Conflict and Courage (43 page)

The other Ryzck
members welcomed Tara and Kolyei into their midst and she and
Kolyei merged in as if they had been an integral part of the Ryzck
for months.

Kolyei was
pleased. In the Lindars the Lind fought alongside their friends and
relations. He did not relish a fight in the rear with the
Weaponsmaster and the unknown and untried cadets.

: A Ryzck is
like a big family isn’t it? :
Tara asked of him and he
agreed.

The band of
gale-force winds that had hit the coast and stopped the landings
moved northwards in its ferocity, a ferocity that was unparalleled
since mankind had arrived on the planet.

It slowed them,
not much, but enough to worry Jim, for behind the weather front he
knew it was cool and calm, perfect for a landing.

* * * * *

At David’s
Keep, Geraldine prayed the storm would continue until the relief
force led by Francis and Asya reached them.

“Please make it
last, please make it last,” she murmured, a sentiment shared by
everyone.

“The wind
veers,” said a man’s voice behind her, “they will land today.”

One of the
fishermen, Geraldine realised, well, he would know.

“Are the shards
in place?”

“Yes ma’am,”
said one of her Vadryzas whose responsibility this was.

Men, women and
older children had laboured in the wind and rain to finish it. The
only section of the outer perimeter not so protected was a bare
metre wide directly outside the gate. It would be sprinkled with
broken glass as soon as Francis and the others were inside. Then
the wagons would be set in place and held down with the readied
sandbags.

There was a
shout from the lookout.

“I can see
them.”

“Who? Where?”
called up Geraldine.

“Susa Francis
and the others,” shouted back the excited voice. “Must be over a
hundred and fifty of them. He must have picked up more vadeln-pairs
during the run from the stronghold.”

“At last,” said
a relieved Geraldine.

* * * * *

“I’ve never
been so terrified in my life,” Cherry Howard confided to one of her
year-mates, like her, newly graduated to full active status.

“Me too,”
Tamsin said with a gulp. “I’ve read about plenty of battles and the
instructors have explained, but this reality scares me. What if the
Larg break through the defences?”

“We tackle that
when and if it happens,” answered her friend with a wobble, “now
let’s get washed.”

Tamsin looked
at her incredulously and squeaked, “washed?”

Cherry grinned
at her, “forgotten your training already? This is the time to wash,
as well you know. If we are wounded, we need to keep the risk of
infection to a minimum, a wash and clean undergarments will
help.”

“I forgot,”
confessed Tamsin.

“It’s only
common sense and remember to wash again when you wake up.”

An hour or so
later and several shades cleaner the two settled down to eat the
lukewarm stew the cooks had made ready. Neither was hungry, they
were too nervous but Cherry forced Tamsin to eat and herself set
the example although every bite she took made her feel sick.

They cleaned
their plates, noticing that the rain and wind appeared to be easing
off. Their Lind did not appear unduly concerned about what the next
hours would bring. If they did, they were taking pains not to
communicate anything of the sort to their young human partners,
although they knew very well what the two girls would be facing
when the Larg attacked the Keep. Their lack of nervousness came
from the fact that the two of them had, as Cherry had once said,
‘been there, done it, got the t-shirt and the scars to prove
it’.

“Try to get
some rest,” Baltvei advised Cherry. He put his nose between his
paws and closed his eyes.

* * * * *

At the
stronghold, the pirates continued to ransack.

Andrew
Snodgrass was sitting dozing in the sun on a convenient water
barrel on the wharf when he realised that Aoalvaldr’s presence in
his mind had vanished. One fleeting image was all he received, that
of a bright sword flashing down. For the first time in nine years
he felt himself relax.
Aoalvaldr is gone; my mind is my own
again
.

Wide-awake now,
he scrambled to his feet and went to seek Captain Alvarez who was
supervising the looting. He and his men knew the worth of some of
the items that were being brought quayside in a steady trickle.

The Captain
started as he heard his name being shouted.

“Captain
Alvarez,” Andrew was running towards him at full tilt. His
voice-tone was ecstatic with joy although the words that bubbled
from his lips were most definitely not what Carlos Alvarez wanted
to hear with the ransack only halfway to completion.

“Aoalvaldr is
dead.”

“What?”

“Aoalvaldr is
dead.”

“How did he
die?”

“One moment he
was here,” Andrew tapped his head with a grimy finger, “the next he
was gone.” Andrew began to calm down as the full realisation hit
him that he was free of Aoalvaldr at long last. He burst into great
racking sobs of relief.

Alvarez thought
hard. He had to assume that the evil-looking Larg commander had
died fighting. Had it only been him who had died or had the rest of
his warriors perished as well? He decided not to wait around to
find out. The Vada might be on their way.

Ordering the
most easily carried and valuable items to be shipped aboard at
once, he sounded out the recall.

He and his
would be out of here before he could say ‘cat-o’-nine-tails’.

“Grab what you
can and come with us,” he said to Andrew, picking up a box filled
to the brim with valuable oddments, “offer’s still open if you care
to join us.”

Andrew wiped
his tears away and did as he was bidden.

I am free, I
am free at last
, he was thinking as he stumbled up the
gangplank,
thank the gods for the Vada.

* * * * *

The David’s
Keep garrison watched as first one ship, then another, and another
tacked into the harbour.

“Transports,”
observed Louis Randall, “ I’ve seen them in the south. Used for sea
trade mostly although they have a shallower draught than you might
think.”

“Filled to the
gunnels with Larg,” said Francis, “how many vessels do you
count?”

“About twenty
all told and I can see six large galleys on the tip of the horizon
too.”

“They look
fully loaded,” said Ross. “Must have been uncomfortable for them
out there in the storm.”

“The galleys
will be carrying the regiments,” surmised Francis, “they’ll dock at
the jetty then the transports will unload the Larg.”

“They might
find that a mite problematical,” observed Geraldine with an evil
grin, “the fishermen hacked holes in the bottom of their boats as
they left Francis chuckled.

“Won’t delay
them long,” said Louis.

“They might
find the jetty itself a bit of a problem too,” Geraldine added,
“some of the pilings and jetty floor are, shall we say, a mite
unstable and covered with anything sharp and greasy we could find …
glass, pottery, even needles and the rotting contents of the fish
barrels. It’ll affect the Larg more than the men.”

When the Larg
kohorts spilled out of the transports, complaining about the state
of the jetty, Kohortangan Bvdmaldr sent out his scouts.

The telepathic
reports sent back by the scouts were encouraging. They had met up
with one small group of Lind only, not enough, not nearly enough to
stop the first wave of barges landing. This group had about-tailed
and fled.

He roared a
challenge filled with triumph.

He had
them!

: Lindars?
:

: No sign
Lindars :

It would take
days before enough Lindars and Vada could be gathered together to
stop him and by then all living creatures in southern Vadath would
be dead except for the kura and zarova herds who were to be rounded
up for transporting south. The man Sam Baker had been right to
insist that he attack now and not wait until midsummer.

Bvdmaldr licked
his lips with anticipation.

With only this
few to oppose him he would be able to send the two kohorts to round
up the herds and bring them in now. The man Baker’s regiments were
doing a good job of fortifying the area where they were landing;
the fence staves were going up and the outer ditch begun. The
transports that had brought them in would stand offshore to take
the herds; the second wave had barges of their own, towed by the
second string of pirate galleys.

His large head
pivoted towards the two kohorts.

They were eager
to be off, panting in their excitement. Their orders were to sweep
round the coastal lowlands gathering up the herds as they went.

By the time
they returned, the remainder of the first wave of kohorts and the
second wave would have cleared the immediate area and would be
ranging upriver towards the stronghold, there to meet Aoalvaldr
moving south.

The Lindars
were in their own rtathlians, not expecting an attack until
midsummer. The Vada were dotted along the Argyll coast waiting for
an attack that would not come, then the controlled withdrawal
south, the Vadath herds decimated, the Vada and their people dead;
to a hero’s welcome.

Whilst Bvdmaldr
was planning how he and Aoalvaldr would destroy the peoples of the
land of Vadath in a pincer movement, Jim was planning a pincer
movement of his own.

Francis and
Asya would have to hold the kohorts at the Keep to give the Lindars
and Vada time to reach them in enough numbers to be able to defeat
them.

Francis was
pleased with the way Geraldine had prepared David’s Keep. She had
strengthened the walls and laid in a stock of food and water.
Unfortunately not all of the more outlying farms and settlements
had been evacuated which was why the Lindars were approaching from
the west. The rescue parties also needed time to get the
inhabitants away.

Francis hoped
these rescue parties would be able to get to these people before
the Larg did. Sending more vadeln-pairs out had left those at
David’s Keep even more outnumbered but there was no help for it,
Francis had, during the last eight years, thoroughly imbued the
Lind duty to defend the helpless. In fact, vadeln-pairs took a
solemn oath to that effect when they joined the Vada and if that
meant laying down their lives for the greater good, then those at
the Keep were prepared to do precisely that.

: We must hold
them until reinforcements arrive :

: Do you
think they attack us here ? :
asked Asya.

: They won’t be
able to resist :

The Larg would
have to attack the Keep up the one narrow path. Fallen tree trunks
had been dragged across it to make the ascent even more difficult.
To the Keep’s rear lay the river gorge and this side and the other
two had steep cliffs, hopefully almost impossible for the Larg to
negotiate.
Really
, thought Francis,
it is a perfect place
for a defence, impregnable if only I had more than two hundred
fighters.

All the Larg
really had to do was place a guard at the foot of the ravine and
move on but the Larg were not emotionally suited to leaving enemies
alive to their rear. They would attack and if Francis could keep
the main Larg force busy trying to take the Keep, it would give the
reinforcements time to get here.

From his
vantage point, he watched as the second wave of Larg and regiments
arrived.

Geraldine stood
beside him. She was counting. “Twenty-four,” she murmured, ”I can
count twenty-four galleys now. We know they have over thirty.”

“Maybe Baker
didn’t manage to persuade them all to take part,” was Francis’s
suggestion.

Geraldine shook
her head.

“Where are the
other galleys?”

“They will be
at the stronghold,” he answered.

Bvdmaldr did
not wait. He sent three kohorts to the Keep.

This first wave
of attackers struck but the shale impeded their climb up the hill
and those who did reach the walls found that the jagged
shale-shards sticking out of the ground in front of them most
punishing on the paws.

Enough of them
got through to make life interesting for those inside. The most
close-fought area was at the gate. The defenders held on, even the
wounded returning to the walls after their hurts had been seen
to.

The Larg
attacked throughout the long afternoon.

“They’re
attacking again,” came a shout from the left ravine.

: Wings of
Lai. Will they never let up? :
complained Francis.

Asya did the
Lind impersonation of a shrug.

: I not think
they know how :

Seconds later
and they were fighting for their lives once more. How long had they
been here? You killed one and two others crawled over the body and
attacked. The Larg corpses were piled up in front of the walls and
smelt of blood, excrement and death.

Alan and Kiltya
went down, despite what Francis and Asya could do to save them. The
two had gone to help a newly graduated pair who were coming off
badly in a tussle with some Larg who had managed to get themselves
on top of the walls and, although they managed to rescue the duo,
Alan was crushed underneath the falling bodies. Francis watched as
Kiltya’s eyes went flat as she realised her Alan had gone. With a
howl of incandescent rage and loss she jumped on top of the walls.
She stood for a few seconds selecting her target then leapt to her
death amongst her enemies.