Home Rule: Book III of The Tribal Waves
by Stella Atrium

In book 3 of the award-winning series, photojournalist Hershel Henry witnesses the loss by self-torching of tribal women. The Madquii and Gora tribes have laid siege to the city of Urbyd, and Brianna Miller must seek a peace treaty.

Kelly Osborn travels to Stargate Junction to set the wedding of Ambassador Otieno. Hershel Henry opens a gazette to report on pending elections for home rule, but then shocking events upset their plans.

Dkar was my landlord in Cylay. A Putuki man with bulging eyes that judged everything, he owned a converted warehouse eight blocks from the governor’s house, if you can call them blocks. I paid rent for two rooms above the storefront where Cylahi-constructed furniture was sold to the newly rich residents of the Putuki city section. People on the street did not bother me much, sometimes to beg alms. My rooms were tossed and robbed, however, whenever I left to pursue a news story.

Aging and maimed warriors lingered in Cylay; desperate women with toddlers, free-roaming fowl and pigs. Electricity came on for two hours a day and the faucets never worked. Rabbenu Ely and the Putuki bazaari still held authority in Cylay, but rabbenu provided few services to the people. Unblessed ones, as poor residents were called, understood little of where the city funds originated and why foreign aid arrived at the governor’s mansion.

I was in Dkar’s office to lodge a complaint about being robbed again. Dkar sat in a squeaky chair behind a desk scrounged from an abandoned hotel. β€œThe thefts are friendliness, Hershel Henry,” he said. β€œTheir way of saying that you are useful to them.”

β€œLook, if you refuse to take my complaint seriously—”

β€œI like you, Softcheeks,” he interrupted. β€œYou can feel safe here. Safe as long as you allow the activity. If you should bother Putuki police about the theft, well . . . that’s different, huh?”

β€œIs that a threat? Are you making a threat?”

β€œI want to help you, Henry. I’m helping here. Tomorrow we go to the bazaar, and there we find your solution.” Dkar leaned forward with a grin, showing the absence of two teeth on the left side. β€œTrust me.”

I had washed the insect repellent from my hair and beard, now a silvery blond against tan skin. I wore the dungarees and shirt of the clutch of Kenru, provided to me when I first visited Uburu land. I had a field vest with notepad and light meter. And I constantly wore the sheathed beltknife that was a gift, more for show against the hungry eyes of local beggars than for soldiering.

I was forced to keep my cameras and everything but a change of clothes at the hotel Press Club. John Milan and other journalists jeered at me for preferring to live among the people, and I was beginning to get the message.

β€œYou got a woman, Henry?” Doug Endicott guessed when I was sharing drinks with John Milan and Regan Villines at the Press Club. Endicott was the network dog who parceled out paychecks.

I squinted at his smirk. β€œJust closer to events.”

β€œYou stink of that slum,” Endicott complained. β€œYou bring their diseases in here.”

β€œI’ll try not to infect the tribes with your attitude.”

β€œWhy did you even come to Westend?” Endicott demanded. β€œWhat was it, Henry? The lure of exotic locales, or running away from a broken heart?”

β€œWhere I come from, everything is broken. The savannah tribes have a purpose.”

Endicott shook his head slightly. β€œSo . . . it’s the romance thing. Your tour will end six months early. Mark my words. You’ll shake with malaria chills for a decade.”

β€œMaybe not. Australian pioneer stock.”

β€œAn urban pioneer?” Endicott realized his drink was empty and stepped to the bar for a refill.

The comtech over the bar had the volume turned down, but the news clip replayed Rabbenu Ely announcing a new business in Cylay for an upstart stock exchange. The rotund rabbenu wore a dark suit and blue silk sash to designate his office. Ely made a stately stroll down a gilded hallway to step up to the podium and face reporters. Three suited Putuki men and General Sector in a starched uniform, head of Consortium peace-keeping troops in Cylay, crowded behind Ely.

β€œEly has gained weight,” Regan said derisively. β€œAnd he chose blue for that sash.”

β€œWhy blue?” I asked.

β€œBlue is forbidden on the savannah,” Regan said, seated shoulder-to-shoulder with me. β€œIn honor of the blue macaw, the god-agent of Rularim.”

β€œWhat’s a god-agent?” I asked.

β€œYou have much to learn about the tribes, Henry.” John Milan said. β€œIt’s like a witch has a black cat, but some animals can share dream images with favorites.”

β€œWith you?” I asked him.

John made a snorting noise and looked around for the waiter. He sighed and went to the bar to order, lingering with Endicott.

β€œWhy does General Sector lend himself to this charade?” Regan asked as she watched the comtech news. β€œThat’s the real question.”

We saw Ely encourage a shorter man in a blue suit to step up to the podium, further crowding the ministers.

β€œManenowski! Can you believe it?” Regan said. Her weathered face and khaki clothes tagged her as a veteran reporter. β€œHe was promoted to captain under General Sector,” she added. β€œHe resigned his commission for this new position as a stock trader. And Sector just stands there, like that turncoat act was nothing at all. Man, this job will make you cynical.”

John returned with drinks for him and Regan but not for me. I took the hint. I headed out from the Press Club, just catching Regan’s comment as she speculated to John Milan, β€œHow much different from Henry’s station in Australia is that slum alleyway?”

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Stella Atrium is writing THE TRIBAL WARS series. The first trilogy is available as ebooks and in print. BookLife has awarded the Editor’s Pick designation for each book upon its release.

HOME RULE rounds out the first trilogy and received first place in the 2023 Artisan Book Review Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy. 

Book 4 titled TRIBAL LOGIC is scheduled for release in early 2024. Also be certain to pick up Atrium’s standalone novel SEVEN BEYOND that won a 2014 Reader’s Favorites award in science fiction.

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