by Candy Rae
“I promise,” smiled Paul, “if you promise not to go out riding alone any more.”
“I promise,” said a fervent Jill and she meant it, at least for the moment.
* * * * *
Paul did not doubt the veracity of what Jill had told him nor that she would keep the promise just uttered.
His youngest daughter as far as he was aware had never told a lie in her life. In this respect she was so unalike her older sister Judith who would prevaricate and lie if she believed it would keep her from a scolding. Jill, like Paul as a boy, never did and took the punishment. She was her father’s child in every respect except for her sex.
“What was the name of this Lai?” he asked her, almost as an afterthought.
“Name?” I forgot to say, didn’t I? It was Maru.”
Maru!
Paul Hallam did not dare even breathe the name aloud. Maru, Leader of the Lai! In his duchy! Now what in god’s name was Maru doing here? Paul needed time to think about this.
“Run along,” he told Jill, “we’ll talk later and this time I won’t tell your mother about your solitary ride. You mustn’t tell anyone about meeting Maru either. This is our secret, you and I.”
Jill rolled her eyes. Her face said ‘Fathers!’
“You know I’m not a leaky, drippy cistern Father.”
“And where may I ask did you hear that expression? It’s not a phrase I like.”
“Overheard Housekeeper saying it.”
“Don’t use it again, now you must go. Mal will be here in a candledrip.”
Jill planted a quick kiss on Paul’s forehead and skipped away. Paul noticed that the hem of her riding habit was all over mud.
“And change your dress before your Mother sees you,” he called out to her retreating back.
* * * * *
Paul Hallam sat back in his chair and pondered.
Maru the Lai here in Hallam. Why?
* * * * *
-50-
THE STRONGHOLD OF THE VADA – VADATH
“Did you mean what you said to me on our run here, Tara, lis of Thalia, that your greatest wish was to be as her?”
“How can you doubt me?” cried Tara passionately, “I know now that it’s all I’ve ever wanted, deep down. Didn’t I leave home with you to come here, to Vada? Can’t you sense it?”
“I do sense the truth behind your words,” Dsya replied, her eyes wistful. She had never found a human with whom she could bond. A few had come close but each encounter had lacked that special feeling that would have induced her to take the final paw-step.
“I may be able to help you,” she said at last, whilst Tara stood, hanging on a tenterhook of suspense and hope.
“How?”
“You are aware that there are not many suns, you humans call them days, left?”
Tara nodded, at once serious. The inhabitants of the Stronghold, Human and Lind had been informed about what was happening, had been happening, two evenings prior to this conversation. The border between Vadath and Argyll had been closed for all outgoing travellers that morning. People, of the two and four legged variety, could travel across the border in to Vadath but only a selected few would be able to go in the opposite direction into Argyll.
“There is Lind, a relative of mine, who might suit you nicely. He is on his way here.”
Tara couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. If she could find a Lind with whom she could life-bond then she would be able to go with the others who were leaving and Tara wanted this more than she had wanted anything else in her life.
“Oh, I do hope he likes me,” she enthused, “I can’t be left behind when you go, I simply can’t.”
“Alyei has always been eager to become Vadeln,” continued Dsya, “I ‘sense’ you strong although I cannot ‘hear’ you as we are of the same gender you and I. Alyei is of my blood, our mothers are daughters of the same mother. If I can reach your mind then so will he although there are no guarantees.”
“When will he get here?” Tara asked.
“When the sun next appears.”
* * * * *
Susa Malkum had informed her when she had got here that he was reluctant to take her unless she life-bonded.
“You are young,” he had said, “you are not of Vadath. Indeed, at thirteen you are still underage. Your sense of adventure, your hopes, brought you here like many before you but it is different now. Indeed, I am most displeased with Dsya for bringing you. All had orders not to bring in any who were not committed already.”
“Others my age are going,” Tara had challenged.
“They are of Vadath. You are from Argyll.”
“I do have family in the Vada,” Tara had countered, “my brother and sister.”
“I know this but it is not enough. We do not wish to be remembered as those who stole children from their families.”
“I wasn’t enticed; I left of my own free will.”
“They will not see it that way. However, if you have vadeln-paired by the time the last wagons leave then naturally you will both leave with them, with the cadets and the other newly paired. If not then you will join with the others like you and remain here until your people come for you. That is my final word on the matter.”
Tara had opened her mouth as a prelude to providing another argument but Susa Malkum’s raised hand had stopped her.
Tara had considered stowing away on one of the wagons or trying to persuade Dsya to carry her disguised in a Vada uniform and had been making plans to do either or both of these when Dsya had arrived with word of Alyei’s imminent arrival.
At least now there was a chance that she would be able to join the wagon train riding her very own Lind!
* * * * *
-51-
NORTH-EASTERN ARGYLL
Ryzcka Vandiel Imogenson of the Fifteenth Ryzck listened to the orders as relayed by his Lind Zandya with a face full of absolute astonishment.
: A full Ryzck recall? Now? Lai’s wings! :
: A general recall, of all Ryzcks and all Vadeln on leave, everyone and everylind in Argyll :
: Is there a war about to begin that nobody’s told us about? :
: No Vandiel, not a war, something far more important, and exciting :
: Do you know what it is? :
: We will learn that when we reach Vada. All Lind are to report :
: Even those manning the Supply Stations? :
: And the Express : added Zandya : Everylind. General Command from all Susas and the Gtrathlin :
A mystified Ryzcka Vandiel gave the order immediately, quelling the questions with the truthful reply that he had no idea what was behind the recall.
“Are we to leave our personal possessions?” asked the human half of one of his vadeln-pairs. “Are we coming back?”
“Quite honestly Vadeln Rodick, I don’t know.”
“Perhaps the Argyllian Council has decided that last that they don’t need the Vada any more,” he suggested.
“That’s the likely explanation,” he agreed.
“We’ve all noticed that their getting more and more aloof and unfriendly.”
“And they hate paying the tithe,” added Vadryzka Cera.
“Hope it doesn’t mean we’re going to war with them,” another vadeln added his comment.
“I think we can all concur with that sentiment,” his Ryzcka said with a reassuring smile, “and yes Rodick, I’d take any possessions you might not like to lose with you.”
* * * * *
-52-
DUCHY OF HALLAM – KINGDOM OF MURDOCH
The countryside was flashing by so fast was Kenlei running. His rider, his life-bonded, Katie Durand was aware of trees and scrub-bushes looming out of the gloom and then disappearing in blurred rushes.
Kenlei’s paws thundered across the ground. Beside them ran Danavdr, a Larg.
Katie carried a letter in her belt-pouch, a letter destined for the senior human member of the Avuzdel in the southern continent, a letter co
ntaining a message of life-changing importance.
It felt to Katie that they had been travelling months rather than the tenday they had been on their journey.
First had been the run south from the Avuzdel headquarter domta in southern Vadath to the coast. There Katie and Kenlei had taken ship to the southern continent, sailing east along the Middle Sea, through one of the channels that cut through the Island Chain and on, not to Charleson, the most easterly of the Murdoch duchies, but further, beyond Murdoch’s borders to an inlet in an area controlled by the Larg. There Danavdr had met them. They had then run back west to just outside the eastern borders of Murdoch and beyond guard-sight.
From there they ran south and now at last they were approaching the eastern borders of the Duchy of Hallam.
: Do we run through the night? : asked Kenlei.
: The message is urgent. Tell Danavdr that we must run on :
* * * * *
The power core of the WCCS Argyll stolen?” cried an aghast Paul Hallam as he read the Avuzdel Susa’s letter. “This is serious. Why wasn’t I told before?”
“We did not know it was coming this way. Intelligence at the time was that there was a high chance it would be recovered before it got this far,” answered Katie.
“You sure that they plan to take it to Fort and of the King of Leithe’s complicity?”
“Susalai Andei is convinced of it.”
“Can it be detonated? Does Leithe have that knowledge? Lai’s wings. This could be catastrophic!”
“That part of our informed knowledge is conjecture,” Katie answered, “simple answer is that we are not sure but we must base our strategy on the premise that it can.”
“So where are they?”
“Word from those the Susa sent to look for them is that they are about a day’s run behind but are catching up fast.”
“So where are they?”
“Here.”
“Here? In Hallam?”
“They’re disguised as traders Duke Paul. The Susa asks that you send men out to apprehend them. Any excuse will do.”
“And those sent after them. They are Avuzdel?”
“No, a Vada pair and another two, one of yours riding an Avuzdel Lind. A Kellen Daniel Ross.”
“Daniel! Daniel Ross! Here? How? Last I heard he had gone to keep an eye on those stupid idiots who had the mad idea of colonising Dagan. How on Rybak did he get here, from the Western Sea, Dagan, to here?”
“It’s a long story Duke Paul. Suffice to say that there was a shipwreck before they reached Talastown. Daniel survived and was chosen by the Susa to help find the thief of the power core. It was thought they might come here to Murdoch you see. Susa Andei suspected Murdochian involvement, he was wrong, at least directly, it was the King of Leithe so he thought it best if Vadeln Thalia and Josei were accompanied by one who knew your country. As it happens, he was right. We must find these men My Lord. They ride on horseback so they ride slow, your people should be able to locate them.”
“Why not the Avuzdel Lind and Larg themselves?
“We have had other pilli to fry My Lord, in recent months, there are none to spare,” said Danavdr.
“I’ve heard nothing.”
“I have another letter Duke Paul,” continued Katie, “it is for your eyes only. Susa Andei told us it was time you knew. Similar letters are being delivered to the other area leaders in the other duchies.”
Katie extracted the second letter from her belt-pouch. “Here it is. You must read it then destroy it.”
“Curiouser and curiouser, must be important.”
“It is, it is the most important missive you will ever receive.”
* * * * *
-53-
VILLAGE OF STANTON - ARGYLL
The citizens of the village were woken by a strange noise, a thrumming and drumming sound, like the passage of large numbers of feet. It sounded like an army but the thuds were not in time. It also sounded as if the feet were passing through the village very fast.
The Ryzck galloped past, illuminated by the moonshine twinkling off their uniforms like a kaleidoscope of unearthly miniature stars.
One of two of the bravest villagers dared look out of their windows, they opened the shutters to look.
“Vada,” they breathed. “Wonder where they are going?”
“No enemies to fight here,” one of the watchers shouted out with a laugh and the riders responded by raising their hands in salute.
Or was it in farewell?
The villagers weren’t sure.
* * * * *
-54-
THE GUILDHOUSE OF THE TECHNICIAN’S GUILD - STEWARTON - ARGYLL
Guildmaster Rilla stared unbelievingly at the man in Vada maroon who was standing in front of her.
And there I was thinking that nothing interesting ever happened to me.
Her day had started much as it usually did. She had risen, dressed, had breakfast. She had passed through the door that separated her private rooms from the guildhouse proper and began to work.
The Technicians Guild was the oldest Guild in Argyll. It’s founder had built the multiple arrow contraptions which had helped the colonists win the battle of the Alliance in AL 2. Arthur Knott had then persuaded a group of men and women to locate to the then only part built city of Stewarton on Lake Stewart to set up an organisation (which became known as the Technicians Guild in AL 17) dedicated to the furtherance of technical knowledge amongst the colonists.
Much knowledge was lost during those early years. Arthur Knott wasn’t a scientist, he would never have described himself as a learned man. He was a blacksmith by trade and practical objects were what interested him. What were needed were ploughs and drills, saws and hammers, weaving looms and maize grinders, the day to day objects needed by the embryo farming communities.
Without most people even realising it, the more technically advanced knowledge and theories disappeared. This disappearance was aided and abetted by the Lai.
The Lai had been understandably nervous about the danger than humankind might use the knowledge that was being helped to ‘disappear’ to manufacture weapons such as guns. At the time the Lind and the Larg were meeting most summers in battle. Before humankind had arrived they would travel over the Island Chain that connected the main northern continent and the southern in search of excitement, battle, dominance, blood and meat.
There had also been the problem of the colonists from the WCCS Argyll who had landed on the main northern continent and the convicts from the WCPS Electra who had landed on the southern.
The convicts, at the beginning of the first century, had been in firm alliance with their Larg neighbours. If gun-making knowledge had fallen into their hands they would have made and used the results, escalating the blood-baths of the battles into gigantic seas of death and destruction.
So the Lai had ordered the Lind and some Larg to ‘encourage’ the human newcomers to forget about this knowledge, which they had done.
From AL 607 to AL 608, the knowledge had re-emerged. It had been needed to enable certain humans to work out how to use the power core from the WCPS Electra to destroy the Dglai spaceship but afterwards, it had disappeared again.
Now it sat on the floor by her feet, two boxes of it.
The lost knowledge had not only been found but it had been delivered to her.
“Bring the other one into my office,” she instructed the Vadeln who had delivered the boxes and lifting the top one herself, “it’s more private.”
She led the way into her office and placed it on her desk.
Artem put the other down beside it.
With a knife Rilla prised open the seal on the first box, opened the lid and peered inside. A pile of strange looking, she touched the top sheet, paper with reverent fingers.
Durapaper, that’s what this stuff is called. There were some sheets of it in the Stewarton Museum. It was paper that lasted forever.
“There is a letter,” said Artem, handing it over.
“I don’t know Guildmaster and with your permission I will retire, Larya is waiting outside.”
Artem turned and began to walk to the door.
Rilla didn’t notice him leave, her fingers were trembling with anticipation as she took the single sheet of paper out of its envelope.
‘Dear Guildmaster’, she read, ‘you should now have in your possession the print-outs which were downloaded from the computer banks of the WCCS Argyll before they failed. Use the information the print-outs contain with care, caution and prudence.’
It was signed Annert de Gras.
Rilla sat for a full bell and a half alternatively re-reading the letter and gazing at the boxes.
What is best to do here?
She pondered the problem.
Why had they arrived now, of all times Rilla had no idea but arrive they had. As one of her predecessors, Annert de Gras had indicated, they were now her problem and she would have to deal with it.
I don’t think we’re ready for this, she admitted albeit with a great deal of reluctance. We might never be. Her fingers however, were itching to putt out the contents of the boxes and begin to read about the wonders they must contain. Rilla fought against the temptation and won the inner struggle.
Not yet then but they can’t stay here. She considered asking the other Guildmasters for their advice but rejected the option. Instinctively she knew that the fewer people who knew about these print-outs the better.