Andalla, smiling, relaxed again. ‘Yes, I can see how that would be painful. But,’ and he waved his hand, ‘you will have to suffer. You are a mere valkar, what could you give me that I could not take for myself?’
Riley’s eyes were going wide as she stared hard at Adila.
Adila glanced at her. ‘Perhaps I may speak with her in private?’
‘Hmm…’ Andalla narrowed his gaze for a moment. ‘My wife will show you about my gardens. It is a task unworthy of myself.’ and he stood.
Out in the gardens, Riley spoke in a hurried whisper to Adila, ‘you have to get me out of here!’
‘I can’t. If I take you away he’ll just come get you again. I… I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.’
‘Why kidnap me, Adila? I’m not even a real valkar!’
‘I have heard Andalla kidnapped a daughter of one of our Queen’s long, long ago. But she died soon after, and so he hasn’t done it again. He likely wouldn’t have taken you if the King hadn’t kidnapped you first. But if Andalla tires of you the King will as well.’
Riley stared at her in disbelief. ‘She died? What if I tell him I don’t want to be here?’
‘That’s not a good idea. I don’t know what he would do, but it wouldn’t be good.’
‘So I just have to stay here, traded between Andalla and the King?’
‘I’m sorry. It might not be forever. If Andalla gets tired of you, the King likely will as well.’
‘How long?!’ she demanded.
‘I don’t know. I’m sorry. Is there anything you’d like me to tell your friends?’
Riley stared at her in anger and shock. ‘No!’ she shouted. She gathered her gown in her hands, turned and stormed off.
When Adila returned Vann leapt up, hope blossoming. It died as soon as he saw the look on her face.
‘I’m sorry.’ she said as she approached. ‘They won’t let her go.’
‘How are we going to rescue her?’
Adila shook her head. ‘We’re not. They’re too powerful, and there’s nothing we have that we can trade for her.’
Vann stared. ‘You’re saying we just… leave her there?’
Adila nodded. ‘Eventually, I think they will let her go. But I don’t know when that will be. It could be a few weeks, it could be years.’
‘There has to be something.’ he insisted firmly. ‘Even if it’s dangerous.’
She shook her head again. ‘Vann, not even the valkar can fight him. And you cannot enter their worlds.’
‘But you can.’ he pressed.
‘I won’t help you with that. If you sneak in and rescue her they will just come take her back, and likely punish you for stealing from them. No Vann, I am sorry, but there is nothing we can do but wait and hope.’ she held his gaze intently.
Vann broke it off first. He ran his hands through his hair. Then he put his hands on his hips. He turned, paced. He caught Karesh’s eye and stopped.
‘The Master will escape.’ Karesh said in heavily accented Astarian.
‘How is she going to do that?’ Vann replied in Plains speech. ‘If she could, don’t you think she would have done it already? Do you really think Riley would have let the King carry her off if she could do anything to stop it?’
Karesh shrugged. ‘Maybe not use strength. But the Master will escape on her own. She has to.’
‘There has to be something, Karesh. I can’t just sit here and do nothing.’
‘If that’s what you want, we’ll try.’ Karesh said hesitantly.
Vann frowned. ‘I understand if you don’t want to help.’
‘We follow your lead. My… my suggestion is to wait. Give the Master time to escape on her own.’
‘You’ll follow my lead?’ Vann stated. Karesh often asked Vann for his opinion, but he’d thought the gemeng was just trying to be polite and include him.
Karesh nodded.
Vann’s frown did not disappear. That didn’t quite fit right. But he would deal with that later. The thought that he somehow might be forcing the others into something dangerous led Vann to say, ‘for now, we’ll do as you suggest, Karesh. We’ll wait.’ the words tasted bitter to Vann. Wait. How was that going to help?
‘I suggest… we should stay here. When she escapes, she will know where to find us.’
‘Fine.’ Vann replied, not able to keep the acid from his tone. ‘We’ll wait here.’
Chapter 26
It was dark. It was always dark. Suddenly he could hold on no more and let out a shriek of despair.
‘Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!’ the wail bounced off the walls of the cavern, echoing away into the forever night of the bowels of the mountain.
‘Brother! Shh!’ His sister, Secondgirl, grabbed his hand. ‘Why are you yelling?’
‘Everyone, halt!’ a firm, female voice called.
Firstboy fell silent and heard the heavy, confident footsteps of Galis the Strong, one of the few adults among them.
‘What is this, Gurak’s boy? Why are you yelling?’
‘It’s so dark.’ He sobbed. ‘There’s no way out, we’re stuck!’
‘It is dark.’ She agreed. ‘Tell me, boy, did you often go up to the surface before?’
‘No… f-father did not often take us, it was dangerous.’ His voice broke and fresh tears spilled down his cheeks as he thought of his mother and father, dead or trapped like they were. Most likely dead, a little voice in the back of his head said. They’re all dead, and now you’re going to die down here too.
‘Yes. So why are you so upset? How different is this from our life before, hmm?’
‘I miss my mummy and daddy!’
‘Brother!’ Secondgirl hissed. ‘Don’t be a weakling!’
‘I don’t care, I miss them!’ Despite all the other worries he had, he felt a spark of annoyance at being called ‘Brother’. He’d been about to take the Warrior’s Trial, he’d chosen a name for himself (Meguk the Strong), and he was ready to be more than ‘Brother’ or ‘Firstboy’.
He heard his fellows, other children, the few adults, murmuring. Many were ridiculing him, others were adding their own distress to his.
‘Yes.’ Galis said sombrely. ‘Yes, boy, I know. My mate is gone too. Bulag was a great warrior, and I will remember him. You remember your father, Gurak, and your mother, Ekrag.’
‘Wh-what’s going to happen to us?’ he sobbed. ‘Our home is gone, our Master and everyone is dead.’ They had to be dead. He knew they had to be dead. He’d been in the deeper caverns, safe from the monstrous creatures his parents fought. Then came a horrendous sound, like the whole world was breaking apart. He’d thought he was going to die as the world shook and groaned. He hadn’t died though, but they’d been trapped. When they tried to get to the surface, they found the way blocked. Galis had quickly taken the lead, and marshalled the children and few other pregnant women to find a way out. Weeks passed, and they never found anything. They walked deeper and deeper. He was tired. Every day they walked in the horrible, pressing darkness, deeper into the mountain. They never got anywhere, they never met anyone else.
‘I am Master now, Gurak’s boy, and I lead. We will continue as ever, we have water and food. One day, we will find a way out.’
No, he thought, we won’t. No one knows we’re here, the whole world is dead. I’ll never take my own name, I’ll never be warrior, and we’ll never escape. We’ll die down here.
Chapter 27
Riley was kidnapped every few days. She consented without complaint. At least, once they had kidnapped her they mostly ignored her. And then Riley would talk to the Dragon or the Andallites.
And then she’d be kidnapped again.
‘Is all the world like this?’ Riley asked the Dragon as she reclined in his cave.
what do you mean? he boomed inside her head.
‘Ocean.’
no. but the King has recently liked privacy from his subjects. he used to live elsewhere, closer to his people.
‘There seem to be ma
ny ehlkrid living in the ocean here, but in my world, the oceans are relatively free of the ehlkrid.’
the door is not in the ocean. it is on land, it is hard for the ocean dwellers to get there.
‘On land?’
yes. and in the sky. if you make doors in water… things flow together and flood. it is easier to use land or sky. sometimes he has done it. not this time. but the land is not here. it is in a different place, you would need to swim or fly to get there. and there is no point in me helping you.
‘Hmm…’ Riley absorbed that for a moment, already knowing he couldn’t help her, before asking something else, ‘could the King and Andalla kill each other, if they wanted to?’
yes. but they don’t. for a long time now, all has been a game to them. games get very boring when you’re the only one playing.
‘And he really thinks women like being kidnapped by him?’
yes. he tells me women like him, he is handsome and dangerous and mysterious. women want to be swept off their feet by someone like him. he tells me he is every interesting woman’s dream. but he is not so bad as Andalla. Andalla would believe it.
‘He seems to believe it enough.’ Riley muttered.
But she noted it all anyway. Rarely now did she talk about how to defeat Andalla and the King. It had become clear weeks ago that their people didn’t know. Or weren’t going to say. So she asked of other things.
Later, Riley returned to the King’s cave.
And the next day, she was taken back to Andalla’s land.
For the few, but painfully long, weeks Riley had been away they had not strayed far from where she’d been taken. Their camp had started to look permanent. Adila spent an awful lot of time around them, in case they needed her, she said. Vann had seen Karesh talking with her a few times, about what, he didn’t know. The last few days though, Vann hadn’t seen her. When Adila was around the gemengs relaxed; Adila’s presence was a stronger deterrent to the ehlkrid than her knife.
Vann saw Karesh speak to Adila often, but sometimes Vann got the feeling Karesh did not like having Adila around. He’d speak sharply to the gemengs, and be in an unusually ill mood. Vann was starting to suspect the other gemengs were thinking Adila could replace Riley as their Master, which apparently Karesh would not tolerate.
Karesh’s belief in Riley eased the sharp edge of his impatient fear. Adila’s nonchalance towards Riley’s kidnapping was intolerable. Sometimes Vann felt the only ones who really wanted her back were himself and Karesh.
Perhaps he was being unfair to the others though. His dark mood, and the difficulty communicating, meant Vann didn’t make much effort anymore to speak to the other gemengs, and mostly brooded on his own. Karesh was really the only one he spoke to these days. Adila had not done her trick to make them able to understand each other again; Karesh had probably forbidden it, seeing as his Master had been so against it.
A few weeks after Adila’s failed attempt to rescue Riley, Vann spotted Rose walking through the trees towards them, Adila by her side. Painful hope blossomed within him, if Adila couldn’t help, perhaps the Judgement Master could?
He got to his feet and waited. He was too worried and tired to pay much attention to her loveliness, though it tugged at him. He felt a moment of relief to know he did indeed have some self-control. His ability to resist Adila didn’t count; he already knew she wasn’t at all interested in him.
Rose was frowning, but that was not unusual.
‘Vann.’ she greeted him grimly, her eyes inspecting the campsite. Karesh and the gemengs who were in the camp were getting up and approaching.
‘I’m afraid I have some bad news.’ she went on.
‘Is Riley hurt?’ Vann demanded.
‘What? No.’ she seemed taken aback. ‘I don’t know what the situation with Riley is. No, I’m afraid Aerlid has escaped.’
‘Excuse me?’
Rose’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
‘How did he escape?’ Vann managed, his mind reeling.
Rose pressed her lips together tightly. Then she said, ‘because he wasn’t restrained.’
‘What? I thought you put him in the valkar version of jail.’
‘We did.’
‘And he wasn’t restrained?’
‘It was… voluntary.’ Rose again managed through gritted teeth.
‘How is being in jail voluntary?’ Vann demanded.
‘For the valkar, it is. I judged him and found he understood his crimes completely, he is aware of the depths to which he has fallen. And so there didn’t seem to be any need to restrain him.’
Vann gaped. His gazed moved to Adila. Rose noticed and retorted, ‘I am the Judgement Master!’
Vann looked back at her with a glare. ‘I’m having some trouble understanding.’ he said icily. ‘You’re telling me valkar don’t imprison their criminals?’
‘They are punished. But valkar usually accept their punishment. So there is no need to bother with… restraints. My judgement of Aerlid… I… I made a mistake.’
Vann opened his mouth, then he snapped it shut. He counted under his breath. Tried again. ‘Perhaps it’s good she’s been kidnapped then.’ his voice was ice. ‘So tell me, what are your plans now?’ his mouth snapped shut again lest he start screaming at her.
‘He is either going to go after Riley or Onsa, to look for Seta. When he does he will be caught and next time… he will be restrained. I assure you, he will not escape again.’
‘Well, seeing as you didn’t do anything to stop him, I hardly think you can call it escaping.’ Vann shot back.
‘I came to warn you. Adila will stay for now in case he comes here. The other Sunsingers are locating Onsa. This will be dealt with, Vann.’
‘I’m afraid I have little faith in your abilities now, Rose.’ he shut his mouth again. Then he promptly turned on his heel and stormed off. If he spent another second looking at her he was going to start seeing how well a lightning rod worked on a valkar.
Rose watched him go. Some of the anger drained from her face, changing to something closer to regret. Or as close as she was willing to come in public.
‘Every judge makes mistakes. So does every Judgement Master.’ Adila said.
Rose didn’t respond.
‘I have made many mistakes in my time.’ Adila sighed. ‘It is a very difficult thing to look at someone’s heart and know their actions by it. Part of him may know, but perhaps he hides it from himself at the same time. More experienced judges are there to help.’ she prodded gently. ‘Later, Rose, you can reflect on your judgement. Now is not the time.’
‘He is right to be angry. Riley may be in great danger.’
‘Steps can be taken to prevent that.’
‘It seems Andalla and the King have already done that for us.’ Rose said drily. She left then, without another word.
Chapter 28
Riley smiled politely as Andalla again called her ugly. Privately, she thought it was rather good he thought her ugly.
‘Your magnificence,’ Riley began after he lapsed into silence. It was preferable to calling him Andalla, and the feelings that came with that.
His golden eyes fixed on her.
‘I have been thinking, I’m really not good enough for you.’
‘I know.’ he said bluntly, his eyes narrowing.
‘And of course, neither is anyone else. But I know of someone who is better for you than me.’
‘Hmm?’ he looked at her suspiciously. ‘Go on.’
‘The Queen has two other daughters, your magnificence. Two, real valkar princesses. I understand the valkar have so far objected to you marrying any of their princesses.’
He was very close to glaring at her now.
‘But if I talk to them, perhaps I can convince them to let one of the princesses meet you. And surely, once she meets you she would be honoured to be your wife.’
The suspicion disappeared from his gaze. He almost looked curious. ‘And you could arrange a meeting?’
&n
bsp; ‘The Judgement Master is my messenger, your magnificence. I can arrange a meeting.’
‘And you think she’ll fall in love?’
‘Unless she has very poor taste.’
‘Yes, but valkar do have strange ideas.’
‘Do you actually doubt your magnificence, your magnificence?’ Riley asked, the surprise not faked.
‘No, no, of course not.’ Then his eyes narrowed suspiciously again. ‘You’re willing to leave me?’
‘Oh. I cannot bear to shame you any longer, it pains me to know how unworthy I am of you.’
‘Yes. Yes. Hmm.’
‘Let me talk to them, your magnificence, let me introduce the valkar princesses to you. Real ones.’
He glanced at her again, some lingering suspicion in his gaze.
‘There are two, Your Majesty. The eldest is called Ladana, the youngest is Ralana. Which would you prefer to meet? Or both, so you can take your pick.’
‘I could choose?’
‘You can do whatever you please, your gloriousness.’
‘Both, yes, I’ll have to meet both. Perhaps some sort of competition, to win my favour.’ he mused. ‘Very well!’ he announced. ‘I’ll return you at once! Do not fear, I will keep the King away so you may arrange the meeting.’
Riley bowed her head and said nothing.
Chapter 29
Vann looked up in surprise and spreading relief as a golden man with leaf shaped wings descended. In his arms he held Riley, who had a blank expression on her face.
He landed and Riley was allowed to climb from his arms.
‘I will be waiting.’ he said to her.
‘I know.’ and she bowed. ‘Your magnificence.’
He smiled and began ascending. Riley surreptitiously watched him to make sure he had actually left. Only once he was gone from sight did she look to Vann and the others.
‘Riley!’ Vann called, running over to her. ‘You’re back.’
She smiled slowly and nodded, as if she couldn’t quite believe it. ‘Yeah. Yes.’
‘Are you alright?’ he stopped in front of her and touched her shoulder.
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