by Candy Rae
Vya’s eyes crinkled, “a most definite compliment, I assure you. Now, time is a-pressing, shall we go?”
* * * * *
The night after they left the Supply Station they prepared their dom as usual and as usual they all sat round the campfire.
Thalia ran her hands through her hair. The firelight caught at it and Daniel, distracted from his contemplation of the yellow flames looked up.
His breath caught in his throat.
She’s really pretty! She’s really a pretty gorgeous girl. So different from the girls back home. She’s so �� unaffected. I don’t think she realises how attractive she is.
Thalia, glancing up, saw him looking at her and dropped her hands.
“What?” she asked. “Why are you looking at me like that? Have I suddenly grown a third eye in the middle of my forehead?”
Daniel dropped his gaze, confused.
“Nothing,” he mumbled.
Vya caught Josei’s eye and winked.
* * * * *
-24-
THE RTATHLIANS OF THE LIND
By the time three days had passed Daniel was becoming accustomed to riding Vya rather than Firefly. At least the aches and pains had begun to diminish. They were running through the mountain foothills, the rises and falls of the hills and hillocks undulated like waves on the sea. Rest periods were infrequent at best and during one of these few and far between rest stops he raised a question as to why they weren’t taking the path followed by the trade route.
“It’s quicker this way,” Thalia informed him. “The trade route meanders along and around the hills. We take the direct route.”
“And it is easier on the paws,” Josei added with a tail wag and a Lindish grin.
“Both hills and route are patrolled,” said Thalia, “the Sixteenth Ryzck I think. We might meet up with some of them tomorrow.”
But their meeting with members of the duty Ryzck came sooner than expected.
That evening, campfire lit, Daniel had not long settled himself in his bedroll and was dropping off to sleep when Vya growled a warning.
“Danger!”
She placed a large paw on his middle and pressed down, hard.
He stared up at her even as he fumbled for his borrowed sword. Like Thalia he slept with it by his side.
“Shhh,” she whispered.
“What is it?” he mouthed.
“Gtran,” was her terse reply.
“It’s a whole pride of them,” Thalia whispered in his ear. He jumped. “Help is coming. Josei called.”
“When will they get here?” he asked scrambling to his feet.
“They’re running to us as fast as they can. Hurry, mount up.”
“Can we outrun them?”
“We can try,” she answered but with little hope in her voice. “Gtran are faster than wral and can run as fast as the Lind. They’re hungry. Only hunger will have brought them this far down into the foothills. Come on.”
“Harness?” he floundered.
“No time. You’ll have to hang on like grim death.”
Daniel didn’t want to think about death. He jumped up on to Vya’s back, grabbing for her neck ruff.
He heard a yowl from out in the darkness.
“They’ve caught our scent,” said Thalia, no longer bothering to whisper. “Run!”
Vya and Josei set of at a standing run, with a suddenness that rattled Daniel’s bones and which almost made him fall off. He could hear the yowling growing in volume and becoming more intense.
Crikey, there must be hundreds of them at least, was his terrified thought, this is really scary. He didn’t know much about the gtran. The peculiarities and attributes of the catlike gtran had not been numbered among the topics of his education. There were no gtran in Murdoch although there were rumours of large catlike creatures in the more southerly wetlands of the continent.
They ran on and ran on some more. Even Daniel knew that even for the redoubtable Lind; to continue to run flat out like this would tell on them eventually and they had been travelling all day. How long before Vya became winded? How long before she was forced to slow down? What would happen then? They would put up a fight but against so many how long would they last?
The yowling grew louder.
They’re gaining on us, he thought with desperation.
He was not to know, because he had no mind-link with Vya like Thalia had with Josei that a Vadryz of the Sixteenth Ryzck was closing fast and was bearing down on the gtran pride at an angle (and downwind).
Thalia knew but she had not the means to tell him. She tried to shout over but the only words he managed to make out were keep and going.
Then with a sudden abruptness, the yowling changed to that of surprised and angry growling. Yelps and whines of pain replaced the yowls and hope began to stir in Daniel’s breast.
Thalia and Josei stopped, turned and went back the way they had come.
Vya stopped too and once more Daniel banged his nose on her neck. Again, predictably, it began to bleed and Daniel wiped his nose on his sleeve.
Vya didn’t follow Josei, considering that taking the inexperienced Daniel into the fight would be a madness close to the ultimate folly. Without a battle-harness he would more than likely fall off and then where would he be? Dead.
She made a mental note to ask Thalia to give him some instruction regarding fighting alindback.
The two of them waited (Daniel with bated breath), straining to hear what was happening.
Then they heard a short cheer from out in the darkness and the yowling changed to frightened screeching (much like his sister back home when she was annoyed about something) which dissipated as the heartbeats sped by.
“Have they run them off?” he asked Vya.
“Ceja, they killed six and the rest ran away.”
“How many were there? It sounded like hundreds!”
“About the usual,” she replied, “Duntanvad.”
Daniel was none the wiser for her answer, not knowing how to count in the language of the Lind but he did gather that there were many of them but that they were safe now.
“We go back,” she informed him. “This is good. The Vadryz will go with us to our dom and there we pick up Thalia and your belongings. Josei says then we go to the dom of the Ryzck.”
“Was anyone hurt?” he asked.
“No. Surprised the gtran they did. They were much better at running away than fighting.”
She walked back to the fight-site, her breathing was a little heavier than usual but not in any real distress. Daniel’s estimation of the Lind went up another notch.
No wonder the Regiments never want to fight them. The old soldiers’ tales are true, the Vada must be the most marvellous fighters if their stamina is anything to go by and they are bloody good with their swords too.
“Are you sure that there are none of them left Vya?” he whispered in her ear, leaning dangerously over to do so. “I wouldn’t like one to pop out of nowhere. They sounded horribly bloodthirsty.”
“Awesome and fearful beasts indeed,” she agreed, not bothering to lower her voice, placidly walking back through the trees. “The wral are bigger, yes indeed, but slower, easier to fight.”
“These gtran?” prompted Daniel.
“Our size and as supple and quick as we. Before humans arrived they were the greatest threat to us and ours.”
“But not now.”
“It all depends on your point of view. Without weapons, man is no match for Lind. With swords and arrows we even matched but what of the future?”
“Do you fear us Vya?”
“We Lind fear what some men may become,” she answered, “now we come to where the fighting was, sit up straight, keep eyes open. Vada are still searching around to find wounded gtran. A cornered, wounded gtran is very dangerous, always remember this.”
“Right. If that’s the case then Vya. Perhaps we should be stepping along right smartly.” He was not too sure of his abilities of fightin
g a desperate creature the size of Vya and staying on long enough to get a chance to kill it.
“Not far now,” she promised. “They wait in tall trees.” She picked up her pace.
Daniel just knew that he had never felt so glad to see anyone, or anybody else for that matter, for a long, long time.
There were he realised as Vya came to a stop, eight vadeln-pairs there, plus Thalia and Josei. Someone had stuck a flame-torch into the ground, well away from the trees and that, together with the half-moonlight made it possible for him to distinguish faces.
One vadeln was tending another’s arm, Daniel could see the bandage being tied and another was dabbing smaha-root salve to the haunches of one of the Lind. Daniel could smell the pungency.
Thalia turned as he and Vya arrived and the uniformed man by her side turned also. All were watching his and Vya’s entrance.
“There you are at last,” Thalia greeted them. “Good. Now me and Josei would like you to meet our rescuers. This is Vadryzka Dorin of the Sixteenth Ryzck and his Lind Olyei.”
The tall fair man smiled as he spoke, “pleased to meet you Kellen Daniel and you too Vya.” He executed a half bow in their direction and Vya graciously inclined her head in reply. “Sorry it took so long. We had to position ourselves downwind. It was a large pride, over twenty of them. Hope you weren’t too frightened.”
“Quite frankly,” Daniel answered, nodding to Dorin, “I’ve never been so frightened in my life.”
“Even more frightened than when your ship foundered?” teased Thalia.
“This was much more scary,” he declared in a firm voice. “Then I might only have drowned. A candlemark ago it occurred to me that I might be facing the real possibility of being rent asunder and eaten whilst still alive. Definitely scarier.”
Dorin laughed.
“Oh, we wouldn’t have let that happen,” he said with a slow smile as he turned to Thalia. Daniel took the opportunity to dismount.
“Thank you,” he whispered into Vya’s furry ear as he rubbed behind it. She leant into his caress.
“Any time,” she answered.
Dorin was talking to Thalia and Daniel walked (it could only be described as a stagger) over.
“We’ve been looking out for you,” Dorin was saying. “Susa Malkum sent word. We knew that you were on this trail but believed you’d be further east by now. When you weren’t where we expected Ryzcka Jim sent us to look out here. We didn’t expect trouble but knew that a gtran pride was somewhere in the area. What took you so long?”
Thalia obviously didn’t wish to admit the reason so Daniel took it upon himself to reply.
“Thalia had this beginner with her sir,” said Daniel with an embarrassed laugh. “I kept falling off so Thalia and Josei had to slow down.”
Dorin and the Vadeln of his Vadryz laughed but Daniel realised it was not derisory laughter at his expense. Each and every one of them could remember how difficult they had found it to keep alindback in their first days when the said Lind was running full tilt and ducking and weaving between trees.
“Well, no harm done,” said Dorin. “They say a bit of excitement is good for the blood. The digestion too.”
“I think you did jolly well to stay on at all,” opined a jolly-looking freckled youth. “No harness either.”
“Fear gave me strength,” Daniel answered.
Over kala a half bell later, Daniel and Thalia learned that the Sixteenth Ryzck, although nearing the end of their third month of duty in the area, had orders to stay on another two months.
“Susa Malkum must have his reasons but if he has they haven’t permeated down to us. He may have told Ryzcka Jim but if he has Jim’s not saying.”
“That’s a strange one,” commented Thalia, “I’ve never heard of that happening before.”
“Not these days,” agreed Dorin, “we’ve all wondered but no-lind or no-one has come up with a reason.”
“I have,” said the freckled-faced youth by Daniel’s side.
“A sensible reason Trevor.”
The Vadeln laughed and Daniel joined in.
“I’m sure it will become clear in time,” soothed Thalia, “is the extension of the duty months all over or is it just the Sixteenth?”
“All over,” Dorin answered, “and between you, me and the gatepost, everyone is questioning but never an answer.”
“Perhaps Susa Malkum is experimenting with a new rota system,” postulated Thalia, “we all know how long it can take to journey from Vada at the beginning and end of duty stints. It does eat into leave-time.”
“Perhaps that’s it,” agreed Dorin but he didn’t sound as if he believed it. He tipped what was left in his mug. “So let’s be about it shall we? Back to your dom first to pick up your traps. It’s a relatively short ride to our dom. We can be there at first light.”
Daniel groaned. He wasn’t best pleased at the prospect of riding all night after everything he had gone through but when he thought about it, he was even less enthusiastic about the concept of remaining in the area. The gtran might just gather up their courage again and re-attack.
During their ride he voiced this thought to Dorin and the young Vadryzka laughed.
“Be at least a day, more likely far more,” he informed his travelling companion. “First they’ll lick their wounds then will come the quest for dominance of the pride among the previously subservient males. We killed the leader. The dominant, strongest and wiliest will win and then the pride with gather round him. Only then will they hunt once more. Ryzcka Jim and Wsya will probably bring us back here in the next tenday or so and the Ryzck will chase the whole galloping lot of them back into the mountains where they belong.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“It’s our job, to keep the land free, safe and to protect. We all took the oath.”
“What is the oath?” asked Daniel. “Ours is the Fealtatis Ceremony when we swear to obey and protect or king and overlord and he swears to protect us.”
“That sounds more like allegiance to one man,” said Dorin, “no matter what kind of man he is, or woman.”
“I suppose it is,” said Daniel, “I’ve never really thought about it all that much if I’m honest.”
“Ours is more like a promise,” said Dorin, “it goes like this,
‘For and by the Honour of the Vada, we do solemnly swear that we will support and defend the rtathlians, lands and the inhabitants of Lind, Vadath and Argyll against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that we will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that we will obey the orders of the Susyc of the Armies of the North and the orders of the Susas, Ryzckas and Vadryzas appointed over us, according to regulations. So help me the Lai.’”
“I like it,” said Daniel, “especially that part about supporting and defending. It seems so real, somehow. ‘I'm afraid I’m not putting this too well.”
“It is the code by which we live, human and Lind. A lifelong promise to live up to.” Daniel intercepted the look he gave his Lind, Olyei, one both affectionate and loving. “It would be catastrophic if it comes about how some of us fear,” Dorin continued, referring to recent tensions between Vadath and Argyll, “we might have to …”
“Fight them?” asked Daniel.
“Yes. We are worried but hope that it will never come to pass, that a solution may be found so let’s change the subject. What is happening in the southern continent?”
“Our tensions remain as always internal,” Daniel answered. “Murdoch is, I believe, no longer threatened by the Larg, they too are far more interested in internal squabbles. Strange thing though, my cousin, he’s an officer in one of the regiments, the Second Foot, he was saying recently that he and his men haven’t been seeing many sniffing around our borders for a while. I agree with what he is saying too. I was out at the borders myself last year. Definitely an odd situation is brewing but not dangerous to us I believe.”
“What, none at all? For how long?” asked Dorin, referring to the lack of Larg
sightings.
“Not even a paw print, which is, as everyone tells me, more than a little odd, quite out of character. They were expecting trouble when the two new duchies were founded but nothing came of it.”
Dorin nodded, “no reaction at all?”
“Only a verbal complaint. Course, they were founded a number of years ago now, but it is strange.”
“Other fish to fry?” hazarded Dorin.
“Can’t imagine what,” answered Daniel, wondering again what was happening at home.
* * * * *
-25-
WEST OF THE GTRATHLIN’S DOMTA - THE RTATHLIANS OF THE LIND
One night by the fireside a couple of nights later Thalia looked up. They were on their own again, having left the dom of the Sixteenth Ryzck.
“You’re staring at me again.”
Daniel shook himself.
“Am I? I didn’t notice. Sorry.”
“So what about you? Tell me about you.”
“I’m the only son of Kellen Philip Ross of Rothesdale in Brentwood,” Daniel began.
“What’s a Kellen?”
“It’s a noble rank between a Baron and a Thane. Technically I’m a Kellen-Heir as my father’s still alive. My sister is called Simone. She’s a year older than me and is married to Louis, Baron Louis Senot. Both Ross and Senot are old families. Simone has a little boy, born last year, he’s called Louis after his father. They live at the western edge of the Graham Dukedom so I don’t see them very often.”
“That’s a shame.”
He nodded, “it’s the way it is in Murdoch. She’s a Senot now, when she married she became one.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“It is. My Aunt Denise made a very good match. She married the Duke of Brentwood, one of the reasons my father sent me to keep an eye on that Markwood idiot. The Brentwoods and especially the Markwoods are not the brightest. I was supposed to stop them doing anything idiotic. Anyway, that’s the family. Childhood was the same as everyone else’s. Nursemaids, tutors, military training, there have been many Lord Marshalls in the family’s history. We’re also noted for our loyalty to the monarch. Our family motto is ‘Loyalty Binds Us’.”