Ambition and Alavidha (20 page)

“You said he,”
Zeb accused.

“Why, so I did,
how remarkable!”

“Have you
looked inside the box?” pressed Zeb.

“No, not
interested.”

“What if the
words on the outside of the box aren’t what’s in it?”

A subterfuge
you mean? Well, that’s not my problem is it? I am being paid to
steal the box, what’s in it is the buyer’s concern.”

“What do the
words on it mean? They don’t make any sense to me, PCWCCSA, I mean,
it’s not a word, is it?”

“They are the
letters I was told were stencilled on the box and there weren’t any
other such boxes in the cave, were there?”

“No,” admitted
Zeb, “only as I told you Master Chad, there were only three boxes.
Lucky for us there were two the same size so I could swop the one I
took with the one at the back. I did good, didn’t I?”

“You did very
good lad, good enough that I might even see fit to pay you a small
bonus once the box has been delivered.”

“A bonus, all
of my own?”

“One you don’t
need to tell your Uncle Nonder about either. Keep quiet and he’ll
never know.”

“So we just
deliver the box, you get paid and then you pay me. That sounds like
a very good idea.”

“That’s what I
said didn’t I? You ask too many questions. Then we both go see your
Uncle and I pay him what I owe him for getting me a place on the
caravan.”

“He had to pay
a lot of coin to persuade the jewel trader who was supposed to go
on the caravan to stay at home, didn’t he?”

Chad didn’t
answer.

* * * * *

-22-

THE WESTERN
COAST - THE NORTHERN CONTINENT

As he sat
gazing at the campfire Daniel found himself gazing at his
companion. He realised that he didn’t really know much about her.
In the past, as a youngster, on hunting expeditions at home he had
been in the company of men and boys he knew, most from childhood.
They shared the same ideals and came from similar privileged
backgrounds. The situation he now found himself in was completely
different and his, how should he put it, his co-questor for want of
a better word, was as different from them as could be and it was
not just her sex. It was this realisation that prompted him to open
his mouth and ask the question.

“Thalia, who
are you?” that didn’t come out right so he tried again, “I mean, I
know nothing about you at all. I’ve a feeling that we’re going to
be travelling together a while and I was just wondering. I mean,
where do you come from?”

She stuck out
her tongue at him.

“Don’t be like
that,” he said, “do you have family? Brothers and sisters?”

“Do you?” she
countered.

“I asked first.
I’ll tell you my story after you’ve told me yours.”

“Good enough,”
she said as she hunkered down at the fire, hugging her knees, “so a
potted history of Vadeln Thalia’s life, is that what you want?”

“Only if you
want to tell. I don’t mean to pry into anything you wish to keep to
yourself.”

“My life
story’s no secret, pretty ordinary really.”

“That I don’t
believe. I’ve always thought those who life-pair with Lind are
pretty special.”

He saw her grin
in the firelight, her teeth were sparkling.

Josei edged
closer to the fire though he still kept a watchful eye and a
watchful ear open. Daniel was yet to learn how much the Lind
enjoyed stories, even ones they knew already.

“Do you
insist?” she asked.

“I think I
must. It’ll help pass the time until we seek our respective
bedrolls.”

“I’m one of
eight,” she began. “Dad’s a writer and a mathematician. He used to
work at the university but now he writes, historical things. Mum’s
a teacher. I spent my early years in Stewarton. Started a degree
course at the university there, mathematics, changed to history and
languages, Lindish and Standard, didn’t finish my degree. Then next
few years Vada training cadetship then into a Ryzck.”

“Why didn’t you
finish your degree?”

“Josei arrived
and proceeded to turn my life-plans around.”

Daniel heard
Josei emit the Lind version of a chuckle.

“That’s a very
short potted history. You said you’ve got seven brothers and
sisters. Where are they?”

“I’m the third
youngest,” she offered without further prompting, perhaps she
realised that Daniel wouldn’t stop asking until she told him. “My
eldest brother is called Hal. He’s Vada like me. Father wasn’t too
disappointed I think. Hal got his qualifications but studying was
always a struggle for him though he worked hard enough. He actually
managed to gain his degree then went off to Vada to teach. He met
Aya shortly after he got there. He’s not with a Ryzck any more. His
Lind Aya got hurt in a fight, she’s partly blind now. My second
brother Raif, he left home when I was very young, about the same
time as we left Stewarton for a village not far from Port
Lutterell. Father, well, he had very definite ideas about what we
were all going to do with our lives.” She laughed a bitter laugh.
“I believe that most of us have been a great disappointment to
him.”

“In what way?”
asked the interested Daniel.

“Dad’s very
clever and he wanted us all to follow in his footsteps, read
science, maths or even technology at the university, all three
another brother used to say then on to the Guild to forge a great
career or even to stay on at the university to teach, like he did.
He taught us all himself, preparing us for our glorious academic
futures.”

She paused and
took a sip of kala.

“Go on,
do.”

“Wait a mo
won’t you? My throat’s parched.”

She took a
large swallow.

“There, that’s
better. Actually Raif went first, said he didn’t want to do any
more studying, said he was sick of it all so off he went. He’s done
well for himself, he’s a successful merchant at Port Wylie. Trades
with Murdoch. Staples. Says everyone needs to eat. He’s married
with children of his own. After Raif came Iain. He got sick of
studying too, Father force feeds rather.”

She took
another sip of kala.

“He got good
results in the Leaving Exam. Got himself accepted for officer
training at the Garda Academie. He’s a Captain now, in charge of
one of the forts and surrounding area between Port Lutterell and
Settlement, I don’t remember exactly which one, least that’s where
he was last time I saw him. He might even have been gazetted Major
by now. Bored yet? Shall I stop?”

“Not in the
least,” Daniel assured her.

“Next came the
twins Ranolf and Rudi. They caused Father a great deal of vexation.
I still remember the rows. Both hated anything to do with books,
wanted to be outside all the time. They scraped through the Exam,
passing by a wing and a whisper. After a lot of anger and
recriminations father bowed to the inevitable and apprenticed them,
Ranolf to a carpenter and Rudi to the Russell horse ranch in the
mid-west.”

“I’ve heard of
it. They breed the most fabulous horses.”

“Rudi’s still
there and is doing well. Ranolf though, he hated being a carpenter,
mostly the work is inside you see so he ran away to sea, the
merchant fleet. I haven’t heard from him in a long time.”

“Who came
next?”

“Me, but I’ll
move on to Tomas. He’s the only one of us who Father thoroughly
approves of. He followed me to the university to read science. He
did so well he has transferred to medical research. Father’s very
proud of him.”

“Tell me more
about you,” pleaded Daniel.

“If I must,
let’s see. Father must have thought I would be like Tomas ended up
like. I sailed through the Leaving Exam, top marks in the ward and
Father entered me to read mathematics. I was accepted and
went.”

“Didn’t you
like it?”

She
grimaced.

“I hated it,
not the university itself you understand, but mathematics bored me.
I transferred. Father went berserk, he halved my allowance but I
didn’t care. I don’t know what he was like when word was sent that
Josei had come for me and that I’d abandoned university for Vada, I
did get a letter though, very unpleasant reading, two years later,
so he must have been
still
incandescent with rage.”

“That makes
seven of you. And the youngest?”

“Tara? The
family afterthought? She’s about thirteen now, Mother writes
occasionally to let me know how she’s getting on. I hope Father has
learnt his lesson and isn’t pushing her too hard. I don’t think he
is actually. Mother said in her last letter that he’s working on
some project or other, something connected to the old days.”

“Don’t you want
to visit, at least your Mother and Tara?” asked Daniel who was
missing his home.

“I might,
depends,” answered Thalia. She yawned. “It’s late and I’m tired.
Tomorrow though,” she warned, “You must tell me about your
home.”

“Sure thing,”
he promised.

* * * * *

-23-

THE WESTERN
COAST - THE NORTHERN CONTINENT

The next
morning they got up and began packing their kit and Thalia started
to prepare breakfast.

“How did you
and Josei meet?” Daniel asked, conveniently forgetting that it was
his turn to start talking about himself.

“I was almost
twenty, in my final year at university. I’d hardly ever even met a
Lind.”

“You wanted to
become vadeln?”

“I must admit
to have harboured a certain desire to be given the chance,” she
admitted, “but I was sure I must be too old. Most Lind and their
human counterpart pair at around fourteen, give or take. Anyway,
there I was, sitting in the park close to my lodgings, trying to
cram some facts into my head, exams were looming on the horizon
when I heard some sort of commotion going on off to my left. Lind
are a bit of a rarity in Stewarton these days, once it was
different but they don’t really like our towns. Their natural
habitat is woodland. Some people never ever see a Lind except for
the Express Service. There I was, minding my own business, trying
to ignore the commotion when it began to get louder and a lot
closer. A whole crowd of noisy and excited people were approaching.
I looked up and as I did I spied two furry ears right in the middle
of them. They were flat back as if the noise was distressing their
owner.”

“It was,” Josei
commented.

“What happened
next?” asked Daniel, greatly intrigued.

“I squeezed
through all the people,” Josei said, “and it took some doing I can
tell you and walked up to where Thalia was sitting. I sat down and
looked at her.”

“Why?”

“I was waiting
for her to realise I was there.”

“But she could
see you,” protested Daniel.

“But not ‘hear’
me,” he explained.

“That came
about three bells later,” Thalia reminisced, “once the crowd began
to get bored waiting and began to leave. I tried to ignore him,
tried to block him out and thought I was succeeding quite well, I
really wanted to pass these exams. Then I felt what can only be
described as a large wave battering at my mind, he was trying to
get through to me.”

“That was when
she put down the book she was reading and looked at me,” said Josei
with a smug expression on his face. “I was irresistible,
naturally.”

“The conceit of
you! The barrier broke and then he was here.” Thalia tapped her
head.

“And you’ve
never been separated since?”

“That’s right.”
Her eyes were dreamy. “I managed to persuade him to wait until I’d
sat the exams.”

“Did you
pass?”

“No, but it
didn’t matter any more. I wasn’t the most wonderful Vada Cadet in
the world. I’d never held a sword before in my life. The academic
side of the training was easy but not the rest. I’m sure I was the
despair of the Weaponsmaster. I passed out of training after three
years however and was assigned to a Ryzck, the Fifteenth. Me and
Josei have done four patrol stints. I’m competent and capable but
not wonderful.”

* * * * *

“You know
Thalia,” said Daniel, tying the laces on his new boots. They fitted
pretty well considering the fact that they hadn’t been made for
him, “I’ve been thinking.”

“Don’t hurt
your brains,” she retorted, “I don’t think you had that many of
them to start off with.”

“Funny ha ha,”
he said, “but seriously though, I’ve been thinking about Ian’s
brother, the Duke of Markwood and Cadan of Leithe and others.”

“What about
them?”

“Just that
ambition is a terrible thing; it can only lead to grief and
death.”

“Death being
the ultimate farewell?”

“That’s a
strange way of putting it,” Daniel said.

“It’s how I see
it. The Lind call death the start of their journey to the Blue
Pastures.”

“Where are
they?”

She shrugged.
“I don’t know. In the sky somewhere?”

“It’s as good a
place as any,” he admitted.

* * * * *

“Do you have a
lady friend, back home?” asked Thalia of Daniel who had decided
that she had done enough talking about herself. She was checking
the harness bags on both Josei and Vya.

“Not really, at
least not yet. I do have my eye on one young lady though, she’s
called Jill Hallam but I don’t know if a marriage can be arranged.
She’s daughter of one of the Dukes and I’m only of Kellen rank. Her
father might not think I’m good enough. As well as that my cousin
would like to marry her older sister. Our parents might think both
of us marrying into the Hallam house is too close. I don’t know her
very well though, we’ve only met a few times, when she was at Court
last winter.”