by H. M. Clarke
As Adhamh settled on the new thermal, Kalena turned her head out from the Hatar’s neck feathers and looked to the plains below. Everything still looked like a blur of hazy red, yellow and green.
‘How are we ever going to see anything from up here?’
‘When we get closer to the mountains we will fly lower. You also have to remember that the Hatar’le’margarten have better eye sight than humans.’
‘You can see through that heat haze? Kalena said in disbelief.
‘Yes. How do you expect me to hunt from up here without good eyesight?’
Kalena said nothing. She was finding it too hot to argue.
‘How are Kral and Trar doing?’ She said for a change of subject.
‘Trar is still amusing herself by counting cows down below and Kral has actually fallen asleep on her back.’
‘She can see cattle down there?’
‘Someone is driving a few hundred head of them to the North West. I’m surprised you can’t see the dust they are raising.’
‘I can’t see anything through the heat shimmer.’
‘I can keep an eye out for the both of us.’
Kalena said nothing. She made herself more comfortable against Adhamh’s neck and tried to forget the heat. Even Mindspeak exhausted what little energy the heat had left her. How can Kral sleep in this heat – and on the back of a flying Hatar to boot?
Kalena yawned and tried to get up and would have slipped off Adhamh’s back if not for the safety straps. She had fallen asleep. Kalena rubbed her eyes and looked around them.
It did not feel as hot now though Kalena could still feel the sweat soaking her jacket. The sun had travelled a good way across the sky. She had been asleep for a while. But what suddenly caught Kalena’s attention was the Bhaglier Ranges looming full and tall before them.
‘How long have I been asleep for?’ she asked Adhamh, yawning and settling herself more comfortably in the saddle.
`Only about two hours.’
Kalena yawned again and glanced back under her arm. Trar was gliding effortlessly behind Adhamh and Kral moved to give Kalena a wave.
‘Kral wants to know what you had planned for lunch. He’s been waiting for you to wake up to ask.’
Kalena looked forward again and at the mention of lunch, her stomach began to grumble. She gave no thought to food when she hatched this plan early this morning. What were they going to eat?
‘Adhamh, are you hungry?’
‘Both Trar and myself ate yesterday. We’ll be fine for another three days I think.’
‘Good. I don’t want to explain to a crofter why a large portion of his livestock is missing.’
‘Kalena, we would never eat livestock without permission. Or that has not been paid for!’ Adhamh’s self-righteousness made Kalena smile.
‘What I should have said was that it would be easier to cadge a meal for just Kral and me than for you and Trar.’
‘You are assuming there are crofters who are willing to share their food with a pair of Kalarthri.’
‘But we are Hatar Kalar!’
‘That makes no difference to most Suenese. To them we are just Second Born – Indentured Slaves. I’ve been told by other Hatar that rural communities are well known for treating Kalar as they would the horse of an Imperial Military Messenger.’
Kalena bit her lip at this news. It seems there is still a lot about the empire that Gwidion did not teach her in their lessons. Hearing Adhamh’s words made Kalena think of her brother Videan and the hatred she saw in his eyes when Provost Thurad had come to take her away. She had grown up substantially since then. The Wing Lieutenant had squeezed most of the naivety out of her. Or so he said. Still, Kalena was no longer the cosseted little girl that her parents had tried to protect and keep.
‘Kalena, are you listening to me?’ Adhamh’s voice intruded into her revelry.
‘I’m listening,’ Kalena said even though she clearly wasn’t.
‘I said your best chance to eat is to try and cadge some provisions from an Imperial Post House or transport.’
‘And how would we explain why two cadet flyers are out flying the Red Plains without supervision?’
Adhamh gave Kalena a mental shrug.
‘I’m sure you can come up with something Kalena, especially when your belly begins to knot up more furiously with hunger.’
Kalena scowled, forgetting for a moment that Adhamh could not see her. She turned her sweaty face further into the Hatar’s neck feathers to stop the wind dragging tears from her eyes.
‘If we do this, Kral will have to be the spokesman. No Imperial Freeman would believe a ten year old girl was the more experienced Hatar Kalar.’
‘You better hope that Kral is good at telling little white lies.’
Kalena gave herself a small smile.
‘I don’t care about the little white ones, he better be good at telling big blatant lies,’ Kalena retorted.
Chapter Tweleve
The Post House
Kral tugged at the collar of his jacket again.
“Leave it be Kral. I know it’s hot – I’m suffering from the heat as well.” Kalena brushed some imaginary dust from Kral’s shoulder and tried to resist the urge to tug at her own collar.
“I nervous Kalena. I’m hot, annoyed and nervous.”
“Well. I’m hot, annoyed, nervous and ravenous. And if you don’t pull this off, your life will not be worth living.”
“You’d be too weak with hunger to do anything nasty to me.” Kral smiled as he tried to push his hair into a semblance of order.
It was late afternoon and all four Kalar stood in a forest clearing at the foot of the Bhaglier Ranges. Adhamh’s keen eyes had spotted an Imperial Post House that sat on the major east-west trade road – the Jaymes Way. The network of Imperial Post Houses are the communication arteries of the Suene Empire. Civilian messages are carried by Imperial Messengers who are specially trained Kalar who ride without sleep to deliver their packets, only stopping to change horses at the Post Houses. Military Messages on the other hand are only carried by enlisted Freeman who, depending on the importance of the message either travelled with a Hatar Kalar or used the remounts from the Post House. The Military did not trust their packets to be carried by Kalarthri. Adhamh reported that this Post House was a sizable one and probably supported the road to the border Fort of Foxtern. Foxtern sat sentinel on the border with the country of Arran, a country that the Suene Empire had always had uneasy relations with.
“We had better get this sham over with before we both drop with hunger.” Kalena tugged straight her jacket and turned to look at both Adhamh and Trar.
‘Try not to look to threatening. And try not to scare their horses,’ she said to both Hatar.
‘Horse is not as tasty as cow-‘ Kalena scowled at Adhamh who hurriedly added, ‘We will try to stay down wind of the stables.’
“Let’s go. Lucky that the Kalar Flights don’t use insignia to distinguish between cadets and wingmen,” Kalena said as she started walking.
“We virtually are wingmen. They only put us through the Krytal if there are vacancies in the Flights.”
“Except if it’s me.” Kalena tried to keep the bitterness from her voice.
“You were still used to fill a vacancy though.”
Kalena did not reply to Kral and all four Kalar walked the distance to the edge of the trees in silence.
If only Provost Marshall Brock had arrived a half day earlier and stopped Captain Jerant? But then she would not have met Adhamh.
“Are you ready?” Kalena turned to Kral, any bad feelings she felt forgotten.
“As ready as I’m going to be.”
Both Flyers quickly mounted and secured their safety straps.
“Remember that I’m your Wingman Kral,” Kalena called across to him. “Treat me as a subordinate. Or like Captain Jerant treats his lackeys.”
“You might be my subordinate after we finish basic training – I’m taller and older
than you,” Kral laughed. Trar fluffed her feathers and preened at Adhamh. If Kral were placed senior to Kalena, then Trar would be senior to Adhamh. They would never hear the end of it.
Kalena snorted. “Being taller just means you have further to fall when I knock you down. Don’t underestimate me because I’m young and short!”
‘All right! Leave the strutting contest until it is needed. You should be thinking of the here and now, not when, or if, you finish basic training.’
Kalena squirmed in the saddle tying not to show her embarrassment. From the corner of her eye, Kalena saw Kral doing the same. Trar must have repeated Adhamh’s words to him.
“It was only a little bit of fun,” Kalena said to herself but Adhamh heard her.
‘I know, but we don’t have the luxury of unlimited time so we don’t want to waste it.’
Kalena nodded absently. Adhamh is right. They are wasting time, time that Holm really doesn’t have.
“Right. Let’s go. Adhamh, you know the flying position for a junior Wingman and Kalena, remember to act like a junior Wingman.”
“Yes Sir!” Kalena replied, putting some enthusiasm into her voice.
Kral pumped his left fist into the air and gave the command to fly.
It was only a short flight to the Post House but they had to make the impression that they had been in the air for a while.
They touched down in the field on the opposite side of the road from the buildings, downwind of the horses that milled uncertainly at the far end of their enclosure.
Kral gave the signal to dismount and both Flyers quickly unbuckled their safety harness, hiked a leg over the saddle and slid down to the ground.
As they walked to the front gate, a uniformed figure stood up from a chair on the front veranda. Kalena ensured that she stayed a step behind Kral’s right shoulder, the usual position for a junior Wingman and hoped that Trar and Adhamh were behaving themselves in the field.
“Good evening,” Kral said as the soldier stepped out from the shadows of the veranda and gave them a quick look over. “We need to see the officer in charge.”
“It’s about time you lot got here,” the man replied testily. “I’ve been waiting out here for hours.”
Kalena and Kral resisted the urge to look at each other. They were not expecting this!
“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” Kral said to quickly cover his surprise. “But we came as quickly as we could.”
Kalena tried not to smile at the sarcasm in Kral’s voice. ‘But what are we walking into here?’ she could not help thinking.
‘What you should be thinking is, what will happen when the Hatar Kalar they were originally expecting arrive.’ Adhamh’s voice intruded into her thoughts.
‘Thanks for your words of reassurance Adhamh.’ Kalena replied with a grimace. ‘We’ll deal with that hurdle when we get to it. Get Trar to reassure Kral. We’ll go inside, see what’s going on, hopefully eat, and then get out of here as soon as possible.’
The solider missed the sarcasm but took Kral at his word. He flapped a hand, gesturing them to follow him into the building. “The lieutenant is waiting for you inside.”
“Is dinner waiting inside as well?” Kral asked hopefully as he followed the soldier inside. “My wingman and I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
The solider shrugged. “Since you apologized for keeping me waiting out here, I’ll let you grab a bite before seeing the lieutenant.”
“Thanks.”
As the man opened the door, he squinted back at Kalena. “Your wingman is a little on the short side isn’t he?”
Kral looked back at Kalena, trying to repress a smile. “He is a little small, but being small is an advantage in a Hatar Kalar. The wind doesn’t buffet you so much when you are flying.”
The soldier nodded at Kral, though it was clear to Kalena that he did not understand what he had been told and lead them through the door.
‘You didn’t tell me you had suddenly changed sex!’ Kalena groaned. It was times like this that she hated the fact that the Hatar could hear everything she did.
‘I thought my long plaited hair would have given me away for a girl.’
‘There are a lot of male flyers with long hair Kalena. And at ten years of age, you do look more like a boy.’
‘I look like a boy?’
Adhamh’s voice was silent for a moment before saying, ‘At times you can.’
Kalena did not reply. The smell of hot food suddenly assaulted her nostrils and she focused her attention back to her surroundings.
The soldier had shepherded them through a small front room and into a side room that was obviously a mess hall. In the centre of the room was a long wooden table with chairs and from a pot on the fireplace against the far wall was where the delicious aroma was coming from.
“Help yourselves from that pot. I’ll come back in ten minutes to take you to the lieutenant.”
After the door had closed behind him, Kalena and Kral rushed to the cook pot, only stopping to take a bowl and spoon from the table and gave themselves large helpings of simmering stew.
As the two sated their hunger, they spoke together.
‘Kral. Let’s talk through Adhamh and Trar. I don’t want any unwanted ears hearing us.’
It was also at times like this that Kalena hated Adhamh’s rule of not mind talking directly. Especially when she knew that Kral could be capable of it as well. But she couldn’t risk what would happen to her and Adhamh if anyone found out about her gifts.
‘Okay.’ Kral continued shoveling stew into his mouth. Kalena thought he was determined to finish the contents of the entire stew pot within the ten minutes allotted them. ‘We have what we came here for. How are we going to leave without raising suspicion?’
‘The bigger question if what do these Freemen need Hatar Kalar for?’ Kalena replied while eating her food at a slower pace. The food was still hot and Kalena did not want to burn her mouth.
‘Do we really need to know? Whatever it is, it won’t help Holm.’ Kral got up to refill his bowl and sat back at the table, already eating from it.
Kalena scraped the last spoonful of stew from her bowl but did not get up for a refill. Kral’s mention of Holm killed her interest in food. Kalena shoved the empty bowl away from her and tapped her fingers on the worn wood of the table.
‘Perhaps we could find out something about the Pydarki from these people. This Post House sits right at the foot of the ranges, they are sure to have seen or heard of something about them.’
‘Maybe, but I doubt it.’
‘Always the optimist aren’t you Kral.’
‘I’m more of a realist. We don’t want to be roped into whatever they need Hatar Kalar for. It’s a sure fire way of being caught as ‘absent without leave’. We also don’t have time – Holm doesn’t have time.’
‘You’re right. We should leave before the expected Hatar Kalar arrive,’ Kalena said with reluctance. She really wanted to know why the Post House needed Kalarthri. Probably to carry a Freeman with a message but why would they have had a man waiting out the front for them?
‘How-‘
The sudden opening of the mess room door interrupted their conversation. Their ten minutes must be up. Kral pushed his bowl guiltily away from him as the two Kalar rose to their feet. But it was not the private at the door. The two silver knots on the man’s collar showed him to be a lieutenant.
Kalena had a sour feeling in her stomach but she also felt excited. Her curiosity will now be satisfied.
Chapter Thirteen
The Lieutenant’s Dilemma
The Lieutenant shut the door quietly behind him, leaving the two men who accompanied him outside in the front room. This Freeman was a large, heavyset man whose short blonde hair was plastered to his head in sweat. Thick golden stubble lined his jaw, either he was growing a beard or had forgotten to shave this morning. And he did not look much older than Kral Tayme.
“Do you two know why you are here?” the
lieutenant asked without any introductions.
The two Kalar shook their heads.
“That’s not surprising,” the man muttered to himself. The lieutenant moved away from the door and stood across the table from them. “Captain Jerant’s men did not want Hatar Kalar involved. But he is not in command of this Post House and I will be the one answering to command. Not them.”
Kalena and Kral gave each other an uneasy look at the mention of Captain Jerant. What are the Captain’s men doing this far North? Both Kalarthri snapped back to attention as the lieutenant focused again on them.
“Let’s get to business. The captain’s men have foisted a prisoner onto me to hold while they finish some business at Fort Foxtern. They claim that the man we are holding is a fraud and are taking him to Hered to stand charges, but I am not so sure.”
The lieutenant abruptly started to pace back and forth, clearly nervous. He seemed to forget that he was speaking to a pair of Kalarthri. The lieutenant obviously needed to get whatever this is off his chest. Kalena tried not to grimace. It looks like they wanted Hatar Kalar for prisoner transport.
‘Kalena, something strange is going on here. There is someone in the Post House who has the Gift. He wants help.’ Adhamh’s voice snapped Kalena out of her observations.
‘What Adhamh?’
‘Someone here is asking for help; if you open yourself you should hear it too.’
Kalena was not willing to do that. Not here in the middle of a house of Freemen. She would take Adhamh at his word. Suddenly the lieutenant’s prisoner became a lot more interesting.
A knock at the door killed the uncomfortable silence and the lieutenant stopped his pacing.
“Yes.”
The door opened and the soldier who met them out the front entered.
“Lieutenant Ost, the prisoner has just woken.”
“I’ll be there shortly.”
“Yes Sir.”
Once the door closed again lieutenant Ost turned to the two Kalar who still stood to attention.