The Lord of the Plains (69 page)

‘What are you doing?’ Riley demanded.

The woman stopped. She was large and
muscular. Her teeth were relatively human, but her huge hands had
claws erupting from them. Her animal skins were adorned with
trophies; parts of gemengs she had killed.

‘You finished.’

‘Yes.’ Riley said, bewildered. ‘I finished.
What are you doing?’

‘You finish, I take him to tent.’

‘Why are you taking him to your tent? Is he
alive
?’

The woman looked at her as if she was
stupid. ‘Of course. How he make children if he dead?’

Riley looked at her and then down at the
limp man. ‘But…’

The problems with this scene were too
numerous and too screamingly obvious to point out.

‘But he’s unconscious.’

‘Yes.’

‘
Why
is he unconscious?’

The woman’s frown got even darker. ‘Because
I hit him.’

‘But why did you hit him?’ Riley felt like
she was talking to a rock wall. Coincidentally, the woman did bear
a striking resemblance…

‘He not want to make children.’

‘He didn’t want to make children.’ Riley
repeated.

The woman glared at her. ‘So I hit him, take
him to tent, make children.’

‘Ok.’ Riley sighed. Closed her eyes. ‘Come
with me.’ She felt a sudden urge to dump this in Aerlid’s lap. And
if not that, at least to share.

She took a few steps before realizing the
woman was still dragging the man by the leg, his head bumping along
the ground.

‘Here, why don’t I carry him?’

‘Mine!’ the woman growled, and stepped in
front. ‘He make
my
children! You get your own mate!’

‘I don’t want-!’ Riley exploded before
snapping her mouth shut. She spun on her heel, turning her back on
the woman. ‘You there!’ She pointed at the closest gemeng. ‘Go get
Aerlid for me.’

The day ended with another proclamation.

There was to be no child making without
asking her permission first.

Riley rather thought knocking a person out
to drag them to your tent counted under the no fighting rule.

However, the gemengs apparently didn’t
consider that fighting.

That was courtship.

While Riley gained little pleasure from her
new tribe, the environment of the Plains was a different matter.
The more time she spent in the Plains the more it began to take
shape, gain depth and variety. The plains were not a homogenous sea
of grass as had first appeared. Riley now saw the long grass that
could grow up to three meters high, and the shorter grasses that
added layers and colour to this background. She could tell them
apart by length, by colour, by the type of seeds they had. She
learnt to avoid the furry, green grass that stung when you touched
it. And there were the flowers that added spots of colour to the
yellows and greens of the grass. Some of the flowers were
poisonous, some could be used for their medicinal properties. Some
were just pretty to look at.

In some places the grass was short, no
higher than her ankles. It was always a pleasure to escape from the
all-encompassing jungle of the long grass into these meadows. They
were formed by large beasts grazing, or by fire.

Among the grasses animal life was abundant.
There were small, rat like creatures that ran along the ground and
into burrows. Butterflies darted here and there and birds, called
from hidden nests. There were foxes and wolves. And in the great
big sky above, swift, sleek birds of prey. The plains were never
completely silent. There was the susurrus of the grass, the
chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects. And at night, the howls
of wolves. And there were the large beasts, the great lumbering
creatures that grazed throughout the plains. In the shoulder they
were as tall as Riley. They had large, sharp horns that curved
forward and could tear an unlucky gemeng apart. Strong legs, heavy
hooves, swishing tails. And enough meat to last the tribe a week or
more.

They were what the warriors hunted.

Riley had not hunted one yet.

What had once seemed an ocean of grass
gained colour for her. It became an escape from the tribe. A place
to explore. There were sadly, very few trees.

But it was enough.

When Riley returned from her daily trip to
the grasslands, laden down with roots and bulbs, and an unlucky
rabbit, she found an unfortunate scene.

It was not so much a scene, really, but the
aftermath of a scene.

Riley stalked over to a bruised and bloody
gemeng male. ‘Who did this?’ she demanded.

‘I did.’ Dulag announced. He was standing
over the male, as if guarding his prize. ‘I’ll kill him now.’

‘No!’ she said curtly. ‘I said no fighting
without my permission. You disobeyed me.’ She did not have to work
at it to look angry. She glared at Dulag.

‘I didn’t kill him.’ he said in surprise.
‘You said no killing. I didn’t kill. I wait. I ask, now I
kill.’

Riley was momentarily taken aback. How had
they come to that conclusion? ‘Well you misunderstood.’ she said
coldly, recovering herself. ‘There is to be no
fighting.
And
I do
not
give you permission to kill him.’

‘He said I smell worse than a pig.’ Dulag
growled. His body tensed, ready for a fight. And as she watched he
slapped the gemeng around the head.

‘Control yourself. That makes it twice
you’ve disobeyed me. And he says that every day.’

‘So?’

Riley felt a chill inside her. There were no
rules for these creatures. She had thought Dulag and the man he had
just mauled were friends of a sort, believed his jokes had been
allowed.

Had he believed that too?

The only way I can control them and not
be as bad as they are is if I am predictable with my violence.
She would give them rules. Clear, firm rules. And if they were
followed, they would be safe.

And that would be better than this.

‘Perhaps you should bathe more often. As
this man won’t be able to provide for himself because of you, you
will have to do it for him until he is recovered.’

The slumped and bleeding gemeng looked
stunned.

Dulag looked furious. ‘What?’ he grunted.
‘He insulted me!’

Riley gave him another look borrowed from
Aerlid until he subsided. ‘Until he is well enough to hunt for
himself, you will share half of your food with him.’

The moments stretched out. And finally,
Dulag acquiesced.

And Riley repeated her announcement
again.

She hoped this time it would be more
successful.

Chapter 60

Mostly, the days were all the same. She
learnt the routine of the gemengs, how they hunted and how they
moved throughout the plains. While they screamed and yelled when
attacking other tribes, they were silent as the night while
hunting. The subtleties of family life became clearer to her.
Mostly, the glue that held gemeng couples together was the
children. Once all the children had taken the Warrior’s Trial, the
family disappeared, as if it had never existed. One of the parents,
the physically weaker one, was almost like a ghost, ever present,
soundlessly completing chores that needed to be done, but not
actively participating in the family.

Incursions from other tribes were frequent.
The power relations of the plains were constantly changing. Riley
found it greatly frustrating, she was trying to teach her tribe to
be less violent and yet every week another tribe would attack them
and someone would die.

Hers or theirs, it didn’t matter.

The tribe had moved on from their original
location some time ago. Wherever they stopped, Riley and Aerlid
always made their own camp some distance away from the main tribe.
Living within the tribe would have been just too much.

It was night now. Their carefully guarded
fire was crackling merrily and stars were shining brightly
overhead.

‘What can you do about the other tribes?’
Aerlid was saying. ‘The only way they’ll stop attacking is if they
become part of
your
tribe.’

Riley blanched at that thought. She could
hardly control the gemengs she
had.

’Well, we can be more successful defending
ourselves then.’ Riley said obstinately. ‘They don’t fight smart-
if they would just work together and not announce themselves when
they’re going to attack.’

‘But that’s dishonourable. How are you going
to convince them to do that? Even if you force them, they won’t
like it. They’ll see it as a sign of your weakness. You’ll lose
respect.’

There was a very dark look to her eyes. She
glanced at him but said nothing.

After a while, she said ‘what they consider
honourable has to change sometime. Why not now?’

Aerlid shrugged. ‘It’s up to you.’

‘Also…’

‘Yes?’

‘I’d like you to teach some of the gemengs
medicine.’

Aerlid stared.

Riley looked at him, as if this was a
perfectly reasonable request. ‘I’d like them to see that skills
other than fighting are useful.’

‘You want me to teach these barbaric
monsters medicine?’

Riley frowned darkly.

Aerlid started, ’I’m sure they’re capable of
learning what the humans call ‘medicine’,’ he said hurriedly, ‘but
what I do is a bit different.’

Riley shrugged. ‘Teach them whatever kind
you like. I’ll let you choose your students.’ Then she stood.

‘I see you have the hang of delegating.’
Aerlid muttered.

Riley raised an eyebrow at him and smiled.
‘Well, I can’t do everything.’