Ambition and Alavidha

by Candy Rae

  Two days had passed since the Fifteenth Ryzck had left their domta to go to the aid of the Eighteenth Ryzck, two days of fast running but the haste had been worthwhile. They had arrived at the rendezvous point with enough time for a long rest.

  The members of the two Ryzcks, seventy of them plus some other vadeln-pairs who were in the vicinity were now hunkered down behind cover on the north bank of the river, waiting for the pirate galleys the Avuzdel scout had reported were on their way upriver. Three medium sized galleys he had telepathed. At least they wouldn’t be dealing with the mountain bandits as well.

  The leaders of the bandits hadn’t considered security one of their main concerns. It had been relatively easy for Avuzdel operatives to infiltrate their inner circle and to find out about their plans. When the bandits had moved out from their base, heading towards their rendezvous with the pirates they had walked straight into an ambush set by the militia of Cranston and the Garda. Every last one of them had either been killed or captured. More to the point, the Garda Captain in command had ‘persuaded’ some of the survivors to divulge the pre-arranged signal which was to be used to tell the galleys that it was safe to row upriver. The signal had duly been sent and now the galleys were coming.

  Ryzcka Brand’s plan was to permit the pirates to land and then to pounce. A Vadryz would sweep round behind them and cut off their escape. The element of surprise was with the Vada and would more than counterbalance the fact that the pirates would outnumber them two to one.

  What happened next happened much as he had planned.

  * * * * *

  From behind the trees and bushes the vadeln-pairs waited in silence.

  Josei and Thalia were hidden behind a large, prickly dugo bush. To distract her mind from thinking about what lay ahead Thalia began to count the thorns. She reached eight hundred then a thousand. She then went back to the beginning and started again. It was a relaxation technique she had been practising over the last two years and she always found it oddly soothing. This balmy evening she was managing to keep the twittering in her stomach down to a manageable level.

  Josei wasn’t counting. He never seemed to feel the need to calm himself before a fight. She could feel his steady and even breathing between her legs. He felt as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Thalia wished she could be more like him.

  : They’ve reached the bend in the river : Josei informed her.

  Thalia stopped her counting, six hundred and eleven, then began again, six hundred and twelve, six hundred and thirteen. Wonder how far I’ll get to.

  : Ready : the command cracked out from Josei’s mind like a whiplash.

  Thalia swallowed. She was a vadeln of two years service but she had never got used to the waiting. Some of the older vadelns had told her that perhaps she never would. Some of them hadn’t. They always said that the waiting was the worst part.

  She wondered how young Jenna was faring. The extensive weapons-practice and training during their cadetship was good but it was nothing like the real thing when real people with real swords were trying to kill you and you them. Weaponsmaster Alkin always tried to prepare his cadets but nothing, this Thalia had decided after her first fight, could. She had been as sick as a dog after it, sick with reaction and shock.

  She was gripping her sword too tight, her fingers were getting numb.

  Relax, she instructed herself, it’s got to be done. They’ll be trying to kill me and Josei. The thought of anything happening to her beloved Josei filled her with grim resolve. She forced her hand to relax. No dastardly pirate was going to kill her and Josei, or any of her friends for that matter, not if she could help it.

  She felt Josei shudder as his battle adrenalin began to kick in. It wouldn’t be long now.

  She saw Josei’s ears flicker forward and back as he strained to listen.

  : Is that a splash of an oar? :

  : I think it is :

  : Are they coming in to land? :

  : Count to Duntanvad : he instructed.

  Thalia had got to thirteen, seven short, when Josei’s next telepathic ‘shout’ reverberated in her mind.

  Thalia gritted her teeth and tightened her legs round Josei’s barrel and he jumped, high over the dugo bush and raced towards the beach. She heard shouts of alarm. She was conscious of the thundering of many paws around them as the other vadeln-pairs raced into the battle.

  There was more confused shouting and she could see running figures on the beach. The Ryzcks were silent, they had no need for verbal commands.

  : That big man to the left of the group : Josei ‘shouted’ his instruction and Thalia bent herself low on his back to make of herself a smaller target and readying her sword. The man raised his, a wicked curved blade but shorter than Thalia’s rapier.

  Now was not the time for thinking and introspection. Training and reflexes took over as Thalia and Josei ran down their enemy, Thalia sticking like glue on Josei’s back.

  To do him credit, although he didn’t deserve it, being a pirate and all, the man stood his ground, which took a lot of courage when a large horse-sized snarling beast was running you down, but it wasn’t enough. Teeth bared and chelas tracted, Josei lunged and he flinched. That split-heartbeat was enough for Thalia. Like a whip her sword came down, she was aiming at his sword-shoulder, where his ill-fitting armour had left a protective gap. She misjudged it, or perhaps he moved more than she had expected, the rapier cut down in a moon-gleaming arc of death and severed his arm right through. Shocked eyes staring, he dropped to the ground, bright red blood pumping. The man was twitching, ashen faced and he lay there, staring as his life-blood spattered away. His body twitched a few times then was still.

  Thalia and Josei barely spared it a glance.

  Shouts and yells of battle were filling the air and the Ryzcks were being pressed hard. Pirates neither gave nor expected quarter. This was a fight to the death. Piracy, banditry and murder were the three crimes which were always punished by death in Argyll and it would not be the headsman’s block as in the Kingdom of Murdoch. Argyll favoured the slower, more lingering death by a hangman’s rope.

  Another pirate lunged towards Thalia and Josei. This one was good and more than good as Thalia realised as their swords met with a rustle. Josei lunged but the pirate danced away as his jaws snapped down on thin air. Josei spun round on his haunches to avoid the man’s sword. Thalia leant into his neck as he did and not a moment too soon. She felt the air-whizz of an arrow as it missed her head. Too close for comfort. The pirates must have left some archers in the boats to guard their backs.

  Josei snarled as they leapt at the pirate again. He didn’t flinch but this time his dancing around would be his undoing.

  This one’s been taught by a fencing master, was Thalia’s fleeting thought as the sword whistled towards her in a practised arc. She parried, turning her blade with a flick of her wrist as Weaponsmaster Alkin had taught her. The man, surprised, stumbled. The hilt dropped from his hand but he still retained possession of it because he had had the foresight to attach a wrist-clinch. Thalia had to finish him now, before he got the chance to grasp the hilt again. He was perfectly placed to blade Josei on his haunches. If Josei went down Thalia’s chances of survival would be small, clipped in as she was into the harness. She would drop with him and it took time to slice away the harness straps.

  Josei spun round on his hind legs, his front chelas swiping at the pirate. The man didn’t retreat but leapt forward, dancing and weaving, sword in position and ready to slash at Josei’s paws.

  The sound and smells of battle receded in Thalia’s mind as the two of them concentrated on this, their private war to the death.

  The man stumbled again.

  : Left : she commanded and Josei obediently turned as Thalia swept her sword up then down. It came down so fast and with such anger behind it that the blade went deep into the pirate’s chest. With clinical detachment, anger didn’t keep you alive, in fact anger resulted more often than not in the complete o
pposite, Thalia twisted her wrist again as she wrenched the blade back out.

  The pirate staggered back, his face full of horror and all blood drained from his face. His legs buckled under him and he collapsed; but his hands were still moving as he fumbled for his knives.

  Josei didn’t hesitate. With a snarl his forepaws landed on the pirate’s upper torso, pinning his arms.

  : Me : he ordered Thalia, the word a command as his jaws opened.

  With a gurgle and a cackle the man died, but it was quick. Josei despatched him as he would a kura buck after a hunt, as painlessly and as quickly as he could. For Lind the actual kill was a necessity and not an action to be enjoyed. Volat, the Lind called it. Volat was the needless slaying in pain or the joyful kill of any living creature.

  Thalia’s senses returned and she could hear again.

  It was quieter now, the battle-chaos was getting less.

  Looking up and towards the river she spied one galley getting away, its oarsmen striving with every ounce of strength to row fast enough to they could escape what they were already calling ‘the killing ground’.

  A few pirates were still fighting at the water’s edge. Thalia knew they would not surrender. This way they would die on their own terms and not at the end of a rope.

  There were however, a couple of very dejected men standing to Thalia’s right, guarded by two vadeln-pairs.

  : We go help at water’s edge : Josei informed her as he turned, adding : pirate man tastes very nasty :

  They joined in the melee once more. Now the pirates who were left were outnumbered instead of the other way around.

  It wasn’t easy, fighting never was but slash by slash the vadeln-pairs overpowered and killed them. It was not without cost. As the last pirate was cut down, Thalia and Josei backed away from the carnage and looked around.

  She realised that they had lost to death at least seven vadeln-pairs. Their bloodied bodies lay still and quiet, the only movement the ripple of the night-breeze on fur.

  One of them was Jenna and Stasei. They hadn’t made it through their first fight. Thalia felt sick.

  This wasn’t the first time she had seen her comrades die in violence but Jenna had been so young, just eighteen.

  : It’s not fair! : she cried in the silence of her mind.

  : It is never fair : Josei answered : but she and Stasei knew it could happen as do we. It is part of the price we too may have to pay in the future to keep others safe from harm :

  the words didn’t help, they never did.

  : If we hadn’t stopped them : Josei added : they would have ravaged the land, stealing, raping and all that is the same :

  : I know Josei but Jenna and Stasei are dead and they didn’t deserve that. They had their whole lives in front of them :

  : But that does not detract from what we have achieved this night :

  Thalia had to agree but Josei’s words were still not helping her to come to terms with the grief she was feeling. That would take time.

  Josei knew this. It was always the same for his Thalia.

  * * * * *

  NORTH-EAST ARGYLL - THE PATROL SECTOR OF THE FIFTEENTH RYZCK

  As they returned to their patrol area Thalia began to come to terms with the deaths of Jenna and Stasei. Josei knew his Thalia and wouldn’t talk about it. He understood she needed the time to grieve. Some human halves of vadeln-pairs would react differently he knew, they wanted to talk and did, but not her.

  The others among the Ryzck knew of this need and they respected it. Josei knew that no person would talk about Jenna and Stasei until Thalia mentioned it first and he knew that wouldn’t be until at least another half tenday.

  Rodick, her cadet year mate and Thalia were walking side by side.

  “So what do you make of it? he was asking, “go on, you must have some idea.”

  Thalia frowned, “I’m not sure Rodick, I mean, it was different; they were different. Do you see what I’m getting at?”

  “But that’s what I’ve been telling you, haven’t you been listening? Apart from some of them wearing what can only be described as some sort of uniform and this was the first time we’ve seen anything like that, they looked different. Almost as if they weren’t real pirates at all.”

  Thalia shook her head, “no they weren’t; they looked just like all the pirates we’ve encountered these last two years, scruffier even. It was how they were that was different.”

  Rodick wasn’t as deep thinking as Thalia.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Thalia marshalled her thoughts, “let me see,” she began, “now, this is fairly nebulous but I did get the impression that they were working together.”

  “They were all pirates Thalia,” Rodick snorted, “of course they were all together.”

  “No, that’s not what I mean. The second man Josei and I fought for instance, well, he didn’t fight like a pirate. He’d been trained, I’m sure of it. He danced, like that demonstration sword fight between the Weaponsmaster and that visiting southern noble. Remember? During our third year as cadets.”

  “It was awesome,” enthused Rodick, forgetting in that instant the conversation in hand but Thalia was not so easy to distract. As her fellow cadets had once said, ‘once Thalia has got the bone between her teeth she won’t put it down’. Thalia liked solving problems.

  She put her brainpower to work.

  “I don’t believe this attack was a normal one,” she told Rodick after teasing the evidence to and fro. “They acted different and there’s the bit about them acting in tandem with the mountain bandits.” : Josei? :

  : Did you see the flags on their boats? : he asked.

  Thalia thought back, and struck her forehead with her fist, “the flags! Of course! The two galleys were sporting different flags! Did you notice the third one, the one that got away?”

  : Not particularly, no : he answered : I was not paying much attention but I will ask the Avuzdel who were watching. Slei might have noticed :

  : Do that :

  Rodick had remained silent during this exchange but couldn’t contain himself any longer.

  “Well? What have the flags got to do with it?”

  “”Shush. I’m working on it.”

  Rodick subsided.

  Slei’s answer wasn’t long in coming.

  : Slei says that it was purple with white splotches. His words, not mine :

  “The Renegades of R’sair,” breathed Thalia, “and one of the others was the flag of the Corsairs of Rkhenash. I didn’t recognise the third but it doesn’t matter, not really.” She turned to Rodick, “don’t you see? They came from different pirate groups! I wonder what has happened to make them put aside their differences and to work together?”

  “Did something have to make them?” he asked.

  “Something or someone. You mark my words Rodick, it’s a someone and a someone with brains too.” She paused, “a someone high up.”

  “Who?” demanded Rodick.

  “I have absolutely no idea and I’m not going to think about it any more. Let others worry about it.” Changing the subject, she asked, “are we stopping at the Supply Station tonight or is Vandiel going to insist that we run on? I could do with a bath.”

  Rodick didn’t know.

  : I’ll let Slei know about your thoughts : Josei offered as he picked up his pace in tandem with the rest of the Ryzck.

  He did, but Slei didn’t get back to him after the courtesy thank-you and the news that he would pass it on to the Susa of the Avuzdel.

  * * * * *

  The Fifteenth Ryzck got back to their domta early the next morning and the first place Thalia visited was the bathing pool. Ryzcka Vandiel hadn’t let his Ryzck stay at the Supply Station for the night being desirous to get back to their patrol area as soon as possible.

  * * * * *

  A month passed, day after day of nothing happening. There were no more pirate incursions. Replacement vadeln-pairs arrived to replace those who had lost their liv
es and the badly wounded.

  Thalia came to accept the loss of Jenna and Stasei.

  She couldn’t wait for the end of their tour of duty however. It hadn’t been a happy one, despite their achievements.

  Ryzcka Vandiel was intending to return to Vada not by the direct route but would instead lead his Ryzck west, paralleling the North Caravan Route and then turn south to Vada once they had passed the border between Argyll and Vadath. It would add a full three days on to their travelling time thus cutting into their leave period but he had decided that this option was the more prudent.

  Tension had been growing in recent years between some elements of Argyllian society and Vadath.

  Each Ryzcka had in fact, received orders from Susa Malkum who commanded the Vada to keep contact to a minimum, especially in the Argyll interior.

  * * * * *

  So, one fine day just over a month after the fight with the pirates the Fourth Ryzck ran in and the Fifteenth gathered up their belongings and prepared to move out.

  As Thalia packed her harness-bags she wondered if her Ryzck would be returning to this area any time soon. She hoped not but she wasn’t holding out much hope in that direction. Next patrol they might not be but if not the one after that it would almost certainly be the one after that. But what was the alternative?

  : Request a transfer : was Josei’s suggestion : if you really don’t want us to come back here :

  : Why didn’t I think of that? But it wouldn’t solve the problem Josei. Any Ryzck can be ordered back here :

  : West. Let us request a transfer to one of the Western Ryzcks. I would like that Thalia. Closer to my rtathen I would be :

  : Then we will my Josei, just as soon as we get to Vada :

  : Good :