Ambition and Alavidha (5 page)

She smiled in
what she hoped was an encouraging manner at Jenna then turned to
bestow on Rodick what she hoped was a forbidding look. Don’t you
dare make a comment it said.

Jenna smiled a
tremulous smile in return as she mounted Stasei, her Lind.

Jenna was quite
right to feel nervous, decided Thalia as she settled herself on
Josei’s back, without Rodick making comments. Her fleeting thought
at the prospect of actually dying during the next few days was
immediately dispelled by Josei’s soothing thoughts of love and
togetherness.

: Best not
to think about it :
he ‘said’ to her
: better to think of
the good we can do and for the safety of those in danger from these
bad men of sea and mountain :

Thalia tried
very hard to comply with his advice and on the whole succeeded. It
would be, after all, not the first fight she and Josei had been in
and they were still in one piece. Why should this be any
different?

* * * * *

NORTH-EAST
ARGYLL - THE RIVER MISSOURI - BETWEEN THE PATROL SECTORS OF THE
EIGHTEENTH RYZCK AND THE FIFTEENTH RYZCK

Two days had
passed since the Fifteenth Ryzck had left their domta to go to the
aid of the Eighteenth Ryzck, two days of fast running but the haste
had been worthwhile. They had arrived at the rendezvous point with
enough time for a long rest.

The members of
the two Ryzcks, seventy of them plus some other vadeln-pairs who
were in the vicinity were now hunkered down behind cover on the
north bank of the river, waiting for the pirate galleys the Avuzdel
scout had reported were on their way upriver. Three medium sized
galleys he had telepathed. At least they wouldn’t be dealing with
the mountain bandits as well.

The leaders of
the bandits hadn’t considered security one of their main concerns.
It had been relatively easy for Avuzdel operatives to infiltrate
their inner circle and to find out about their plans. When the
bandits had moved out from their base, heading towards their
rendezvous with the pirates they had walked straight into an ambush
set by the militia of Cranston and the Garda. Every last one of
them had either been killed or captured. More to the point, the
Garda Captain in command had ‘persuaded’ some of the survivors to
divulge the pre-arranged signal which was to be used to tell the
galleys that it was safe to row upriver. The signal had duly been
sent and now the galleys were coming.

Ryzcka Brand’s
plan was to permit the pirates to land and then to pounce. A Vadryz
would sweep round behind them and cut off their escape. The element
of surprise was with the Vada and would more than counterbalance
the fact that the pirates would outnumber them two to one.

What happened
next happened much as he had planned.

* * * * *

From behind the
trees and bushes the vadeln-pairs waited in silence.

Josei and
Thalia were hidden behind a large, prickly dugo bush. To distract
her mind from thinking about what lay ahead Thalia began to count
the thorns. She reached eight hundred then a thousand. She then
went back to the beginning and started again. It was a relaxation
technique she had been practising over the last two years and she
always found it oddly soothing. This balmy evening she was managing
to keep the twittering in her stomach down to a manageable
level.

Josei wasn’t
counting. He never seemed to feel the need to calm himself before a
fight. She could feel his steady and even breathing between her
legs. He felt as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Thalia
wished she could be more like him.

: They’ve
reached the bend in the river :
Josei informed her.

Thalia stopped
her counting,
six hundred and eleven
, then began again,
six hundred and twelve, six hundred and thirteen. Wonder how far
I’ll get to.

: Ready
:
the command cracked out from Josei’s mind like a
whiplash.

Thalia
swallowed. She was a vadeln of two years service but she had never
got used to the waiting. Some of the older vadelns had told her
that perhaps she never would. Some of
them
hadn’t. They
always said that the waiting was the worst part.

She wondered
how young Jenna was faring. The extensive weapons-practice and
training during their cadetship was good but it was nothing like
the real thing when real people with real swords were trying to
kill you and you them. Weaponsmaster Alkin always tried to prepare
his cadets but nothing, this Thalia had decided after her first
fight, could. She had been as sick as a dog after it, sick with
reaction and shock.

She was
gripping her sword too tight, her fingers were getting numb.

Relax
,
she instructed herself,
it’s got to be done. They’ll be trying
to kill me and Josei.
The thought of anything happening to her
beloved Josei filled her with grim resolve. She forced her hand to
relax. No dastardly pirate was going to kill her and Josei, or any
of her friends for that matter, not if she could help it.

She felt Josei
shudder as his battle adrenalin began to kick in. It wouldn’t be
long now.

She saw Josei’s
ears flicker forward and back as he strained to listen.

: Is that a
splash of an oar? :

: I think it is
:

: Are they
coming in to land? :

: Count to
Duntanvad :
he instructed.

Thalia had got
to thirteen, seven short, when Josei’s next telepathic ‘shout’
reverberated in her mind.

Thalia gritted
her teeth and tightened her legs round Josei’s barrel and he
jumped, high over the dugo bush and raced towards the beach. She
heard shouts of alarm. She was conscious of the thundering of many
paws around them as the other vadeln-pairs raced into the
battle.

There was more
confused shouting and she could see running figures on the beach.
The Ryzcks were silent, they had no need for verbal commands.

: That big
man to the left of the group :
Josei ‘shouted’ his instruction
and Thalia bent herself low on his back to make of herself a
smaller target and readying her sword. The man raised his, a wicked
curved blade but shorter than Thalia’s rapier.

Now was not the
time for thinking and introspection. Training and reflexes took
over as Thalia and Josei ran down their enemy, Thalia sticking like
glue on Josei’s back.

To do him
credit, although he didn’t deserve it, being a pirate and all, the
man stood his ground, which took a lot of courage when a large
horse-sized snarling beast was running you down, but it wasn’t
enough. Teeth bared and chelas tracted, Josei lunged and he
flinched. That split-heartbeat was enough for Thalia. Like a whip
her sword came down, she was aiming at his sword-shoulder, where
his ill-fitting armour had left a protective gap. She misjudged it,
or perhaps he moved more than she had expected, the rapier cut down
in a moon-gleaming arc of death and severed his arm right through.
Shocked eyes staring, he dropped to the ground, bright red blood
pumping. The man was twitching, ashen faced and he lay there,
staring as his life-blood spattered away. His body twitched a few
times then was still.

Thalia and
Josei barely spared it a glance.

Shouts and
yells of battle were filling the air and the Ryzcks were being
pressed hard. Pirates neither gave nor expected quarter. This was a
fight to the death. Piracy, banditry and murder were the three
crimes which were always punished by death in Argyll and it would
not be the headsman’s block as in the Kingdom of Murdoch. Argyll
favoured the slower, more lingering death by a hangman’s rope.

Another pirate
lunged towards Thalia and Josei. This one was good and more than
good as Thalia realised as their swords met with a rustle. Josei
lunged but the pirate danced away as his jaws snapped down on thin
air. Josei spun round on his haunches to avoid the man’s sword.
Thalia leant into his neck as he did and not a moment too soon. She
felt the air-whizz of an arrow as it missed her head. Too close for
comfort. The pirates must have left some archers in the boats to
guard their backs.

Josei snarled
as they leapt at the pirate again. He didn’t flinch but this time
his dancing around would be his undoing.

This one’s
been taught by a fencing master
, was Thalia’s fleeting thought
as the sword whistled towards her in a practised arc. She parried,
turning her blade with a flick of her wrist as Weaponsmaster Alkin
had taught her. The man, surprised, stumbled. The hilt dropped from
his hand but he still retained possession of it because he had had
the foresight to attach a wrist-clinch. Thalia had to finish him
now, before he got the chance to grasp the hilt again. He was
perfectly placed to blade Josei on his haunches. If Josei went down
Thalia’s chances of survival would be small, clipped in as she was
into the harness. She would drop with him and it took time to slice
away the harness straps.

Josei spun
round on his hind legs, his front chelas swiping at the pirate. The
man didn’t retreat but leapt forward, dancing and weaving, sword in
position and ready to slash at Josei’s paws.

The sound and
smells of battle receded in Thalia’s mind as the two of them
concentrated on this, their private war to the death.

The man
stumbled again.

: Left :
she commanded and Josei obediently turned as Thalia swept her sword
up then down. It came down so fast and with such anger behind it
that the blade went deep into the pirate’s chest. With clinical
detachment, anger didn’t keep you alive, in fact anger resulted
more often than not in the complete opposite, Thalia twisted her
wrist again as she wrenched the blade back out.

The pirate
staggered back, his face full of horror and all blood drained from
his face. His legs buckled under him and he collapsed; but his
hands were still moving as he fumbled for his knives.

Josei didn’t
hesitate. With a snarl his forepaws landed on the pirate’s upper
torso, pinning his arms.

: Me :
he ordered Thalia, the word a command as his jaws opened.

With a gurgle
and a cackle the man died, but it was quick. Josei despatched him
as he would a kura buck after a hunt, as painlessly and as quickly
as he could. For Lind the actual kill was a necessity and not an
action to be enjoyed. Volat, the Lind called it. Volat was the
needless slaying in pain or the joyful kill of any living
creature.

Thalia’s senses
returned and she could hear again.

It was quieter
now, the battle-chaos was getting less.

Looking up and
towards the river she spied one galley getting away, its oarsmen
striving with every ounce of strength to row fast enough to they
could escape what they were already calling ‘the killing
ground’.

A few pirates
were still fighting at the water’s edge. Thalia knew they would not
surrender. This way they would die on their own terms and not at
the end of a rope.

There were
however, a couple of very dejected men standing to Thalia’s right,
guarded by two vadeln-pairs.

: We go help
at water’s edge :
Josei informed her as he turned, adding
:
pirate man tastes very nasty :

They joined in
the melee once more. Now the pirates who were left were outnumbered
instead of the other way around.

It wasn’t easy,
fighting never was but slash by slash the vadeln-pairs overpowered
and killed them. It was not without cost. As the last pirate was
cut down, Thalia and Josei backed away from the carnage and looked
around.

She realised
that they had lost to death at least seven vadeln-pairs. Their
bloodied bodies lay still and quiet, the only movement the ripple
of the night-breeze on fur.

One of them was
Jenna and Stasei. They hadn’t made it through their first fight.
Thalia felt sick.

This wasn’t the
first time she had seen her comrades die in violence but Jenna had
been so young, just eighteen.

: It’s not
fair! :
she cried in the silence of her mind.

: It is
never fair :
Josei answered
: but she and Stasei knew it
could happen as do we. It is part of the price we too may have to
pay in the future to keep others safe from harm :

the words
didn’t help, they never did.

: If we
hadn’t stopped them :
Josei added
: they would have ravaged
the land, stealing, raping and all that is the same :

: I know Josei
but Jenna and Stasei are dead and they didn’t deserve that. They
had their whole lives in front of them :

: But that does
not detract from what we have achieved this night :

Thalia had to
agree but Josei’s words were still not helping her to come to terms
with the grief she was feeling. That would take time.

Josei knew
this. It was always the same for his Thalia.

* * * * *

NORTH-EAST
ARGYLL - THE PATROL SECTOR OF THE FIFTEENTH RYZCK

As they
returned to their patrol area Thalia began to come to terms with
the deaths of Jenna and Stasei. Josei knew his Thalia and wouldn’t
talk about it. He understood she needed the time to grieve. Some
human halves of vadeln-pairs would react differently he knew, they
wanted to talk and did, but not her.

The others
among the Ryzck knew of this need and they respected it. Josei knew
that no person would talk about Jenna and Stasei until Thalia
mentioned it first and he knew that wouldn’t be until at least
another half tenday.

Rodick, her
cadet year mate and Thalia were walking side by side.

“So what do you
make of it? he was asking, “go on, you must have some idea.”