Chapter 11 - Chapter Eleven

14/4/2012 10:53

Kaley gently prised Ray’s arms off her waist. She yawned, stretched and ducked outside the tent.

“Hello, Ramani,” she cooed, mussing the hair that was on the liger’s head. “How are you today?”

Ramani purred.

“Oh, you’ve still got the amulet.” Kaley reached around its neck and took off the pouch. She tucked it in the hidden pocket of her skirt and went back into the tent. She kicked Ray.

“Ray, wake up.”

Ray groaned. “Please don’t kick me.”

“Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

She thought about it. “You’re right, I’m not.”

“Then why did you say it?”

“Isn’t it something people say even when they don’t mean it? Like ‘thank you’, ‘you’re welcome’, ‘I’m sorry’…”

“I think it’s called basic courtesy.”

“Oh, yeah, that I don’t have.”

Ray snorted and crawled out of his sleeping bag. “I know.”

Kaley stuck her tongue out at him before going out of the tent again. An eagle swooped down and landed in front of her. Kaley reached out and untied the roll of paper that was tied to its talons.

She sighed. It was for Ray. She never got any letters. It really wasn’t fair. She’d been working for them for six years, and they still never sent her stuff. But then again, six years wasn’t very long, considering that most of the people had been there for hundreds of years.

“Ray,” she called. “You’ve got a message.”

Ray came out of the tent and Kaley tossed him the piece of paper, still tied up with string.

“I didn’t read it,” Kaley said when she saw him looking suspiciously at her, wishing that she had. “I promise.”

He grunted and ripped the string off the paper. After reading it, he burned it. That was the only way to make sure that no one else can read it. “We should go,” he said. “We have to be back at base by tonight.”

“Tonight? You want us to finish two days of travelling in less than twelve hours?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

Ray regarded her with his dark green eyes. “You’ll know soon enough.”

“Is it good news or bad news?”

“One bad, and one good that’s going to turn bad.”

“Tell me,” she begged him. “Please.”

Ray looked away from her. “Don’t look at me like that. You know that if they wanted you to read the letter they would’ve addressed it to you as well.”

“Please.” Kaley looked pleadingly at him.

Conflict warred and raged in Ray’s eyes. He sighed. “Kaley…”

“Ugh.” She turned away. “I suppose we should go.”

“We should,” he agreed.

She picked up her Throwing Stars and put them in her hidden pocket next to the amulet, careful not to pierce through the pouch. She tucked her scythes into her belt. “I’m ready.”

“We still need to pack up the tent.”

“Yeah, you can do that.”

Ray sighed. “You take advantage of me.”

“I take advantage of everyone, Ray. You just happened to be here.”

He left to pack everything up while Kaley sat down next to Ramani.

“It’s kind of crazy, huh?” she asked Ramani softly, stroking its head. “I found Jason, Mani. I found him.”

The big cat purred.

“You should meet him. But he’s a Black Fighter now. He has wolves.”

Ramani growled softly at the word wolves.

Kaley chuckled. “It’s like you understand what I’m saying.”

She kissed its head and stood up as Ray came back with her stuff. They tied their belongings onto Ramani’s back and Kaley climbed onto Shyam’s back.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit?” Kaley asked Ray. “Ligers can bear a lot of weight. Well, these ones can anyway.”

He kissed her cheek. “Maybe later. I need my morning run.”

“I need my morning sleep,” Kaley said, burrowing her head into Shyam’s soft fur.

Ray laughed and started running, and the ligers bounded after him.

***

14/4/2012 21:34

“Kaley? Kaley. Wake up.” Ray shook her shoulder gently.

“Mm?” she lifted her head up from Shyam’s back sleepily and found that they were back at base in their tent. The one that they actually lived in, not the one they used for travelling.

“We’re here.”

“Wow, already?” She accepted Ray’s hand as he helped her down from the liger, which was resting on the floor.

“Bad news or good news that’s going to turn into bad news?”

Kaley gasped. “You’re going to tell me?”

Ray shrugged. “They kind of told me to.”

Kaley scowled. “The good news first.”

Ray thought for a while. “Actually, you should ask for the bad news first.”

“But you asked me to choose!”

“Well, most people would’ve chosen bad news first.”

“Well, I’m not most people.”

“Yeah, I found out the hard way.”

She flicked his forehead. “So tell me the bad news.”

“Our Seventh Scroll was stolen.”

“What? When? Why? How?”

“Our Seventh Scroll was stolen, this morning, because the Black Fighters stole it, and I don’t know.”

She pursed her lips. “You have to stop taking my questions so literally.”

“I have to have some small pleasures in my life.”

Kaley’s eyes widened and she hit his arm. “Jason and Alex! They stole the Seventh Scroll.”

“No they didn’t.”

“How do you know they didn’t?”

“How do you know they did?”

“Well, smartass, I know because when we were heading north to our base, they were heading south. They only changed directions to track us down.”

Ray paled.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

Ray nodded.

“Crap. The RN’s going to kill us when she finds out that we had a chance to save the Seventh Scroll but didn’t.”

Ray nodded again.

“See?” Kaley burst out. “That is why I wanted to go after them. But would you let me? No.”

“How was I supposed to know—”

“It never hurts to make sure.”

“Oh please. All you wanted to do was run after them for some excitement.”

Kaley kept her voice dangerously calm. “Ray, you know I have an instinct for these things. So next time this kind of shoot happens, listen to me.”

“We may not have a next time.”

Kaley paled. “I think it’s time for the good news.”

“You mean the good news that’s going to turn into bad news. And in our case, very, very bad news.”

“What is it?”

Ray smiled weakly. “The RN’s coming tonight.”

Kaley’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be joking.”

“No.”

“Ten years!” Kaley burst out. “She comes once every ten years and this was the day she had to pick. The day we actually did something that was wrong enough to get us exiled.” She punched her pillow. “God!”

Ray shushed her. “You don’t want everyone to know.”

“Don’t I?”

“You really don’t.”

“Can I go tell Serra?”

“No.”

“But…she’s my best friend.”

Ray looked at her. “Kales, listen to me. RN is Serra’s biological mother. You really don’t want to tell her.”

“Why did you say biological mother? Does the RN have another child?”

“She was a surrogate mother for some other children.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s her human job.”

“Her…what?”

“Her job in the human realm.”

“You mean she gets to go back?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair.”

“So you’re saying that she comes back for about a week, and then for the next ten years she goes back to looking after her kids.”

“Yes.”

“Do they know they’re living with a surrogate mother?”

“They probably didn’t know.”

“Why do you keep referring to the children in past tense?”

“Because they’ve left.”

“Left?”

“Disappeared. Gone. Vanished. Never went back home.”

That sounds vaguely familiar, Kaley thought bitterly. Their tent flap suddenly parted and Serra burst in.

“She’s here,” she said breathlessly. “Mother’s here.”

Kaley grinned. “That’s great, Ser. Let’s go.” She accepted the hand that Ray offered her and he pulled her up.

They joined the crowd that was heading for the clearing about a mile east of their camp. That was where the RN gave her speech. Butterflies fluttered in Kaley’s stomach. The first time she was going to meet the RN just had to be the only time she had ever gotten into trouble. Ray squeezed her hand reassuringly, and she smiled up at him.

The clearing was packed full of people. They were all chatting excitedly in hushed whispers.

“How the hell are we supposed to see her when there are so many people in the way?” Kaley asked.

“Well, she’s going to stand up over there,” Ray said, pointing up to the cliff that towered above the trees. “So pretty easily.”

Kaley was about to make a snarky comment when silence fell over the crowd, and they all turned to look at the cliff. A woman that was dressed in the same way that all the female Fighters was standing on the cliff, except for the fact that her uniform was in red. Blood red. Silver-blonde hair flowed down her back, and she had black eyes that glittered under the reflection of the moonlight.

Kaley’s jaw dropped.

“That’s my mother,” Serra whispered excitedly next to her.

Kaley smiled weakly at Serra.

***

14/4/2012 22:52

“Are you okay?” Ray asked her once they got back to their tent. “You look like as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile on her face.

Ray raised an eyebrow. “No, you’re not.”

“I’m not,” she admitted. “But I will be. I just...need some time to think.”

Ray nodded. “Do you want me to leave you alone for a while?”

Kaley put her hand on his arm to stop him from standing up. “No, I’ll go.” She stood up. “I’ll be back in a while, okay?”

Ray kissed the hand that was on his arm. “Be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

She walked towards the RN’s tent—the biggest one in the base. It was always set up and cleaned and tidied daily even though it was always empty apart from a week in every ten years. Two guards stood outside...well, guarding.

Kaley took a deep breath and strode up to the guards.

“Hi,” she said.

The guards exchanged a look and nodded at her.

“I was wondering,” she began.

“No one is allowed to meet with the RN unless she wants to meet with them,” a guard interrupted her.

Kaley blinked. “Right. Not even when her own daughter wants to speak to her?”

“Are you Serra?”

“I am the RN’s daughter,” Kaley said. “Do you question my authority?”

The guards exchanged another look and the guards stepped aside reluctantly after a while.

Kaley smiled at them. “Thank you.” She gently pushed aside the thick red curtain of the tent—it was more like a marquee—and stepped inside.

She was sitting at the far end, her pen poised and her head bent over an empty sheet of paper.

Kaley bit her lip. “Hello.”

The woman did not lift her head. “Serra?”

“No,” Kaley said quietly. “Not Serra.”

The woman’s head whipped up, and she frowned. “Who are you?”

Kaley advanced cautiously towards her. “Have you forgotten me?”

The woman scrutinised her, and she paled when recognition hit her. After composing herself, she put down her pen. “Kaley?”

Kaley smiled softly. “Hello, mother.”

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