The Lord of the Plains

by Sarah Chapman

Chapter 79

  Vann stepped off the submarine onto the stone wharf with a sigh. He quickly moved out of the way as other submariners spilled onto the wharf. The fresh air, thick with the smells of the sea and sweaty miners was wonderfully fresh and clean after being inside the submarine for over a week.

  Vann didn’t dawdle; he didn’t have much time shoreside before he had to be back. Their mission had been to escort a supply ship safely to the mines and back. Right now, the supply ship was being loaded, once it was done they’d begin heading back to Coastside. Even while the ship was in port, the submarine needed to keep it safe, so while the ship was docked the submariners would take turns shoreside, with near half the crew on board at all times. The water close to the ports was mostly safe, and there were other submarines about, but you could never be too careful.

  Vann quickly strode up the sloping rock roadway. It switched back and forth along the face of the cliff. He passed many doors and entrances into the cliff. The miners lived and worked here. At the top was a wonderful view over the ocean and an entrance into the mines. It was not a busy entrance, mainly it was used by those inside the cliff to get to the top during a moment of free time.

  As he walked Vann smiled. It felt good to be back on the submarines. It also felt good to not have everyone in Coastside think he had gone stark raving mad. Once he had returned he had quickly, and perhaps with more intent than usual, taken up with the usual Coastside beauties. That, more than anything, had convinced everyone his sanity had returned. Lillia had still expressed some concern- especially as he mentioned Riley fairly often (how could he not?) when he talked about his visit to the Plains. He’d told her the Molk mission had affected him more than he’d thought, but seeing Riley again had restored his senses.

  He’d had a tense confrontation with Azra. It did not take much digging to find out she had been the last person to speak to Riley in Coastside before she’d left. In fact, he would have found out earlier had he not been so distraught at her supposed death. Even if she had always been planning on leaving, Azra’s words to her could not be left unremarked.

  Azra had not bothered him since.

  Vann reached the top of the cliff. He turned slowly towards the ocean and let the view creep into his sight. He sighed. The ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see. The waves, the clouds above, the golden sun. The wind, ruffling his hair. The smell, cleaner now, coming off the ocean without any human stench.

  Vann stayed that way, absorbing the moment.

  Then a rough hand clamped down on his shoulder. ‘Hey.’

  Vann turned.

  It was one of the miners, Vann knew quite a few of them. Some, the older ones, had known his father, though many of them had now retired, or moved on to less physically demanding work and no longer lived here.

  He didn’t know this one, though it soon became apparent why the man had approached him.

  ‘Can I interest you in any stones? The ladies love them.’ the man looked at him expectantly. In his hands he held a tray with a few glittering gems and stones found from the mines. The miners were not supposed to actively search for the stones, but if they happened to find them in the course of what they were supposed to be doing they were allowed to sell them and keep the money. This man had probably not found all the stones himself. The miners did not in fact have enough time to stand outside the mines trying to sell things to submariners. Usually they’d form something of a cooperative. They’d pool the gems they found and whoever was on break would try and sell them. The money would be split between the members.

  Vann didn’t buy gifts for the women he saw. Friends, yes, women he was casually seeing? No.

  Vann shook his head. Then something caught his eye.

  ‘Wait.’

  The man, who had been about to move away, stopped. ‘Something interest you?’

  Vann paused a moment. Then he nodded.

  Lillia opened her mouth, about to say something along the lines of, ‘I don’t want to hear another word about Riley!’, when she stopped. Vann was talking.

  ‘Can you hold onto this for me, Lillia?’ he asked, his grey eyes on her blue ones. He held something in his hand.

  Lillia stared. ‘Vann.’ she said slowly. Then she started laughing. She tried to hold it back and it came out like a muffled giggle.

  His grey eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘What?’ he snapped.

  She stopped trying to resist and let her laughter out.

  Vann watched her silently, an injured look on his face.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry Vann!’ she gasped. ‘I just can’t help remembering all those rants you made me listen to about giving gifts to your lovers! Oh, and how you got so high and mighty about me accepting gifts!’

  Vann glared at her. ‘She’s my friend Lillia. I buy my friends gifts.’ and he crossed his arms over his chest. The necklace dangled from a closed hand. ‘I bought that paint for you that you couldn’t find anywhere. Do you know how hard I had to look for that colour? I had to ask someone to make it specially.’

  ‘Yes, yes of course.’ she sobered. ‘Thank you, it was very nice.’

  He continued to glare at her, though it softened somewhat.

  ‘So she’s a friend then.’ her smile faded quickly then. ‘Vann, perhaps she shouldn’t even be that. She rules the gemengs of the Plains, I expect her to put them first, not you. Shouldn’t you put Coastside before her?’

  Vann frowned, exasperated. ‘Lillia, I’m not putting her before Coastside. Do you think my friendship with Zap Zap is endangering Coastside too?’

  ‘Zap Zap isn’t the leader of the fish people. And you haven’t bought him any necklaces.’

  ‘Well if he wanted one I’d get him one too.’ he said stiffly. ‘Are you going to look after it or not?’

  Lillia held back a sigh and nodded. Nearly all of their conversations since Vann’s return had been about Riley and how good an alliance would be and how she wasn’t going to attack Astar or Coastside. Lillia knew it annoyed Vann that she wasn’t so eager about a possible alliance with the gemengs. She was more wary. There was a reason they’d been fighting the gemengs so long, and it certainly wasn’t because they were a peace loving people. Besides, an awful lot of his talk lingered too much on Riley personally. He was too involved with her, Lillia felt. His judgement could not necessarily be trusted where she was concerned.

  Vann handed the necklace over, giving Lillia a hard look in the process.

  ‘I’ll take care of it.’ Lillia said matter of factly and stood. She walked into her bedroom and opened a bedside drawer. She placed Vann’s necklace there, among many others. Some were from men, others from friends, and some she had bought for herself. She looked at it for a moment, lying among so many others. The stone was green, the chain was plain. He must have had that put on it in Coastside, she thought. Lillia had no jewellery from the mines. She shut the drawer hard.

  A girl had to aim for that sort of jewellery. If a man offered her gifts in an attempt to get her attention Lillia did not refuse. To her it was no different than allowing a man to take her to a play or out to dinner. Vann of course, considered it a matter of pride he could get a women’s attention without showering her with presents. Besides, he thought a woman should spend time with him because he was enjoyable company, not because of his wages, which, as all submariners, he was not in the habit of saving.

  Lillia walked back into the main room of her apartments, shutting her bedroom door behind her.

  Vann had a thoughtful look on his face.

  ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I don’t mind if you wear it.’

  ‘Hm? Wear it? Vann, that would give people all sorts of ideas!’

  ‘I know.’ he smiled. It was a rather devious smile.

  ‘How many people know you bought that?’ obviously a lot, she knew, if he was making such a suggestion, ‘the other submariners won’t come near me if they think we’re together again!’

  ‘Don’t worry about that, Lillia, I’ll let them know it’s cas
ual this time.’

  Lillia frowned and crossed her arms. ‘I don’t think it suits me. Besides, I’m not sure I want to be a part of this.’

  ‘What? Buying presents for the lord of a possibly hostile land? If it bothers you so much,’ he shrugged, ‘don’t wear it.’

  Then that devious smirk came back. ‘But darling,’ he said, ‘you know everything looks good on you.’

  Lillia sighed and resisted the strong urge to throw something at him. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

  He smiled.

  At the assigned time Vann made his way to the Blocks. There, under the watchful eye of a disapproving secretary he made contact with Riley via the radio.

  He turned the knobs, hearing the familiar crackle.

  ‘Vann?’ came her voice. It was distorted, wavy and crackly, but it was still unmistakably her.

  ‘Riley.’ he smiled. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the woman’s eyes narrow and her expression sour. He tried to sound less happy as he said, ‘do you have any news?’

  Once a week he made these calls. They lasted less than ten minutes, and all that time he was watched by this pursed-mouth woman.

  ‘Yes.’ there was a pause. ‘The valkar visited. They’re gone now… the ehlkrid are coming. Soon.’

  His heart started beating faster. ‘How soon?’

  ‘A few days. Less than a week.’