The Broken Kingdom

by Sarah Chapman

  ‘Hey,’ a voice whispered near her elbow.

  In her annoyance, Riley said nothing. She’d felt him creeping up on her, but she’d been busy stalking some dinner, which was now bounding away through the trees.

  ‘Thanks.’ Riley replied sarcastically.

  ‘Sorry. I need to talk to you.’

  Riley stood up and stretched. She didn’t feel like hiding in the bushes with him. ‘I’m afraid we can’t.’

  ‘What?’ he looked confused. Then he closed his eyes and sighed. ‘You’ve been avoiding me.’

  ‘I have.’

  ‘Can I ask why?’

  ‘Have you heard some rumours going around?’

  He flushed red. ‘I hoped you wouldn’t notice! Listen, I tell everyone its stupid, please, just ignore it.’

  Riley regarded him coolly. ‘I can’t. How I am perceived, how Vann is perceived is very important. I can’t have people thinking you would make a good replacement. You wouldn’t, by the way.’

  Ellis was silent for a moment. ‘Why not?’

  Riley glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

  ‘We’d be perfect for each other,’ he suddenly said very seriously, his gaze boring into her. ‘I’m like you. I’m like you in ways he can never be, I can understand you in a way he never can. And honestly, he’s human. How can you even bear to look at him? They’re so… so lifeless.’

  ‘It’s not my problem if you don’t understand.’ She snapped, surprised and offended. ‘But lifeless? You pale in comparison to him. And even if you didn’t, even if he was the ugliest man on earth, I would still love him. You can stay with the tribe. But you and I can no longer be friends.’ with that she turned and stalked off towards the camp.

  ‘Wait-wait!’ Ellis was crashing after her. ‘I’m sorry! I had to say it, if you choose him over me, fine, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends-’

  ‘You don’t listen very well!’ she retorted and kept walking.

  Ellis didn’t stop though. Riley ignored him, but he kept pace with her. And then they emerged from the forest together near the camp. Riley suddenly felt a lot of eyes on her. Swearing under her breath, Riley cursed herself for not thinking of this. It seemed the tribe was going to interpret this in entirely the wrong way.

  Well, fine! They could believe it if they wanted! As long as they saw Vann’s position didn’t change, they could believe what they wanted about their relationship.

  It didn’t stop her from wanting to hit someone- Ellis, mostly. She stormed off to go look for Vann.

  As she strode past Aerlid’s tent she saw him and an unfamiliar valkar arranging a very large sheet on the ground. Momentarily surprised out of her anger, she considered asking what was going on. But she wasn’t in the mood and so she continued on without pausing. It didn’t take her long to find Vann.

  He was in the middle of talking with some of the Mixed on the council, but he immediately stopped and came to meet her.

  As soon as he touched her Riley calmed down.

  ‘What’s up?’ he asked, an arm around her.

  ‘It’s not important.’ Riley sighed. It no longer seemed to matter, now that he was near.

  Riley stood by the edge of the camp, waiting for Vann to return. It had only been a few days since she had come storming out of these bushes with Ellis.

  She smiled as soon as she saw Vann emerge from the bushes and return her grin.

  He called out goodbye to the other hunters, who were laden down with various animals, as he walked over to her. Hunting wasn’t the only way they got their food of course, warriors also went out foraging for various edible plants and roots.

  ‘Hey.’ he greeted her, putting an arm around her waist.

  ‘You’re smelly.’ Riley noted.

  ‘I never complain about your smell.’

  ‘I don’t smell!’

  Vann laughed. ‘You do now!’

  They fell into a comfortable silence.

  ‘I have news.’ he said.

  ‘Hmm?’

  ‘I met someone out in the forest.’

  ‘Who?’

  He smiled. ‘Lillia!’

  ‘Lillia!’ Riley exclaimed. ‘How can she be here?’

  ‘I saw her out hunting. She was hiding in a bush and called me over. She’s with others, soldiers. They wanted me to escape with them. I think they must have been hiding out around here for a few days at least. But they’re going to come here, they’re going to come and talk.’

  Riley frowned, not happy that the humans had escaped notice. ‘How did they get here?’

  ‘Lillia wouldn’t tell me, she’s claiming they walked. I think they must have flown though, and been dropped off out of sight of our camp.’

  ‘And they found the camp.’ Riley said grimly.

  Vann nodded.

  ‘We need to improve our scouts. Do you think they’ll attack?’

  ‘I was pretty clear this is their last chance to talk. The planes don’t hold many people anyway, if they had a group large enough to attack us they’d need a whole fleet, I don’t know if Astar even has that many carriers.’

  ‘We need to get organized anyway, just in case.’ she paused. ‘Are you ok with this?’

  ‘I am. Besides… I don’t know anyone else who stands a chance against the King.’

  ‘I know. But they’d have an even better chance if we helped.’

  ‘If Astar was willing to accept the help of gemengs they wouldn’t have tried to kill you. No, I don’t see any other realistic way of defeating the King. I don’t doubt you.’ He replied firmly, his mouth set in a grim line.

  Riley nodded, relieved. ‘Alright. You need to have a bath. I need to go organize the warriors.’

  ‘I thought we agreed I made you smelly too.’

  Riley hesitated. ‘Come with me, we can get everyone sorted together. The Mixed like those smells.’

  ‘They like a lot of things. I think they’d like eating dirt with you too.’ Vann said, getting an indignant look from Riley, who hadn’t eaten dirt since Vann had started teaching her to cook.

  While they were still bantering with each other, Ellis came up to them.

  They fell silent. Vann’s grey eyes narrowed.

  ‘You never gave me a chance.’ Ellis said, his eyes on Riley. ‘What have I done? I didn’t start that rumour. I didn’t spread it. I’ve done nothing but what you’ve asked.’

  Riley stared at him. ‘You encouraged the rumour, you visit Aerlid behind my back, and you took Vann out hunting.’

  ‘What?’ he stared. ‘What’s wrong with going hunting? Everyone goes hunting, he does everything else the gemengs do, why not that? I was trying to help you.’ he glared at her. ‘And I wasn’t aware I had to tell you everyone I talk to-’

  ‘Why were you asking him about castles?’ Riley demanded.

  ‘So you could have one! What kind of leader of anything doesn’t have a castle! Where I’m from, if you don’t have a castle you’re nothing!’

  ‘You know,’ Ellis said after a pause. ‘Forget it. I’ve tried to be your friend, but whatever I do you don’t trust me. Just forget it.’ and he turned and walked away.

  Vann saw surprise and doubt flash across Riley’s face. He may not like it, but it was enough to know she wanted it.

  ‘Wait!’ Vann called and walked after him. Ellis turned around. ‘You can’t blame us for being suspicious.’ Vann said. ‘You came here trying to take over.’

  ‘I guess.’ Ellis’s eyes drifted to Riley.

  ‘I can’t-’ Riley said, ‘I don’t think I can trust you. I just don’t have it in me.’

  Ellis sighed. He rubbed his eyes. ‘Listen, I’ll give you some space… maybe once all this nonsense dies down we can try again. And maybe you can give me a real chance this time.’

  Riley smiled half-heartedly. ‘Maybe.’

  Ellis walked away. Once he was gone Riley’s eyes turned to Vann.

  ‘Thank you.’ she said, her eyes on his.

&n
bsp; He smiled, his arms going around her. ‘Maybe it’s partly my fault too.’ he murmured.

  Riley shook her head. ‘No, I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. He’s not worth the risk.’ and she leant against him. You’re all I have left. ‘Maybe we can try again later.’

  The humans arrived the next morning.

  As soon as movement was spotted in the surrounding forest Riley and Vann were summoned. By the time the humans arrived, Riley and Vann were already in place to greet them. They met them out past the shield, at the edge of the campsite, surrounded by the largest, most beastly looking gemengs in the tribe.

  There were five humans in the group. Riley recognized Lillia and Azra but the other three she didn’t know. They looked Astarian. Two were male, one was female. They were all armed with SIGPEWs and Reismal body armour. Lillia and Azra didn’t wear their helmets. Lillia’s blonde hair was tied up in a loose bun. It was strange seeing her in armour.

  ‘Hello.’ Riley greeted them.

  They were all looking at her as if they didn’t quite believe it. Riley smiled. It was not a friendly smile. ‘Put your weapons down.’

  They didn’t move.

  ‘Do it.’ Vann said quietly, his gaze intent on Lillia. She lowered her SIGPEW first. She did not look as comfortable with it as the others, though she didn’t look entirely unfamiliar with it. The others slowly followed suit, but they didn’t lower them by much.

  Riley sighed. ‘Ok. Let me be clear. You can drop your weapons, submit to being restrained within my camp while we chat and then be released. Or I can have you killed now and your bodies sent back to Astar.’ she smiled again.

  ‘If you cooperate you won’t be hurt.’ Vann replied. ‘And we’ll let you go.’ his voice became hard. ‘But we have reason not to trust you.’

  Azra, her mouth grim, placed her SIGPEW carefully on the ground first. The others followed suit quickly enough that it was likely she was in charge of the operation. She put her hands up afterwards.

  Riley nodded and some of the gemengs broke away from the group. They tied the humans up and led them to some empty tents by Aerlid’s tent. They were very gentle with them. Riley and Vann followed. They remained standing while the humans were made to sit.

  ‘Do you have any others out there?’ Riley asked.

  ‘No.’ Lillia replied. ‘I already told Vann. We walked.’

  ‘From Coastside with ehlkrid everywhere? I don’t think so. No matter, as long as they stay where they are.’

  ‘I’ll have to contact them.’ Azra replied.

  ‘I will contact them. Vann’s going to help you out of your gear. You will be given new clothes, you will keep nothing with you. Do you understand?’

  Azra’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t object.

  ‘I’ll untie you one at a time. You’ll go in the tent, get changed and come out. I’ll tie you back up. Don’t try to escape.’ Vann said.

  He looked each one in the eye. Then he untied one of the Astarian men and handed him some clothes. After he’d returned from the tent Vann inspected him rather thoroughly. Then he was tied up. The tent was inspected. The next one went. All the while Riley watched them coldly. When it was Azra’s turn Riley asked, ‘would you prefer a female?’

  ‘I’ll be fine thank you.’ Azra replied coolly.

  Lillia was asked the same question. When she replied calmly, ‘no, it’s not like he’s never-’

  Riley couldn’t help the dark look that came to her face. Lillia faltered and fell silent, a blush staining her cheeks.

  Vann started to say something but Riley cut him off. She was not jealous.

  It was finally done. A pile of armour, weapons, radios and various pieces of equipment lay in front of Riley. She picked up a radio. She tuned it, waited til she heard a voice.

  ‘Hello.’ Riley spoke into the radio. ‘My name is Riley, I lead the Mixed. I have five humans here. They will not be harmed, as long as my tribe is not attacked. They will be released once I’m finished talking with them. Do you understand?’

  ‘I demand to speak to the captain!’

  Riley held the radio out to Azra, who said. ‘We’re all here, Marna. We haven’t been hurt.’

  Riley pulled the radio back before any more could be said. ‘Do we have an understanding?’

  Silence.

  ‘I rather enjoy the sight of a crashed Predator. Are you going to give me another opportunity to make that happen?’

  ‘We demand contact every hour. And we want to know when you’re going to release them. As long as they are unharmed, we’ll cooperate.’

  ‘I’ll release them when I feel like it. This isn’t a negotiation, I’m telling you how it’s going to work. You can talk once a day. Goodbye.’ Riley switched off the radio and dropped it back in the pile.

  Some of the Mixed came over. They gathered up the pile of equipment and took it away.

  ‘You’ll get your stuff back when you leave.’ Riley said. And then she walked off, leaving the humans with Vann.

  ‘She really is alive.’ Azra cursed. ‘Vann, how did this happen? We’ve seen the pictures, the mountain came down.’

  ‘And she was inside when it did. After she realized what had happened, it took her a while to get out, but as you can see, she and her tribe weren’t hurt.’

  ‘This is all the same tribe?’ She demanded. ‘It can’t be! They must be different gemengs.’

  ‘Believe what you want, Azra, but I’m telling you they are the same. Some of the Mixed were killed,’ and his expression darkened. ‘But not all.’

  ‘What, what mixed? What are you talking about?’

  ‘The gemengs are part human. They are Mixed.’

  ‘They’re not human.’ one of the Astarians scoffed.

  ‘They are. They’re part human, part ehlkrid.’ Vann gazed at him coolly. ‘But I see there’s not much point explaining that to someone like you.’

  ‘Vann,’ Lillia said gently, ‘we came here to rescue you.’

  ‘I don’t need rescuing, Lillia. I am exactly where I want to be.’

  ‘So you’ve betrayed Coastside then.’ Azra stated coldly.

  ‘As I said, believe what you want. I’ll get you guys what you need, but don’t try anything. Hopefully, you won’t stay here long.’

  ‘Why are we here anyway?’ Lillia asked.

  ‘We have something we need to tell you, when we think you’ll listen. We’ll untie you later, but only if you understand you are not to move from this tent.’

  Later, Vann and Lillia walked a short distance from the human tents to talk in semi privacy.

  Lillia gave Vann a sudden hug. ‘I was so worried about you.’

  Surprised, Vann hugged her back for a moment before stepping away. ‘Lillia, why did you come here? You could have been hurt. And why is Azra here?’

  ‘Commander Reista thought I might be able to convince you to come back. He didn’t want it to be an entirely Astar mission, so Azra’s here as a… representative of the Coastside submariners, I guess. After you left everyone was looking for you, Vann. What happened?’

  ‘I don’t really want to talk about it. But I’m here, I’m safe. And I’m happy, Lillia. This is where I want to be.’

  An all too familiar look came into her eyes.

  Anger flaring, Vann said, ‘I’m not going to explain it to you anymore, Lillia. You just won’t listen.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Vann.’ she smiled and reached out to touch his arm. ‘Tell me, what have you been up to?’

  ‘Nothing much. What’s happened in Coastside since I’ve been gone?’

  She sighed. ‘The shields are up all the time. The ehlkrid never attack anything with a shield, but people outside… mines, transports… submarines… anything that doesn’t have a shield they attack.’

  Vann was silent for a moment. ‘The Bad Luck?’ he asked quietly.

  ‘Still operational, Garis is still her captain.’

  Vann nodded, feeling tense as he thought of his old submates. No
w that he knew Riley was alive, he realized much of his anger at the people of Coastside had faded. We’ll finish this soon, he thought, before anything can happen to the Bad Luck and her crew. He couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy at that though. Would they really be successful? And even if they were, they weren’t ready yet… there was still time for more of the people he knew to be hurt or killed.

  ‘We’ve been fighting them too.’ He said quietly, unpleasant thoughts churning in his head.

  ‘Oh, and the fish people returned.’

  ‘What?! I told them to stay away from Coastside!’

  ‘Mmm, well they’ve come back. I think they had to Vann, I think the ehlkrid are too tough for them. I’m not sure there are many left.’

  ‘Zap Zap?’ Vann asked, alarmed.

  ‘He’s fine, he translates for Commander Reista.’ Lillia chuckled. ‘I can’t remember the last time I saw him out and about on the docks! Now he’s out there all the time talking to the fish people!’

  ‘So where are the fish people staying?’ Vann asked. He didn’t think the waters outside the bay would be that safe for the fish people, even if they had moved closer to Coastside.

  ‘In the bay. The bay has been closed for swimming for months, so they’re not bothering anyone. They’re acting as scouts for the submarines and fishermen, they’re trying to be useful.’

  ‘Oh,’ Vann said, surprised they’d been allowed in the bay. ‘That’s good.’

  ‘And what about Riley?’

  ‘What about her?’ Vann couldn’t help a smile. ‘We’re together.’

  ‘Lovers?’

  He nodded.

  Lillia smiled. ‘Well, you’ll be extra happy then.’

  ‘And why’s that?’

  ‘I brought you a little present. It’s in the stuff you took.’

  He paused. And then a hopeful smile dawned, ‘the necklace?’

  She grinned. ‘Yes, the necklace.’

  ‘Thank you!’

  Lillia laughed, and Vann relaxed.

  In the lull Lillia asked, ‘What’s that tree over there?’ as she pointed towards the centre of the shield.

  ‘That’s the Suntree. It was a gift from the valkar.’

  ‘I don’t suppose I could see it close up?’