Valour and Victory (24 page)

“If you say
so,” said the unconvinced Padrig. “Now, I’ve been thinking about
how you are going to get to the site of the power-core. I’d thought
of sending a few along with you but their jezdic will never keep up
with your Lind so I am going to send just the one. Grainne will go
with you. She is small and light and will ride Inalei behind Tala.
She knows the desert and where the hulk of the ‘ore-driller’ is.
She will lead you there.”

“Grainne, but
she’s just a little girl!” exclaimed Danal.

“You think
that?" asked Padrig with amusement. “She is almost woman grown.
Most slaves are built small, the effect of malnourishment when they
are little and their mothers before them. The overseers only feed
those most likely to survive. I will ask her if she will go with
you. I think she will but she must make her own choice as a free
person should.”

“I was
wondering,” said Tala, “if we I might be able to take a look at the
engine room on the
Electra
, where the power-core was?”

Padrig looked
over his shoulder. “I’m afraid not. That part of the ship is
unsafe. We never go in there.”

They topped yet
another sand dune and Padrig stood up in his saddle and
pointed.

“There is the
Electra
,” he announced and all six visitors gasped.

Tala was the
first to find her voice.

“I didn’t think
anything could be so big!”

“It brought
over twenty-thousand people here,” Danal reminded her, “but it is
impressive is it not?”

“Magnificence
personified,” added the stunned Asya as she gazed at the
edifice.

* * * * *

“That’s Peter
Howard?” marvelled Tala, looking at the likeness embedded in the
wall beside what must have once been the mounting for the ship’s
bell though why a spaceship would have the need for such a thing
Tala couldn’t quite envision.
Tradition probably
.
Sailing
ships have bells. Why not the ships that fly too?

“It doesn’t say
so anywhere,” Danal answered. The two of them, hand in hand, were
exploring the accessible parts of the ship. The hull was still
intact after six centuries and the systematic stripping of sections
of its inner fabric for sale by its inhabitants.

“Can’t be
anyone else,” Tala insisted. “He’s got a nice face.”

“You’re always
telling me people have nice faces. I think he’s got a strong face
rather than nice. Determined.”

“But kind too.
Strange to think that it was him who wrote the journal that has led
us here. If he hadn’t given it to his daughter Jessica and she to
Tara we might never have known about the core.”

“A sobering
thought.”

“Do you want to
see what we think must have been his cabin?” asked a voice.

Tala and Danal
jumped. They hadn’t heard Grainne’s soft footsteps.

“It’s just down
the corridor,” she added. “I’ll show you shall I?” and she led the
way down the dim passage. “This is the one,” she announced and went
in. There was no door, all the doors had been taken away.

“There’s
nothing here,” said Danal looking around.

“The insides
were stripped out a long long time ago,” she informed them, “but
there’s where the bed must have been, you can still see the indents
in the walls and here was another piece of furniture. I’m coming
with you by the way. Padrig asked me and I said yes.”

“It will be
dangerous,” Danal warned.

“All life is
dangerous,” she shrugged. “I go and that’s all there is about
it.”

“Thank you,”
said Tala with a smile.

Grainne
grinned, “you can’t do it without me anyway. I know the desert like
the back of my hand. I’ve been here long enough. Dinner is served
in the main living area. Cook sent me to fetch you.” She scampered
off.

“We’d better
go,” said Tala but she didn’t mean it and Danal knew it.

“We have to
show face and have a bite to eat.”

“But we don’t
have to stay long,” Tala’s voice was wistful and she was exuding a
sense of internal sexual tension waiting to burst forth. Today was
the first time they had been alone together, really alone, since
that magical night in Baron Ross’s manor. You couldn’t count, Tala
decided, the snatched kisses during their journey.

The others had
understood, had tried to give them a little privacy but it had not
been enough.

Tala wanted
Danal, here, now.

“Tonight,”
promised Danal, drawing her eager body against his.

“I can’t wait,”
she whispered as their lips touched and the remembered tingling
feeling asserted itself in her lower abdomen.

The kiss
contained all that was love and commitment, bitter-sweet as it was.
The most dangerous part of their mission was still ahead.

Their sex that
night was wild and passionate; they were like a pair of soldiers
with a battle on the morrow when neither knew if the other would
survive.

The intensity
of their mutual release hit them like an emotional and physical
thunderclap.

Neither wanted
the night to end.

* * * * *

Julia

By now, all but
the last few segments of the Armies of the North, the levies from
the islands and the northern duchies had arrived at the chosen
battlefield. It was called Fallon Ridge.

The Dukes of
Graham and Duchesne were under the command of Susyc Julia and
Alyei. As the Duke of Graham said, it made sense. Only Julia and
Alyei with her Vada could communicate with both species and the
Vada was trained to fight with infantry and cavalry.

The ridge where
the army would make their stand cut across the most southerly
fringe of Duchesne and across the route the Larg would take on
their was to the Island Chain. It had the advantage of height.
Julia wanted the Larg to have to attack uphill and this was
possible in all but two sections of the ridge where rivers had
gouged out the rock. There were rough bridges connecting the three
sections. There were also dense woodlands to the east and to the
west. The Larg hated forests. They were not comfortable under trees
and always avoided them when they could.

Julia had
placed Lind in the forests to stop any kohorts who might try to use
them to try and outflank the army. Alyei had suggested the youngest
of the Lind (and Julia had acted on his suggestion), augmented by a
few older, more experienced warriors.

Now Julia was
about to address the officers commanding her army.

Her address was
held in the open air. The command tent was too small for everyone
to fit in. As she surveyed the men, women and Lind assembled before
her (the Lind stood to the back, they would listen to Alyei’s
telepathic translation of her words into Lindish), she took a deep
breath.

Everyone knew
exactly what he or she would be facing. Whether they really
believed in the existence of the Dglai or not was immaterial, they
had been told and Julia had based her plans on the assumption that
the Dglai would arrive on the battlefield sooner of later, probably
sooner, especially if the army managed to hold the ridge.

“We are here to
stop the Larg and the Dglai,” she began. “Nothing else matters. We
will stop them if we work and fight together. We must forget all
our differences; put aside all memories of past enmities.”

: Right, keep
going girl, you have their attention :

“You have
already received your detailed orders, to what part of the ridge
defence you have been assigned and who is under your command. I am
in no doubt that you will all be seeing action in the near future
so I don’t want to hear any complaints that so and so's unit has
been given a front position on the ridge while yours is in the
rear. This battle is going to last a long time. It will be a battle
of attrition, but we hold the high ground and that is our
advantage. No matter what the Larg do, I don’t care if every Larg
warrior retreats as if vanquished, there will be
no
pursuit.
That order is
absolute
. If any of you do try and give chase,
not one soldier will try a rescue when the Larg turn, which they
will. I will merely order another unit up from the rear to take
your place.
You have been warned.
Now return and tell the
soldiers under your command what I have said.”

Julia stood
tall and straight in front of them, bowed, about-turned and Alyei
at her side, walked back to the command tent. It was only after
they were inside and alone that she gave vent to an explosive gasp
of relief. The last half bell had probably been the most terrifying
experience she had undergone during her entire life … so far.

: You did
very well :
Alyei commended.

: Had to be
done my Alyei but it’s all talk. Nothing matters except that we
keep the Larg and the Dglai so busy with us and stop them fanning
out and finding Danal, Asya and the others. Even if we all die it
will be worth it. It all depends on them :

: It has
always depended on them :
he answered
: we are all
expendable :

: Yes and I
will send every man, woman and Lind on the ridge to their deaths if
that is the only way :

Julia burst
into tears.

* * * * *

The Ammokko

Quoi had
finished his survey of the pack ranges of the Larg. He was
satisfied with the information he had gathered. It was time to
return to the area chosen by him as the landing site of the mother
ship, the
Ammokko
.

He manoeuvred
his bulk on to the seat pad in his Quorko, pressed the toggle of
the starting motor with his fore talon and listened as the engine,
with a stutter, came to reluctant life.

It was time the
Ammokko
was here. The crystals that provided the energy to
run his Quorko needed recharging from her power banks. It was a
wonder they had lasted as long as they had.

He pressed
another toggle and the Quorko responded, hovering in the air before
setting off, back the way it had come, slowly at first then
gathering speed as Quoi realised that the unit retained enough
power to get him and his four crew members back to the landing site
in time.

* * * * *

The
Ammokko
landed with ponderous precision, the thrusters
blowing out great jets of hot air as the Dglai landing technicians
fought to keep her stable. Seas of disturbed sand swirled around
her, so much of it was there that Quoi could hardly see the
hull.

A scraped and
dented old lady was the
Ammokko
. As she settled and the sand
stopped swirling Quoi could see the replacement sheets where the
repair gangs had mended her on the last planet the Dglai had
visited and plundered.

This was what
the Dglai did. They travelled from planet to planet, destroying any
resistance and living there until it was time to move on. They did
not care how many civilisations they annihilated, nor how much of
the total complement of planetary resources they took. All that
mattered was the survival of the Dglai.

But this time,
Quoi suspected, it might be different.

This was a
large planet with abundant wildlife and vegetation to provide the
proteins needed to feed the hungry Dglai. There were also many
untapped mineral resources, metals and oils. The landmasses were
huge.

Quoi remembered
the last planet. They had had no choice but to stop there to
replenish but the entire planet had been made up of thousands of
islands and only one landmass of any size, not suitable at all.

This one was
perfect.

* * * * *

The Lai

“Fly low and in
groups of no more than four,” Velku instructed those Lai who were
setting out east, “but never straight. Hug the hills and use what
cover there is. We go to the big lake above the human domta they
call Stewarton. There the Guildmaster, Annert is his name, will
meet us with his wagons that contain the bombas. There also are
Haru, Chizu and Malaku.”

“How many
bombas has he managed to make?” asked Aniku, a young Lai whose
golden hide was as bright as the sun. Velku’s coppery hide looked
dull by comparison. As the Lind became white with age, the Lai gold
became as copper.

“He has enough
for two for each of those who have volunteered to fly with us to
light the bombas and drop them where they can do most good.”

“How are the
humans going to stay on our backs?” asked Aniku, who, as well as
being young, was an inquisitive Lai.

“The
Guildmaster is bringing with him ropes which they will use to tie
themselves on.”

“From this
lake, where do we go?” asked Leku.

“Across the
mountains then on to the islands. We then, the humans call it
‘island hopping’, to the southern continent. We should reach there
safely.”

“The
Ammokko
?”

“She landed as
night fell and as expected, in the nadlians of the Larg. Now is our
only chance to fly to the southern continent undetected, before the
Dglai get acclimatised to the gravity and the planet and before the
Quorko set out from her holds. We have a window of perhaps four
days. Once we reach the south we wait in the beach caves until word
comes that either the power-core has been found or that it has not
been found and it does not matter that we stay hidden. No matter
what the answer is, we
will
fight.”

* * * * *

Elliot and
Robain

Elliot’s army
of ex-slaves was over twenty thousand strong and growing. The
slave-miners of the Duchy of Sahara were flocking to his banner.
The banner was that of Sahara and not the Royal Standard. As Elliot
said, that belonged to the King. Until his and his father’s death
had been confirmed, Elliot refused to raise it.