The Lord of the Plains

By Sarah Chapman

In an empty and dangerous world, the human city of Astar shines as a lone beacon of peace, free from the constant warring of the inhuman, gemeng tribes of the Plains. Aerlid, a man neither human nor gemeng, tricks his way into Astar with his charge, a young gemeng named Riley. In the human city, she experiences a type of fear and oppression foreign to her, and longs for the freedom of the world beyond the city walls.
Unbeknownst to her, the world is changing. To the north, another human city is discovered, where the people do not constantly fear invasion by the gemengs, while in the western city of Coastside, a young man begins speaking to the fishpeople, gemengs that dwell within the ocean.
But something far worse is coming. The ancestors of the gemengs, creatures far more powerful than either gemeng or human have faced in centuries, are returning. Unaware of the danger, Riley abandons the safety of Astar, while the people of the city remain sure in the strength of their walls...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sarah Chapman
• Release date: Jul 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311842664

Sarah Chapman

Sarah is currently living in England. Her hobbies include skiing, playing with her dog and writing about herself in the third person.

Book preview

PART 1

Chapter 1

Lestar’s hands were sweating. It wasn’t his first patrol, or even his second, still, his hands were sweating.

Over the tree tops the faint glimmer from the AgriShield was visible. They were out far, beyond the city limits, beyond the heavily shielded and protected farmland. Out, in the trees. The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves, dappling the leaf litter on the ground. It wasn’t a dense forest, it was easy to move through. There was no undergrowth, just dry leaves. It wasn’t a forest to have sweating hands in. But he had sweating hands.

A rustle. Lestar swung around, panting, his SIGPEW pointing. His eyes flicked around nervously. Nothing. An animal? The animals were dangerous here too. Sometimes he wondered, were they animals or just extra dumb gemengs?

‘Lestar!’

Lestar swung around again and saw Maz approaching, a grin on his face. Seeing his partner, his thumping heart began easing back into a steady rhythm.

It was hard to see much of Maz’s face under his helmet and visor. It wasn’t enough to protect you from a gemeng though. Was it? He didn’t know. All these patrols and he hadn’t seen a single one. But…he wasn’t that far out. Further out, further than he’d ever been was Garrondin, the gemeng town that formed Astar’s first line of defence. He hadn’t seen them either. All Lestar had seen were the fake gemengs of the city. Gemengvals, the worthless creatures that littered Astar.

‘We’re almost done, as soon as Batar and his team get here we can head back.’ Maz said, his grin fading as he saw Lestar’s expression. ‘What’s wrong, did you hear something?’ he asked, an undertone of alarm in his voice.

Lestar shook his head, ‘no, no, it was just you, but I thought-‘

Maz sighed in relief, ‘come on, let’s continue our patrol.’

Lestar nodded his understanding and swallowed. He turned and headed back along the track he had made through the trees to do another round, Maz following not far behind.

You didn’t travel alone. Not out here. Lestar thought he probably should have gone with Maz when he went to relieve himself. That would have been an opportune time for a gemeng to jump out and maul him. But he hadn’t gone and Maz was back safe and sound.

Lestar and Maz were silent as they continued their patrol. Lestar’s eyes scanned nervously back and forth, though not so nervous as before. Maz was the calmer of the two.

A rustle. Lestar swung around, though with less fright this time, pointing his SIGPEW squarely in the direction of the sound. Maz turned as well, though his eyes kept scanning the area.

Another rustle. Lestar’s heart stopped for a moment. Sweat broke out on his face. Slowly, sickly, his heart started beating again. Slowly. Everything so slow. He took a step forward. His hands shook on the SIGPEW. ‘W-who’s there?’

Nothing.

‘We are the Astar Home Defence Patrol, show yourself or be fired upon!’

A sound. Then from behind a tree in the distance a figure stepped out. It took a hesitant step forward. Lestar thought he would vomit. ‘Wh-who are you?’ What are you?

It took another step. Lestar’s hands tightened.

‘Identify yourself or be fired upon!’ Maz ordered from behind him.

The figure stopped. It raised its hands. ‘I-I’m not dangerous.’ It said. Its voice wavered and shook.

A gemeng.

‘Are you human?’ Maz called again.

The figure shook its head.

Lestar tightened his hands, his weapon shook.

‘Leave this area immediately!’ Maz ordered.

‘B-but I-I…’

‘But what?!’

‘I want to come t-to Astar. I h-heard some g-gemengs live th-there.’

Maz considered the gemeng’s words for a moment before saying, ‘you have to go to the testing station out past Garrondin. You can’t come through here.’

The gemeng was silent. It was short. If it was human Lestar would have thought it was a child. Did gemengs have children?

‘Do you know where Garrondin is?’ Maz asked, a hint of kindness in his voice.

‘B-but…’ the gemeng stuttered. It sounded like it was going to cry.

‘But?’

‘It’s not safe out there!!’

At that Lestar burst into wild laughter.

They waited until Batar and his team arrived, then Maz and Lestar escorted the gemeng child to the testing centre, through Garrondin. It wasn’t strictly necessary for them to do this, but the gemeng was frightened, and they couldn’t leave it hanging around the perimeter, and it didn’t seem appropriate to shoot it for being afraid.

The sky was darkening slowly, it was still summer and the sky would retain light for some time. The trio walked in silence, Lestar and the gemeng in states of fear, Maz maintaining a calm, soothing presence. His long strides were easy and relaxed, though if you looked carefully you would see his hands were trembling.

The sky turned to dark blue, with gold at the horizon. Lestar noticed briefly.

As they came to Garrondin, a collection of well maintained, if not exactly pretty houses, the gemeng started shaking. Maz did not change his stride. The villagers came to stand in the doorways, some peered from windows. None came any closer. Lestar quickly glanced at them. These gemengs were not the gemengs of his nightmares, of the outside world. They did not possess the claws and teeth and spiked tails and second mouths that real gemengs had in terrifying abundance. No, they were just stupid, weak creatures that needed humans to provide them with the material for making weapons. Maz and Lestar walked down the main street and were quickly free of the town.

About half a kilometre down the road they came to the testing centre. It was an unadorned box of a building. There were two main entrances, one on the opposite side for gemengs hoping to migrate into Astar, and the one they were approaching for the successful migrants.

Maz led them around the building towards the main entrance. The road in front of the building was empty.

‘Hey there!’ Maz hailed the two guards standing before the doors of the centre. ‘We have a gemeng here!’

‘You’re late! It’ll have to wait til tomorrow.’

‘Where can we leave it?’

One of the guards shrugged and pointed down the road.

‘Is it wise to have gemengs gathering so close to home?’ Lestar asked nervously. Maz glanced at him, his expression saying he was thinking the same thing.

Just then a man dressed in civilian clothes came to the door. ‘What’s all this commotion?!’

The guards turned and quietly explained. The man looked towards them, out through the reinforced glass doors. ‘We’ll take him.’ He said and motioned for them to follow him as he turned and walked deeper into the centre.

Surprised, Maz and Lestar headed towards the door. Despite himself, Lestar did not suggest they leave. For once, curiosity got the better of his nervousness. He wanted to know what tests were conducted here. How could you tell a gemeng was weak enough to be allowed to live among humans?

One of the guards pulled the door open. Maz and Lestar said their thanks (Lestar mumbled) and they entered with the gemeng behind them.

The corridor they entered was dark, as the centre had closed for the day. In front of them was a glass window with a blank terminal behind it. The corridor continued to the left and right, though to the left it was too dark to see anything. To the right the corridor stopped at a door, which was open, revealing another hallway. The first door in the second hallway was open, and light was spilling from the room, the man who had summoned them was waiting.

As they entered he closed the door and turned to the gemeng. ‘So we’re going to have a look at you, eh?’

Maz and Lestar moved out of the way so the gemeng was standing alone in front of the man. ‘You know what happens here?’ The man asked.

The gemeng shook and shivered. ‘N-no.’

‘We do some tests to determine your strength. If you’re too strong you won’t be allowed into Astar and you will be forced to leave the area. Some of these tests are quite painful, do you understand?’

The gemeng nodded.

‘Right then. We’ll start by taking some blood.’ The man moved towards a cupboard on the wall and removed a needle. ‘What are your abilities?’ He asked as he prepared the needle.

‘N-none…’

‘None? No fire in your blood? No lightning? You can’t command water? You can’t smash boulders with a single punch?’

‘N-no.’

‘Are you very resilient? Can you walk for days without tiring? Do you need regular food and water? What is your diet? How long does it usually take a wound to heal?

‘No..no, uh, vegetables…some meat…’

‘Hmm…hold still now. Do you have any less hairy areas?’

The gemeng shook his head wildly.

‘Alright, do you mind if I remove some fur?’

The gemeng stared at him before slowly shaking his head. The man had already fetched a razor.

‘Now hold still,’ he said, and quickly shaved a small area on his arm. ‘Hold on,’ he said as the gemeng started at the sight of bare skin, ‘I’m not done yet.’

The man scrubbed and cleaned the freshly bared skin. He did it quickly, then with a needle he took some blood from the gemeng.

‘Hmm…’ the man said as he held the needle up to eye level. ‘Not too much resistance, and the needle hasn’t burst into flames. That’s always a good sign.’ He turned to a table by the cupboard and set up some vials. He took a piece of metal, wood and paper from the cupboard and laid them out.

First he put a drop of blood into each vial. Then he dropped blood first on the metal, then the wood, then the paper.

He waited, his eyes flicking from the vials to the materials, a deep frown on his face. ‘That’s good…not even the paper is damaged. And the colour is good.’

The colour of the liquid in the vials had changed from dark red to layers of different colours. The top layer was a clear yellow, nearly transparent, and the bottom a darker orange.

It meant nothing to anyone but the man, who seemed satisfied.

‘Alright, next room.’ And he strode quickly across the room, turned the lights off and flung open the door. He turned the lights on in the other room and gestured impatiently for the three to follow.

‘This will be a painful test, and you will be injured. We’re going to shoot you and see what happens.’

The gemeng made a small sound, but it didn’t ask to leave.

Lestar and Maz looked at each other and back at the man.

‘Stand over there please, face me.’ He gestured towards a wall that had scorch marks on it. There was a red line marked on the floor in front of the wall, which is where the gemeng stood. The man approached and with a measuring instrument measured the width of the gemeng’s shoulder. He pulled on its skin with another instrument and then walked to another cupboard. He selected an energy weapon and started changing the settings on it.

‘This is a very sensitive experiment. This weapon is set to a level that it will go right through a human shoulder of the same width as yours, with a similar amount of fat. If it doesn’t go through your shoulder it tells us you’re a little bit different to us. Are you ready?’

The gemeng shuddered.

The man faced him, the energy weapon loosely held in his hand by his side. Suddenly he fired, so quickly that Lestar and Maz didn’t even see him raise his hand.

There was silence as the light from the weapon died down. The gemeng made a strangled sound of pain and shook. The smell of burnt flesh and fur filled the room. Lestar’s mouth twisted in disgust.

The man approached and looked at the wound, as if he did this every day, which he did. The wound was a small round tunnel through the gemeng’s shoulder. ‘Not all the way through…mostly, but not all.’

Lestar felt cold steal over him. Sweat broke out on his skin. He had seen gemengs on the screen in the military training facility, he had heard about them, but he had never seen one. Not a real one. Maz blanched.

‘I see, well, that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be allowed in, but we’ll have to do some more tests. Are you up for it?’

The gemeng nodded slowly.

‘I thought you wouldn’t take long to pass,’ the man frowned, ‘you get to recognize a look about them.’ He explained. ‘Why don’t you go rest at the gemeng camp, hmm? Come back tomorrow and we’ll do the rest of the tests.’

The gemeng didn’t respond.

‘I’ll patch that shoulder up for you.’ The man said.

As he worked he turned to Maz and Lestar. ‘Thanks for bringing him all the way here. You boys can head on back now.’

‘How do you know it’s a him?’ Maz asked suddenly.

‘I’ve seen a lot of gemengs.’ He shrugged.

Again that cold feeling stole over Lestar as he and Maz left the building. It was dark outside. They greeted the guards and headed back up the road towards Astar. So many gemengs, so close. And so different…

Chapter 2

Aerlid glanced down at the girl as she trotted alongside him, swinging her legs forward in an entirely impractical manner.

She was excited. She wasn’t quite sure what about, but she knew it was something new so she was excited.

The sun was approaching the middle of the bright blue sky, and the day was slightly warm. It was an excellent day for travelling.

‘There’ll be gemengs there.’ The man said. ‘Other people, and children for you to play with.’

The girl had heard the words ‘gemeng’ and ‘human’, but never before seen one. All she knew were bugs and birds, animals for eating and animals that would try and eat her. And Aerlid. Animals and Aerlid.

And that was ok. That was all she knew, so how could she want any more?

Aerlid, for his part, was concerned about her. It was time, he thought, for her to meet the people who shared her world. Time to learn there was more to the world than trees and animals that could be hunted and animals that would hunt you, plants you could eat and plants you could not.

And so he had told her they would head to a place where gemengs dwelled together. None of these things meant anything to her, and that was what was exciting. And the day was nice. That was exciting too.

As they entered the town Riley looked around entranced. She had never seen anything like it. Her small mind was overloaded as her eyes flicked from one vision to the next.

To Aerlid it was an entirely different view. The fact that it bore such a resemblance to human settlements was both surprising and not, but then that was why he’d chosen this place out of many others. It was a small settlement, with one main road and two side streets that intersected the main road. A cursory glance showed a dilapidated, run down place, most likely abandoned. If one cared to look closer, they would see that despite the boarded, or just plain empty windows, the sagging rooves and tilted walls, the buildings were all sturdily built. Despite appearances, it would take more than a small breeze to level the village.

Aerlid stopped just before the first house on the main street. Riley stopped with him once she noticed.

Silence.

Riley finally looked over her little shoulder at him, her brow furrowed and a pout on her lips. It was an expression that clearly said ‘What are we doing?’. Despite her impatience she remained silent and after a final glare she turned back to the village.

The silence continued. Riley rocked back on heels a few times then stopped. Aerlid remained still. Stillness suited the girl well, but not today as today was supposed to be an exciting day.

Finally Riley sighed and walked back towards him. She stood in front of him and frowned. ‘Well?’

‘They’ll come out.’ I think.

Riley had no idea what they were. She had no image to associate with the word ‘gemeng’, and so Riley had alternately imagined rabbits, deers and mountain tigers. She had settled on mountain tigers, and was now very much looking forward to living with them. Still, she did not ask. Instead she just sat down to wait, the anticipation of the promised surprise fading away.

Soon after Aerlid joined her.

When night fell Aerlid lit a fire. He made a soup of some dried meat and vegetables they carried with them. Riley was a poor cook. She had an unsettling habit of throwing everything in reach into the pot. Aerlid hoped she’d grow out of it.

They ate. Aerlid glanced up at the slim crescent of the moon and sighed. Would it frighten them to hear singing in the night? He had an idea that the people of this village might be frightened by just about anything. He kept his gaze riveted on the moon but remained silent. Tonight the song remained in his heart.

As the fire died down Riley curled up and slept. Aerlid remained awake.

When the sun rose over the horizon the next morning Riley awoke, though she did not move. She waited, her senses reminding her of her surroundings, and slowly got up, her movements suggesting she was more asleep then she really was. She often tried to surprise Aerlid in the morning with this trick.

After the pinks and golds had disappeared from the horizon, and dusky blue had changed to a more lively hue, Aerlid began making breakfast.

He stirred the pot, murmuring to himself. It had been so long since he had such things as bread and butter. What he could do with such things. Riley blinked sleepily in the morning light, apparently uninterested in his talk.

It was when he was just about ready to serve the reheated soup that a man emerged from a house two blocks up from them, right at the opposite edge of the town.

Aerlid did not stop what he was doing, though he looked up carefully. The man stood alone in the middle of the street.

He was tall and wide, his face covered in bristly brown fur. Human eyes glared at the two interlopers over a muzzle of a boar. He wore clothes; an unremarkable outfit consisting of shirt, trousers and a belt of a dirty grey colour. His muscles bulged and strained against the feeble fabric. It was something of a miracle that it didn’t tear.

‘WHAT ARE YOU?!’ the beast roared.

Riley blinked in surprise and looked over her shoulder at the creature. Her eyes sharpened. A foe? Could she beat it or should she run? It looked strong. How fast was it? Where should she run? All these thoughts went through her mind in the moment between noticing the beast and the animal intelligence coming into her eyes.

Aerlid slowly rose to his feet. ‘We are not threat.’ he said quietly, his normal, even tone sounded hushed and pale after the roar of the beast.

‘WHAT ARE YOU?!’ louder this time. The ground shook.

Aerlid was aware of Riley’s slow and careful movements as she got into a position to run.

‘We are gemengs.’ Aerlid said, just as softly. ‘We do not wish to be a threat.’

With a stupendous roar the beast raised his arms above his head. Then he slammed his fist into the earth. There was a rumble and crack as if like thunder, and then like lightening a crack in the earth opened and zig-zagged its way towards the two. Riley swiftly moved out of the way and into the shadow of the nearest house, out of sight of the beast. The crack stopped. In front of the fire. The earth trembled.

Aerlid held his hands out, palms up and slowly moved towards the beast. ‘We mean you no harm. We can defend ourselves, but we mean you no harm.’

The beast trembled.

Aerlid stopped. ‘We wish to stay here a while. May we?’

‘You mean no harm?’ the beast rumbled.

‘No harm.’

There was silence. Somewhere, a crow cawed. ‘You know the lord of this land? You know his men?’

‘I have heard he is fearsome. I have heard his men are too. But we mean no harm, we wish to stay a while.’

The beast was afraid, Riley knew. She did not need to think it. Many animals were afraid of her. That didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous though.

With great reluctance the beast said, ‘you may stay…as long as you don’t make any trouble.’

‘We will make no trouble.’

With a sound that was surprisingly sweet after the roars that had been pounding from him before, the beast summoned the rest of the villagers from their houses. Slowly they came. Not all were like him. Some had skin like Riley. Some had fangs. But all walked on two legs and had two arms. This was a great change to Riley, as few animals behaved in this manner. With uncharacteristic curiosity she approached from her hiding place near the side of the house.

As the villagers saw that the newcomers were not attacking them, were not trying to steal them away or flatten their houses, they relaxed. Even the beast seemed less afraid.

And thus began their life in the gemeng settlement of no name, known only to its inhabitants as home.

Chapter 3

Living in the settlement was in some ways very different to Riley’s previous life, though in other ways much the same. Different, in that there were two legs everywhere. Two legs her size, two legs Aerlid’s size. And they were not the same as the wild creatures. They talked and lived in houses and wore clothes. Riley and Aerlid did not live in a house. They had a camp between the edge of the forest and the village, just prior to the first house. Their food was much the same as always, to Aerlid’s disappointment. These people did not have fields or livestock. If they had ever had such things they had long since been destroyed by the lord of this land and his men. In fact, the diet of the villagers was little different to what Aerlid and Riley ate. If they did have things not from the forest they hid them well and certainly did not share them with the outsiders.

Riley was wary of the large two legs. She had seen the earth open at the roar of the beast (his name was Olef), but the little two legs did not look much faster or stronger than her. Those ones were safer until she understood the ways of these creatures, and whether they were to be feared or not.

Aerlid spent most of his time in the village, talking with and helping the other villagers. The rest of the time he spent hunting and taking care of their camp (Riley of course had to help with such things), and teaching Riley. He was different here than in the wild. He had paled and shrunk, become smaller and weaker seeming than he actually was. And he no longer sang to the moon. Riley noted that it had happened, understood instinctively that the two legs feared them less because of this, and she thought no more of it.

Riley learnt many strange and disturbing things from the little two legs. Rarely did the girl display much curiosity. When she did it was usually to learn about whether a new thing was dangerous or not, and how might she fight or flee if it became necessary? But here the world was so different that she was forced to spy and listen carefully. At night she crept silently between the houses and peered through windows, or when they were boarded up and she could see little through the cracks she just listened. The two legs did not see her, and that made her happy.

One day she crept back to the camp, carefully lest the possibly dangerous two legs sought to catch her off guard while she was retreating. Aerlid was sitting by the fire, warming his hands. He gave her a look of mild curiosity as she approached before turning back to the fire.

‘Are you my father?’ She asked.

Aerlid’s attention swung firmly back to the girl, he hesitated before asking, ‘do you know what a father is?’

An uncertain look came over her face. She had heard and seen things, and discovered that males and females did unsettling things together, which resulted in the small two legs. The small two legs created by the large ones, tended to live with them and be looked after by them. ‘You can’t be my mother…’ she said hesitantly.

‘Oh can’t I?’ Aerlid said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. The girl’s eyes flicked towards his and narrowed. She had come to recognize that tone.

‘No Riley, I am not your father.’ Aerlid relented.

Riley nodded slightly to show her understanding, and then folded herself gracefully down until she was sitting cross legged on the ground.

‘Do you want a father?’ Aerlid asked.

Riley looked at him blankly.

Aerlid sighed. Her lack of imagination was baffling at times, he wondered if she would be the same had he raised her among people and not in the wild. ‘You know animals have mothers and fathers too, Riley.’ Aerlid said, his eyes back on the fire.

‘That’s different.’

‘How is that different?’ he asked, somewhat surprised she had picked this up.

‘They aren’t like me.’ and she grinned. ‘I’m smarter than them.’

‘Is that all?’

Riley nodded vigorously.

Aerlid determined not to think any more about how her mind worked. Dinner needed to be cooked and Riley needed to be kept from putting dirt in the pot when he wasn’t looking.

Aerlid watched Riley play with the gemeng children, a slight frown on his face and a crease between his brows.

Riley hovered around the edge of the group, skirting out of reach of the other children whenever they came close. As he watched a large, hairy child shoved another to the ground. He had seen the same behaviour with the adults. The children were really just mimicking their parents.

When Riley returned to the camp she was tense and wary. Her eyes darted around, as if she expected someone to jump out and attack her. Despite her discomfort, at least she had not drawn her sword on the other children. The gemengs had been suspicious of their weapons; her child sized sword and his, worn beneath his coat. Gemengs did not have weapons like this. That would require material, and the skill to shape it, and the gemengs had neither.

‘How fast can you climb?’

‘I can climb faster than you!’

‘Well I can go higher!’

Riley frowned at the small two legs- children- as they argued. There was an undercurrent of hostility in the banter that she was well aware of. She was reserved and quiet among the children as she tried to learn their ways.

One of the smaller, bristly children sprung up onto the tree they were gathered around. ‘I’ll show you! I can climb faster and higher than you!’

One of the children shoved Riley suddenly. ‘You go!’

Riley glanced at the shover warily and approached the tree. ‘Climb, climb, climb!’

Surrounded by chanting children, bristly and skinned, she saw no option, and no real reason, not to do as they insisted.

Riley bounded up onto the first branch of the tree. Then with a laugh the others joined and they were all racing to the top, or as high as they dared to go.

Riley had never climbed a tree with so many others. She stopped and paused, balked when she saw another on the branch she wished to jump too, and so she was much slower than usual.

She was about half way up and frustrated. She looked up at the branch above. A skinned child (like her!) was balancing on it. Riley frowned. She didn’t want to wait. They took too long and she liked climbing! She sprung off the branch she was on, her fingers latching firmly onto the higher branch. The child glanced down and their eyes met. Riley was about to swing herself up. He raised his bare foot. Her mouth opened in an ‘O’ of surprise as he stepped down hard on her fingers.

She slipped. She could see him standing. Then he turned and jumped to the next branch. She was falling. Her fingers scraped upon the next branch down but couldn’t hang on. The next, the next, the next. The ground was coming closer. With a thump she landed on her feet. She landed awkwardly, her ankle buckling under the weight. Her hip hit the hard ground, cushioned by the hilt of her sword that was no cushion at all. She went down with a cry of pain.

Her breath came hard. Pain throbbed in her leg, her side. Sweat broke out on her skin. The tree was above. They were in it, climbing climbing, climbing. She swallowed and awkwardly pushed herself up, all her weight on her right side. She sucked air in, tried to calm her breathing. She began hopping away, her back prickling. What if they saw?

Hop, hop, she hopped away, using trees and bushes for support when she could.

When she got back to their camp her chest was heaving. With disappointment and a little fright she looked around and saw Aerlid was not there. Riley glanced around quickly, her mouth dry, looking for somewhere to hide until he returned. If the little two legs couldn’t be trusted neither could the big two legs.

Riley hopped and struggled away from the village and towards the forest. She found a tree and some bushes and hid herself where she could see the camp.

And she waited.

Aerlid returned about an hour later. It felt a long time to Riley. Her ankle and side were throbbing. She was thirsty and tired and scared. Riley struggled from her hiding place and approached him. He noticed her quickly. ‘Riley, what is it?’ He asked, his eyes narrowing as he came towards her.

‘Tree, fell.’ she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

Aerlid gathered her up and carried her back to their camp, putting her back down again. ‘Where does it hurt?’ he asked her, though his eyes were already on her ankle.

‘Ankle, and here,’ she pointed at her left side, just above her sword belt.

He carefully lifted her shirt up and saw a dark, ugly bruise already forming. She must have fallen right on her sword.

From a leather bag Aerlid removed his physician’s tools. The ankle was broken, her side was badly bruised and her fingers were scraped raw. Not overly serious, but he could not say the same about the fear in her eyes.

He brushed a hand over her ankle lightly. Her face relaxed as the pain eased and he began setting her ankle.

Chapter 4

Less than a week later, Riley was walking normally again, her ankle injury a thing of the past. Yet she was wary in the village and didn’t stray too far from the camp.

The other children mostly ignored her, as if it had been proven she was not a threat.

Yet Riley was getting frustrated and annoyed. She bared her teeth at the children as they passed, her hand brushing her sword, knowing that if Aerlid had seen her snarling like a wild beast she would have received a thump on the head. She didn’t want to be frightened. She didn’t want to stay here because the children were horrible and mean.

So today she ventured into the woods, determined to overcome her fear. Beforehand she had informed Aerlid of her plan.

She was careful and avoided the other children. They were dangerous, she now knew. They were not to be trusted.

As she played and jumped through the trees her fear gradually eased and was overcome by delight. A wide grin was on her face as she flowed like water up a tree, all the way to the top. She sat on a high, thin branch, overlooking the forest. Calm and content.

She stayed up there, her eyes drifting closed, though she didn’t sleep. She enjoyed the feel of the tree against her back, the wind against her body, the pleasure of balancing on a thin branch, and the view of the forest before her. She faced away from the village.

A noise drifted up to her. Her eyes flickered open. The children. Not an unusual noise, she could recognize the pleasure and fear in those voices. Another sound, more uncertain. Another, more fear.

Her eyes flicked open again. They were annoying her. She couldn’t make the noises go away, but she could at least see what was happening so she could then ignore it.

Riley flowed down the tree, and then from one to the next. The sounds grew louder as she approached the village. She stopped, her heart hammering in her chest.

A deer. A deer standing by a tree, its head down. But the fur wasn’t right. It was a reddish brown, but it looked wrong. Not soft and furry. Jagged and tearing. The deer raised its head. Sharp teeth filled its mouth. The eyes always distressed her most, because they were the same. The same dewy tenderness of a normal deer.

Riley tilted her head back and screamed. It came out like the sound of an owl. The children glanced towards her from where they were gathered in the trees.

Riley looked back at the ehlkrid deer and shivered. As she watched, it reared up and slammed its hooves against the tree the children were in. It shook and creaked. The children screamed and sobbed in fear, some climbed higher up and jumped to other trees.

It reared again. More of the children scampered and leapt into other trees. Soon only three children were left in the tree and they hung on grimly. Riley watched. She could not fight the ehlkrid deer. It was a monster, a terrible monster. She just watched and waited for her call to be answered.

A movement caught her eye. One of the children was trying to reach her tree, but he had jumped badly. The branch he was on swung and shook. He clutched it with his knees and hands, his eyes wide with fear. Riley quickly scampered up to his branch.

Nervously she approached, intending to help him along. Her eyes were on the deer.

She was on his branch, carefully moving along. Then the deer jumped.

It was a prodigious jump, rising near three meters in the air. Its sharp teeth grabbed the shirt of the boy. He screamed, though the deer only had his shirt. In his fright though his hands slipped.

With a cry of dismay Riley jumped out and grabbed his hand as he fell.

He swung from her hand, his chest heaving, his eyes bulging.

The deer circled. Riley heaved him up quickly, her arm shaking from the strain. The boy had his hands on the branch and Riley was trying to pull him up when the deer jumped again. Riley reacted instantly and leapt from the branch.

The deer saw her, started and stopped. It fell gracefully to the ground, its eyes on the easy prey. There was a standoff as Riley and the deer regarded each other. Then Riley turned and ran.

She ran and ran. The deer moved after her quickly and silently. She knew it was there. She was heading towards the village. The ehlkrid was fast, very fast. Not as fast as the mountain cats, but then neither was she.

She needed a tree, but the ehlkrid could jump high and fast too and would likely get her before she could get high enough to be safe. She let loose another owlish scream.

She turned suddenly and rolled. She was on her feet in seconds and was moving again. The deer scrambled, it could not turn as sharply as her.

She didn’t risk a glimpse behind. She turned again. The deer was faster this time. Then a flash of silver caught her eye. Riley hit the ground and rolled. Behind her there was an animalistic scream. Riley turned and was on her feet again. The deer was down. It thrashed, its teeth gnashing the air, its hooves flailing.

Aerlid stood over it, his sword dripping blood. He stabbed it again and it went still. He turned to her and said nothing.

‘The children are back there. I don’t think they got eaten.’ Aerlid nodded.

‘Shall we go check?’ He asked. She nodded. Giving the corpse a wide birth Riley led the way back to the children.

They were still huddled in the trees. Shocked surprise greeted her as she appeared. They’d thought she’d been eaten.

‘It’s dead now.’ Aerlid announced. ‘Come down and I’ll take you back to the village.’ The children clambered down. The pale and trembling group approached and huddled around him as he herded them back. He noticed the boy with the ripped shirt. ‘Did it break your skin?’ he asked.

The boy shook his head. ‘If you feel ill or strange at all, you must tell me at once.’ Aerlid said, and the boy nodded fearfully.

Back in the village the children suddenly broke away and hurried to their parents, who had come out of their houses.

‘What was that?’ one of them asked, approaching Aerlid.

‘An ehlkrid deer.’ Aerlid said tiredly. ‘I killed it, now I need to destroy the body.’

The beast, Olef, stepped forward. ‘No! Give it to us and we will take it.’

Aerlid eyes narrowed. ‘You intend to eat it.’ he said softly. It was not a question.

Olef, a touch of nervousness in him, nodded.

‘The ehlkrid flesh will do nothing for you. At best, you will be terribly sick until it is expelled from your body.’

‘I have eaten it before!’ He roared, a hand pounding his chest. ‘I am strong!’

Aerlid paused. ‘Are you sure it made you stronger? How sick were you?’

Olef said nothing, which said it all.

‘If you wish to eat it, I won’t stop you, but be aware, you have not enough…you are not strong enough to gain any benefit from consuming ehlkrid flesh.’

Olef bared his teeth. ‘Where is it?’

With a sigh Aerlid pointed into the forest. ‘Will you at least burn what you don’t eat?’

Olef nodded. ‘Aye.’

With that Olef and the rest of the villagers headed into the forest.

Chapter 5

Riley shifted nervously in front of the fire. Aerlid, tired, looked up at her questioningly.

‘I don’t like it here.’ she announced.

Aerlid paused. Neither did he. ‘The children have been nicer since you saved one of them?’

She nodded. ‘I think…but…’ she glanced down. They had been nicer. They’d been positively pleasant. ‘I don’t like it here.’ She didn’t trust that niceness. She didn’t know what to think of it, how long would it last? Was it truly meant or was it just another game? She didn’t understand how things worked here… she had made no friends and didn’t think she ever would make friends with these people.

Aerlid nodded. ‘I think we should leave.’

Her face brightened instantly. Aerlid felt a pang of sadness at that. She’d smiled so rarely since they’d arrived, she did not feel safe here. When she smiled her whole face was transformed, as with most people. It was a bright, pleasing sight to behold.

‘They ate the deer…’ she said uncertainly, looking at him.

‘They did…’ he sighed, ‘some believe that eating the flesh of…those things… will strengthen you. And for some it does… but not for people such as these.’

‘For us?’

‘No.’ he said sharply, and instantly relaxed as Riley looked relieved.

‘Can we leave soon?’

‘Tomorrow.’ he promised.

The next morning Aerlid informed Olef that they would be leaving. He received a grunted acknowledgement in response.

After, they packed up their small supplies and buried what had been their fire pit.

As they stood ready to leave the children and adults gathered in the village. Aerlid raised a hand in farewell, as did Riley. They did not bear ill will towards these people, but they weren’t comfortable or happy here. The solemn group responded in kind.

They headed towards the forest. Riley turned and asked Aerlid, ‘are you supposed to say something?’

Surprised and pleased she had asked he replied, ‘farewell is good I believe.’

Riley turned back to the crowd and waved again. This time she cried out, ‘farewell!!’

A few smiles broke out on the faces of the children and adults. Then Aerlid and Riley turned their backs and disappeared into the forest.

They travelled through the forest for many weeks and Riley was happy. She was practically skipping along, when she wasn’t climbing of course. And she never seemed to tire. They stopped before it got dark so he might teach her more of fighting, with and without a sword. While they travelled her lessons on the world continued. It was a relief to Aerlid to see that she had not been too damaged by her experience in the gemeng village. It was also a relief to release himself. He was no longer pale and small. Every night he sang to his heart’s content.

It was on one of these pleasant days of travelling that Riley made her announcement. ‘I’m going to fight with two weapons.’

Aerlid’s step slowed at that and then he sped up again. ‘Two weapons?’ he asked cautiously.

‘Yes. I need to get a sword smaller than this.’

‘You can make a dagger from stone, if you want one you may make it yourself.’

Surprised, she said, ‘no, our weapons aren’t made from stone!’

‘The hunting spears are.’ he frowned at her.

‘I don’t want a hunting knife. I want a dagger that is a weapon like your sword and mine.’ She said, quite shocked that he didn’t understand this.

He looked at her in surprise, ‘what are you going to do with it?’

‘Fight with it.’

Aerlid opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. Where did she think these swords came from? Where did she think he was going to get a dagger made from the same material, further, where had she gotten this idea?! He’d certainly never mentioned sword and dagger- or even sword and shield fighting styles to her- mainly because he wasn’t familiar with them!

‘The sword you have now is little more than a dagger. Perhaps when you’re older.’

‘When I’m as tall as you?’

‘I doubt you’ll get as tall as me.’

Riley looked at him askance. ‘Of course I will.’

‘And how do you know that?’ he asked desperately.

‘Because I get bigger all the time and you stay the same.’

Aerlid was silent for some time before saying, ‘you are going to stop growing, you know.’

Riley, quite stunned by this revelation, said ‘no I won’t!’

‘You will. Once you reach a certain age children stop growing.’

Riley was so shocked that the conversation about swords and daggers ended right there.

After about three weeks of travelling Aerlid began to detect the scent of the ocean in the air above the smells of the forest. He began angling towards it. It had been a long time since he had seen the ocean and it would be a nice change. Not long after, they reached the coast, the forest never far away.

Riley was excited to see something new, but Aerlid kept her on the side of him furthest from the ocean. It was a beautiful thing, and he remembered happier times when he had swam in it freely, but now he could not be sure of its safety.

The beach was not like the beaches he had once swum from. The rough scrub and hardy grasses stopped at a brown sheet of rock. Pits and cracks ran through the sheet, and closer to the shore parts of it became more pebbly while in others it retained its structure.

With the ocean calm, as it was now, the rocks did not seem particularly dangerous, they did not look jagged from this angle. Once strong waves came up, jagged or not, the rocks would be very dangerous. But that was not why Aerlid kept Riley away from the beach.

‘Are we going somewhere?’ Riley asked, as they walked along the edge of the grass that marked the beginning of the rocks.

The wind played with her hair and the sun beat down from the cloudless sky, warming them pleasantly.

‘We are.’

Riley didn’t reply for a moment.

The lapping of the waves was peaceful.

‘Where are we going?’

‘A human city.’

Riley gave him a sidelong look.

‘It will be different to the village.’

‘Will they step on my fingers?’

‘Maybe, though not in the way the gemengs did.’

‘Hmm…will they like me?’

‘That depends on how nice you are.’

‘I was nice to the two legs.’ She said after a moment, her gaze focused ahead. She was swinging her legs in a totally inefficient manner again. That meant she was happy, despite her solemn tone.

‘Ay, but they aren’t like the gemengs. You shouldn’t call them two legs.’

Riley didn’t bother arguing with that.

‘No snarling either.’

She didn’t respond. She had mostly grown out of that habit anyway.

That night Aerlid was concerned about the safety of camping near the beach. Something could crawl out of the ocean and attack them, at least in the forest he was familiar with the dangers. He could always stay up all night watching, but that hardly seemed practical when the forest was so close.

Riley didn’t mind, so they returned to the forest to prepare dinner and camp.

After dinner was finished and packed away Aerlid sat and relaxed. He let himself forget about the mundane concerns of life and became silent within. The night opened up with a clarity that always astonished him. The breeze against his cheek, the grass beneath him, the sounds of animals, the sounds of Riley. When he was ready he opened his eyes and looked to the moon.

And he sang.

He sang in words Riley could not decipher, though she grasped the edges of their meaning. They were words and sounds she struggled to copy. But she knew the tune. And Riley hummed along with him.

The next day they walked along the beach again. Summer would soon be ending, today though was a lovely day like yesterday. The days were usually lovely in this part of the world.

The travelling was easy and pleasant.

Sometime after lunch Riley spotted a large bird flying over the ocean. She watched it for a few moments, noting that it did not skim the surface of the ocean and maintained a large distance from it at all times. Then suddenly it darted down and shot back up into the sky, a fish caught in its beak.

‘Dangerous..’ Aerlid murmured. He could practically feel the relief of the bird as its flapping ceased its frantic nature once it was far from the ocean again.

Later they saw another bird, being as careful as the first one. Riley watched it again for a few moments before her attention turned away.

They walked on.

Suddenly a splash and a roar came. Riley turned, startled. She was just in time to see a long glinting blue pillar, standing a good three meters from the ocean. She could discern no marks on the scaly pillar to tell her anything about this creature. No eyes, mouth, no holes or appendages. The bird was gone. Then the creature slowly crashed back into the water. The water swirled and churned in its passing. Only after a couple of minutes did it calm down.

Aerlid stopped and stared. ‘A mixed? No…’ he said, his eyes on the water. ‘Yes, it is. How did that happen?’

Riley looked up at him and took his hand. She was shook up. Aerlid turned away from the water. He glanced down, noticing what she had done and smiled. ‘It’s alright. Come, let’s keep going.’

They did not go back into the forest, but they did move further away from the beach.

They left the beach as the coast began to curve northwards and headed further inland, back to the forest.

Riley did not complain. The ocean was new and exciting, yet scary too. How was she to fight things in the ocean? She could not swim. If they crawled up on land perhaps it would be more even, but the ocean creatures were too alien for her, she feared them.

The days gradually shortened and soon it would begin to grow colder, though it was still weeks before they would have to think of changing their clothes.

There was a purpose to Aerlid’s travel that had not been there since he’d decided they should enter the gemeng village. He was going somewhere now.

One day they came to the edge of a cliff. Perched upon the lip of the cliff was an ancient wall of stone, barely higher than Riley. The years had worn the stone down, until its original function could not be discerned. Riley glanced once at the grass underfoot and caught a glimpse of the same rock that made up the wall. They had come across these remnants of an ancient time several times during their travels, but they held little interest to Riley and she paid no further attention to the wall. Aerlid said they were very, very old, and at her obvious disinterest revealed no more.

Aerlid though favoured the wall with a long look, ‘this must have been the palace…’ he murmured.

Riley did not respond, and instead looked out over the cliff in amazement. It was not forest that greeted her but a vast plain of grass. In the distance the jagged shapes of mountains were just visible, though she did not look at those. She peered over the edge of the cliff. The plains were like an ocean of grass, so they were at once alien and familiar.

Riley spared a glance for Aerlid and grinned at him.

He smiled and sat down on the cliff edge next to her. It was a long drop to the ground below, not that this bothered either of them. ‘Those are the Plains.’ Aerlid spoke. Riley settled down to listen, her eyes wide with interest, moving between him and the Plains.

‘The strongest gemengs in the world are said to live here. I don’t know if that’s true, nonetheless they are the strongest gemengs in this part of the world. There are many groups or tribes,’ he continued, ‘these gemengs aren’t like the ones you met. Even the weakest would be stronger than all the people in that village combined. No, they are all warriors here, and they are constantly at war with each other. Though…’ he cast a critical gaze over the view below, the wind playing with his hair. ‘It seems they have more control these days, or perhaps there just aren’t any fire masters among them. There was a time when these Plains were often in flames. Fires would rage across from here to there.’ and he pointed at the mountains, a blue haze in the distance. ‘Many would die, and afterwards the land would be nothing but charred black ruin. It always recovered quickly though. Fire is naturally common in this type of land anyway, just not so… uncontrolled.’

He stopped for a moment, enjoying the peace.

‘We won’t be going there.’ he said after a while. ‘It’s too dangerous.’

Riley shot him a frown and then reconsidered, remembering the fearsome ocean creatures.

He smiled, knowing what she was thinking. ‘Maybe once you get a bit taller.’

They stayed there for a while, Aerlid instructing her in an easy and relaxed manner on the different gemengs he knew of. He’d stop sometimes for great lengths of time; there was no hurry in this instruction. Further, this was one of the few things-fighting- that he knew interested his charge…though interested might be a weak term… either way, she listened attentively and absorbed it after hearing it only once. She also had a disconcerting habit for one so young of coming to her own conclusions about things he had never even spoken of- extrapolating from the lessons. Her decision that she would wield two weapons was only one example.

He told her how to recognize the different types of gemengs, where they would most likely be found, how they tended to fight, their strengths and weaknesses, and if he knew anything about how they lived he told her that too.

After a few hours they moved away from the cliff. Aerlid did not wish to draw the attention of the Plains people, though he had wanted to show this to Riley. He took her through the forest, the course of travel chosen so that they would remain a safe distance from the Plains.

The lessons continued.

It was getting colder. Cold enough