Chapter 54
After some food and a good night’s sleep Riley felt refreshed. They’d slept by the river. The gemeng’s camp was less than ten meters away, yet the tall grass provided some privacy.
Over breakfast Riley thought about what Aerlid had said last night.
The Plains had proved to be more than a little disappointing. But the memory of her childhood in peopleless forests buoyed her. She had been happy then. She had done what she wanted to do here, albeit not in quite the way she’d imagined. The fighting had taxed her stamina, and nothing else.
‘Do the strongest gemengs really live here?’ Riley asked Aerlid.
‘Well, I don’t know any stronger, though I suppose there could be.’
Riley nodded absently. ‘Alright.’ She said. ‘We’ll leave.’
Aerlid hesitated for a moment before saying, ‘we may not be able to yet.’
Riley glanced up at him.
‘You’ve destroyed the fighting force of this tribe. When the other tribes find out they’ll wipe these people out.’
Riley’s eyes widened. ‘You mean I have to stay and protect them til they feel better?’ she demanded.
‘Well, we could still leave.’ he said, though his tone suggested otherwise.
‘Couldn’t you heal them?’
‘There are too many. It would take me weeks to heal them all, by then I imagine they would have healed naturally anyway. Besides, if I fix some and not the others, who knows what the healthy ones would do to the weak.’
Riley sighed and looked away. ‘Fine.’ She stood. ‘Let’s go tell them.’ she said grimly. ‘We have to set some rules with these people. I won’t have them attacking me while I’m here.’
Aerlid got to his feet and nodded in agreement.
As they headed back towards the main encampment Riley remembered something.
‘Why didn’t you want me to fight their leader?’ she asked.
‘Usually the gemengs will follow whoever defeats their leader. But I guess that won’t be a problem with you.’
A week later Riley was warily striding through the camp. Hoots and insults followed her wherever she went. A swarm of children followed her. They tried to steal her weapons right off her belt and cheerily ignored her attempts to swat them away.
‘Slave, come sweep my tent! How can I recover living in this mess?!’
‘Come cook for us, slave!’
It was an unpleasantly hot and humid day. The smell of the grass and unwashed gemengs was overpowering. The cool water of the river called to her. But she was supposed to be protecting these people. She needed to check on them sometime if she was to do that.
‘Slave, go hunt for us! I’m hungry!’
There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
‘The slave can’t hunt! She’s soft! Only warriors hunt!’
She was too tense. It was too hot. It was too crowded. There was a constant din of noise, of people talking and fighting and cooking. It was too damn smelly! How could a tribe of less than fifty people be so unpleasant?! It wasn’t as if they didn’t have access to the river! It was less than a minute away!
Her round of the campsite wasn’t finished yet. So she kept going, around animal skin tents, clumps of gemengs, scattered belongings.
Riley wasn’t paying attention. Disconnected images flicked past. She wanted to get this done as fast as possible.
Something hard hit her temple. She turned, startled. Her head throbbed painfully. She blinked back tears of startled pain.
Images rushed her. What had happened, where had it come from?
Something hard and painful collided with her forehead. She raised a hand to her head. Children came into focus, that swarm of thieving pests.
The swarm no longer surrounded her. They were gathered in a buzzing, cackling group not far away, pointing at her. She spotted a hand clutched around something. Another arm raised. Something grey and small flying through the air…
Pain exploded in her shoulder.
They were throwing rocks at her!
And cackling like… like horrible little gemeng children throwing rocks at her!
Running away did not occur to her. Riley stalked over to them, her brows drawn down in anger.
‘Stop that! Get away!’ and she swatted at the swarm like she had so many times this week. All that did was send them scattering, laughing around her. And they kept throwing rocks. Stinging pain exploded all over her, it was a constant barrage.
Riley angrily grabbed one of the children and stole his rocks. He cursed and bit her and she shoved him away.
The adults were roaring with laughter.
She caught another child and unarmed it. The torrent of stones continued.
She spotted a child carrying a woven basket. It was full of dirt covered roots and bulbs. Soon that joined her collection too, and she dumped her rocks in it.
‘Give it back!’ the child demanded shrilly.
‘Go get it from her, go get it from her!’ the other children taunted.
The child threw herself at Riley. She bit and kicked and scratched. ‘Give it back, slave! Give it back, slave!’
Riley shoved her away, but of course she just came back.
Riley angrily broke free of the grip of the child and stalked back towards the river camp. If she had hoped that would end the farce, she was wrong. The children followed. The rain of rocks continued.
It didn’t take long to reach the river. Riley felt a rush of relief when the grasses parted to reveal the river.
But the children followed, their smelly, loud, rock throwing selves breaking the peace of the river.
Suddenly they fell silent. Riley, surprised, looked to see what had stopped them.
The only other thing besides grass and water was Aerlid.
His dark, moonlit eyes were locked on the children.
The tableau lasted only a second before the children suddenly turned and ran back to their own camp.
Riley’s eyes narrowed. How come he could scare them off and yet she couldn’t? He hadn’t severed anyone’s head. He hadn’t rendered the entire tribe defenceless and gotten them into this mess.
‘Here.’ she said and handed the basket to Aerlid. ‘There’s food in the bottom.’
She moved past him and settled by the river.
Aerlid glanced down at the rock filled basket. Then he looked up. Riley was inspecting herself. She didn’t have a single bruise. But she could feel every spot a rock had hit her.
‘You know they’ll find more rocks.’
Her only response was an annoyed grunt.
After that, Riley avoided being seen whenever she went into the tribe’s camp. Mostly, that meant she went during the night instead of the day. The nights weren’t much cooler than the days, though they were quieter.
The days drifted by, each much the same as the last. She watched and noted much as she always did. Mostly, she paid attention to how the adults treated the children. Clearly, she needed some tips.
She learnt the name of the tribe. It was known simply as Gakra’s tribe. As Gakra happened to be the leader of the tribe it wasn’t terribly creative. Aerlid explained that when a new person took over the tribe the name of the tribe would change accordingly. Everything about life here was bound up in whoever happened to be in command at that moment.
The adults were tough on the children, but when compared with how they treated each other, they positively spoiled them. Fighting was allowed, and even encouraged among the children, though she had seen on more than one occasion an adult break up a fight that was getting too serious. Even adults who weren’t related to the children would break up a fight. Adults had names and titles, such as Gakra the Fierce. Children didn’t have their own names. By their parents they were referred to by order of birth. Firstboy, Firstgirl and so on. Other adults referred to them by their parents, such as Gakra’s boy. On occasion, they were called foolish one or strong one.
Hidden in tents, lived the other children, children who wer
e too weak to chase her around and throw rocks at her. Riley only discovered them by careful spying. Why the gemengs, who only appeared to value strength, took care of the weak children, Riley didn’t know.
There were a surprising number of hidden ones. There seemed as many, or more of them than healthy children. She also discovered that most of the gemengs didn’t have any children at all. The healthy children belonged to only a handful of couples.
Riley was currently observing a family unit from the safety of the long grass. She was familiar with this family. Tonight the mother and three of the healthy children were sitting outside their tent. Inside, Riley knew, was the father and a sickly child that rarely left the tent.
When she heard a voice raised in derision and anger she immediately assumed it was directed at her. She felt a moment of alarm. How had they discovered her? But then she noticed where the group was looking. They glanced over their shoulders, in the direction of the central campfire. Noise and smells would rise from the central campfire long into the night. The adults gathered around, eating and telling stories or just insulting one another.
The family turned back to their own meal. The low murmur of their talk resumed.
Suddenly a scream shattered the peace. The group didn’t even twitch. However they did pay attention when a dark shape suddenly erupted from the grass and darted through their dinner.
Riley merely needed to round this tent and another to find herself in the common area. There was the fire, carefully dug and prepared so it wouldn’t set the grasslands alight. It cast flickering light into the darkness. A ring of gemengs sat around it, and further away other loose groups. Tents or merely cloaks (not everyone had a tent) were set up in a circle around the space. Above the red light of the fire, cold dark night loomed. Stars stood out starkly, like distant jewels.
A gemeng lay thrashing on the ground. Another loomed above. The smell of blood was thick in the air.
Riley observed all this. And then she turned and ran.
When she returned with Aerlid in tow the situation had changed so much she was momentarily disoriented. She thought for a moment she had gotten lost, as unlikely as that was. Then she spotted a large, dark wet stain in the dirt.
And yet nobody was paying any mind. The fire crackled and sizzled. There was a shout of laughter, the loud hum of many people talking at once.
‘What happened?!’ Riley demanded.
Suddenly heads turned. Contemptuous, cold, hard gazes were fixed on her. There was an ominous silence to them. No jokes or taunts this time.
She was all too aware of the change. Into the empty silence she called, ‘what happened to the one who was lying here?’ her voice echoed hollowly.
‘Is the slave upset?’ growled a gravelly voice.
‘Did the slave want to bandage up the dead one?’
‘Doesn’t it know what real warriors do to those who insult them?’
‘How would that thing know? It doesn’t know what a warrior is!’
Riley’s head pounded. Sweat stood out on her skin, though it was cool tonight. She was keenly aware of the gemengs surrounding her, of the smell of blood still in the air.
One of the gemengs pointed off into the grasses, away from the camp. ‘The dead one is out there! He’s wolf food now.’
‘He’s dead.’ she stated. It was not a question.
‘Cowardly and dumb!’
‘Why?’ she demanded, anger creeping into her voice. ‘Who?’
One of the many rolled to its feet. Riley watched as the large creature stalked over to her. It was tall. Taller than Riley. Even taller than Aerlid. It took Riley a moment to realize it was a woman.
‘I.’ The woman ground out. ‘Reklash the Strong! The dead one insulted me.’ The woman’s lips spread in a slow smile.
There was blood spattered across her animal skins. Some old.
Some new.
Riley stared at this huge, smelly, monster. There was a string of claws around her neck. Different shapes. Stained, chipped. Riley’s eyes lingered on a curved claw, resting near the woman’s shoulder. Fresh blood glistened in the fire light.
‘Would you like to insult me too?’ Hatred burned in the woman’s little black eyes. Sharp, thin teeth protruded from her mouth.
She’s a murderer, Riley thought. And yet… did no one care?
The woman’s eyes flicked to Aerlid. ‘The dead one was once mine, then it became a warrior. You understand. If yours ever becomes a warrior, you would behave honourably.’ And she nodded at Aerlid, as if recognizing him as worthy of respect.
Aerlid said nothing.
Riley gaped. ‘What did he say to you?’ she gasped. Her child?!
‘He said I smelt funny.’ and she wrinkled her nose.
‘Funny.’ Riley said flatly in disbelief. Her child! ’You don’t smell funny, you smell terrible.’
She didn’t have time to react as the woman raked her claws across her face and throat. Riley’s head snapped sideways. The left side of her face and neck felt like they were on fire. Shock and pain and everything made her respond very slowly. She turned her head and contemplated this woman who had just tried to kill her. Might have. Riley raised a hand to her face. There was no blood. I could kill her, Riley thought. But what would that prove?
By the standards of the Plains, Reklash wasn’t a murderer. What she had done was not even worth commenting upon.
There was nothing Riley could to her that would mean anything.
Riley turned. She walked away from the camp, Aerlid by her side.
He didn’t say anything.
What was there to say?
Back by the river camp it was quieter, cooler.
‘Why are we protecting them from another tribe,’ Riley mumbled. ‘They don’t need another tribe to kill them. They do it themselves, over the slightest thing. I’m surprised there are any left.’
‘I imagine there are certain rules about who you can kill and when,’ Aerlid murmured.
‘Yes, do whatever you like to whoever’s weaker than you.’ He was her child.
She didn’t understand. She had watched parents take care of their children, even the weak ones. Could Reklash just be a tragic anomaly? But then, why had no one reacted?
Aerlid continued talking, ‘Well, I imagine the weaker members of the tribe are careful enough that the death rate doesn’t get too high. But I agree, they are a brutal and unpleasant people.’
‘Aerlid,’ Riley interjected. ‘I don’t understand.’ And she explained her confusion to him.
Aerlid fell silent for a moment. ‘Perhaps that doesn’t mean anything after they become warriors. Maybe she didn’t think of him as her child anymore.’ he guessed.
‘They’d tear me to pieces if they could.’ she mumbled. ‘And leave me to the wolves.’
‘Yes.’ he agreed, ‘But they can’t. You needn’t worry about that Riley, you’re perfectly safe.’
Riley didn’t respond. That didn’t help. Idly, Riley wondered what part of her would make it to a necklace. There was a heavy, oppressive feel to this place. The fear was hidden, in a way. But it was there, under the snarls and taunts. Friends, family, none of that meant anything. A moment of weakness, a moment of truth, and it was all over. Your mother would rip you apart and leave you to the wolves. She wondered for a moment if they could be anything else. And then she remembered herself. If she, who was stronger than all of them, couldn’t be different and a part of their society, what hope did any of them have?
Since that night Riley was less discreet in her forays into the gemeng’s camp. She didn’t want to hide and cower from monsters like Reklash. So she began going into the camp during day time again. The children still bothered her, the adults were still disgusted by her. But it made living here easier for her. Rocks and taunts were easier for her to deal with than fear.
At the moment Riley was not quite in the camp. She was just past the edge, where the grasses had not been flattened down. Her back was to the camp. Her senses focus
sed on the world beyond- the sounds of bugs, animals, wind, the sound of blades of grass rubbing against one another. It wasn’t quite as relaxing as looking into a forest, though it was much better than looking into the camp.
‘You waste your time patrolling!’
Riley nearly jumped. Startled, she turned. It was Gakra. He was big and brawny and had an aura of command around him. Perhaps command wasn’t the right word. Gemengs were very careful around him. No one questioned his authority. Riley could almost smell the fear, so carefully hidden, whenever he was around. Two gemengs stood behind him. All three of them wore a collection of dirty, blood-stained bandages. They still weren’t entirely healed from their fight with Riley.
Gakra’s lip was curled in disgust, his hard, scarred face a mask of contemptuous anger. He spat at her feet. ‘What would you do if you came across a warrior?’ he growled. ‘You scare off nobody. You are useless.’
Riley gazed at him for a moment. Then she started to walk past him. He grabbed her shoulder. His claws were not long, but they were strong and sharp.
It hurt.
Riley stopped. Her eyes narrowed.
‘You strong outside.’ he sneered. ‘But weak inside.’ He jabbed her chest, hard. ‘Weak where it counts.’
He spat on her.
Riley’s eyes narrowed in anger. She clenched her teeth. She was very aware of him, of his hand painfully gripping her shoulder, of the spot where he had jabbed her, of his sweaty, unwashed stink. Anger flared. And then she swallowed it. And instead of doing all the things the anger demanded, she did the thing she had thought of. The thing she had seen adults do to children.
Riley slapped Gakra lightly on the cheek. And then she continued walking, breaking his grip on her shoulder.
There was a scream of rage from behind her.
Riley heard him coming. Fear thrummed within her. But she stood her ground. The charging gemeng tribe leader barrelled into her.
She didn’t even tremble.
‘No.’ Riley said, using the same amused tone she sometimes heard from the adults. She turned to face him. Then she slapped him and shoved him lightly away. She fixed an amused mask in place. ‘You think you’re a warrior?’ she smiled. ‘You need a few more years yet, foolish one.’
Gakra was frothing with rage. Strangled sounds were coming from him, as if he was too angry to form words. The two gemengs behind him were trembling. Riley noted it. She wondered for a moment how she would have dealt with the tribe if they’d come at her in groups instead of one at a time. And she wondered how far she could push this.
She smiled again. It was no longer an amused smile. ‘You’ll wash my clothes today, foolish one. I expect you by the river before noon.’
And she turned and left.
Riley waited by the river, her arms crossed over her chest. Aerlid was sitting calmly on the ground behind her, doing Aerlid things.
Noon came. There was no sign of Gakra.
Riley waited some more. When the sun was no longer directly above, she stopped waiting. She left the river camp. Wherever she went, she went there unseen. Everything seemed normal. Right up until supper time.
It was when the sky started darkening that the outraged shrieks started. Aerlid looking up from the Aerlid things he was doing and glanced in the direction of the gemeng’s camp. Then he looked back down.
Riley was back at the river camp by then, had been for some time.
Moments dragged by.
Aerlid began preparing dinner. Riley offered to help and was given a scolding.
The signs of her unease were small, but they were there. Her eyes, darting towards the gemeng’s camp and back. An intermittent frown.
Aerlid served dinner. He was the picture of calm. His steady gaze as he handed her a bowl seemed to say, ‘calm down.’
They began eating. It was soup made of a mix of gathered vegetables and a small animal unfortunate enough to run into Riley.
Riley paused suddenly, the spoon halfway to her mouth. She looked towards the grasses.
Aerlid looked too.
A rustling could be heard. A moment after, the grasses parted. A group of gemengs stood before them. Little children were gathered around the adult’s feet. Gakra was not among them.
Why would he be? That would be a sign she might be worth something.
‘Thief! What have you done with our stores?!’ the leader of the group demanded. It was large and smelly and dressed in animal skins and trophies and of indeterminate sex. So just like any other gemeng from Gakra’s tribe.
Riley’s nervousness disappeared. A coolly amused expression snapped into place. ‘I’m eating.’ she scolded. ‘You let your children bother you when you’re eating?’
‘Such poor manners.’ Aerlid added.
A low growl came from the leader. Riley and Aerlid ignored it.
‘Where did you put it, slave? I can see our food isn’t here! You stay to protect us and yet steal our food!’
‘They think we’re here to look after them.’ Riley said to Aerlid.
‘Wherever did they get that idea from?’ Aerlid asked.
The entire group began yelling and screaming and demanding to know where their food had gone. Finally, one of the children ran forward and tried to snatch Riley’s bowl from her hand.
Without a word Riley stood and grabbed the child by the scruff of its tunic. She slapped it across the face, hard enough that it hurt. Then she shoved it back towards the gemengs and sat down to resume her dinner.
An adult stepped forward. It looked like a female, though Riley wouldn’t have bet anything on it.
The woman growled, ‘you can pretend all you like, but we know why you’re here. You’re weak. Soft.’ she spat. ‘You stay to protect us. Keep our stores. You’ll return them before we come to harm.’
The woman turned and stalked off. The other gemengs followed her lead, but not without some parting insults.
The next day, just after the time the gemengs usually ate breakfast, Riley entered their campsite. As soon as she emerged from the grasses all eyes were on her. It did not take long til most of the tribe had gathered at the edge of the camp to glare at her. Gakra was not among them. Riley’s eyes wandered over the gemengs. They were silent.
‘A foolish child, the one you call Gakra, is the reason you were denied your evening meal. Due to your lack of manners last night, breakfast will also be denied.’ As soon as Riley finished speaking angry yelling broke out. Riley ignored it and turned, heading back to the river camp.
During the rest of the morning they received more visits from angry gemengs. Most of the tribe stayed away though.
Not long before noon Aerlid returned the food they had stolen and hidden. After it was returned Riley carefully concealed herself and watched. She did not reveal herself until the gemengs began eating.
Then Riley strode purposefully from the grasses. She walked right up behind a certain female gemeng and yanked her to her feet. The woman squawked, her meal toppling to the dirt.
‘Not you.’ Riley said. ‘You have chores to do, foolish one.’
‘Grr! I am Adema Sharpteeth! I am a warrior of Gakra’s tribe, slave!’ She wriggled and fought violently, but she was not able to break out of Riley’s grip. If she had been, Riley would not have been able to so easily defeat her entire tribe.
‘You’ve chosen a name for yourself? A bit premature, don’t you think?’
Adema Sharpteeth howled and clawed at Riley’s face.
Riley frowned at her. ‘Would you like to face me, Adema Sharpteeth?’ she asked curiously. ‘Prove yourself worthy of that name if you want to use it, until then, you are foolish-one.’
Riley let go of her. She shoved her ahead of her and said, ‘Now you’ve gone and torn my clothes. We’ll add fixing that to your list of chores, hmm?’
‘I am not foolish one!’ Adema screamed. ‘I am Adema Sharpteeth!’
‘Perhaps you shouldn’t act so foolish then. But I have no time for your games.’ Riley grabbed
her again and proceeded to drag her bodily towards the river camp, as she’d seen adult gemengs treat misbehaving children.
‘This might not have been a good idea.’ Aerlid began that night, after foolish-one, formerly Adema Sharpteeth had gone home. ‘You’ll be fighting with them constantly now.’
Riley shook her head. ‘Just because I’m staying here to protect them doesn’t mean I have to let them treat me like that.’
Aerlid shrugged. ‘Alright.’
Riley gazed into the fire, troubled. There seemed to be no place in the gemeng society to be anything other than a murderous beast. Even if there had been the desire among some to be something else, well… Riley had seen firsthand what would happen to them.
She could understand, almost, the fear the humans had for these creatures.