid knew enough about the Astarian
military from Riley. So when he heard the unmistakable sound of the
trucks he quickly turned his attention skyward. He sung softly, his
eyes gazing at the sky. A ripple. He counted. One, two… three
Predators. One would surely be enough to wreak havoc on the tribe.
Karesh was only just gliding- the Predators would be far out of
reach of any counter attack. Except perhaps, his own.

Aerlid quickly turned. ‘Get Karesh!’ he
yelled at the nearest gemeng.

When Karesh arrived Aerlid quickly ordered
him to prepare the tribe for battle. As soon as Aerlid finished
speaking Karesh disappeared to do his bidding.

Aerlid turned back to the direction the
humans were coming from. And he waited.

Soon the grasses parted, a monstrous truck
appeared before him. The sound was appalling. More were behind. The
truck stopped. Armoured humans poured from the vehicles, quickly
getting into formation. The number of energy weapons pointed at him
was daunting. Behind him, the warriors of the tribe were silent and
unseen. They would not attack without his signal.

Then three men hopped out of one of the
vehicles. They were not armoured, though they wore military
uniforms.

The men approached.

There was a tall, tanned, handsome, blonde
man. Aerlid did not recognize his uniform. In the middle was a
stocky, hard faced man who looked like he might be in charge. The
third man was slenderer than the other two. He had quick eyes and
brown hair.

His eyes locked on Aerlid. They went wide.
Then an excited grin split his face.

Aerlid frowned slightly.

He started talking hurriedly to the man
beside him, the important looking one. The blonde man stopped
walking as well, his attention on his companions. The important
looking man had a thoughtful look on his face. He made a sign and
the energy weapons were lowered.

Aerlid, surprised, waited for the three to
approach.

The brown haired one could barely contain
his excitement. ‘Hello!’ He said in Astarian. ‘My name is
Messenger, are you a valkar?’

Aerlid stared, taken aback.

‘Don’t worry.’ he said hurriedly, seeing his
face. ‘I have met Vearla, in Cavachi. Are you the Moonsinger?’

Aerlid finally found his voice. ‘Vearla?’ he
said, speaking Astarian as well.

‘Do you know her?’

Aerlid nodded, confused. ‘How did you meet
Vearla? Who are you?’ he demanded.

‘My name is Saris Valais, but you can call
me Messenger. I met Vearla in Cavachi, the home of the Vachi. Oh,
you might know them as Raka!’

‘Yes. Yes.’ Aerlid narrowed his eyes at this
man. Saris. Then he turned his eyes back to the soldiers, still
armed. ‘I’m a bit confused. What are you doing here?’

‘I have so many questions! Do you-’

‘Not now, Messenger.’ The important looking
man cut him off. He gazed at Aerlid fiercely. ‘I am Neiteis Briggs,
Commander of the Astar Military and member of the Council of Astar.
We are here to discuss the formation of a gemeng army under a
gemeng named Riley Meilis.’

Aerlid frowned. And then it clicked. ‘Ah. I
understand. You wish to know Riley’s intentions.’

Mr Briggs nodded curtly.

‘I can assure you, Riley holds no ill will
towards Astar, and certainly has no intention of attacking
Astar.’

‘That’s good to hear.’ he narrowed his eyes.
Obviously, that wasn’t going to be enough.

‘Mr Briggs, he’s a valkar. Like Vearla. He
wouldn’t be here if she was going to be unpeaceful.’

Mr Briggs shot Messenger a hard glance. He
stopped talking.

‘I imagine you wish to speak to Riley
yourself.’ Aerlid said. He noticed then that the blonde man was
looking at him intently. Aerlid spared him a glance. He wasn’t sure
he wanted this good-looking man near her; Riley was very naive and
inexperienced when it came to certain things. ‘I’m afraid she isn’t
here.’

‘Where is she?’ Mr Briggs asked, it was less
a question than a demand. ‘And when will she be back?’

‘I don’t know, to both of those questions.’
he glanced up at the sky. ‘I can call her tonight. She will see my
sign and come as soon as she is able.’

‘Tonight? When the moon is out? Can we
watch?’ Messenger piped up.

‘It’s going to be quite obvious.’ he replied
stiffly. He gazed at the army again. ‘Do you require anything for
your men, Mr Briggs?’ Aerlid asked. ‘I wouldn’t want your stay to
be uncomfortable.’

‘No thank you, we have everything we need.’
Mr Briggs replied curtly. ‘I would be interested in seeing how you
contact Riley Meilis however.’

Aerlid looked at him for a moment. ‘Very
well, as a sign of good faith, you may watch.’

Cheerful fires lit the night. Wild yells and
snatches of songs rang out across the Plains. The smell of meat
cooking was enticing Riley over to the fire. But something else had
caught her attention.

‘What is it?’ Jaleg asked. Riley was pale
and stiff, her eyes locked on something in the sky.

Jaleg looked up. Words died in his throat.
Others noticed and looked too. There were cries of exclamations.
Shocked awe. Fear. Delight.

The shadows on the moon had taken on a new
shape; that of a pouncing cat.

Riley shook her head and looked back at the
gemengs. ‘It’s nothing to worry about.’ she said. The atmosphere
here had changed. Gone was the fear. Replacing it was pride,
delight, fragile happiness. ‘It’s a sign from a friend, he wants me
to return.’

The gemeng who had ruled over this place was
gone, killed by the village people working as a team. Riley had
stayed back, letting them do it. They had been much easier to teach
than the gemengs of the plains. It had almost been fun. Perhaps
that was because they were at the bottom of the gemeng hierarchy,
lower than even the lowest of the Plains gemengs.

‘I need to go.’ she repeated, this time
specifically to Jaleg. ‘Remember what I said about the ehlkrid. If
you want my help, you know where I’ll be.’

He smiled slowly. It was a rare thing to see
on him. ‘Perhaps not. You have many of the Plain’s gemengs with
you.’

‘Good luck then. Find somewhere safe.’

‘Thank you. Thank you very much. And don’t
worry, we will.’

She smiled. Her eyes went to the celebration
one more time before she turned towards the Plains and jogged off
into the night.

To say the humans were impressed with
Aerlid’s work was an understatement.

He had sung, and the moon itself had
changed.

Chapter 73

Aerlid was at the human’s campsite the next
night when a human soldier approached. He had a gemeng with
him.

‘The gemeng insisted he talk with you.’ The
helmeted soldier said.

Mr Briggs nodded. Only then did the soldier
step back and allow the gemeng access to Aerlid.

The gemeng spoke in Plains speech. The
humans did not understand.

The message was short: she’s back.

Aerlid nodded and stood. ‘Excuse me,
gentlemen. There’s something I must see to.’

He and the gemeng were escorted from the
campsite by human soldiers. Once they were free of the humans
Aerlid’s pace increased. He went quickly to Riley’s tent. He found
her standing outside. She was sweating and breathing heavily.

She noticed him quickly but said nothing.
She was too busy trying to breathe. He had never seen her so
tired.

‘Where were you?’ he asked, momentarily
distracted from the humans.

Riley pointed. ‘Village… outside…
Plains…’

He realised she must have been running
nearly continuously to get here so fast.

‘Once you’ve caught your breath you need to
bathe and get changed Riley, humans are here.’

‘What?!’

‘They came with a small army. They think
you’ve been uniting the tribes so you can attack Astar.’

Riley gaped at him in horrified
disbelief.

‘You have some time. We need to think about
what you’re going to do.’

Riley did not move very fast. Well, she
couldn’t really. So she had plenty of time to think while she
cleaned herself up and had something to eat and drink. Aerlid
stayed with her for some time. It did not take long for Riley to
decide that the Astarian’s arrival might not be a bad thing. She
and Aerlid talked long about what she could say.

It was harder than with the gemengs. The
wording was so much more important. And the danger if she could not
convince them she wasn’t a threat…

As they talked she suddenly realised she
knew something that could, or should help.

Gemengs are half human
. How could
that not be important? They might not believe her, but this piece
of information could be vital.