by Candy Rae
“He’s at the stronghold, I can’t rightly remember what Ryzck he and Ganya are with and no signs of his mother, unfortunately. I think he’s given up hope.”
“Has he still got that blasted trumpet with him?” asked Tina, “how I remember the ghastly noises he made with it when we were in training.”
“His playing has improved, I’ll say that much and yes, he still carries it everywhere he goes.”
“I’m relieved to hear it,” smiled Tina, referring to Duguld’s reported increase in proficiency with the instrument.
It was not a quiet party. To the human guests were added the Lind. Rozya and Matvei’s ltsctas were there and they were a rumbustious lot.
Their first litter, who the children had known when they arrived at the domta in the beginning, were adult now and long gone but the second litter had nine summers, gangly with adolescence and now there was a third. These ltsctas were under a summer old and gambolled and growl-played in the sun, watched over by their indulgent parents.
Baby Alexander watched them from his mother’s arms gurgling with delight and itching to be let down to crawl amongst these exciting playmates.
Emily wasn’t keen. An adult Lind grew to at least fifteen hands in height, some as big as seventeen hands and their young were correspondingly large in human terms. They would not intend to hurt the little boy but there was always the chance of an inadvertent accident, Lind play tended to be rough.
There wasn’t a chance of either Tara or Emily being melancholy about friends no longer with them in life.
James Rybak might be awkward, short sighted and correspondingly hopeless with any sort of a weapon but he was extremely intelligent, perceptive and deep thinking. He had arranged for some ‘uninvited gate-crashers’ to arrive not long after Tara and the others. These arrived in dribs and drabs, the humans carrying light alcoholic beverages and more eats. The party was soon in full swing and the strumming of guitars and voices singing could be heard some distance away.
Janice and Winston Randall arrived with their daughters, a smiling Violet hanging on to the embarrassed Grant’s arm and bubbling with excitement and pride.
Afanasei appeared with Kolyei’s great friend Tarmsei.
Jim and Larya got a raucous welcome, they arrived after a certain amount of alcohol had been imbued, as did sundry others, some of whom James couldn’t for the life of him remember if he’d invited or not.
It didn’t matter.
A great time was had by all and right in the middle of it all, sleeping among a little puddle of tired ltsctas lay young Alexander Stanton-Randall who, having got his way at last, had been having the time of his life with his large furry playmates.
* * * * *
CHAPTER 33 - KINGDOM OF MURDOCH
Lord Sam Baker appeared at his wife’s bedside after the coronation and did so at infrequent intervals over the last days of her confinement. He spoke to her in a gentle voice. She had never realised he possessed this more gentle side.
Doctor Arthur thought uncharitably that because he knew Anne was dying he felt free to express himself. He talked and Anne lay there, it took far too much energy to try and speak. She heard of his plans for Duchesne and the north. There was no way she could warn them and found it had ceased to be important to her. All that mattered was that she hang on until the bairn was born.
“The children,” she whispered again and again to Doctor Arthur, “I want to say goodbye.”
“Soon,” he temporised.
Her breath rasped in her throat, each one filled with pain as she forced her lungs to expand and contract.
“Please, now, not much time.”
Doctor Arthur sent repeated messages to Lady Cocteau to ask that she send the children, but they never came. He was not to know until later that the Lord Regent had expressly refused permission, he never did learn why.
Anne’s final child, a daughter, was born three days later and bellowed her protest as the women bathed and dried her and wrapped her in clean linen.
Little Ernestine’s mother was not aware of the activity around her. She drifted in and out of consciousness for a day and a half then lapsed into a coma from which she did not wake, dying quietly, Doctor Arthur by her side, in the middle of the following night.
* * * * *
Princess Ruth stood, a solemn, slender child of eight as her mother’s body was interred in the cemetery at Fort.
She was, the mourners thought, her mother in miniature, her twin, the young king more like his sire. He stood beside his stepfather; legs planted wide in unconscious imitation, but there the similarity ended.
Lord Henri Cocteau decided that Sam Baker would find the lad troublesome in the years ahead and it was obvious that the boy held his stepfather in no great esteem; he was edging surreptitiously away from him when he thought no one was looking. It might be a shrewd move, thought Henri, to cultivate Elliot. Sam Baker would not last forever, he must be approaching sixty and how much longer would he be able to hold on to the power he had been at such pains to grasp?
Perhaps it was time for a change. Henri Cocteau had grave doubts about Sam Baker’s wisdom regarding the recent plans, not that he knew of the full extent of Sam Baker’s pact with the Larg. He did know that, to invite the Larg kohorts within their borders was establishing a dangerous precedent and one which they might well rue in times to come and what exactly, Henri mused as Anne’s body was lowered into the ground, had Sam Baker promised the pirates in return for their help? Had he, Henri Cocteau, been wrong to offer Sam Baker his unreserved support during the last eight years?
The interment over, Lord Henri Cocteau left with the other Lords lost in thought, worried about the future for him and his children
Shortly after the funeral, Sam Baker married again.
The person most badly affected by it all was Princess Ruth, twin of the young king. As well as a mother, the eight-year-old had lost her only friend and companion. The bright and vivacious child turned almost overnight into a sad and lonely one, one who harboured a great deal of hatred for her stepfather. She never forgot the words spoken by her ailing mother the last time she had been allowed to see her.
* * * * *
“We have to get out,” Pierre repeated. “The Larg are not attacking Argyll, they are making for us!”
“What’s that?” exclaimed Michael, rising from his chair in a hurry.
“Vadath are sending boats, as many as they can get, in three nights time, they’ll take off as many as they can. We have to get in touch with our people, get them assembled.”
“They’re taking everybody? Why? Are you sure? Even those who fought against them?”
“Amazingly, yes they are.” Pierre went over to the map on the wall, “we have work to do.”
The two men were in the middle of discussing the evacuation plan when Louis returned having settled Ustinya down into an exhausted sleep.
When dawn broke, Louis went back into the hidden room whilst Michael and Pierre snatched a few hours rest before the emergency meeting of Pierre’s most trusted adherents.
By mid-morning runners had been sent to the east, west and south to warn the inhabitants to make their way as fast as they could to the three designated embarkation points on the Duchesne coastline. They were to take with them only what they could carry.
There was still no word from the missing patrol.
They had to keep the Larg and any of Sam Baker’s spies from knowing what they were up to. Louis thanked whatever deity was looking over them that the Larg were not like the Lind and eager to bond with humankind. As far as he was aware, the only links between Aoalvaldr and the Lords was the unfortunate Andrew Snodgrass and two others at Fort. Pierre Duchesne knew of no other such link within his Lordship, which was not to say that the links were not there, but that it was unlikely.
Alesei, the Avuzdel Lind, had positioned himself just inside Duchesne’s borders and would warn them when the Larg were about to move, if he could. That afternoon he reported findi
ng the missing patrol; what was left of them.
This convinced the majority of the unconvinced but still Pierre Duchesne was forced to insist that all women and children go, even those married or belonging to the men who wished to stay. If necessary, the women and children were to be dragged away at sword-point. The days were filled with rumour and frightening tales of the Larg.
“It’s definitely us they’re after?” questioned Michael more than once; even he was finding it hard to comprehend that Sam Baker had turned on them.
“Sam Baker is power crazy,” answered Pierre. “I do not fall into line, therefore I must go, like Brentwood before me. I never imagined he would stoop so low as to agree that the Larg should attack the entire population. I thought it would be the assassin’s knife between my shoulder-blades.”
“He knows your people are loyal to you, that they love and respect you. He does not want to take over a Lordship full of potential troublemakers.”
* * * * *
“I can see the boats” squeaked a young voice, that of Pierre’s eldest son Jacques, a sturdy young lad of almost eight. The situation was a great adventure for him and his younger brothers, they were not aware of the danger they were in. He had never met a Larg.
Jacques face when he had met Ustinya had been a sight to behold, one of incredulous delight. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Louis he regarded almost as avidly, hero-worship in his eyes.
Ustinya said that he was a prime candidate for a pairing when he was old enough.
Duchesne was amused. He remembered his own first encounter with Ustinya and was pleased to see his son so obviously taken with her, knowing that where they were going, the colonists maintained close ties with their non-human neighbours.
Indeed, Jacques made such a nuisance of himself disappearing from his mother Briony’s side at every available opportunity (she being more than fully occupied with his brothers) that Louis had sighed with exasperation and plonked the lad on to Ustinya’s back with strict instructions to stay there.
Jacques, in a seventh heaven of blissful content, was more than happy to do so and spent the remainder of the wait for the evacuation boats like a little rudtka perched on her back, watching the proceedings with a lofty joy mixed with disdain for his brothers and friends on the ground. Young Jean could hardly contain his jealousy and implored his mother to ask if he could join Jacques but Louis felt that one boisterous boy was all Ustinya could cope with.
The mothers at the castle who had babies and young infants were already embarked on the three fishing boats Duchesne possessed. These were smaller than the northern boats, chunky and solid. The northern boats were fast and reinforced with steelwood in an effort to withstand the pirates that sailed the seas. The pirates had learned to their cost that ramming the northern boats was only an option if one wanted an early death by drowning and a watery grave.
Slowly, the northern fleet emerged out of the evening haze and anchored as near to the shore as they dared. Small dinghies were launched as the crews began to row ashore to pick up their passengers.
The Vadath fishermen helped the southerners with chilly courtesy. Many had fought in the battle eight years ago and remembered that day, when the men they were welcoming aboard had been trying to kill them.
Justin Wright, who had survived one of the first pirate attacks, was one. He was curt almost to brusqueness as he aided the men, women and elder children aboard, directing them where to sit with an unsmiling nod.
His was the last but one boat. It tilted as Ustinya clambered aboard, Louis helping Jacques up the ladder before turning to aid Briony and the boys. Duchesne followed.
“That everyone?” asked Justin of Louis.
“All those we could reach in time and those able and willing to make the journey. The other two embarkation points?”
“Should be loading as we speak,” was the terse reply, “the Larg?”
“They’re moving, about a half-day’s run away. Alesei here is exhausted trying to outrun them. Luckily they were unaware of his presence and he managed to elude all but one of their advance scouts. He had to kill him after a desperate fight. The Larg will reach the castle by morning.”
“And discover the birds have flown, eh? Lucky we made good time, otherwise you’d have been in deep shit.”
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming to save my people,” Pierre Duchesne said.
“You Pierre Duchesne?” asked Justin. “Heard conflicting reports about you I have; good and bad.”
“I’m a reformed character,” Pierre answered in a bland voice.
Justin chuckled, “better warn you that some of us are not happy about giving you sanctuary.”
“I rather expected that might be the case.”
Justin wasn’t finished. “Word is the Larg and some of the convicts are about to attack Argyll. What’ll you do then?”
“We fight,” answered Pierre. “My men hate Lord Baker and his henchmen. That’s why they stayed with me in my Lordship, well away from Fort. Yes, we are ex-cons to a man but we’ve paid our debt. No man worth his salt would give his loyalty to a regime that was going to cold-bloodedly take us out, give us to the Larg to feed on. Would you?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” agreed Justin, “but you have to admit that you and your people will have to work hard to gain acceptance, even in Vadath, especially amongst those who had loved ones that were killed or disappeared at Settlement. He pointed to one of his crew who was giving out hot drinks to the refugees. He was one of your lot once. Gave himself up after the battle eight years ago. He’s worked hard and now he’s married to my sister and has bairns of his own. If you fight with us that’ll help. Now we’d better be off before these hairy monsters decide to put on a spurt of speed and surprise us.”
Loud-hailer in hand Justin directed the boats to set sail and the people of Duchesne left the south of their endurance for the north of their choosing.
The fleet made good time. Out of sight of land the boats from the other two departure points joined them.
“Nearly there now,” said Justin as they headed west along the northern coast, past the beaches of Argyll and into Vadathian waters.
“Second escape is success,” said Ustinya with satisfaction.
Of those in the boat, only Pierre Duchesne, Michael Wallace, Alesei and Louis Randall knew what she was talking about.
“Second escape?” queried Briony Duchesne, ”what was the first?”
Pierre looked at his wife with affection; Briony was both an inquisitive and a talkative person, he had deemed it wise not to tell her of the escape of Gerry, Cherry and the others.
He proceeded to explain. Now that they had left Murdoch, never to return, there was no need to keep his part in it a secret.
“You did all that and didn’t tell me?” She pouted.
“Perhaps he was overanxious about your safety,” Martine told her.
Briony thought for a moment, “me and my big mouth. You were right. I do love to gossip and the temptation to tell, well … you know.”
“Our lives depended on Sam Baker not suspecting,” her husband added.
“But he must have suspected something, otherwise why would he turn the Larg on us?” asked Briony with understandable perplexity.
Martine turned to Michael, “she has a point. I have a feeling Baker has been planning this for a long time.”
“Eight years?”
“He is a patient man.”
Back in Duchesne’s vacated Lordship, an increasingly angry Larg kohort searched high and low for the humans but the majority had managed to get to the embarkation points in time.
They found a few here and there, those men who, in their innocence, came out to greet the Larg, confident they would come to no harm, that Lord Sam Baker would be pleased that they had stayed loyal to him and remained in the south.
Immediate disappointment.
The kohorts’ orders were clear. Kill all the men.
They did so.
&nbs
p; Painfully.
Herd the women and children.
There were none.
Pierre Duchesne’s orders had been followed to the letter. Without exception, the women and children were on their way to Vadath.
The Larg, after consultation with their leaders, decided not to tell Sam Baker about the situation.
The men, when questioned, fell over themselves in their anxiety to tell them what they knew.
It did not save them.
* * * * *
CHAPTER 34 - VADATH
At the Afanasei domta, Jim Cranston paced to and fro in deep study.
“It doesn’t add up,” he said aloud to Larya. “I’m sure we’re missing something.”
“You think Tara and Kolyei were right?”
“Why would Sam Baker risk so much? He must realise we know he is coming. He can’t hide that many Larg and men south of the chain.”
“They are not there,” said Larya, “Alesei sensed only those who entered the man Duchesne’s lands. No more.”
“Fernei says the kohorts are moving.”
“In what direction?”
“He does not know.”
“We are reinforcing the beachhead.”
“Precisely,” agreed Larya.
“Precisely what, you infuriating woman?”
“He does not attack there. They will use the boats we have heard about. He told the Duchesne man untruths. He told him they were going to attack Settlement at midsummer because he wanted you to know, wanted you to send the Vada and the Lindars there because he will be attacking someplace else.”
“Vadath then? Midsummer?”
“I think not that long. He attacks Duchesne now, so why then wait until the middle of hot season?”
“Keep going.”
“The Larg know it takes at least seven suns for the Lindars to run between the island chain and Vadath. If they were to land south of here now they could kill everyone in their paths before they could be stopped.”