Free The Lord of the Plains by Sarah Chapman Page A

practice both styles. You teach me hand to hand and sword
fighting at the same time. Why can’t I learn to use one and two
weapons at the same time?’
    Aerlid opened his eyes and sat up. He looked
deeply into her eyes. The wan tiredness dropped from him and he
shone, shone like he did in the forest. His hair was silver-
moonlight, not grey, his eyes dark- like night. Sometimes you could
see a flicker of starlight in there. There were no lines on his
face and his skin did not tan. ‘Seta?’
    Riley just looked at him, as if he hadn’t
said anything- or if he had and it hadn’t been directed at her.
    His movements deliberate, Aerlid reached
inside the neck of his shirt and pulled out a necklace. On the end
was a clear, empty orb. He held it in front of her.
    ‘Do you know what this is?’ he asked,
straining to remain calm.
    ‘It’s your necklace.’ She said, clearly
uninterested. ‘I think I can learn to use two swords!’
    Aerlid sighed and closed his eyes, the shine
dropping off until he looked mostly human again. It took a moment
before he could speak again. ‘You realise I can’t teach you much
about that style.’ he said, his voice hollow. He struggled to
maintain his composure. He turned his mind back to the
conversation. He vaguely remembered seeing a dual-wielding style
once or twice before, (Flent, was it called?) but he’d never learnt
it, never seen enough of it to understand it. Then, remembering
what else she had said, added ‘and that is not really comparable!’
Seta had not fought with sword and a parrying dagger anyway. Seta
had not shared Riley’s interest in fighting. He squeezed his eyes
shut as his heart thumped against his chest.
    Riley was talking again. ‘I can teach
myself. And it is.’
    He tried a different approach, arguing with
her rarely got him anywhere. ‘Well Riley, before we invest in
another weapon for you, I would like you to make a wooden one- and
not out of any of our furniture.’ Not that any of it would be any
great loss, but he would probably have to pay to replace it.
    ‘Really? Can we go get some wood?’ she
asked, her excitement palpable.
    Aerlid had to think about this for a moment,
dragging his mind back to the conversation at hand. He couldn’t
leave Riley outside while he was at work to go look for wood
herself, and he was so often too tired after work to do much except
sit. Part of that was because he was still recovering from the
testing centre, and it would be some time before he was healthy
again. Perhaps in the park? He’d have to ask Keila. Though that
gave him another idea. ‘I could bring you to work…’ he said slowly.
Jania had already said it was alright. It would be a good chance to
expose her to humans and to show her part of the city before she
played with Keila’s son. Also, it would be good to expose her to
someone else’s Seiaan. It couldn’t be much worse than staying here
alone all day.
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Hmm…’
    Aerlid opened his eyes and straightened up
in the chair. He looked at her carefully through eyes that always
went curiously pale when he changed his appearance. If a plain,
human colour had to be used, were his eyes more light than dark?
‘Riley, humans are very different to you and I. They are very
different to gemengs.’
    Riley nodded at him seriously, her eyes wide
in her little face.
    ‘They are soft, Riley, what would not hurt
you could kill them. They get hurt easily, they die easily.’
    ‘Do you understand? You have to be very
gentle with them. Very gentle.’
    ‘They are soft.’ she repeated in a tone that
made him think she understood. ‘I have to take care of them.’
    A smile twitched his lips. ‘You have to take
care around them.’ He sighed and brought her closer in a
hug. ‘Watch them closely, see how they behave with each other. Be
very cautious. You are different to them, and they know it.’

    Riley looked around in awe as Aerlid led her
through the city to the clinic, though she remembered