The Lord of the Plains

by Sarah Chapman

Chapter 66

  Karesh was a curious man. Riley was curious about him. He seemed so different from the other gemengs. But he was slippery, in a way. He was very good at blending into the background. Sometimes he was there and you wouldn’t even notice. So it was curiously difficult to remember if he’d been somewhere or not.

  He was just part of the background. Every attempt to bring him out slid right off him.

  Riley didn’t have the luxury to be too frustrated about this. She had plenty of other people to manage after all.

  Aerlid spent most of his days making rounds of the gemengs with his ‘students’. They weren’t overly motivated to learn and he wasn’t overly motivated to teach them. Riley, however, had an annoying habit of dropping by during his lessons, or asking for a demonstration of their skills, so he couldn’t just ignore them, which would have made everyone but Riley happy.

  He had three students, one male, one female, and he wasn’t quite sure what the third was supposed to be. He’d chosen the male because of his physical weakness. If he didn’t learn a useful skill (not that the gemengs would consider medicine a useful skill), he wouldn’t survive long. The female because she was less abrasive than most of the children, and she also looked to have the ability to affect things with her will. That was also why he’d chosen the it. Those two had the greatest chance of learning to heal a graze just by looking at it.

  Not that they’d ever be able to do anything else. The power around them was too weak, their awareness of it too tentative.

  Aerlid and his students were making the rounds. They spent a lot of time with the other children. There were all sorts of fantastic deformities and illnesses that would kill the children before they made it to adulthood. Riley had alerted him of it soon after taking control of the tribe. Not that he hadn’t expected it, considering what they were. She’d gotten the idea into her head that if he could fix some of the children the gemengs would have more respect for what he did.

  ‘What do you want?’ a loud, angry voice demanded.

  It snapped Aerlid out of his thoughts. They were standing in front of a tent. A large, snarling woman stood in front of the entrance.

  Aerlid fixed his dark, star-studded eyes on her. ‘We’re here to inspect the children.’

  ‘He’s not ready for the Warrior’s Trial.’ she snarled defensively. Her body was tense, as if ready for a fight.

  Aerlid did not feel much empathy for this snarling, ugly ball of a woman. As soon as the child passed the Warrior’s Trial, she’d probably kill him with her bare hands if the opportunity came up.

  ‘Lukash, they’re not going to hurt him.’

  Aerlid turned, Karesh was coming towards them.

  There was a certain delicacy to him, a pleasing arrangement of features, and no apparent deformities. Aerlid didn’t mind him. It didn’t hurt his eyes to look at him.

  The woman, Lukash, relaxed a bit. Her eyes darted from Karesh to Aerlid. ‘He’s just a child. Not a warrior. Too young.’

  ‘Of course.’ Aerlid said smoothly. ‘May we enter?’

  She shuffled out of the way. Aerlid brushed past her, his students following. Inside, the tent was dark. Aerlid had no trouble seeing in the dark.

  Karesh and Lukash followed them in, making the small tent rather crowded.

  Karesh often watched while Aerlid worked. Aerlid wondered if Karesh had an interest in learning medicine. As far as students went, he would probably be the best he could get here.

  A slender form stood in the darkness.

  ‘It’s alright, little-one,’ Lukash called. ‘It’s the shiny man.’

  Aerlid bristled. Shiny man. Aerlid stepped forward smartly, so he was standing next to the child.

  ‘Is there something wrong with your child?’ he asked Lukash.

  ‘No, nothing wrong, he’s fine.’ she said defensively.

  Aerlid ignored her and began visually inspecting the boy. He was not wearing much. Why soon became clear- much of his skin was covered in blisters. Looking closer, Aerlid was surprised to see patches of almost translucent skin. The rest of his skin was very pale, would burn easily. But those patches- why, going into the sun would probably destroy them. And his eyes, Aerlid noted were red.

  ‘Can you see well now?’ Aerlid asked.

  ‘Y-yes. I can see alright in the dark.’

  ‘What about in sunlight?’

  He hesitated.

  ‘I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.’ he said sternly.

  ‘He fine!’ Lukash said again. ‘Fine!’

  ‘Clearly, he’s not fine, woman. Sunlight causes you pain, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Just a bit. N-not much…’

  Aerlid sighed. He turned to his students. ‘This is one of the main problems you’ll face. Patients will lie and hide and try to pretend they’re perfectly normal. Come and look at this boy and tell me what you think is wrong.’

  The children came up.

  ‘He looks like a fish!’ the male said.

  Aerlid sighed. He closed his eyes. ‘Yes. Like a fish. Exactly.’

  ‘Would covering up those ugly bits fix him?’ the female asked.

  ‘Ugly bits’ was an excellent way to describe those translucent patches. Muscle and veins could be seen pulsing beneath the skin.

  ‘Well,’ Aerlid asked the boy, ‘does covering them up help?’

  The boy hesitated. Then, his voice teary, ‘no, they tear and bruise easily, I’m going to die, I’ll never make it as a warrior!’

  ‘And his eyes.’ the it said. ‘His eyes are broken too. Well, maybe he could just come out at night.’

  The boy sniffed. ‘Night is ok.’ he mumbled.

  ‘I’m afraid you children don’t have the ability to fix this.’ he waited. ‘But I can. Boy, sit down.’

  ‘What are you going to do to him?!’ Lukash demanded.

  ‘If you’re going to bother me, leave now.’ And Aerlid sat down too, across from the boy. ‘You’ll get a strange sensation, possibly some pain. It’s important you tell me where all the patches are.’

  Aerlid took the boy’s hands in his. There was a large patch covering the back of his hand and two fingers. There was a slimy feel to it. A slimy, delicate feel, as if he pushed too hard he’d break it. He held the hand gently and closed his eyes.

  When he opened his eyes a few minutes later the hand was normal.

  Aerlid realised everyone was leaning over his shoulders and trying to get a look at the hand.

  ‘I need space!’ he called.

  They hurriedly moved away.

  When they were gone, and his disgruntlement had faded, Aerlid moved on to the next patch.

  It wasn’t terribly difficult. The eyes were going to be harder, but nothing he couldn’t handle.

  Not five minutes after Riley left their camp, Karesh appeared out of the grasses. Aerlid’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Karesh cautiously approached and crouched down opposite him. All the while Aerlid wondered what was going on.

  ‘You healed that boy.’ Karesh began in that hesitant way he had.

  ‘I did.’ Aerlid replied as a thought occurred to him. ‘Is there something wrong with you?’

  Karesh stiffened. He drew back. Then he sighed. His eyes averted, he nodded cautiously.

  Aerlid began looking at him with new eyes. Quickly, he settled on his back. As always, Karesh wore a heavy cloak.

  ‘I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.’ Aerlid said, his voice softer.

  Karesh grimaced. But in one move he stood and swept the cloak off his back.

  Aerlid rose too. Curiously he walked around behind Karesh.

  It took him a moment to understand what he was seeing.

  ‘Hmm… do you want me to remove it or fix it?’

  Karesh started. ‘You could fix it?’

  ‘Well, I can’t say. I’d have to look at it more closely. Even if it was physiologically sound, you might not be able to use it.’

  Karesh hesitated.

 
‘Let me examine it more closely, and I’ll tell you whether it’s possible. What about the second one? It appears to be alright.’

  ‘I’ll keep that.’ Karesh said quickly, defensively.

  Aerlid fell silent.

  ‘I’ve used it to confuse my opponents before. It’s been useful to me.’

  ‘Alright. I’ll leave the second one alone. Have you tried to have it removed?’

  ‘No, not really. It… it’s very sensitive. It bleeds a lot too. I was afraid to try in case…’

  ‘That’s probably for the best.’ Aerlid said briskly. ‘Will you let me examine it?’

  ‘Y-yes… and… thank you.’