The Lord of the Plains (32 page)

Peitar smiled easily as Jann glared at him.
He was rather used to this.

‘I’m guessing you want to chat somewhere
private.’

Before Jann could reply Peitar said, ‘come
this way then, we’ll go outside.’

Jann gritted his teeth and remained quiet
until they were outside, his angry glare fixed on Peitar the entire
time.

‘What are you doing?’ Jann demanded as soon
as they were outside.

‘Me?’ Peitar raised his eyebrows. ‘Talking
to you.’

‘You know she’s a gemeng!’ Jann almost
shouted. ‘What are you playing at? You want to get her in trouble?
You know how people react, they’ll blame her and- she’s just being
silly like Leili and doesn’t know but you, you-’

‘Wait,
what?!’
All the colour drained
from Peitar’ face. ‘What the hell? Is that a joke? A new tactic to
get me to back off from your sister, cousin, sweetheart or
whatever
?!’

‘What?’ Jann asked, some of the anger fading
from his voice. ‘Riley’s a gemeng.’

‘Hah..hah.’ Peitar felt around with his hand
until he found a wall and leant against it. ‘No, no way. I can tell
a gemeng from a human. She’s not a gemeng.’

Jann frowned. ‘What, are you blind? She’s a
total gemeng. From outside Astar too.’

Peitar sagged. ‘No, that can’t be, what, she
never mentioned it, I-I…’ he trailed off.

‘Um, she probably assumed you had more
brains than a stone and
knew
!’

‘Are you serious? She’s a ….?’

‘She’s a gemeng.’

Peitar swallowed. Then he leapt away from
the wall and ran.

Riley was confused and a trifle concerned.
She hadn’t seen Peitar in days. She went to the air force training
centre, she went to the park. She waited outside the military
school where he usually met her.

Nothing.

At least things were back to normal with her
unit.

Riley was walking around the park on
Restday, hoping but not expecting to find Peitar when she saw
him.

He was with a few of his friends from the
air force. He had his arm around a girl.

Pleased, Riley approached. She noted the
girl, though surely that couldn’t mean anything?

They didn’t spot her til she was close.

‘You!’ Peitar pointed.

Riley stopped.

‘You tricked me!’ he shouted angrily.
‘What’s wrong with you?’

‘I don’t understand.’ she said, Peitar’s
angry voice ringing in her ears.

‘You don’t understand? You don’t understand?
Hah!’ he turned to his friends. ‘That’s a gemeng for you! How about
pretending to be a human, hmm? What about that?’

‘I never.’ she said, stunned. She noted
things. His angry face. The girl snuggling closer.

‘You’re sick. You should be thrown out of
Astar. Stay away from me. STAY AWAY FROM ME!’ he shouted.

She bolted.

She ran.

It wasn’t til she saw the forest peering
over the outer wall of Astar that she stopped.

She turned and looked back at the city.

Slowly, she started walking in the direction
of her apartment. It was like walking through a dream.

She walked and paid no attention to what was
around her. Her feet knew the way and they took her.

Aerlid was there.

If she said something to him she didn’t
remember.

The door to the bedroom closed.

A pillow clutched to her face.

She didn’t want to hear herself crying.

Chapter 23

Eventually, when Aerlid asked, she told
him.

He was the only one.

She didn’t talk about it with her unit,
Razra or Jillia. A mixture of hurt and humiliation swirled in her
heart and she could not bear to reveal that to anyone else. It was
bad enough to feel she had been a fool, to feel she had acted
wrongly and ought to have known better. Bitterly, she thought that
everything fit together quite nicely when you added, ‘he thinks
you’re a human’ to the picture. She didn’t want to see her own
feelings reflected in anyone else’s eyes.

When the rest of the unit went to the air
force base, she didn’t. It was a struggle, but she refused to stop
going to the park, though every time she dreaded seeing him.

Luckily, she never saw Peitar there
again.

It was not long after this that Colonel
Hamnar called her to meet with him. She dragged her feet going to
his office. Was this about Peitar? Was she to be treated to a
lecture on not deceiving young human men about her humanity?

The Colonel’s office was small. Everything
was neat and tidy. Just like Astar.

‘Come in, sit down.’ The Colonel said.

Riley responded with a ‘yes, sir, thank you,
sir.’ and obeyed.

He observed her from under thick brows. His
eyes were grey and steely. They were always steely. The military
was full of people with a steely gaze.

‘I understand you passed the test to enter
Astar when you were a child, correct.’

It wasn’t a question though Riley responded
with a ‘Yes, sir.’

Not as bad as she thought. Or was it? she
wondered as soon as that thought had crossed her mind.

‘Hmm, yet your arm, you move it as though
you were never injured.’

She replied again, ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Such regenerative powers are not unknown
among the gemengs. Around Coastside there are some sea creatures
that will reform if you cut them in two.’

‘It’s also not unknown for some gemengs to
develop late. You were just a child when you passed the test, I
imagine you’re quite different now.’

Riley didn’t say anything.

‘For these reasons, I believe you should be
retested.’

Riley’s heart felt like it stopped. They
were going to shoot her. Her hand went to her shoulder. She didn’t
realize.

‘No.’ he replied calmly. ‘I don’t believe
that’s necessary at the moment.’

‘Y-you won’t shoot me?’ her voice was very
small. His reaction left her cold.

‘No, we have no reason to go that far. But
we will retest you. I’d like you to come to the testing centre next
Restday before ten o’clock. You may bring your uncle if you
wish.’

Riley found the walk to the testing centre
surprisingly tiring. She barely registered Garrondin. Aerlid had
been cranky since she told him. Now though, he was holding her hand
gently.

When they arrived they didn’t have to go
through the forms again. Colonel Hamnar was already there when they
arrived. He took them to one of the rooms where another man waited.
It all felt so familiar to Riley as she looked around at the
equipment that had been so alien and interesting during her first
visit. Now the vials and measuring instruments were
threatening.

Her shoulder ached.

The man explained what he’d do, just like
last time. He started the tests, taking blood and so on. Riley
stood silently while Aerlid and Colonel Hamnar talked.

‘And if she doesn’t pass?’ Aerlid asked.

‘Well, we’ll have to consider an appropriate
course of action.’ Colonel Hamnar said calmly. ‘She has performed
well in the training and her unit has had no complaints. These
things would be taken into consideration.’

‘Well, thank you for your consideration.’
Aerlid replied acidly.

‘You’re a human, correct?’ Hamnar asked,
ignoring Aerlid’s tone.

‘Yes, yes I am. Would you like to retest me
too?’

‘I don’t think that will be necessary. And
Riley’s mother was human?’

‘Yes.’

‘Hmm, interesting.’

‘The gemeng blood is strong.’

‘Very true. Curious though. And how did it
come about that her mother had a child with a gemeng?’

‘She was kidnapped.’ Aerlid lied, his voice
vicious. ‘It wasn’t by choice I can assure you. She died soon after
Riley was born.’

‘I’m sorry for your loss. Kidnapped from
where?’

‘She was in the military. One of her patrols
outside Astar was attacked. I don’t know what happened to the rest
of her unit.’

‘Hmm, do you know what unit she was in?’

‘I can’t say, I’m sorry.’

‘And what was her name?’

‘Leili.’ Aerlid said with another vicious
smile. It was a common name in Astar. ‘Her name was Leili.’

‘Lovely name.’

‘It is, isn’t it?’

‘And last name Meilis.’

Aerlid nodded, realizing he could have a
serious problem if the colonel checked into the information. How
many women had been kidnapped from Astar in the last twenty
years?

The testing took a long time. When Aerlid
asked, Colonel Hamnar said they were being thorough. He didn’t mind
too much; it gave him time to carefully confuse Hamnar’s mind so he
would think he’d already checked on the story. It was difficult and
delicate work.

They were thorough, but they didn’t shoot
Riley and once again she passed.

After that, things more or less went back to
normal. She kept her hurt at Peitar’s rejection locked away.
Perhaps when she was alone she let it show, but only then. In a
way, it was a bit like learning to control her reaction to the
energy weapons. She just clenched her teeth and got on with it.

So things were normal.

At least for a while.