Conflict and Courage (19 page)

The gaze
between Gerry and Jessica had not gone unnoticed. Ratvei was very
observant. He turned to Gerry.

“Jessica talks
of you often. Good things.”

Gerry was
nonplussed. To hide his confusion he asked the first thing that
came into his head, “the horses?”

“Jessica wishes
to show you horses. She takes good care them.”

“I’d heard they
dropped their foals,” Gerry said.

Ratvei looked
confused, as well he might. “Drop foals? No Gerry, they are way too
big. Jessica cannot carry them, never mind drop them.”

Gerry
laughed.

“That’s a good
joke,” he said.

Ratvei looked
even more confused.

“You must stay
here at rtath Gerry,” the Elda continued, “Jessica stay too.
Jessica wants you to stay. She lonely.”

“She has her
family with her now,” answered Gerry, his voice despondent.

Cherry was
talking to her sister.

“Where are we
staying Jess?” she asked, “with you? Will there be room for
Baltvei?”

“The daga is
all ready Cherry and there is plenty of room for Baltvei; Jenny and
Savei saw to that.”

“Is Gerry going
to stay in the daga with us?” asked Joseph. He harboured a new and
unspoken respect for Gerry that had started when the man had talked
to him not long after they had left Fort.

“I don’t think
so,” answered his sister, blushing to the roots of her hair.

* * * * *

Night had come.
Cherry and Joseph were sound asleep when Ratvei approached Jessica
as she waited for the call she hoped would come.

“Gerry waits
for you with horses,” he said, “go. I look after Cherry and
Joseph.”

Jessica did not
wait; one last glance through the doorway of the daga showed her
that her sister and brother were deep in exhausted slumber. She
smiled at Ratvei who made a shooing gesture with his paw. The old
Lind watched as she sped away towards the paddock.

Baltvei, who
was lying on his own bed, opened one sleepy eye.

: Jessica?
:

: Jessica go to
Gerry :

: Good :
Baltvei’s mind voice held a hint of asperity
: Gerry talk about
Jessica at all times on way here. Gerry and Jessica talk now then
mate. All will be well and I will not have to listen to his
ramblings all day long :
His eye closed.

Ratvei chuckled
as he made himself comfortable. The children did not stir.

Jessica made
her way towards the paddocks. She did not see Gerry at first, then
spied his silhouette dark against the moonlit sky. He was talking
to his horses, his low voice soothing, his very stance one of
absolute contentment. She stood at the fence to watch. He was
thinner than she remembered. His clothes hung loose.

After a while
Gerry became aware of her presence and with a last pat on the neck
of his favourite grey mare began to walk towards her. He stopped
his side of the paddock fence.

“I wanted to
thank you,” Jessica began.

“I didn’t do
much you know, your thanks should go to those who ventured south to
find us. Two remained there. One was hurt during the journey.”

“How will they
get home?”

“I wouldn’t
worry about them, they’ll be fine. There is a lot of empty land
down there.”

“Mama? Cherry
evades all my questions about her and Joseph bursts into
tears.”

Gerry tried to
be as gentle as possible, “you will have to be their mother
now.”

Jessica
swallowed, “is there no way she can be got out?”

“I don’t think
there will be another mission like the one that rescued us if
that’s what you’re asking. The Lords are on their guard now and I
don’t think your Mama would leave her baby when he is born. She
knows that you are here for Cherry and Joseph and she has made her
decision. It’s up to you to accept it. Your mother is a very brave
woman. I feel proud to have known her.”

“Cherry is very
quiet.”

“She’ll come
round. Like the rest of us she’s been through a lot but she has
Baltvei now and they are tied together for life. Time is all she
needs. Joseph is younger and your mother kept the worst of what was
happening from him. He misses her and yearns to go back south to
the life he knows. He needs a lot of love and attention and I’m
here if you need help with him. I have managed to get through to
him on occasion.”

“Is there any
way I could get a message to Mama?”

“Perhaps it
could be arranged. Nothing regular but I’m sure somebody could get
something through.”

He decided to
change the subject. He had seen the tear-trickles in Jessica’s
eyes.

“You’ve done a
wonderful job with the mares. What’s the colt called?”

“Gerry.”

His eyebrows
rose at that.

“I didn’t think
I’d ever see you again,” the words burst from Jessica’s lips.

“I told you
that I’d be back when we said goodbye on the island,” he said
teasingly, “didn’t you believe me?”

Jessica
floundered, trying to think of what to say and Gerry’s heart went
out to her.

There were
indefinable traces of her father in her face, she had the same
determined mouth for one thing but apart from that, she was very
like her mother.

“Your parents
would be proud of you Jessica,” he said, “you are young and now
must be a mother.”

“I am almost
sixteen,” she said with unaccountable shyness, “the Lind think of
me as grown-up.”

“I am here if
you need a shoulder to cry on,” he reminded her.

“You are
staying at the rtath,” she said with satisfaction. “I knew you
would.”

Things would
have to be very dire for Gerry to be prized away from his beloved
horses again as Jessica instinctively knew, just as, in that
moment, she knew what her future was, here at pack Ratvei, with
Cherry and Joseph for as long as they needed her and Gerry. They
would wait until her sixteenth birthday but that wasn’t long
away.

“Are you
staying here?” asked Gerry softly, half afraid of her answer. He
felt sure she would want to move back amongst people her own age.
He knew Janice Randall had offered her a home. There was no need
for her to stay; he was here now to care for the horses.

Jessica looked
at him. “I have been happy here,” she admitted, “the pack has
welcomed me with open arms, well, if they had arms they would have,
but you know what I mean. I want to stay with the horses too. I’ve
grown fond of them, especially the colt,” her voice petered out and
then with supreme effort, she whispered the words Gerry wanted to
hear, “I want to stay with
you
.”

Gerry leant
over the fence and drawing her face towards him, kissed her on the
mouth.

“Better wait
until you are a bit older before we take this any further,” he said
with a tender smile.

Jessica
blushed. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’ve thought of you so
often. I think Dad would have approved.”

“Not if I
cradle-snatched you before you are sixteen he wouldn’t,” said Gerry
with a smile.

“But when
summer comes?”

“When summer
comes,” he promised.

The next day
Jessica told Jenny.

“I’m not
surprised,” her friend told her, “suspected he was fond of you when
we were stranded on the island. Savei and I had a bet on it.”

“A bet. On me
and Gerry?”

“He won, I
thought he’d wait until your birthday before he asked.”

“He was too
impatient!”

“I’m glad to
see you smiling again Jess, I only wish Gerry could have got your
mum out as well as mine.”

“Gerry told
me,” Jessica said flatly, “but I think I understand. She and Dad
always put the needs of the higher goal first and I know that she
is pregnant with this all so important child.”

She changed the
subject. It was not something she was ready to talk about yet, even
with a friend as close as Jenny.

“What are you
and Savei going to do now that your Mum and Gavin are here?”

“We’ll stay
here for the winter, see you safely married then I think we will go
east, to rtath Afanasei and Janice Randall to begin with and then
who knows.”

“The Vada?”

“Possibly,”
admitted Jenny. “I would like the chance to have a crack at the
convicts. Mother isn’t too keen though, she’s already lost father
and doesn’t want to lose me too.”

“I can imagine.
She wants you to join the Holad?”

Jenny screwed
up her pretty nose. “I don’t want to patch up wounds and tend to
the sick for the rest of my life but I am so pleased for you. Gerry
loves you to distraction; any fool can see that. He’ll make you
very happy and be a great surrogate father for Cherry and
Joseph.”

“That is not
why I said yes and you know it,” protested Jessica with a laugh,
“promise you’ll wait for the wedding?”

“I wouldn’t
miss it for all the riches in the world.”

The two friends
embraced. They had been through so much and now everything was okay
again, well, almost.

* * * * *

Francis kept
the plans for the future reorganisation of the Vada under wraps
until he saw how the remaining senior and adult cadets were making
out.

The cadets were
three months into their training. No longer did they think being a
member of the Vada an easy option. Although the weapons-work
classes still hurt, they hurt in a different way and their arms and
legs no longer ached with the effort of wielding their weapons for
hours at a time. These pains now came from well-placed
sword-bruises when they left themselves unprotected during the mock
attacks and if the junior cadets thought Weaponsmaster Wilhelm and
his Second Ross were hard taskmasters, that was nothing to how the
senior and adult cadets saw them. Even those on active patrol duty
who were required to attend practice sessions during their off
periods could be heard complaining as Wilhelm retrained them his
way.

During the
months after the latter had originally bonded with their
vadeln-pairs and the Battle of the Alliance, Francis had taught
them to the best of his ability. They had been good enough in
battle to turn the tide against the Larg but even Francis admitted
that the skill-set was rough and ready.

As Wilhelm
said, “it is not that they are not good; many are, but it is that
there is no cohesiveness, no structure to their skill with their
weapons. How can their commanders order a charge and expect it to
be effective when they all attack every which way? One will raise
his sword aloft, his neighbour holds it straight ahead.”

Francis’s
comment was a succinct, “quite so.”

“There is also
resistance to my training, especially amongst those who took part
in the charge during the battle,” Wilhelm continued, “many of the
original vadeln-pairs are complaining about having to attend
training practice, especially the mounted ones.”

“I have
noticed. They feel that since they have survived one battle they
are experts.”

“There is not
the same resistance to the dismounted practices,” mused Ross.

“True, but with
our Susa’s permission, I think it’s time for an object lesson.”
Wilhelm grinned at Ross, “the one we were discussing earlier.”

Ross grinned,
“the Second Ryzck is due in from patrol in a few days.”

Once the Second
Ryzck were rested Wilhelm called them to the practice field. He
sent their commanders to the sidelines to watch their subordinates
perform a mock attack on the ‘enemy’. The ‘enemy’ were a row of
straw dummies ranked up at the edge of the field. As he had
predicted, there was no order to their attack and when Ross and
Lililya, leading some experienced, trained and un-partnered Lind
appeared unexpectedly and feinted an attack on their left flank,
the disorganised lines melted in confusion. The watching commanders
had the grace to look embarrassed.

Ross disengaged
and came to face the Second Ryzck’s Ryzcka and her Vadryzas.

Geraldine was
the first to make comment and it was, as usual, direct and to the
point. “I would rather lead a Ryzck of cadets into combat than
them.”

“Now do you see
what I am getting at?” said Wilhelm with some heat, “in a battle
situation you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“We managed
last time,” protested one of the Vadryzas, a grey-eyed woman with a
claw scar down her left cheek.

“The Larg were
taken by surprise,” said Wilhelm in a flat voice, “they will not be
again. I am not saying that what you are doing at present is
entirely wrong,” Wilhelm took pains to point this out; he did not
want to antagonise them, “you have done wonderfully so far. What I
am going to do is show you how to do it better, cut the casualty
rates, become a more effective and cohesive force. We can learn
from the Lindars, they fight in ranks, protect each other. You
shall do the same.”

He gestured to
Ross, who nodded. The Second Ryzck moved to the edge of the field
beside the hedge.

“Now,”
continued Wilhelm, “I want you to watch this.”

He beckoned to
Nell who had been watching the scene from behind the high-backed
fence at the other side of the field. She waved an acknowledgement
as her head disappeared from view then, through the end gates a few
minutes later, a large group of mounted cadets entered the practice
field.

The cadet
vadeln-pairs lined up in four rows in a competent and most
professional manner.

Ross and
Lililya took up position at the left of the front ryz whilst
Geraldine and Jsei took the right position.

“The cadets
have been practising this for the past week,” Wilhelm said to the
Ryzcka and her subordinates, “some of them may not be as proficient
as you at riding and some may still be finding sword-work difficult
but watch how they perform the manoeuvre.”