by Candy Rae
Jilmis bowed in affectionate respect and took his leave. Once she had gone he would arrange for Disal’s personal possessions to be sent to his family. Disal had never married but there was a sister; Jilmis had met her. She lived in Argyll. He made another mental note to send a message via the Express informing her of her brother’s death.
The votes started to arrive at sun-up next day. As each was passed to him by Alshya Jilmis noted them down on the list and by mid-morning, although not all the votes had been received, he and Alshya knew which pair were to be their new Susa. Neither Jilmis nor Alshya were displeased.
Ryzcka Julia and her Lind Alyei of the Twenty-fifth Ryzck were in the lead by far. A full two thirds of those eligible to vote had chosen them.
: A popular and good choice : Alshya commented.
: Indeed. I was worried it might be Trendor and Ysnya :
: The Lai forbid : replied Alshya with feeling.
: Aye. That pair are far too much martinets. This is the Vada, not the Garda :
: Will I tell them now? :
: No, we must wait until all votes are in. Ask Inya to tell Hansel to report to me. The Twenty-fifth’s patrol section is in the sixth ward. They will need to prepare for their journey though we’ll not tell them where they are going until the news is official :
Alshya’s eyes grew distant as she received yet another telepathic message.
: It is Mikel and Marya of the First. They have chosen Julia and Alyei too :
Jilmis smiled and made another annotation on his list.
* * * * *
AL603 - Hilla, Rilla and Zilla
On the day of the triplet’s twelfth birthday, the three had a long and thorough discussion with their brother-in-law Matt Urquhart, Zala’s husband who had come for a visit to mark the momentous occasion. Zala hadn’t been able to come as she was pregnant with their third child.
“What are you going to do when you grow up?” asked Matt.
Hilla, Rilla and Zilla looked at each other and grinned.
“Answer Uncle Matt you three,” commanded their mother in a sharp voice when no triplet opened a mouth. “Hilla, you’re the eldest, you start.”
“I’m going for a soldier,” announced Hilla with assurance and determination.
“Infantry or cavalry?” asked Matt.
“Infantry of course,” she answered, surprised that he needed to ask. For Hilla, horses were a transport mechanism.
“Officer or ranker?”
“Officer Corps would be best,” was Hilla’s serious reply. She had thought a lot about her future these last months. “You get better conditions and better pay, Cousin Angus told me.”
Cousin Angus was her hero, having recently been gazetted to the 3rd Garda Foot. He had visited his uncle’s inn his last leave and his talk had fired the eldest triplet with plans of emulation.
Hilla went on, “I need to work hard to get not just the Leaving Certificate but good grades in ‘The Exam’. Soon as I’ve got these I’ll go to Settlement, Angus says the earlier you begin the better. They’ll take me at fourteen and that’s only two years away.”
She snuck a hopeful look at her father who frowned. He thought sixteen young enough and had made enquiries of his own.
“You’ll go to the lyceum at Farquharson like Tala,” be said in tones that brooked no argument. “Tala is clever, she passed the Exam at fourteen but you’re no genius daughter, work hard, get your grades then we’ll see.”
“Landor and Peter are going at fourteen,” Hilla argued.
“Landor and Peter aren’t planning on becoming officers,” her father returned, “and are going only for a term as students. They’ll come back, help on their farms and train with the militia. At sixteen they can join the Garda full time if that is still what they want. You go to the lyceum. There’s an officer class there,” he explained to Matt, “with a syllabus specially designed for aspiring Garda officers. The Headmaster will take her next term as long as she passes the Leaving Certificate with adequate grades.”
Hilla meowed in disappointment. The active type, she didn’t much enjoy bookwork and this meant she would have to buckle down to real study.
“What about Rilla?” asked Matt, changing the subject, “still want to work with horses?”
Rilla nodded.
“I like horses.”
“The three share a pony,” said Zanda, “but he’s really Rilla’s. She cares for him.”
“And does most of the riding,” injected the irrepressible Hilla.
“She does the caring,” said her mother, “I don’t see you up at dawn mucking out Lightfoot’s stable.”
“I do so,” argued Hilla.
Sensing that a fight was in the offing, their father stepped in. Hilla and Rilla were always bickering. Hilla had a domineering personality. Rilla was quieter, had a will of her own and was not slow to put her views across when she saw fit.
“You get up to help in the stables one day out of ten,” Talan chided. “It’s rare that Rilla misses one and that only when she’s not well. If I remember right, the last time it was Zilla who did it. Hush now and let her speak.”
“Horses don’t understand days off,” agreed Rilla.
“You could be an animal healer,” suggested Matt.
“No,” replied the middle triplet, clever enough to know her limitations. “You have to be very bright to get into the medical section of the Animal Guild and I’d have to go to the lyceum with Hilla. Tala was there, there’s no stables attached to the school. I wouldn’t like that. I think I’d like to stay here.”
“We’ve tried to explain,” said Zanda, “she needs something with more prospects than stable work but she won’t listen.”
“My daughter can do better than stable hand,” said Talan who was ambitious for his youngest daughters, an ambition fired by Zala’s excellent marriage, Tala’s acceptance into the Technician’s Guild and Hilla’s academic success so far.
“Plenty of time yet,” said Matt easily. “She’s only twelve.”
“Tala knew what she wanted to do at nine,” argued Talan. “I think Hilla has always known. No ambition, that’s Rilla’s problem.”
Matt laughed, “as I said, plenty of time, my sister went through what my parents called ‘a pony phase’. She grew out of it … eventually.”
He turned to the youngest triplet, the pretty little Zilla.
“I don’t want to become anything,” she said in a quiet voice before Matt had the chance to ask. “Hilla will be a soldier, Rilla a Stablemaster, me, I’d hate either of them.”
“Looking for a handsome husband?” teased Matt.
Zilla flushed with embarrassment and despite Matt’s extra questions, refused to say anything more. Matt, tiring of the teasing game, took pity on her and clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention.
“Time for presents,” he cried and leant down beside his chair where three interesting looking parcels were waiting. Grabbing the first he held it aloft, eyeing the three with mischievous eyes. “Who is this for I wonder?”
Hilla was twitching with excitement, eager to be the first to rip open the wrapping paper, Rilla, less obviously eager but she was one big thrill. Zilla’s eyes betrayed her own inner joy but she remained outwardly calm.
Their parents favoured useful presents whilst Matt and Zala’s when they arrived each year were always much more frivolous. Their presents were always different from each other. They had been looking at the parcels. One was long and thin, shaped like a parasol; the next was small and soft; the third a box of interesting proportions.
The one Matt picked up first was the long thin one.
“This,” he said, “is for Hilla,” and he dropped it into her outstretched arms. He bent down and picked up the box and beckoned over Zilla who smiled with pleasure as she wrapped her arms round her parcel and stepped back to make room for Rilla.
The soft package he gave to the middle triplet.
“Let’s open them one at a time,” suggested Rilla.
>
“Yes,” agreed Zilla, “you go first Hilla, you’ll never manage to wait.”
Hilla was nothing loath. She fell to her knees and began to rip open the paper. Inside, wrapped in a green cloth, was a long object. Suspecting what the cloth contained, Hilla began to grin with delight.
It was a sword. It was a perfect sword, with a pommel, a hilt and everything and it was just her size, perhaps the blade was a little long but that was all to the good as she hadn’t stopped growing yet.
“It’s a bit big,” confirmed Matt, “but they don’t come cheap and I wanted it to last.”
“This is far too expensive a present,” protested Zanda.
Matt laughed, “I can afford it; business has been good these last years.”
Hilla took hold of the hilt and stood up. She was holding it in a most professional manner (she had been watching the militia training).
Overcome, Hilla managed to find the words to thank him.
Zanda was watching her daughter, a worried frown on her face.
“It’s been prepared as a practice sword. It can be sharpened later for more serious work,” Matt continued, seeing her concern, “but perfectly balanced. Got it from a southern merchant. He assured me its type is the same as the young boys begin on in Murdoch.”
Zanda felt her fears easing a little.
“It’s wonderful. It’s the most wonderful present ever,” exclaimed an ecstatic Hilla.
“Can I open mine now?” asked a plaintive Rilla and began to rip at her own bundle. It jingled as she struggled with the wrappings. The transfixed Rilla stood looking at what she was holding. It was a set of silver bridle-bells.
“They’re beautiful.” She shook them. A merry tinkle was the result. “You couldn’t have given me anything that I’d love more. I must go …”
Zanda stopped Rilla’s incipient descent to the stables with one stern look and Rilla looked shamefaced as she returned to the fold of her family.
It was Zilla’s turn. She opened the box and pulled out five separate bolts of cloth with matching threads and ribbons. Zilla was good with a needle, enjoyed making clothes and knew quality when she saw it. And what colours! There was one of deep green velvet and another of russet red. Underneath were two bolts of superfine waldathorn brocade in dark blue and dusky pink, then came the ribbons and threads and a run of cream lace. At the bottom, wrapped in an end of muslin she took out a bolt of cream silk, material like gossamer and worth more than the rest put together. Zilla couldn’t say anything; she just stared at the riches that lay before her.
“Like it?” asked Matt.
Zilla nodded.
“What you going to make with them?” asked Rilla.
“Dresses,” breathed Zilla, “for you and me and Hilla.”
Hilla was shocked and dismayed. Her preferred attire was trews and tunic. Rilla liked wearing these too but she did like to get dressed up once in a while.
“Well, perhaps not Hilla,” said Zilla, considering the matter with a burble of laughter.
Hilla had the grace to blush.
“I would love one,” said Rilla, trying to cover the eldest triplet’s confusion. “The red is awfully pretty.”
“Not yet,” said Zilla. “It’s too good to waste, I think I’ll wait until we’re more grown up. I know, I’ll make your wedding dress out of it.”
“That’ll be a while away, if ever,” laughed Rilla.
“I’m a patient person,” Zilla answered with an uncharacteristically mischievous smile.
* * * * *
AL605 - Niaill and Danal
“I’ve been promoted to Ryzcka of the First Ryzck.”
Thus Danal and Asya heard the news from Niaill and Taraya as his young brother and his Lind exploded into his daga that summer morning.
It was not often that the two brothers got the chance to talk face to face. Niaill and Taraya were more often than not on patrol when Danal and Asya were at Vada and as Niaill thought as he grinned at Danal, this was the icing on the cake. He had waited so long to be promoted Ryzcka and the First Ryzck! It was the dream of his life come true.
Danal and Asya had served with the First, then had come their unexpected transfer to the Fifty-first and a subsequent transfer out of the Vada proper and into the Avuzdel.
From then the two brothers had seen little of each other. The Avuzdel kept Danal and Asya busy and they said little about their duties.
“You’re kidding little brother,” exclaimed Danal. “Command of the First Ryzck. What, I wonder have you done to deserve such an honour? Rescued a score of children from dire floods or is it that you’ve been having a secret dalliance with our esteemed Susa?”
“Neither and you know it,” Niaill grinned. “As if Verro would let anyone near his beloved and there haven’t been any floods lately.”
“Well, it can’t be your looks,” agreed Danal. “Even on a good day you’re no more than moderately handsome.” He laughed. He was the good-looking one in the family and knew it. Tall, dark and with an almost perfect facial profile he was as different from Niaill as anyone could be. Niaill had declared on more than one occasion that the Gods must have run out of good looks when he was born.
Danal became serious. “I suppose I have to admit that I and Asya feel that you’re the best for the job. Congratulations. The First. Wait until the others hear about this.”
“They’ll already have been told if I know my Taraya.” Every one of Niaill and Danal’s siblings were serving with the Vada. “I thought she was going to collapse with shock when Susa Julia told us. I told Taraya not to bespeak Asya. Wanted to tell you myself, watch your reaction.”
“And did it come up to expectations?”
“Didn’t it just!”
It had been common knowledge that the Ryzcka of the First was to retire. Ryzcka Mikel was an old man, well into his eighth decade and his Lind Marya older still. Mikel also suffered from arthritis and only determination had kept him going so long. He had commanded the First for as long as Danal and Niaill could remember and was loved and respected by all those who served or who had served, under his command.
“A hard act to follow,” said Danal.
“I thought Julia would transfer another Ryzcka,” said Niaill, “knew I was up for promotion but thought it might be one of the others.”
“They never do like to move Ryzckas around,” replied Danal.
“Regrets? Might have been you!”
“About joining the Avuzdel you mean?” asked Danal. “None at all. Would never have made Ryzcka and you know it. Too much of a shocking example to the younger generation. No, the Avuzdel suits me and Asya fine. Military discipline and me have always had a love-hate relationship. When do you take command?”
“In a tenday though I’m promoted with immediate effect. There are quite a few pairs retiring with Mikel and Marya.”
Danal nodded. The First Ryzck had a fair number of older partnerships who would take this opportunity to take retirement on their own account. Many had only stayed on because Mikel and Marya had remained in command. Danal could understand that they might resent taking orders from a much younger (and untried) man and Lind.
“Any idea of your patrol sector?”
“Rumour has it the north-east.”
Danal laughed. “Don’t think the First has been that far north in decades, ever since Mikel’s knees started troubling him.”
Niaill laughed too, his old Ryzck, the Fourteenth, had spent the worst three months of winter in the mountains the previous year. “I believe that that rumour is the main reason why so many have opted to go.”
“Replacements?”
“Eight newly-graduated and four pairs transferring. I’ve refused all Vadryza transfers, I’m going to promote from within.”
“That makes sense. Gives them the chance and makes the changeover easier. You taking Nadala and Teriyei with you?”
Niaill answered in the negative. He didn’t want to be accused of favouritism and most knew about their rel
ationship. He knew that the decision was the right one but both he and Taraya would miss them unbearably during the months ahead. He hoped that they would be able to transfer once the Ryzck had settled down and indeed, one never knew, a spot might open up.
“I’ll keep an eye on them for you, two if I’ve got them to spare,” offered Danal.
“Thanks brother, just as long as it’s an eye, and nothing more.”
* * * * *
Main Characters
(For the full list, please refer to the relevant sections on the back pages)
Niaill and his Lind Taraya: Ryzcka(s) of the First Ryzck of the Vada.
Danal and his Lind Asya: Niaill’s elder brother (Member(s) of the Avuzdel).
Julia and her Lind Alyei: Susa(s) of the Vada.
Tala: (middle child of Talan and Zanda) She is a Journeywoman in the Technicians Guild and lives in Stewarton.
Hilla, Rilla and Zilla: (triplets, youngest children of Talan and Zanda) Hilla has been accepted by the Garda and has begun her Officer Training. Rilla and Zilla, like their older brother Zak, help their parents with the running of the inn.
Robain of Hallam: Leftenant (later Captain) of the Garda and a member of the officer training staff at the Academie situated at the Garda Headquarters at Settlement.
Elliot: Prince-Heir of the Kingdom of Murdoch.
Isobel Cocteau: Niece of the Duke of Cocteau (later the betrothed of Elliot).
* * * * *
Chapter 2
AL607 - First Month of Summer (Dunrhed)
Rilla and Zilla
“Rilla, where are you?” Zilla’s voice sounded more than a little agitated.
Rilla heard Zilla calling and sighed a deep sigh. It was time to stop doing what she liked best in all the world and return to the inn. The afternoon was closing in and the guests would be arriving soon. She and Zilla had jobs to do.