by Candy Rae
The morning chosen by Francis and Asya as the one when military training for the embryo Vada was to start was cold although to his relief it was not snowing. Crisp frost covered the ground even close to the trees, and the men, women and teenagers shivered as they waited for the class to begin. Not that it mattered; they would soon be warm enough for anybody’s liking, too warm probably.
There were over three hundred vadeln-pairs waiting. For some of the siblings and parents who had elected to watch, this was a poignant moment; many of the boys and girls were disquietingly young. Francis thought so too, but rules were rules amongst the Lind: at fourteen one fought.
Although the majority of those chosen were over eighteen, some forty were much younger. One young lad had vadeln-paired on his fourteenth birthday. He was naturally considered adult in Lind terms and therefore eligible to join a Lindar and fight, but to his mother, standing to one side, he was still her son, far too young to go courting death in war. His Lind was, however, a veteran of her Lindar and if any Lind could keep the woman’s son safe, it would be she. Louis Randall was amongst these forty youngsters, aged from fourteen to sixteen, bunched at the rear. There was no way Francis was going to include them in the shock front ranks, however experienced their Lind.
The Lind were saddled and waiting. Francis and the others had spent long and tedious hours designing a saddle that was both comfortable and which also gave the rider the security and stability required to enable him or her to fight without falling off. Francis believed that they had got it right at last.
The zarova leather saddles bore little resemblance to those that countless human generations of horse troopers had used. They were thinner and more flexible for one thing: the Lind backbones and withers were not the same as horses. The saddles were designed with that in mind and the Lind could still weave left and right with the suppleness of the wolf. The saddle was secured on to the front of the body with a martingale, a girth fitted round the stomach. Behind the saddle, and after a lot of thought, a heavy flexible strap was fitted horizontally from left to right and attached to the girth to keep the saddle from moving forwards.
To compensate for the fact that the saddles had no pommel or cantle, the riders were actually strapped to the saddle with thick leather straps designed to keep the rider aboard no matter what convoluted cavorting the rider’s Lind got up to. It had the added advantage that if the rider was unconscious or badly wounded, they would still remain in the saddle, enabling his or her mount to escape the melee with his or her rider. If a rider needed to separate from his partner for any reason he or she need only unhook the buckles or could even cut the straps away. The rider’s feet rested in stirrups, also made of tough zarova leather that provided the rider with a platform on which he or she could brace their feet when fighting.
There were no reins. The rider’s free hand held on to the saddle front where a handhold was sewn. The rider sat forward, almost at the withers and gripped tightly with the legs. They had no shields. Francis was in two minds about that but had decided they’d be too difficult to manage for now. Maybe later they could be introduced when the riders had more experience.
The riders wore armour, also designed to be as flexible and light as possible and made of hardened leather. The Vada strength was intended to be in its speed and Francis did not want to weigh the Lind down.
All the humans wore a steelwood helmet, then leather lower and upper arm and leg guards and wrist plates. Many wore breast and back plates made of boiled leather and the others would have them as soon as they were ready. The Lind had realised the advantage of armour at once and many could be seen sporting a wide leather collar designed to protect their vulnerable necks from the sharp-edged Larg teeth.
Francis blew his whistle and the front rank formed up. On the second blow of the whistle they began to move forward. Asya stood beside Francis, mentally imparting the orders to the Lind who seemed to react that much faster than their riders, one or two of whom would have fallen off if they hadn’t been strapped on. On her order, they wheeled left, keeping in formation remarkably well for a first attempt. Francis decided to pick up the pace and watched as they circled round the training field, the majority, by now, at one with the faster gait. One of two of the riders began to grin complacently at Francis. That was a mistake. He smiled an inward smile and passed a very private order to Asya. Her eyes twinkled as she passed it on. The Lind stopped dead in their tracks, and one or two of the riders, caught unprepared, banged their heads painfully against their mounts’ necks. Francis groaned. They would have to do much better.
They did do better and as the days passed Francis became rather proud of his three hundred.
Even the threat of the coming war could not completely dampen Francis McAllister’s joy with his new life. His Vada’s expertise grew daily and Francis began to believe that they would play an important part in the campaign. He reported this increase in abilities to Jim (via Larya) who listened to his frequent updates with a great deal of relief. Jim was fighting against time to get the settlement ready. More Lind spies had returned, there was definitely an alliance forming between the Larg and the convicts. They would be facing a combined attack from the south come summer.
So Francis kept his Vada at it morning, afternoon and evening.
The younger vadeln were not exempt.
In vain did Agnes Crawford plead that Peter, at ten, was too young. Francis listened but would not be swayed.
“Jim and Larya have ordered this and I can’t make exceptions to the rule. Jim and Larya are my superior officers. I am sorry Agnes but learn he must.”
What Francis did not say was that Jim had expressly ordered that Tara must learn and that it would be best if all the pre-teens joined her. He wondered again what Jim’s plans were for the girl.
Tara had accepted that she must train with the calm acceptance the adults at the domta were coming to associate with her. Only her eyes betrayed her fear.
Francis did make one concession. The young ones were to be trained separately from those who made up the main Vada ranks and detailed an ex-crew member from the Argyll, Ross and his vadeln Lililya, to take charge. A thin, wiry man in his early thirties, he showed a distinct aptitude for teaching.
Emily and Ilyei joined Tara, Peter and the others, her medical studies under Talya’s tuition being put on hold for the duration.
Under Ross and Lililya’s kindly eyes, the youngsters learned how to use a sword. They lacked strength and stamina and Ross, instead of lessons on how to charge and attack, taught them instead how to defend themselves and how to evade a fight. Of the forty or so vadeln-pairs that formed what was called ‘the baby class’, much to their embarrassment, only Kolyei and Ilyei and a few others amongst the Lind were old enough to have fought in a battle before.
But life was not all work and no play.
The eleven original children and Kath often met together, despite the fact that they were no longer the only humans at the domta. There was an unspoken feeling amongst them that they were a special type of family and should keep together.
Tara and Peter, being the youngest, had formed a close friendship over the past months, much to the gratification of Radya and Kolyei whose attachment to each other had begun to blossom. Emily and Thomas also began to be seen as a couple despite their young age. As Janice Randall had said to Emily’s mother, teenagers grew up quickly in these troubled times.
The Lind, naturally enough, saw nothing strange in such a phenomenon. In their eyes, both Emily and Thomas were adult. Stasya and Ilyei were pleased as well, Ilyei saying to anyone or any Lind who would listen, that Stasya had a well-turned paw.
“I hate arms practice,” declared Peter one evening. “I wish we didn’t have to do it.”
“You should see what the grown-ups are doing,” said Tara. “Louis came back to the daga yesterday and he was black and blue. I don’t think he slept a wink last night he was so sore and bruised.” Those teenagers aged sixteen and deemed strong and mature enough had been move
d from the ‘baby class’ to join with the more adult in training.
“Dad says Francis is pushing them because he must,” continued Peter. His voice faded as he gazed around him. “Where is Kolyei?”
“He was called to see Zanatei. Is Radya with him?”
“She went hunting,” he answered. “Said she would return by bedtime.”
“Your mum still insisting you go to bed early?” teased Tara.
Peter squirmed in embarrassment and complained, “She’s so clingy – wants me beside her the whole time.”
Tara could understand why. Her thirteenth birthday was some weeks away but with her quaint older air about her, which made adults forget her years, they said things in front of her that might have been better left unsaid. Kolyei too was older than Peter’s Radya and had a different perspective on some things.
“What do you expect?” she said. “She’s your mum and when we all disappeared like we did she must have been frantic with worry. Probably thought you were dead. Bear with it. It will pass.”
Peter did not look convinced.
Tara felt much older than him at that point, a feeling she was to retain for many years to come.
“At least Jim and Larya will be home soon,” she said. “I’ve missed them.”
“Aren’t you happy with the Randalls?”
“Yes I am. It’s not the same though. I wish Mama and Papa were still alive, and Mark. They would have loved it here, Papa especially, he did so love adventures.”
“Are you calling the war an adventure?”
“Not an adventure exactly, more like a nightmare,” she answered.
The two sat together in an awkward silence then Peter stood up with relief as he sensed the approach of his Lind-partner.
“Radya’s here,” he announced and sped away, intent on spending time alone with her before his mother searched him out for bath, supper and bed.
Left alone, Tara remained where she was, lost in thought and remembering happy times past. She wondered absently where Kolyei was. His meeting with Zanatei must be important to keep him away so long. Had she known what was being discussed, her thoughts would not have been so easy.
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