Conflict and Courage Read online

  “And the children?”

  “Boys to the battalion, girls?” He shrugged eloquently. “Who knows? I kept myself much to myself, less chance of being recognised. I certainly saw no sign of any of the girls who originally fled with me although I knew they were up in the Fort.”

  “What will you do once you have delivered Cherry and Joseph?”

  “I’ll stay at pack – Ratvei – you said?”

  Laura nodded.

  “The horses are there. I’m going to breed them. I have a plan.” He sat forward and looked at Laura, “In twelve years we will be able to sell the surplus males for riding or harness. In twenty, there will be enough in the mother herd to allow for the sale of mares as well. I have been thinking hard over the last year. In the time since we landed we have lost much of the technology we came with. Before I die more knowledge will have gone. Our ancestors used the horse successfully, why can’t we? Not everyone can call on a Lind to get them from (a) to (b). If I’ve done my calculations right, in a century and a half there will be around twenty thousand horses on this planet, all from the original six mares, how amazing is that?”

  Francis put the letter away and sat down.

  “I agree with you. Solar panels will be gone in a generation. Alternative fuels are hard to come by. The oil deposits are low grade and sparse. We are looking at an agrarian society in the future although the doctors and scientists are doing their best to ensure essential knowledge is written down.”

  “The computers?” asked Laura.

  “Already failing,” answered Francis.

  Gerry had a ‘told you so’ sort of look about him.

  “Is Gerry right?” asked Laura as she clambered into bed that night.

  “Yes love, it has already started. He gestured at the oil lamps that lighted their room, “and perhaps it is no bad thing. We have warmth, food, clothes and light and enough of each. I haven’t heard many complaints.”

  “Even in Argyll?”

  “Someone will find something to be disgruntled about, human nature being what it is, but most of our people are farmers, used to relying on their own resources to a greater extent than those brought up in urban areas and there are compensations. Who would have believed it back then? All these generations of space exploration and never a sentient or intelligent being found and now here at the other side of the galaxy we find the Lind.”

  Francis left the rest unsaid. It didn’t matter; Laura was sound asleep.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER 14 - RTATHLIANS OF THE LIND

  A few days later, the group from the south plus Baltvei set out for the rtathlians of the Lind. As they were all mounted, Gerry taking young Gavin before him again with Joseph riding on his own, they made good time.

  “They are coming!” Jenny’s shout was filled with joyous anticipation as she and Savei ran at full pelt towards the horse paddocks.

  Jessica looked up. She was checking one of the dapple-grey mare’s hind hooves having noticed that she had been favouring it. She wanted Gerry to know that she had been taking care of his horses well.

  The six mares and their foals had been groomed to within an inch of their lives. The colt had been most displeased with her ministrations and was now enjoying himself rolling in the mud. Jessica watched his antics with a great deal of exasperation.

  “Come up to the domta and meet them,” Jenny urged. “Mount pillion behind me and Savei will run like the wind.”

  So it was that, when the weary group arrived, Jessica was standing beside white Ratvei, Elda of his pack and waiting for Gerry and the others’ formal welcome.

  The entire rtath had come out to greet these newcomers with many wagging tails, whines and yelps of excitement (this last from the ltsctas). Jenny was bobbing around astride Savei, desperate to see her mother and little brother Gavin again after all these months.

  Jessica stood stiffly, inwardly a bundle of nerves, however calm and collected she looked from the outside, she was nearly as excited as her friend, but hers was an excitement tinged with sadness that her mother was not amongst those who now approached the rtathlian. She also felt shy at the thought of meeting Gerry again. It was, she thought, odd how often she had thought about the horse-handler during the past months.

  There were squeals of excitement from both welcoming and the welcomed as the two groups spied each other.

  Savei and Jenny made the distance between the two groups in a winkling and she, Savei, Lysbet and Gavin were soon in the middle of a happy get-together, one which Savei was enjoying tremendously, if his rapidly wagging tail was anything to go by.

  Jessica recognised Joseph first, he was in front of the other humans. Her brother waved as he dismounted and began to run towards her. Cherry followed more sedately, reserved and quiet, only ten in years but much older in temperament. Padding beside her was Baltvei, tail wagging slowly as if unsure of his welcome. He stood to one side throughout the tearful embraces then Cherry disentangled herself from her big sister’s arms to say, “this is Baltvei, Jessica. He helped rescue us. He says he and I will be together always.”

  Jessica had been warned of the pairing so was not as astonished at his arrival with Cherry as she might have been. She greeted Baltvei in fluent Lindish. He seemed surprised at her grasp of his language and his tail began to rise up as it wagged harder.

  Gerry himself bypassed the emotive reunions and approached Ratvei for the formal words of welcome. Laura had explained that this would be expected of him. He looked over at the Howard threesome.

  By chance Jessica looked up at the same instant. Their eyes met.

  Great Stars, thought Gerry as he saw the slender and beautiful girl and realised she was a girl no longer. It was as a young woman that Jessica returned his gaze.

  He smiled and some of the strain left Jessica’s face. Gerry was here at last. She felt herself begin to blush and, to hide her confusion, bent down and gave Joseph another hug. He squirmed away, embarrassed. Did she not realise he was a big boy now?

  Gerry remained with Ratvei and underwent the formal welcome. He had rehearsed the traditional words and managed quite well although he still found the accent difficult. From this vantage point, he continued to watch the Howards. He had fulfilled his promise to Jessica’s father, almost; at least his three children were safe now.

  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 Che
rry 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.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER 15 - VADATH

  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.