The Lord of the Plains

by Sarah Chapman

Chapter 36

  Mr Fisley was busy doing important, very official, paperwork at his desk when his office door banged open.

  Surprise and irritation warred across his face he looked up to berate the intruder.

  Irritation melted into bewilderment at the sight of an irate submariner storming into his office.

  Not just irate, Mr Fisley vaguely noticed, it was one of those tall, tanned, eye catching ones that the office girls all went nuts for. Oh, and he had his arm in a sling.

  ‘Young man-’ he began. This one would look good on a poster. This was what submariners were supposed to look like. Yes, he liked this one. Although, the number and… boisterousness… of the submariners made it very hard for a man in Coastside to find a nice young lady to settle down with. All the young ladies were busy courting the submariners. And the middle aged ladies. Any woman at all really, was more interested in a submariner than a shore sider…

  Yes, it was practically impossible for a man in Coastside who hadn’t served as a submariner to find a lady to settle down with.

  ‘Have you an appointment?’ He continued. He didn’t have an appointment. Mr Fisley knew that, of course. If this one had had an appointment in the Square the girls would have been gossiping about it for days. And the boys would have been extremely miserable.

  ‘Helmets.’ The man said.

  ‘Helmets?’ Well, perhaps he should ok the helmets. Perhaps if he gave the submariners silly helmets he’d have more luck with Ms Abermith.

  Mr Fisley was rocked out of his musing when the submariner shoved a lightning rod at him. His eyes went wide. What was this all about?!

  ‘Helmets. We’re getting helmets. With or without you.’

  ‘Helmets?’ He squeaked. Every other thought had been blown from his mind. Except helmets. ‘Submariners don’t wear helmets.’

  If Mr Fisley’s eyes had not been locked on the lightning rod they might have noticed grey eyes narrowing dangerously.

  The lightning rod was withdrawn. Mr Fisley breathed a sigh of relief.

  If he’d seen the eyes he wouldn’t have been relieved.

  Mr Fisley’s eyes were closed so he didn’t see the lightning rod raised.

  He didn’t see it arcing down.

  But he heard the thwack! as it hit his paper covered desk.

  And he noticed the flames erupting.

  After that, he was too busy shrieking, ‘fire, FIRE!’ to notice the submariner had strode out of the room.

  ‘Vann.’ Lillia began carefully, ‘you can’t go setting the Head of Finance’s desk on fire.’

  Vann, who was sitting in her window seat, making himself as comfortable as he could given his present condition, snapped his eyes to hers.

  ‘Lillia, our helmsman got knocked out. If he hadn’t perhaps we would have gotten out of there sooner. Maybe the sub would have been stabilized quicker and Andann wouldn’t have smashed his head open. That could have happened on any other sub out there.’ He gestured wildly out the window. His grey eyes were afire. ‘I don’t know, but helmets could have saved a lot of lives.’

  ‘Yes, I know, I agree.’ She said soothingly. ‘But Vann, I don’t think setting Mr Fisley’s desk on fire is the way to go about it.’

  ‘The Commander has been asking for better safety equipment for years. But that fool up in the Square thinks it’s not part of a submariner’s image! We’re not asking anymore!’

  ‘Have you seen Azra recently?’ Lillia changed the subject quickly. Azra was sure to make him forget whatever else had riled him up. Vann had only gotten into poor Mr Fisley’s office because she worked in the Square and of course, when asked, had helped him. Though really, Lillia didn’t think she’d get into trouble for that. Vann knew nearly every girl at the Square. Anyone could have let him in.

  Then Lillia wondered if Azra was alive. Her stomach dropped.

  ‘No.’ Then he added, ‘I heard the Widowmaker didn’t suffer any losses.’

  Lillia felt sickening relief. She and Azra didn’t really get on but still. Watching Vann gaze moodily out her window Lillia wondered how he dealt with all the submariners that had been lost. He didn’t show it. None of them did, really. But she wasn’t really concerned about the others right now.

  ‘Vann, surely you could get transferred shore side…’

  Vann turned from the window, his eyes fixed on her.

  ‘Submariner’s don’t live long, Vann, you know that. Surely you’ve done enough.’

  ‘Lillia, every submariner in Coastside is probably having the same conversation with someone who cares about them. If I quit, why wouldn’t they all quit? Somebody has to do it.’

  Yes, she thought, but they’re not you.

  But she had known Vann long enough. He was a submariner. She could push it, but it would get them nowhere. And he would probably leave.

  And the thing he didn’t say, she knew, was that he didn’t want to do anything else. But, she thought, he probably thinks I don’t want to hear that right now.

  He was right.

  ‘So what about Azra?’ He asked, his grey eyes narrowed as if he was preparing for a blow.

  Vann was looking out the window again. He was looking at a tree in Lillia’s backyard. Not the ocean. Not today.

  He looked back. Lillia had been something else, once, but they had both decided they preferred being friends rather than lovers. Her blonde hair was tied back from her face. As usual, some tendrils were escaping. They framed her face in a lovely manner. She had a spot of blue paint on her cheek.

  Lillia worked up at the Square, at the government offices. It was called the Square because there was a square courtyard surrounded by ugly, square, grey buildings. It stood out like a sore.

  Like many of the Coastsiders, Lillia had a hobby that occasionally earned her some extra money. She painted in her free time. Mostly, it was just for her own pleasure. Sometimes she helped with the scenery at the theatre. On occasion she would paint some rocks or shells and make jewellery. Recently she had begun painting murals in the homes of some of the people in the city.

  ‘So what about Azra?’ he asked.

  ‘You know, I’m sure she would leave you alone if you just said yes. Azra’s not used to men saying no to her.’

  Azra wasn’t used to anybody saying no to her.

  ‘No, Lillia, no. Never. She’s a submariner. That’s just asking for trouble.’

  Lillia shrugged. She had that little smile on her face she sometimes got. Vann thought of it as her evil smile.

  ‘Well, Azra only walks out with submariners. She doesn’t like shore siders.’ Lillia shrugged. ‘Thinks they’re too soft.’

  Vann didn’t add Lillia also preferred the company of submariners.

  ‘It never seems to cause her much trouble.’ Lillia added.

  Azra was very discreet with her liaisons. She wasn’t the type of women men would claim to have been with if they hadn’t, and she did a good job of keeping her lovers from telling everyone in Coastside. He knew a few men who had been with her.

  They didn’t say much.

  ‘Besides,’ Lillia was going on, ‘you’ve got the same position. It’s not like you can serve together again.’

  Azra had been promoted to Second before he had. She was very good at keeping control on the subs. She was very good at keeping control anywhere. She would probably get promoted soon. Captain Azra Sarda. He suddenly had a horrible thought of Azra promoted to Captain of the Bad Luck. He suppressed a shudder.

  ‘N-no…’

  ‘Vann?’ there was concern in Lillia’s voice.

  ‘No. Never. Not with her.’

  Unlike some of the submariners (and Azra, he thought), he rather liked going out to dinner, having a conversation with a woman before sleeping with her. He couldn’t imagine having a conversation with Azra. He could imagine her glaring at him, her giving him orders. Anything else made his head hurt. No, even if she hadn’t been a submariner, Vann thought, he would never, ever have been with her. But silly him, he
’d thought explaining he didn’t go out with girls in the military would spare her feelings.

  ‘Lillia, please, why are we talking about this?’ he asked, a note of desperation creeping into his voice. I’m going to have bad dreams now.

  Lillia shrugged. She had a tight smile on her face. Vann glared at her. She was trembling slightly, as if she was trying to hold back laughter.

  ‘Nothing, just last time I saw her she pointed out she was better at making jewellery than I was.’

  ‘She said that.’ Vann said in disbelief.

  Lillia shrugged, her blue eyes glittering. ‘Well, it’s true.’

  Vann had trouble imagining the hard, sharp woman that was Azra making jewellery out of seashells and colourful stones from the mines. But she did and was in fact very good at it. Many Coastsiders approached her personally to buy some.

  ‘I think she thinks I’m her competition.’ Lillia added.

  ‘She’s probably right, darling.’ Vann stood up and gave her a wicked smile. ‘If I hadn’t met you first I might have settled for her.’

  As he left Vann was gratified to see Lillia flushing red.

  His mood went from pleased to mildly irritated rather quickly.

  Nearly getting run over by Dr Ralis’ daughter would do that to you.

  He watched the flash of blue that was her dress and the smoke that poured from the vehicle disappear down the hill. The spluttering noises died down as it drove further away. Once a week that girl went driving around Coastside in her smoke spewing machine, wreaking havoc wherever she went.

  He turned away from it and his mood plummeted even further.

  He stared in shock at her.

  ‘Vann.’ Azra greeted him, her perfectly shaped brows lowered in a perpetual glare. ‘Visiting Lillia?’

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he demanded, recovering some of his composure.

  ‘I thought you might be here.’

  ‘You followed me.’ he stated incredulously.

  She gazed at him with those astonishingly blue eyes of hers. Then after a laden pause she said, ‘you keep avoiding me.’ The way she said it Vann expected her to assign him uniform duty for a month for it.

  He crossed his arms and glared right back at her. ’You have trouble understanding the word ‘no’.’

  ‘Laztar and Leili got married. Being a submariner should hardly matter.’

  ‘I’m not Laztar. And I’m afraid it does. I don’t go out with submariners. No exceptions.’ He crossed his arms over his chest. He was very close to getting sick of this.

  ‘And if I transferred to Astar?’

  Vann hardly considered what it meant that she’d suggest that. He was angry. And he didn’t consider for a moment she’d actually do it. ‘I don’t care if you join the air force, the answer is no. No, Azra, no.’

  ‘So no military girls, then.’ she said it as if she was collecting data, not as if it was of interest to her. Not as if it affected her at all.

  ‘No military girls.’ he agreed. ‘Excuse me.’ he said roughly as he strode past her. She hadn’t been injured in the Molk attack, and would be leaving tomorrow for sub duty.

  That was a month free of her.

  He didn’t look back once.