Ambition and Alavidha (2 page)

As with the
nature of hard-to-sell goods they travelled with the merchant for a
considerable time until at last, in a small town in the southerly
part of Argyll the merchant found a buyer, selling them for a
florin, a minimal profit and forgot all about them.

They passed
through various hands during the next few years; sometimes the
purchaser read them but more often than not they were sold on
unopened.

In AL 704,
another merchant traded a mardinare bauble for the battered diaries
in a flea market, on the outskirts of Port Lutterell in Argyll. He
originated from the Duchy of Duchesne in the southern Kingdom of
Murdoch and his Duke was a learned and erudite man who was
interested in history and all things pertaining to the past.

Wrapped in
oilskin, the diaries began their journey south to Duchesne by ship
and were acquired there by a Duke William Duchesne who read them
from cover to cover.

“Very
interesting indeed,” said the Duke to himself when he reached
half-way through the final diary, “I wonder …”

Long did Duke
William wonder about the information he had gleaned from the
diaries of Hans.

Duke William
was a clever man, he put two and two together and made four of it
but he was also a very busy one and did not have the time to
investigate. He went to his grave with his questions unanswered. He
did however, put some notes he had made into the relevant diary
before he put them away on top of one of the higher library
shelves.

There they
would have lain forever and a day, unopened, unread, except for
mischance and an ambitious visiting future king who bored and
restless, started to look for something interesting to read.

* * * * *

-2-

AL 804

THE ISLAND
KINGDOM OF LEITHE – THE GREAT EASTERN SEA

With grim
intent, King Cadan of Leithe studied the paper that lay on the
hardwood desk in front of him, satisfaction on his narrow face. Six
children, four boys and two girls, and all married advantageously
into the most important royal and ducal houses of what he liked to
call ‘his sphere of influence’. It was quite an achievement if he
did say so himself. Prince Catar, his heir, had married the eldest
daughter of the self-styled ‘King’ of R’sair. Prince Lars, the
second son (the one to spare) was married into the family of the
rulers of the Eastern Isles. His youngest, Rand had also married a
girl from that area, to the daughter of the Duke of the Western
Isles. These two last were important marriages as both these
western and the eastern islands were traditionally the allies of
the Kingdom of Murdoch on the southern continent. His two daughters
had allied Leithe via marriage to Eilidon and Randall, two of the
largest islands in the Great Eastern Sea. His planned system of
alliances were thus bringing the islands together, tying them to
Leithe.

The piece de
resistance however was the marriage of his third son, the one most
like his father in character and ambition if Cadan was honest with
himself. Prince Crispin had married the sixteen year old heir to
the Kingdom of Murdoch, Crown-Princess Antoinette. One day
therefore and as soon as possible if Cadan had anything to do with
it, Crispin would become absolute ruler of that powerful southern
country. He grinned, an evil grin. The negotiations for this
marriage had taken years but King Cadan knew that all good things
came to those who waited and planned. Cadan of Leithe was a very
patient man.

By rights, he,
Cadan, shouldn’t be King of Leithe at all. He had not been the
first-born son of his father.

How
fortunate that Atan died so conveniently
.

This time King
Cadan’s smile was a triumphant smirk.

“Wonderful
stuff that Litjda and still no-one to this day has any idea that I
did it.”

He spoke aloud,
there was no-one to hear his boast. He was after all ensconced in
his own private rooms. No-one, not even his sons would dare place
one foot upon the lower stair leading to the tower on pain of
death.

“I will be
Emperor of all the Great Eastern Sea before I die,” he exalted,
“what a gift to hand down to the heirs of my body.” He raised his
wine glass in a toast to his dream. “No my grandson, my Cadan.
Cadan, Emperor of All.” His sons would have been most displeased
and not a little scared to have heard his words with these hidden
implications but Cadan would never have spoken about this in their
hearing or anyone else’s hearing for that matter. Cadan intended
that it be a grandson who would ascend the throne on his death, a
grandson taught by his grandfather. King Cadan of Leithe was
disappointed in his four sons.

He cleared his
throat. Enough of this. Thoughts of what was to be wouldn’t make
them happen.

Argyll might
still prove troublesome
, he was thinking,
especially if its
alliance with Murdoch remains strong. Now … what can I do to drive
a wedge between them?

King Cadan
thought for a while then began making notes. He stayed up well into
the night making plans from these notes. At last, they were
finished and he sat back in satisfaction.

They’ll do. Now
for the second part of my grand plan.

He drew a
tattered book towards him, got up from his desk and settled himself
in a comfy chair. He began to read certain pages again. These were
the pages that looked well-thumbed, mute testimony to the hundreds
of times, he, Cadan, had read them.

At last he laid
the book down with a half smile as he remembered the day he had
found and stolen it, the year before he had engineered the death of
his older brother. The Dukes of Duchesne had never realised the
importance of the words written within its pages.
More fool
them! It is I who will use it and use it well. Why, perhaps I might
become Emperor, not just of the Great Eastern Sea but over the
entire planet!

Taking yet
another piece of paper from his desk, he began to write some more.
This time he was writing not just notes and plans but an order.

It was
addressed to one Baron Erik Halfarm; a man, possibly the only
person alive on the planet who Cadan believed was utterly loyal to
him.

Erik would know
what to do. Erik would know who to send.

Baron Erik
Halfarm did better than that. He went himself, taking his most
trusted man-servant with him.

* * * * *

-3-

AL 805

THE STRONGHOLD
OF THE VADA - VADA - VADATH

Thalia
Josensdochter looked at herself in the wall glass and frowning,
adjusted her kepi for the umpteenth time, eyes glaring at her
image. She twisted and turned, making sure her uniform was sitting
just right. Yes, nothing out of place, the very picture of a model
Vada Cadet.

As usual
diffident and critical of her self-image, Thalia thought she might
just pass inspection, as long as Ryzcka Dominik didn’t examine too
closely.

In actuality,
Thalia looked good in her cadet dress uniform. The maroon suited
her and the lines of the tunic set off her trim figure to
perfection.

Today would be
the very last time she would wear this tunic. Back in her cubicle,
hanging on its hook was the dress uniform tunic of a vadeln-proper
of the Vada.

For this was
Thalia and her Lind Josei’s graduation day. Today she and Josei
would cease to be cadets and enter service with one of the Ryzcks
and she and Josei knew which one; the Fifteenth.

Thalia had
already met some of the vadeln-pairs who were serving with the
Fifteenth and she was not displeased about the posting. On the
tunic waiting on her cubicle peg she had sewn the Ryzck badge of
the Fifteenth, of a silver (all the badges and trimmings on Vada
uniforms were silver) Lai in flight. Cadet badges, trimming and
year stripes were white. As well as the silver representation of a
Lai in flight she had sewn on the silver Lind head, the badge all
serving vadeln wore.

It will be
great not to have to keep all the white, white
, she hummed as
she turned this way and that, now admiring herself in the wall
glass. Even she had to admit she looked smart.

The tunic was
high necked and trimmed at the edges with the ubiquitous white
beading at the neck and cuff. On her left breast was the white Lind
head badge of a cadet and on her left arm the four white inverted
stripes denoting her rank as a fourth and final year cadet.

Thalia was
twenty-one, older than most in her graduating class but younger
than some.

The Vada could
begin training when both the girl or boy and their respective Lind
were fourteen summers of age (a Lind became an adult at fourteen
summers). Cadets usually spent four years training, gaining a year
stripe on each anniversary of joining.

Some cadets
started when they were older. If they were over sixteen when they
did begin, they did not wear the narrow white year stripe of a
first year (two for second years) but a broad white stripe. This
they wore until they were deemed proficient enough to be integrated
in with the third years who then became their year-mates. If
however the cadet was over twenty-four he or she retained the broad
stripe until graduation.

The training of
Thalia and Josei had taken three years, one year in the adult
beginner class then two as part of the more usual cadet structure.
That was why on the dress uniform tunic she was wearing were sewn
the four stripes, one for each year group. Her kepi too was trimmed
with white beading. Sitting on her bunk her new kepi waited, this
one trimmed with the traditional silver piping.

Thalia and
Josei were two of twenty-three cadet duos graduating this day. All
but two wore the four stripes. They were about to become one of the
most recent vadeln-pairs to become a part of what was a long line
of those serving in the Vada, these men, women and Lind who had for
eight hundred and four years given their oaths to protect the
freedom enjoyed by all the species who lived on the northern
mainland and beyond.

These days
there were no Larg to fight. If not yet allies at least they no
longer wished to do incessant battle with the inhabitants on the
northern continent. During the almost two hundred years since the
Battle of Duchesne, the battle which had signalled the end of the
Dglai Wars, there had not been another. The Larg had retreated into
their Nadlians and ventured out rarely. If they weren’t
isolationalists like the Lai then they ran them a very close
second.

“Thalia?” The
question came out of the blue and she jumped.

“Aren’t you
ready
yet
?” Thalia knew this voice and she turned with a
smile. It was her friend Katie. Younger than Thalia by just a few
months over a year, they had gone through their training
practically side by side.

Although Thalia
was smiling, she was sighing inside. Katie always managed to look
tidy and elegant even when she was not. Today she looked the very
model of a model; there wasn’t a wrinkle in either tunic or trews
and her boots didn’t just shine, they
shone
.

Like her
friend, Katie Durand had been born in Argyll, but there the
similarities between their pre Vada lives stopped. Thalia came from
what might be termed a ‘middle-class’ family whilst Katie was the
daughter of one of the richest (and thus most powerful) in the
country. Thalia had been a student at the University when she had
life-bonded with Josei. Katie had been a Senis (a second year
trainee) at the Garda Officer Training Establishment known as the
Academie when her Kenlei had appeared to whisk her away. Katie’s
family had been delighted with the lind-choice whilst Thalia’s had
most certainly
not
been.

“Are your
family here?” Thalia asked, one eye on the glass, her right hand
doing the last moment adjustments to her hair.

“Just come from
them,” Katie replied, her face one great beam of satisfaction.
“Mother and father and my brother Francis! I’m really surprised he
made it. Father wrote to say he didn’t think he would be but he
has!” Her face fell. “Sorry Thalia. I mean, I’m sorry your family
isn’t here.”

Thalia
shrugged, trying not to show that she minded.

“I never
expected they would, remember? Father’s still not pleased about all
this, Mother won’t come without him and Tara (Tara was the
afterthought of the family and the only one still residing at home)
can’t for the same reason. She sent me a lovely letter though, I’ll
let you see it after the parade. And of course, Hal can’t make it,
Aya’s disability makes running long distances difficult.”

“What I
actually came to say,” interrupted Katie, “was that Father would
like you to join us for a celebratory meal this evening and before
you say anything, (Katie knew her Thalia) it’s not because he feels
sorry for you ‘cos you’d be on your own otherwise. He wants you to
come ‘cos you’re my friend. I’d have asked if he hadn’t said it
first too but he did. It won’t be as much fun if you aren’t
there.”

Thalia was
pleased.

“Thank him for
me will you?” she asked, “it is very kind of him and I’ll be
delighted to accept.”

“Not kindness,”
Katie insisted, “actually I think he’s happy to have one non-family
member there, someone outside the circle so to speak, to brag to.”
She grimaced.

“Well, you did
gain the Sword of Honour for best cadet you goop! Most fathers
would be as proud as a malinon with two tails if their daughter
achieved that! Not to mention the fact that you’ve been posted to
the Fifty-first Ryzck.”

Thalia wasn’t
envious of Katie’s achievements. Her friends always said that
Thalia didn’t have a jealous bone in her entire body. The
Fifty-first, known as the ‘Susa’s Own’ was the most prestigious
Ryzck in the Vada. Very few graduating cadet duos were ever given
that posting. Katie’s father had more right than most to be
proud.