Conflict and Courage Read online

  “So that’s what she has been teasing you about,” Francis said through his chuckles. “What a joke! Here was I embarrassed about some Lind calling a town after me or Asya and here is your vadeln-pair calmly intending to call what is, in effect, a whole country after you!”

  “I have said no loudly and often,” laughed the embarrassed Jim. “There is no way my name is going to be used and that’s final. The Lind were here long before we were, it will be a Lind name or nothing at all do you hear?”

  “Okay, keep your hair on,” answered Francis, “but I can’t wait to tell Laura and Faddei about this.”

  “You can tell these two but it goes no further. If word gets out I will be the butt of jokes for ages, Kolyei especially, you know what a tease he is.”

  “Kolyei isn’t laughing much these days Jim. He is too worried about Tara. He tells Asya that she is not recovering well from the trauma of the last year. I think we forget that she lost her entire family during the cosmic storm on the Argyll and then she was thrust into war without so much as a by-your-leave. Remember, she is only thirteen years old.”

  “That girl has too vivid an imagination. Of course, that’s what makes her able to write and tell stories the way she does. I wish we hadn’t been forced to take them to the battle, but at the time, there wasn’t anyone else able enough to take charge of the communications’ pivot. However, that situation shouldn’t happen again and no child under fourteen will have to fight, they will be sixteen or even eighteen if I can manage it.” Jim thumped his fist down on a nearby cushion to emphasise this last point.

  “You and I are of the same mind on that score,” said Francis, “even in the Vada, the under sixteens are to be designated inactive and will remain in the stronghold.”

  “How are you going to manage that?”

  “We’ve been discussing it. Laura, Faddei and Asya worked it out. Under sixteen will be junior cadets, sixteen upward seniors. Promotion to an active troop when they are ready and only when they reach eighteen.”

  “The Lind agree?”

  “The Lind consider their own young to be fully adult once they reach fourteen summers old and some find the human concept of adulthood at eighteen-years-old a difficult one to understand but even they agree that untrained, unprepared and young cavalry vadeln-pairs are more of a hindrance than a help. You know the Lind mindset – protection of the young and vulnerable. Even the most experienced of their warriors can’t fight the Larg and survive whilst keeping one eye on the youngsters. I think too that at last the Lind are beginning to understand that human youngsters develop differently to theirs. A child doesn’t have the strength and stamina needed for hours of close combat although I know that there will always be exceptions.”

  “Are young Louis Randall and Ustinya a case in point? He is a well-grown specimen and his sword-work is excellent,” admitted Jim.

  “True,” answered Francis, “but most of the youngsters, especially the girls, need time to learn the skills required. That’s one reason why we’ll be splitting the youngsters up by age. If they pair at fourteen or younger, they will have at least two years in the junior section before joining the senior. For a while though, we may have to use the seniors on patrol. I can only field three full troops at the moment, we are so under strength.”

  “Talking about training, have you persuaded that genius with a sword to leave his farm to come to the Vada as Weaponsmaster yet? Last I heard Robert Lutterell was not at all keen to let him go. He was champion fencer on the ship for years. Strange how I always thought of it as an archaic sport, not much use in the real world.”

  “He always said that it might come in useful one day. I took a few lessons from him but never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be fighting large vicious brutes of wolves for real.”

  “None of us did.”

  “I have hopes that he can be persuaded,” added Francis, “you know Jsei of pack Ratvei, he who paired with Geraldine Fitzpatrick during the battle?”

  Jim nodded.

  “Well, it seems that he has a sister, from the same litter and she wants to join the Vada. I’m sending her off to the Dahlstrom farm with Geraldine, Jsei, Louis and Ustinya. I have a gut feeling that if Mislya finds Wilhelm suitable, he might well find her persuasive powers difficult to resist.”

  “So you have high hopes that he and his family will be joining you before winter?”

  “Most definitely. Mislya is a most attractive female and as I’m reliably told, very determined.”

  “Jsei has promised to tell me when,” interrupted Asya.

  “When, not if? You seem sure of success,” said Jim, turning towards her.

  “I know Mislya. She is a good fighter.”

  “She fought with the Ratvei Lindar in the battle?”

  “Yes. Mislya saw Wilhelm when he was fighting with the infantry but she could not find him when Larg fled. Now Mislya’s hurts are better and she goes to get him.”

  There was a distinct aura of satisfaction in Asya’s voice as she added, “we need a human to teach you the best way to use sword. Vada need him. Mislya will explain and he will understand and come to Vada.”

  “I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” promised Jim.

  Asya looked puzzled, a look echoed by Jim’s own Larya.

  “What you mean by keep fingers crossed? Why do you do this?”

  Jim sighed and proceeded to explain to the inquisitive Lind. They always wanted to know and enjoyed putting their human partners on the spot. Privately Jim thought that they understood such sayings well enough and only asked for the explanations out of a perverse sense of mischief.

  Larya’s mental chuckle confirmed his suspicions.

  * * * * *

  So here I am, thought Jim as he sat down beside Larya the next morning, whoever would have thought two years ago that I would be sitting in conference on a planet light years away from my home system with an alien species that resemble horse-sized wolves?

  The delegates were ensconced in a sheltered clearing in the centre of domta Afanasei. The humans present were seated on rough-hewn benches made from fallen trees. The Lind made themselves comfortable on the springy turf.

  Delegates from the four Lind packs or rtath that lived in the lands jointly allocated to humans and Lind were present. Blue striped Afanasei, newly elected leader of his pack after the death of his predecessor Zanatei in the battle two months before, was present and beside him Tarmsei, the recently promoted Susa, commander of pack Afanasei’s Lindar, its fighting arm.

  The leaders of packs Malkei, Ranetei and Velsei sat nearby, together with their own Susas. Interspersed with the pack representatives sat Francis McAllister, his Asya beside him, as Susas of the Vada and James Rybak and his vadeln-pair Rozya with her mate Matvei. To their left sat Winston Randall, the only human present with no Lind life-partner. All but Winston were fairly proficient in Lindish by this time and even he had enough command of the language to follow well enough. Making up the numbers was Kolyei, sitting close to the veterinary surgeon, on paw to provide a translation if needed. It had been decided that the conference should be held in Lindish rather than Standard, the human tongue.

  “Crtath, welcome,” began Afanasei. As leader of the rtath hosting the meeting it was beholden on him to make the first announcement. “I ask Susyc Jim to speak.” He turned to Jim, inclining his hairy head in an invitation.

  Jim stood up.

  He looked at the interested faces gazing at him and prompted by Larya, began, “it is my honour to report that the Larg and convict armies have been defeated.” He paused for a moment.

  : Keep going, you are doing fine : Larya ‘thought-sent’ the encouraging message.

  “We have hopes that they will not try again in the near future. I think they were surprised at the courage and determination we all showed. I am proud of all who fought. Available intelligence, scant though it is, suggests that the Larg are in disarray and that their commander, Aoalvaldr, is in disgrace. We do not think that the convict
s in the south will attempt another invasion without Larg support.”

  “Do you think they will try again?” asked Winston, in Lindish with an atrocious accent.

  “Within our lifetimes, yes, I think they will. The convicts did not get what they came for. They fled only when the Larg lines broke.” He surveyed the assembled and gave a half-bow in the direction of the Susas and Francis, “and for that we have the Lindars and the Vada to thank. We well know the cost of our victory.”

  “The Larg wish to rule all,” said white Malkei, Elda of his green striped pack. “We know this. They will be back, with or without these bad men.”

  “Yes,” agreed Jim, “and it is the alliance between them that makes the situation so dangerous. Up until now you have known where and mostly when, the Larg will attack. This is true no longer. Recent reports state that the convicts now have boats. The entire coastline is under threat, winter and summer. We will have to set up a system of coastline patrols.”

  Jim paused, waiting for the reaction. It was not long in coming.

  “Lindar Jalkei protects in the east,” protested Velsei.

  “They only patrol where islands are,” was Malkei’s mild comment. He looked at Jim. “What do you suggest?”

  “I do have a proposal.”

  Sixteen pairs of eyes focused on their Susyc.

  “Our four home packs and the Vada must patrol all along our southern coast, also the colonists in Argyll have begun to spread north up the east coast and have asked for protection.”

  “Can they not defend themselves?” asked Velsei.

  “The Vada have agreed that they have an obligation,” Jim continued, ignoring the interruption, “an obligation to defend all of the free peoples in the north, Lind and human and they shall do so, no matter what the cost. Their numbers are few, they can scarce field more than two hundred vadeln-paired and there is a lot of coast to protect. Rtath Ratvei has agreed to send half a Lindar into Argyll to the east coast and also rtath Vanya, but this can and will only be a temporary measure until the Vada has enough fighting pairs.”

  There were whines and murmurs of approbation.

  “Lind must protect all,” said Matvei in agreement.

  “I have asked Robert Lutterell in Argyll and he has agreed that more Vada recruits can be searched out from amongst his people,” added Jim, “all packs have been requested to send unattached Lind to find their life-mates but it will take time to train them.”

  “Many are eager to join Vada,” said Velsei, “the Ruza of the battle is the Vada.”

  Velsei turned to his own Susa who looked anxious. “What do you think?”

  The white Susa commanding rtath Velsei’s Lindar thought for a moment before he spoke. “There the snow land as well,” he cautioned. “Wral and gtran come down and hunt. We need protect rtatha. Who will protect the young and old if we are at coast?”

  “He has a point,” admitted Afanasei.

  The Velsein Susa turned to Jim. “Talei am I. Lindar Velsei lost many in battle with Larg. Like Vada we are short of experienced fighters.”

  “We all are,” answered Asya. “Need time for ltsctas and human young to grow.”

  In normal circumstances, the Larg would be unlikely to return for at least two seasons after such an extensive defeat, but as Jim pointed out, these were not the normal, more traditional circumstances.

  “For good or ill,” declared Jim, “mankind is here. I could wish that the convicts on the Electra had seen fit to go elsewhere, the Larg would have been quite enough to deal with on their own.”

  “That understatement,” said Afanasei, “we thought this ourselves.”

  “Are we agreed then?” asked Jim.

  “I speak for us all when I say we are,” answered Afanasei after a rapid telepathic interchange with the other three pack-leaders.

  “They’ll not always be like this you know,” reflected Jim.

  “Who?” queried a confused Malkei who might be forgiven for not understanding who were the ‘they’.

  “The convicts. In a few generations they will have forgotten their beginnings here.”

  “We can but hope,” said Winston to no one in particular.

  Kolyei turned to Asya. “You and Asya leave for Vada domta soon,” he said.” We have agreed that the Vada must keep going. All rtaths will send unpaired to seek out human life-mates.”

  “I need at least two hundred,” warned Francis, “more if you can manage it and the older the better. If both vadeln-pairs are adult or almost so, they will be ready to fight that much sooner.”

  “Aren’t the fully adult the most unlikely to form life-bonds?” asked Winston, “also, many have families to support and might be unwilling to uproot and come east to us.”

  “The hopeful will not be drawn to the unwilling,” said Kolyei, pointing out the obvious.

  “Get them to us and we’ll train them. That’ll ease the load in the future,” said Francis. “We have begun to build the stronghold. Families are on their way to farm the land, few as yet, but numbers will grow.”

  There were no objections; all four home packs had a community of humans living within their pack borders although Afanasei’s was the largest. If some of these humans wished to farm in the lowlands to the south that was fine by them. The pack-leaders were confident that enough would remain within the rtathlians.

  “You will take responsibility to run Vada?” asked Ranetei, “to defend rtathlians?”

  “I pledge this,” vowed Francis.

  “We pledge this,” amended Asya.

  Winston Randall coughed and heads swivelled towards him. He looked diffident. “As we appear to be talking about setting up settlements, I feel that it is time that I told you of the hopes of a small group of us, human and Lind.”

  Afanasei nodded, Winston had told him he would be bringing this up. “Speak.”

  “We in the group are all medically trained,” Winston said slowly, with help from Kolyei. “We wish to set up another domta here in the rtathlians to train others. Any healers can come there to learn how to heal. My greatest wish is that we will train enough humans and Lind who will travel throughout the entire continent giving medical succour for injury and illness. We humans have much to learn from our Lind counterparts and visa versa.”

  He looked at the faces watching him and recognised pleased surprise.

  “The Vada needs trained medics,” agreed Francis, “we will send our people for training with you.” He was watching the others for their reactions.

  “Velsei will send Holad members to learn,” announced Velsei.

  “Malkei.”

  “Ranetei.”

  Winston Randall’s face broke into a smile.

  “We can do so much,” he declared, “we can save so many.”

  Human medics had saved hundreds of Lind lives on the battlefield, lives that would otherwise have been lost.

  “You have chosen place for this domta?” asked Rozya.

  “Not far to the south of here. Good water, plenty of trees. Vadath Holad domta will be the one where everyone wants to train.”

  “Vadath?” enquired Matvei. “What is Vadath?”

  Winston’s eyes ranged round. “Have I spoken out of turn?” he queried, not a whit abashed, “Kolyei did say.”

  Jim and Larya looked sternly at the blue-striped Lind at Winston’s side and Kolyei had the grace to look embarrassed.

  “I not think it big secret,” he said in defence but the twinkle in his eyes belied his words.

  “But what is this Vadath?” persisted Matvei.

  “Why! It’s the name of our country,” declared Jim. He most definitely did not want discussions on the matter. He did not know what else Kolyei had managed to pick up. Tara’s vadeln-pair was noted for his ability to ferret out information. “What else could it possibly be called? We have the rtathlians in the west. We have the country of Argyll to our east. Vadath is the best name for us. ‘Vad’ for two and the ‘ath’ part derived from rtath, pack. Two dispar
ate species coming together to form a huge pack in a wondrous and beautiful land. We humans here are not Lind, but neither are we of Argyll. We have chosen to live with you. We are of Vadath now.”

  Stunned silence!

  “It is agreed?” cried Jim. Everybody and everylind nodded. It was obvious to the humans that the Lind couldn’t see why it had to have a name at all. To the Lind a place name was transitory, but none had any real objection, it merely supported the Lind in their belief that all humans were slightly mad.

  Only Larya looked disappointed.

  : I think Jimsland sound better : was her disgruntled comment.

  : Never mind : ‘thought’ Jim back to her : I have no wish to go down in the histories as the name of a country :

  Asya wagged her tail, her eyes twinkling merrily. Francis looked at Jim who returned his look, daring him to say anything.

  Francis decided that discretion was the better part of valour and held his tongue.

  The conference was adjourned because nobody could think of any good reason for it to continue. Their country had a name, plans were in motion for its protection and all were in agreement about Winston Randall’s medical domta that would benefit all, not merely those lucky rtathen who were domiciled in Vadath.

  Francis and Asya would leave for the Vada stronghold some days later, taking with them Brian and Sofiya, the first new cadet duo to be entered in the Vada rolls that Francis would start as soon as they were settled and quarters built. As the weeks passed, a steady trickle of newly paired duos would arrive, helping out with the stronghold’s construction and waiting for their formal training to begin.

  To the overstretched Vada’s relief, the coasts remained quiet. Francis and Asya began to relax, thankful for the breathing space but knowing full well that it would not last forever.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER 2 - RTATHLIANS OF THE LIND

  In their own part of the continent, the Lind were holding a conference of their own. Mariya, Chief Elda of the Gtratha, otherwise known as the Gtrathlin had decided to take steps to stop the rumblings of discontent.