The Lord of the Plains (35 page)

There was little blood. The energy weapons
seared the flesh. There was rarely any bleeding. But oh- that
didn’t make it any better. She tore something, she didn’t know
what, and covered his hand. He cried out.

Keeping her feelings from her voice she said
firmly, ‘I want you to go see my uncle.’ She told him where to find
the clinic. ‘Ask for Arntar Meilis. Tell him Riley sent you.’ Batar
approached and Riley was mainly speaking to him. ‘Go see Arntar.
No one
else, understand. Just Arntar.’

She waited until Batar nodded, his usual
calm demeanour shaken. ‘Tell me.’ she insisted.

Batar repeated the address then, ‘we ask for
Arntar.’ he hesitated. ‘If he’s not there?’

‘Wait. See no one but Arntar.’

He nodded and led Jann away.

Riley, trying to hide her guilt- Jann!-
turned. Leili and Geilar’s eyes were fixed on her, their faces
pale.

‘He’ll be fine.’ she said.

Then she noticed.

The gemengs were coming out of their
houses.

The gemengs formed a loose semicircle around
them. The children who had knocked Leili down by accident had been
whisked away. A woman, larger than any of the other gemengs,
approached from the circle.

‘You wished to speak with me.’ she said. Her
voice was gruff and calm, though it could easily turn into a roar
that would shake the trees. Her eyes were as hard as Colonel
Hamnar’s. Harder even, as she had to hide her fear.

‘We’ve heard something is upsetting you.’
Riley began.

Leili, faced with their mission, got to her
feet and stood behind Riley with Geilar.

The woman nodded curtly. ‘There is a
drakilis nearby. We cannot kill it.’

‘A drakilis?’ Riley asked carefully. ‘How do
you know this?’

‘Can you not smell it? It reeks foully, day
and night. It is a drakilis.’

‘H-how would one of those get here?’ Leili
asked. They had been briefly mentioned during theory with Major
Berdis. They were a stronger type of gemeng. Most were too weak to
live on the Plains but some… some had been known to.

‘We sent a troupe to find its lair, for it
stinks so abominably that we cannot pinpoint its exact location
from that alone. They smelt its trail, it came from the north, over
the mountains. A drakilis.’

‘Where is it?’ Riley asked, her curiosity
getting the better of her guilt.

‘We can lead you to it. We cannot get rid of
it.’ Then, that nervousness came through, ‘we can’t do it. We can’t
kill it.’

‘We won’t ask you to try.’ Riley said
firmly. The woman was afraid they’d be forced to fight it. Perhaps
that was why they had not mentioned it previously. ‘Thank you for
telling us. We’ll report back to Astar.’

‘Then what?’

‘It’s not my decision to make.’ she
hesitated. She was curious. Would it fight her? Would it be
stronger than her? ‘But I will tell you what the decision is.’ even
if that was not a task given to her, it would not be difficult for
her to sneak into Garrondin to tell these people.

The woman nodded. ‘We cannot fight it.’ she
added again.

‘I understand.’ Riley repeated
soothingly.

Riley turned and the three of them headed
back to Astar to report.

Aerlid spoke often of the gemeng languages,
and Riley wondered what language the drakilis spoke.

When they returned to the military base they
found Batar waiting for them.

‘How is he?’ Riley asked, trying to control
her raging guilt. He would have killed the child. She’d blown off
his hand.

Batar shrugged. ‘He’s fine. Not even a burn.
I don’t know what got into him. It’s no worse than the injuries we
got during training. The physician spent a long time with him, I
guess because he was complaining so much he thought there was
something wrong. He said not to come back unless he was actually
hurt next time.’

Riley let out a sigh of relief.

‘Oh I thought it was so much worse.’ Leili
said, sounding happier than she had all day. ‘Why did you shoot
him?’ Leili asked Riley curiously.

Riley was taken aback for a moment. ‘You
didn’t see?’ she asked.

‘Well, I was on the ground.’ she said. ‘I
wasn’t looking at him. I felt bad because the poor little girl was
crying.’

‘He was going to shoot the girl.’ Riley
said.

‘What? Oh if he had-’ Leili shook her head.
‘He really needs to be more careful!’

‘He mistook her for a tree.’ Geilar said
with a bleak smile.

The group fell silent and grimly considered
what might have happened. While they were contemplating that their
commanding officer, Major Lentar Eris, entered, breaking up the
tableau.

He cast his eyes over the group then
demanded, ‘Report!’

Riley did the honours. She did not mention
what had happened with Jann, only saying the gemengs of Garrondin
had located a drakilis, though did not feel they could fight
it.

‘And they are sure?’ Eris asked.

‘Yes. They believe it came from the north
over the mountains.’

‘Very well. What makes them think they can’t
fight it?’

Instead of answering Riley said, ‘Sir, I
would like to volunteer to fight it.’

‘Your unit?’ he raised an eyebrow.

Riley hesitated. Her unit was shifting
around her. ‘No, sir-’

‘Yes, our unit volunteers.’ Batar cut
in.

Riley turned her head to him, surprised.

‘Have you seen combat?’

‘No, sir, but we would like the experience.
However if we prove unable…’ Batar said.

‘I’ll discuss it with my superiors. You’ll
get your answer tomorrow. Dismissed.’

‘I didn’t mean to drag you into it.’ Riley
said after Lentar Eris was gone.

‘You can’t say you want to go fight a
drakilis alone. How will that look?’

‘That’s my problem.’

He frowned at her darkly and Riley was
surprised to see this from Batar.

‘We’re a unit. It will be a good experience
for us. And next time, give us a heads up first.’

When Riley returned home Aerlid was already
there. He was lying on the bed, his eyes closed.

‘Riley.’ he said when she came in. ‘Next
time you’re going to blow someone’s hand off, give me some warning
first.’

‘Will he be ok?’

‘Oh yes, his hand is as good as new.’ his
voice was soft and gentle. ‘But you must be more careful. What do
you think would have happened if I hadn’t been able to fix it?’

‘He was going to shoot a child. I didn’t
have time to do anything else.’

Aerlid sighed, it was light sound.

‘Was it bad?’

‘His thumb and forefinger were gone, his
middle finger was mostly there. The other two badly burned. I
haven’t been so tired since I healed your shoulder.’

‘Can I get you anything?’

‘Sleep, just sleep.’

Chapter 27

Jann’s hand may have been healed, but he was
very tired. He was unable to get out of bed the next day.

As they had all seen how perfectly fine his
hand was, the rest of the unit assumed he had just come down with
an unrelated illness.

Even though his hand was fine, Riley still
felt bad about what had happened. She would have to talk to him
when he was better. He needed to learn how to tell who was an enemy
and who wasn’t. Next time they might not be so lucky.

‘You’ve been given the task of dealing with
the drakilis.’ Major Eris was saying to them. ‘If at any time you
feel your lives are in danger you are to abort and we’ll send
someone else.’

‘Thank you, sir. I would request that we not
start today.’ Riley said, ‘as one of our unit is ill. May we
postpone to tomorrow?’ It really had nothing to do with that. Riley
had something to ask Aerlid before she wanted to get anywhere near
the drakilis.

Eris gave them a hard look. ‘Did you feel
this was an urgent problem?’ he asked finally.

‘No, sir. The gemengs were reluctant to tell
us. If it had been urgent, they would have told the first patrol to
come by.’

‘Very well. If you don’t deal with it
tomorrow however we will send someone else.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Then it’s patrol as usual for today.
Dismissed.’

Once outside Leili asked if she thought Jann
would be better tomorrow.

Riley shrugged. ‘Perhaps, if not we leave
him here.’

‘What’s the plan?’ Geilar asked. ‘Fighting a
drakilis. Do we know what its lair is like?’

Riley thought about this for a moment.
‘We’ll go by Garrondin after our patrol and ask.’

That night Aerlid was feeling better. He sat
up in bed and allowed Riley to prepare some food.

Riley thought if he was well enough to
examine his dinner that closely he was well enough to answer her
questions.

‘What language do drakilis’ speak?’ she
asked.

He glanced up sharply. ‘Why do you ask?’

With only a slight hesitation Riley told him
what was going to happen tomorrow.