Ambition and Alavidha (16 page)

“Go,” ordered
Chad and Zeb went. He did not wish him good luck, in their
profession this was considered unlucky.

Zeb took deep,
calming breaths as he made his silent way to the cave-mouth, being
very careful not to be seen. Better safe than sorry was a rule that
all successful thieves mastered early on in their careers.

Walking through
Drellor’s camp, Chad sauntered towards the Holad area. In his
pockets he carried what were known as delayed action fire-crackers.
As he passed each campfire, he threw one in, it wasn’t difficult,
no-one was looking at him especially. He was counting as he
went.

He had reached
fifty when he reached the small hut which marked the edge of the
Holad area. The hut was a storage building and inside as Chad knew,
he had made it his business to find out, were items which would
flame up easily, bedding, walda pillows, bandages and the like. In
the shadow of the doorway he took a quick look around. Good. There
was no-one close by. He was still counting. Timing was of the
essence.

He had reached
eighty-five when he struck the tinder-box. It wasn’t his of course,
Chad was too careful for that. He had ‘borrowed’ it from one of the
caravan guards earlier that day. The wick flared and he tossed wick
and box inside. The pillows lit immediately. At the same time, back
in the camp the fire-crackers began to go off, one after
another.

Chad walked
away from the hut. He was however back at the hut a short time
later, valiantly helping to put out the flames.

* * * * *

In the trees,
downwind and out-with scenting distance of the Lind guards, Zeb
waited. To keep himself calm he thought about nice things, like the
perfume smell of his grandmother as she put him in his cot, of
fresh-baked bread from the baker’s shop downstairs.

When the first
fire-cracker went off he jumped even though he had been expecting
it. He sneaked a look at the guards. Would they take the bait?
Would they go and investigate?

They did.

One moment the
two sentinels were standing at the cave entrance, the next they
were gone.

Zeb blinked at
this show of silent, invisible speed but there wasn’t time to hang
about.

He ran to the
cave. Two heartbeats later he was both inside and lighting his
candle, an expensive candle, used by rich folks because it emitted
very little smell.

He knew what
the box he was looking for was like and he hoped it wasn’t hidden
too far back. There was certainly a lot of stuff in here!

He was in luck,
the candle-light fell on it almost at once so Zeb made haste to
pick it up as soon as he had made sure it was the right one. Chad
had told him of the letters chiselled into its lid. It was long but
it wasn’t heavy and Zeb made light of the burden.

He knew he
should leave at once, there was no telling when the guards would
come back but couldn’t resist a quick look round.

That was when
lady luck came to his (and Chad’s) assistance. In a dark recess,
there was dust everywhere and Zeb had to force back a cough, he
found another box, with much the same dimensions as the one he held
in his arms.

It was heavier
than the first one and he staggered as he picked it up. He carried
it to the shelf where the original box had sat.

He stepped back
to examine his handiwork. Yes. Unless they looked closely they
would think it the real one. He picked up the ‘real’ box again,
blew out the candle and crept out of the cave, hoping that the exit
would still be empty of guards.

It was.

He made it back
to his and Chad’s tent without incident, shoved the box under
Chad’s open bedroll and went to join in the excitement in the
enclave.

When the two
Lind guards returned to their post they suspected nothing. The
stink of burning filled the air and covered what vestiges of
candle-smell still remained.

The two
conversed for a while about the fire and the fire-crackers,
deciding that the first had been an accident and the second just
the humans having fun.

They also
decided that never, even when they were old and white-coated, would
they understand the human sense of humour.

* * * * *

The Elda of the
Lind performed their routine monthly inspection of the items in the
cave some six suns later. Nothing appeared to be missing. They
didn’t take particular notice of the prints on the ground.

* * * * *

-14-

THE RTATHA OF
RTATH GSNENDREI – WITHIN THE RTATHLIANS OF THE LIND

It was the day
before the end of their visit when the message arrived. Thalia and
Josei, instead of travelling to Vadarnth by the direct route were
to run south along the coast looking out for evidence of shipwreck.
A Murdochian merchantman had been reported missing. The message
sounded routine, depressingly so, as if those who sent it didn’t
think there was much hope of a successful outcome. Tides were
strong and treacherous in the Western Sea. Most shipwrecks in these
waters resulted in the loss of the entire crew.

* * * * *

Thalia and
Josei said their goodbyes to his rtathen and left with many
promises to return soon.

Thalia was
surprised at the intensity of the goodbyes.

She was
surprised because she had expected that they would all be meeting
again soon. After all, weren’t she and Josei now stationed here in
the west of the continent? And the Lind, being telepathic, were
never really apart.

She thought she
could hear one word being repeated over and over, in murmurs.

* * * * *

: Alivadai?
:
she queried as, goodbyes over, they began their run towards
the coast
: I don’t think I know that word. My Lindish is pretty
good too :

: Alavadha
is a word little used :
explained Josei
: it means ‘goodbye’
:

: Not
farewell? :
she asked. She had certainly felt an element of
farewell back at the domta.

: No :
Josei answered her
: farewell is another word altogether
:

* * * * *

THE WESTERN
COAST - THE NORTHERN CONTINENT

: We’d
better be taking our time about this :
‘said’ Thalia to Josei
two suns later and as they reached the western shore
: we don’t
know where exactly this ship might have foundered :

: True :
Josei sniffed at the air, it was redolent with sea-tang
: it
will make a pleasant journey and it will be good to take things
easy, to see all that can be seen, to remember :

: We’ll get
to know it better as the seasons change :
Thalia answered
:
I’m sure the Ryzcks will patrol this area. Hey ho, but it
is
pretty gorgeous :

They were
standing on a flat outcrop of rock as this conversation progressed,
looking west, over and out at the sea. In the distance Thalia was
sure she could make out the hazy outline of what just might be the
continent of Dagan, ancestral home of the Lai. Thalia had never met
a Lai. She had seen a few, an emissary would on occasion visit Vada
and as a cadet she had watched one, a beautiful goldy-coppery male
as he had left; watched with the other open-mouthed cadets, watched
as he had flown away.

Josei, whose
rtath was closer to Dagan had seen them when he was growing up. He
had ‘listened in’ to conversations about them.

“Perhaps we’ll
be able to visit Dagan ourselves one day,” said Thalia in a wistful
dream.

Josei’s answer
was non-committal.

“So how do we
search for evidence of this shipwreck?” asked Thalia.

Josei’s answer
this time was direct and to the point.

“We go south,
as close to the shore as we are able, along the beaches if that is
possible. It will be in places. We keep our eyes open and look for
wreckage.”

“Sounds quite
easy.”

Josei
whickered.

“There is much
wood to be found on beaches,” he ‘grinned’.

“Oh! I forgot
about that.”

They set off,
their eyes flicking ahead and right on the lookout for any likely
wreckage.

For two days
they travelled. They knew that there was a small village down the
coast. It was a fishing village but there was a small Holad outpost
there. As a matter of fact, the Holad had arrived first, it was one
of the early ones, when one Winston Randall, a vet numbered among
the original colonists had started sending medically trained men,
women and Lind west to aid and succour the Lind of the
Rtathlians.

She and Josei
would be able to replenish their supplies there. Josei could always
hunt for meat and there were always wild roots, berries and fruit
to be found.

* * * * *

On their third
morning they packed up their dom as usual.

“I suppose I’d
better look over the beach before we set off,” decided Thalia with
a sigh as she fastened the last of the packs on to Josei’s harness,
“it was too dark to see when we got here last night.”

Josei concurred
and they went over to take a look.

They stared
down at the beach, Thalia squinting her eyes against the light from
the dawn sun.

: What’s
that? :
asked Josei suddenly.

: What? That
dark bit over there? :

: Yes. Does it
seem like a piece of wood different from the rest? :

: There are
lots of pieces of wood on these beaches :
replied Thalia.
Indeed, they had investigated many. All had been natural, innocent
of human crafting, ordinary flotsam, natural branches and the
occasional tree trunk.

: It does
not look as the others :
said Josei
: We should take a
closer look :

Thalia had to
agree and the began to clamber over the slippery rocks. Josei was
managing to keep his balance easier than Thalia. Four paws were
better than two feet was an eight hundred year old Lindish saying
though she managed well enough. She
did
manage to acquire a
few bumps and bruises.

At last Josei
jumped down on to the sand. He shook his front paw and whined. He
didn’t like the feeling of sand on his paws. The tiny grains seemed
to adhere like magic and took time to get off.

“You’re right,”
said Thalia, her clear voice excited, “it isn’t natural. It could
be a piece of wreckage.”

“Might be old
wreckage,” said Josei, miserably trying to ignore the sand tickling
at his paws, “not
our
wreckage.”

Thalia went to
investigate. She had just reached it and was placing her hand on it
to assess how waterlogged it might be when she heard a voice call
out.

“Here! We’re
here! Oh, thank the gods someone has come!”

It was a male
voice, a southern male voice by its accent. Its owner? Thalia
turned.

Its owner was a
young man, a dishevelled, partly-clothed young man. Beside him lay
the inert shape of another human body.

The young man
was beckoning frantically.

“Quickly
please, my friend’s hurt and I don’t know what to do. Do you have
medical training?”

“I’ve got a
first aid kit and very basic training,” Thalia called back,
starting to run towards them.

She thumped
down beside the young man’s companion.

“He’s never
woken up, ever since I pulled him out of the water,” the awake
young man told her in a miserable voice, “I’ve tried and tried. I
think he’s broken inside.”

He might be
describing a pot plant
, thought Thalia.

“I tried to
keep him warm. He was shivering at first but its stopped now.”

“He might have
internal injuries,” said Thalia as she did her initial first aid
checks, “but it’s beyond me. I’m not a doctor. Josei has sent for
help. There’s Holad not too far away. They’ll know what to do.”

“Josei?”

“My Lind. He’s
over there.”

The young man’s
eyes opened. “I though that was your horse!” he exclaimed.

: Horse
indeed! :
This was Josei.

He was fair
back affronted at the idea that anyone could possibly mistake him
for a horse.

“A Lind! How
marvellous!” enthused the young man.

Thalia ignored
his raptures, “I’ll need blankets, he needs to be kept warm.”
:
Josei, get over here :

Under the
fascinated gaze of Daniel, Josei ran over.

She untied the
blankets from the harness and began covering her patient with them.
She actually didn’t think there was any possibility that he would
survive, even under Holad care but didn’t like to voice her
thoughts. His friend looked distraught enough already and she
didn’t want him incapacitated to the point of not being able to
help.

“Get the
tinderbox from the saddlebag on the left,” she instructed him, “and
start a fire. There’s plenty of driftwood about. Once you’ve done
that start on the kala.”

“Water?” he
queried.

“There’s a
stream on the other side of these rocks, over there. Use the jug,
see it? Fill it with water and bring it back. Can you do that?”

He nodded.

“Quick now.”
Thalia’s voice was sharp and penetrative.

Daniel did as
she was asking, moving almost as if he was in a daze. It was only
as he reached the stream that he realised that it was his stream,
the stream which had saved his life when he had drifted ashore.

* * * * *

-15-

DOMTA OF THE
GTRATHLIN