The Lord of the Plains (70 page)

The next day Riley tried to teach her tribe
how to fight together, and not separately in close proximity to
other people. She quickly found respect wasn’t the issue. The
gemengs had no concept of working together. What might have looked
like working together to an ignorant bystander was really just
warriors going about their own business in the same space as other
warriors. Even while hunting the giant grazing beasts- or
especially
then, they worked alone. Even if they shared the
meat from the giant grazing beasts afterwards, that was not a sign
of working together, but was merely to say, ‘hah! look, I am such a
fabulous hunter I could not possibly eat everything I killed
myself! You incompetent hunters may have my leavings!’

She spent no more than two days with the
adults before narrowing her group down to just the couples. Perhaps
they would have a better understanding of working together. But
that was no better. Firstly, one couple would not work with another
couple any more than a normal gemeng would work with any other.
Secondly, one partner in the couple was less a partner and more a
silent servant, hovering at their master’s elbow.

Finally, Riley turned to the children. They
were younger, perhaps they were less set in their ways, more
willing to change. And hadn’t they almost,
almost
worked
together to harass and tease her? Perhaps she could work with
that.

So Riley gathered the children and told them
that if they’d worked together they’d have been able to steal her
weapons right off her belt. And wasn’t that far more than any of
the adults had accomplished? When she saw their eyes light up with
devilish glee she knew she had a chance.

Chapter 61

Aerlid was somewhat dubious about Riley’s
plans to try and teach the children teamwork. She hadn’t proved
herself to be the best teacher after all. Riley spent most of her
time away from the tribe out in the grasslands with the children.
Her mood improved markedly after only a few days of this, and
Aerlid quickly decided it was a good idea.

The downside was that he was put in charge
of the tribe while she was away. Mostly, he just glared at any
gemengs who approached him. It worked surprisingly well. But it
also meant he actually had to spend time
with
the tribe.

At the moment a large, ugly gemeng woman was
approaching him. Well, he thought it was a woman. He was really
only guessing at that; it could just as easily be male. That
reminded him he needed to talk to Riley about the rules regarding
courtship. She had given her permission to none of the couples that
had come to her. Mainly that was because no pair had come to her
where both wanted to be together.

Aerlid fixed the gemeng with a steely gaze.
He was a tall man, Riley only came up to his shoulder, but this
creature towered above him.

His glare did not deter the creature.

‘Do you need something?’ he asked coolly
when it did not immediately turn tail and run.

She only smiled in response.

‘Well, do you?’ Riley asked.

‘
Do I?!’
He cried. How could she even
ask that?!

The large ugly brute of a woman was standing
next to him grinning an ugly, toothy smile. ‘That a yes.’

Riley glanced at the woman. ‘That is not a
yes.
Yes
is yes. Nothing else is a yes.’

The woman’s smile didn’t fade. ‘That a
yes.’

‘It’s a no!’ Aerlid cried. ‘No, no, a
thousand times no! Are you mad?!’

Riley raised her eyebrows at him. Then she
turned her attention to the woman. ‘That’s a no.’

The woman’s smile faltered, became a growl.
‘He mine.’

‘No. He said no. Now leave.’

Aerlid drew his sword, it gleamed like
moonlight. ‘Can I kill her? This creature is a brute. The world can
only be better with her gone.’

‘No!’ Riley cried, alarmed. ‘No,
Aerlid
.’ she scolded. The scathing look she gave him
deflated him.

‘That’s a no to both of you. No mating, no
killing. Now get out of my sight. I’m very disappointed.’ and she
shot a glare at Aerlid.

‘Riley,’ Aerlid began carefully, ‘how could
you possibly
ask
if I wanted to-to… ugh, how could you even
ask
?’

Riley was gazing at a long, curved claw in
her hands. She looked up at him. She shrugged. ‘Well, how would I
know what you want?’

Aerlid’s only recourse was to hang his head.
‘What is that?’ he mumbled while his head was hanging between his
knees. ‘That claw?’

‘It’s from a leaper.’ he heard a smile in
her voice. ‘They leap out and attack you! Do you think ocean
gemengs would give me more trouble?’

‘Well as you can’t swim, yes.’ Then he added
quickly, ‘you’re not fighting in the ocean.’

There was silence. Knowing her well, that
was a very scary silence to Aerlid.

‘Riley.’ he said.

‘Yes?’

He knew that tone. It was the
I’m-going-to-go-play-with-giant-man-eating-cats-without-telling-
you tone. ‘Where did you get the claw?’ he asked desperately, ‘was
it a gift?’

‘Yes.’ her tone changed, the pleasure and
excitement drained out of it.

He looked up and met her eyes.

Clearly, she wasn’t going to elaborate of
her own accord.

‘From who?’

She looked away. Her lips were pressed
together tightly in a frown.

‘Do you miss whoever it was?’

‘No.’ her eyebrows shot up into her hair.
‘No. Perhaps a little but…’ she said in a softer tone. ‘Not really,
actually, it’s almost a relief to be away…’ she trailed off.

Aerlid knew he didn’t know the whole story
here. But if she felt being apart was a good thing, that was all
that mattered. He didn’t need the story.

‘You know,’ she suddenly said, ‘I wonder why
she asked you. Usually they all seem afraid of you.’

‘Well,’ Aerlid knew a good opportunity when
he saw one. ‘You’ve rejected all the other requests of courtship.
Maybe I was the last one she hadn’t asked about. Riley, I’m afraid
your rules regarding courtship may be too stringent.’

Riley was startled for a moment, then she
frowned.

‘You’ve rejected all the couples that have
come to you. If this continues the tribe will die out.’

Riley didn’t say anything. Her expression of
not quite understanding hadn’t changed.

‘Riley, what may be a horrible violation to
you or I is a regular part of life here. It doesn’t affect them the
way it would you or me. Perhaps you should step back and allow them
to continue as normal, at least with this.’

Her eyebrows crashed down. Her eyes darkened
dangerously.

‘No.’ she said. ‘No. Never.’ She pressed her
lips together tightly, as if struggling to keep her words in.

‘And if you never give your permission to
any couple?’ he ventured on, calm in the face of her storm.

‘Then the tribe dies out.’

Chapter 62

Her team of highly trained bullies, as
Aerlid had so succinctly put it, were ready. It was time to put her
plan into action.

Riley had nothing to do with the plan, not
really. For it to be most effective she had to step back. And so
she did.

While most of the tribe slept, Riley waited
and watched. She spotted the small, dark shapes moving through the
night. She heard muffled grunts and growls.

And she waited.

Suddenly the secrecy was discarded. Shapes
sprung up from the darkness and began tearing the tents down. Fires
were stoked and lit, sending wild sprays of light across the
scene.

When Riley finally saw how effective they’d
been she didn’t feel pleasure or relief, just a kind of stunned
emptiness. A team of children had just tied up and disabled every
adult gemeng in the tribe. The tents were down and the fires were
lit so those same adults could look and see what had befallen each
other.

How could such people ever be a threat to
the humans? They may be violent and have the advantage in sheer
strength, but they fought entirely alone and had no sense of
strategy or even plain simple discretion. The humans would have
spotted them coming before they got anywhere near Astar, with their
wild hoots and yells. With the humans teamwork and coordination and
energy weapons they would surely have made quick work of any gemeng
invasion.

And through her shock she could not share in
the elation of her recruits.

The children danced and yelled and whooped.
All of them had participated. Riley had made sure to include
important roles for the weaker children, those who would not have
survived the Warrior’s Trial.

Finally, Riley snapped out of it. There was
more to do.

Putting on a face appropriate to the
accomplishment, Riley made her way over to the children.

They quickly fell quiet and got into a rough
semicircle in front of her.

‘Tonight you have bested the warriors of
this tribe. You have proved yourself worthy of joining their ranks
and taking your names.
Take
them!’

And the children called out the names they
had chosen for themselves.

‘Dogra the Strong!’

‘Egrash Quickfoot!’

‘Mulag the Fierce!’

And so on, the savage, proud yells echoing
out into the darkness of the plains.