The Broken Kingdom

by Sarah Chapman

  ‘Do you want a banquet?’ Riley turned to Vann and asked, one hand touching her necklace.

  ‘Maybe. Just for the two of us though. But there is something I want from you, Aerlid.’

  ‘And what is that?’ Aerlid asked.

  ‘I want to be able to see Riley as she is.’

  Aerlid did not look too surprised. He looked at Riley and asked, ‘do you agree?’

  Riley hesitated.

  ‘Let’s make a deal, if I start saying you’re a good teacher, Aerlid will change me back.’ Vann said, squeezing her hand.

  ‘Hey!’

  ‘I think… I’m not saying I don’t feel anything when I see a valkar, but I think I can handle it. And I want to see you.’ he said the last part strongly.

  Riley hesitated. Then she nodded. ‘Alright. I can’t have more of an effect on you than Rose or Adila anyway.’

  ‘I’m not so sure.’ Vann replied quietly.

  ‘Very well.’ Aerlid said in a business like way, forestalling any disagreement. ‘Vann, come over here.’

  Vann crouched down next to Aerlid, who put a hand on his head. He hadn’t had to do anything like that last time, but Vann wasn’t going to complain.

  ‘It’s done.’ Aerlid said.

  Vann slowly turned around. His eyes widened. And then he smiled, his grey eyes sparkling.

  ‘Well?’ Riley asked.

  ‘I can’t imagine anyone ever mistaking you for a human.’

  ‘What do you think of my teaching?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s not nearly as concerning as your habit of eating dirt.’

  ‘It’s better than cave mould. Besides, I haven’t done it for ages.’

  ‘Sure.’ Vann stood up then and took her hand. He whispered in her ear, ‘you’re amazing. You always were.’

  Riley beamed.

  ‘There’s one other thing.’ Vann asked Aerlid, dragging his eyes away from Riley.

  ‘Hmm?’ Aerlid, who had been glancing away to give them some privacy, looked back. ‘Congratulations by the way. Perhaps I should have started with that.’

  Riley’s smile faltered, as if she wasn’t sure what to say. But Vann kept talking. ‘Will we be able to have children?’

  Riley’s eyebrows shot up into her hair. Aerlid saw her expression and smiled. ‘Not naturally. But I imagine Taelid, or the other valkar, could work something out. Perhaps you should talk about that together first.’

  Vann looked back at Riley at that. ‘You don’t want children?’

  ‘No, I just never thought of it. We can have some if you want them- how many do you want?’ she asked, suddenly a little alarmed.

  ‘We can talk about it later.’ Vann said reassuringly. ‘I never had any parents so I always thought a family would be nice, but it’s not a big deal, we don’t have to have any-’

  ‘No it’s ok.’

  He looked at her a moment. Then he smiled. ‘Maybe we could start with two.’

  ‘S-start?’ Riley replied weakly. ‘O-ok.’

  Suddenly they both became aware of Aerlid sitting there and staring up at them.

  ‘Yes, I am still here.’ Aerlid responded.

  ‘We’ll have as many or as few as you want.’ Vann said quickly to Riley and squeezed her hand. She looked at him and smiled, reassured.

  They said their goodbyes to Aerlid then and left to spend their wedding day in a little more privacy.

  Chapter 68

  Though he wasn’t sure what reaction he would get, Vann wanted to tell Lillia the good news anyway. At least, he waited a few days later so his wedding day wouldn’t be spoiled. He took Riley with him and went to talk to her privately, a little distance from the Astar-Coastside tents.

  Though she looked surprised she managed to congratulate them and smile.

  ‘Maybe this isn’t a good time,’ Lillia said a moment later, ‘but I have a question for Riley.’

  ‘What is it?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t want you to take this as me not supporting you,’ Lillia said with a look at Vann, ‘I just haven’t had a chance to speak to Riley in private.’

  ‘Do you want Vann to leave?’

  Lillia hesitated. ‘It’s up to you.’

  ‘I’ll stay.’ Vann said.

  ‘Ok.’ Lillia looked at Riley. ‘I want to know if you’ll take revenge.’

  ‘Oh.’ Riley’s eyes widened. ‘No, Lillia, I won’t, though it might not look that way to you..’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Riley suddenly shook her head. When she spoke her tone was practical, ‘your people have certain biases about me, Lillia. They’ll believe whatever they want, whether it’s true or not.’

  ‘Well, thank you for answering. I guess I’ll get back to the tents and leave you love birds alone.’ she said with a smile.

  Vann couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not.

  And a bit over a week after they’d left, Karesh and his team returned.

  Azra was escorted back to the Astar-Coastside tents.

  ‘What happened?’ one of the Astarian men asked. ‘Are the humans safe?’

  Azra nodded. ‘The gemengs were true to their word. The humans were returned safely. The one with wings speaks a little of our language, not very well though. I asked the humans if any other gemengs speak it, but they’ve never spent enough time with them to know.’

  ‘What was it like?’ another woman asked. ‘I can’t believe there are other humans out here.’

  ‘It was awful. They live on this tiny rock shelf at the base of a sheer cliff. They have some caves, but they aren’t very deep. This place may be full of gemengs, but it’s a far sight better than where they live.’

  ‘Why would they teach gemengs our language?’ one of the men asked.

  ‘He told me he had to speak to Vann, until he could learn the gemeng language. I can’t say if any others speak it, or what it would mean if they did. What happened while I was away?’

  ‘Vann got married.’ Lillia said. ‘Azra, he won’t leave with us. This is really where he wants to be.’

  Azra regarded Lillia with her ice-blue eyes for a moment. Then she looked back at the rest of the group. ‘Taking Vann without Riley Meilis’ permission would be far too dangerous. We’d never escape the camp.’

  ‘Riley Hilyard, now.’ Lillia murmured, a slight frown on her face. She didn’t quite understand what Azra meant, but there was grudging agreement from the Astarians.

  ‘Do you think they’re ready?’ Riley asked Vann.

  ‘I think they’ll listen, they want to leave, and they’re afraid of you.’

  ‘Good. Let’s go tell them the good news.’

  They walked together over to Azra and the rest of her team. It was the day after Azra had returned with Karesh.

  ‘Are you ready to leave?’ Riley asked.

  ‘We’ll be happy to leave.’ Azra said, ‘are you ready to let us go?’

  ‘We are. But we have a message we need you to take back to your commander.’

  ‘And what is that?’

  ‘I intend to end this war with the ehlkrid. I have been fighting them while you’ve been trying to kill me and my people. Now, the time for the final battle has come.’ Riley picked up a stick and started drawing on the ground. ‘Unfortunately, it’s going to be near Astar.’ and she pointed to a star she had drawn. She drew some lines, showing the ehlkrid coming down north of Astar to a place just in front. She drew another line from the east coming to meet up with the other line. ‘It’s not intentional, but this is how it turned out. Astar needs to prepare itself. I may lose. Even if I don’t, some of the ehlkrid may leave the main group and attack Astar.’ and she absently touched her necklace.

  ‘Wait,’ Azra said, ‘ehlkrid don’t attack in groups.’

  ‘They do now. Their King is leading an army, he has brought them together. Now, my tribe is going to be moving closer to Astar to fight the ehlkrid. I’d prefer it if you didn’t attack me, but I know that will be hard for you. Let me be clear, my patience
has run out. If Astar or Coastside make any move against me, I will destroy them.’

  She locked eyes with Azra.

  ‘Understood.’ Azra finally said.

  ‘Good. Now what are you going to tell your commander?’

  ‘That an ehlkrid army will fight your gemengs near Astar, and that Astar should be prepared for any eventuality.’

  ‘Very good. I don’t want your help, and I don’t need it. All I want is for you to stay nice and cosy inside your shield and be ready to protect yourselves. I won’t be protecting you.’

  ‘Is there anything else?’ Azra asked.

  ‘No.’ Vann replied. ‘You can put your armour back on. We’ll escort you outside the camp, once you’re out we’ll give you back your weapons.’

  ‘Fine. We’re ready when you are.’

  That same day, Riley, some of the Mixed and Vann stood between the Astarians and the camp. Lillia walked quickly back to Vann as the rest of the team checked their weapons.

  ‘Vann, I just want to say goodbye, and congratulations on your wedding.’

  ‘Thank you, Lillia.’ and he smiled.

  ‘You know, I always thought eventually it would be you and me… I see you really love her, Vann. Does she love you too?’

  ‘She does.’

  ‘Then I’m happy for you.’ and she gave Vann a quick hug. ‘I hope you can come back and visit Coastside one day. Maybe the… the Mixed can give us another chance, and we can try again.’

  ‘Me too. I’m really glad you think that way. Goodbye, Lillia. And… make sure you stay in Coastside.’ He kept her gaze for a moment until she nodded. ‘The ehlkrid shouldn’t go anywhere near there if we fail.’

  ‘Don’t worry, that’s where I’m going.’

  And then she headed back to the team, who were ready to depart.

  Vann walked back to Riley and together they watched them leave. Once the humans were gone they headed back to their own camp.

  When they arrived Vann asked Riley, ‘are you going yet?’

  ‘Not yet. I want to make sure they really do leave. And we need to give them time to get back to Astar… I doubt the King is just going to agree to my timeline.’

  ‘So what now?’

  ‘I’m going to go check on the warriors. Maybe you should spend some more time with the humans who stayed, this can’t be easy for them.’

  Chapter 69

  Lillia and the team walked quickly through the forest. Azra had already contacted the carrier pilots. They’d reach the planes and be heading back home before nightfall.

  There was a rustle from behind.

  The team quickly turned, SIGPEWs ready.

  Lillia’s heart was beating fast. This was kind of exciting. But at the same time, she really didn’t want to see an ehlkrid.

  And then a man came out of the forest. Lillia recognized him, he was the most handsome man she had ever seen, though she couldn’t have said why.

  ‘I understand you people want Vann.’ he said with a strong, strange accent. Only then did she realize he had a body slung over his shoulder.

  ‘Who are you?’ Azra demanded, keeping the SIGPEW aimed at his head.

  ‘My name isn’t important. I have Vann, you want him.’

  ‘What did you do to him?’ Lillia demanded, fear clutching at her heart.

  ‘Hit him over the head. He’ll be fine. Now hurry up and take him. It wasn’t easy sneaking him out of here, and the Master will realize he’s missing soon. They’re never apart for very long.’

  ‘What do you want in return?’ Azra asked.

  ‘Nothing. I just want him out of the picture, without the blame falling on me.’

  Azra nodded curtly. ‘Leave him on the ground. Walk away.’

  ‘Fine.’ The man dumped Vann’s unconscious body unceremoniously on the ground. Then he turned and quietly slipped back into the forest.

  ‘Azra!’ Lillia exclaimed as the woman knelt down by Vann and began tying him up. ’What are you doing? Vann doesn’t need ‘rescuing’!’

  ‘Lillia, our mission was to bring back Vann. We called it off because it was too dangerous, not because he objected. That man is right, we need to get to the planes and fast.’

  Once she was finished one of the larger men picked him up, draping him over his shoulder. His pack was redistributed to some of the others. ‘Ready.’ he said.

  ‘Let’s move it. Lillia, I want you in front of me.’ Azra said.

  Lillia angrily walked in front of Azra. She was jabbed hard in the back by Azra’s SIGPEW. ‘We have to move.’ Azra said.

  The team took off at a jog that they could sustain for hours if need be. Lillia was poked and prodded, keeping her in front, away from Vann, and moving at a reasonable rate.

  It didn’t take long for Vann to wake up. A cloth had been tightly wound around his mouth. Furious, muffled noises came from him. The man carrying him was kicked hard. They stopped, tied up his legs and feet more securely. And they went on.

  The warriors appropriately examined, Riley headed off to the human tents to find Vann. He wasn’t there, so she headed to their tent. When she didn’t find him she asked Karesh.

  ‘I haven’t seen him.’ Karesh said. ‘I’ll ask.’

  Riley frowned, fiddling with her necklace. ‘He’s not usually difficult to find.’

  Karesh headed off to ask around for Vann. Riley did the same.

  Less than an hour after finishing up with the warriors, it was blatantly apparent Vann was nowhere in the camp.

  ‘Where is he?’ she demanded, fear and anger making her voice harsh and her eyes blaze.

  ‘No one has seen him, Master. I don’t understand. He wouldn’t have just wandered off.’

  ‘No, he wouldn’t have.’ Riley looked out into the forest. ‘But how could they have taken him?’ she asked, more to herself.

  Without another word she ran off to Aerlid’s tent. Before Aerlid could say anything Riley ordered, ‘if you see any planes, stop them! Vann may be on one of them!’ and without any more explanation she ran off in the direction of the planes.

  She had not gotten far when she heard Ellis calling her.

  She didn’t stop. ‘Stay in the camp!’ she ordered.

  ‘Master! We will send out patrols!’ Karesh was calling.

  Angry, Riley turned around and glared at the two men. ‘Fine, Karesh, send out patrols in case I’m wrong. I’m heading towards the planes!’

  ‘You know where they are?’ Ellis asked, surprised. Karesh had already left, not needing any more instruction.

  ‘Yes, you stay in the camp. I don’t have time for you.’ She turned, her eyes on the forest. She wasn’t going to bother trying to track the humans. There was only one place they could have gone. There was only one place Vann could have gone.

  ‘Let me help you!’

  ‘Stay in the camp!’ and she paid no more attention to him. If he called after her or followed, she didn’t notice.

  Riley ran. She moved through the forest with an ease only seen in animals. And she caught the humans before they reached their planes.

  And when she saw Vann tied up, slung over someone’s shoulder, rage scoured any thoughts from her head.

  ‘We’re almost there.’ the Astarian girl said. ‘We’re almost there.’

  ‘Be quiet.’ Azra snapped.

  Her team obeyed.

  And then a startled cry broke the silence. They stopped, turned, and raised their weapons.

  One of the Astarian men was on the ground. But they didn’t have time to process that. Lillia caught a glimpse of dark hair. And then she saw another of the team fall in startled pain.

  She raised her SIGPEW, not knowing where to aim. It was all so fast.

  Bright light lit the forest twilight. Azra had fired.

  And finally Lillia recognized the source of the attack.

  The light hit Riley in the side. But the third Astarian was falling now, clubbed on the head with his own SIGPEW.

  Riley turned. Rage burned in her
eyes.

  Lillia instinctively dropped her SIGPEW and raised her hands. The heavy weapon bumped into her hip, the strap pulling at her neck.

  Azra fired again. Riley dodged, somehow. And she moved so fast Azra couldn’t fire again. And with a stolen SIGPEW, Riley whacked her over the head. She crumpled.

  Riley turned her furious gaze to Lillia. When she saw Lillia was staying still and was unarmed, she turned. She quickly knelt by a struggling Vann and untied him.

  ‘Ah!’ Vann gasped. ‘What in blazes, Lillia?! Why did you do this to me?’

  ‘Are you alright?’ Riley asked gently. There was some blood in his hair, a little on his forehead. Riley tenderly touched his cheek.

  There was no response from Lillia.

  In the silence they both turned to look. Lillia was on the ground. Ellis was there.

  Riley stared at him.

  ‘I came to help.’ he panted.

  ‘Lillia!’ Vann called. He struggled to his feet. Riley stood up too.

  ‘What did you do to her?!’ Vann demanded.

  ‘Huh? She had a weapon.’ Ellis replied.

  Vann knelt by Lillia, ‘Lillia!’

  Fright flashed across his face for a moment, but it was quickly controlled. He knelt back and looked at Riley. ‘We need to get her to Aerlid.’ he said firmly.

  Anger was still surging through her. But Vann was here. He was alive. She didn’t care about anything else. ‘Yes, ok.’ she replied. She turned to Ellis. ‘Go get Aerlid!’

  ‘No.’ Vann interjected, his voice cold and controlled. ‘He did this to her.’

  ‘Then I’ll carry her.’

  ‘We can’t leave the others here- you didn’t-’

  ‘They’re alive.’ Riley stated. ‘I think. I will not leave you alone, Vann. Can Ellis watch them, while you and I take her to Aerlid?’

  ‘I don’t trust him. You should go. Take Ellis with you.’ he replied. ‘I have a SIGPEW. I’ll contact the soldiers, they’re not far.’

  ‘I won’t. I’m not leaving you alone here. Vann, let me make a decision.’

  ‘I trust you.’

  Riley turned to Ellis. ‘You go get Aerlid. Hurry.’ She glanced at Vann. He kept his mouth shut.