by Candy Rae
This time terrifying images did not haunt her dreams. They did try to return but it was as if a nebulous sheet of light was between her and them and she sheltered within the protection they provided. Within the light a shadow was moving. Beth walked beside this shadow under tall trees, serene and content. She wanted this part of the dream to last forever.
Of course it could not. Morning came at last and Harld arrived, set down the bundle he was carrying on a small table and opened the shutters of the tiny cabin.
“Good sleep?” he asked with grave courtesy.
Beth sat up and rubbed her eyes.
“If you wash and then dress? The tub is through that door there. In the bundle I’ve packed some spare clothes for your journey in case you need them and a bedroll. They’re waiting outside. Altei, the Lind who has consented to carry you to Vada knows the route well, I think I told you last night that there are no Supply Stations on the way, this close to the Stronghold we don’t need them.”
Beth nodded sleepily, her brain still fogged with the dreams.
“Boots too, I’ve put them on the table. They’re not new but should fit well enough. It’s not as if you’ll be walking.”
He made for the door adding as he went, “come when you’re ready. Breakfast is waiting.”
Beth was very hungry. She made haste to do as she was bidden and stepped outside. Now it was light she could look round.
The hamlet was set back from the coast a little ways enclosed by gigantic trees, but she could still hear the waves. The cabins were built differently than in her father’s demesne, the buildings were wider and lower, their roofs almost touching the ground. The doors were wider as well and could be swung open easily; she realised this was so that the Lind could pass in and out without the problem of handles and locks. There was a well in the centre of the hamlet and around it, not two but five Lind were lounging, taking their ease in the sunshine.
They looked at her with interest and she stared back at them.
One of them rose to its feet. Its face crinkled into what could only be a smile. It had very large white teeth. It also spoke.
“Beth.”
The fascinated Beth could only stand and stare.
“I am Altei.”
Beth wondered what to do. How did one greet a Lind? However, she was not a Duke’s daughter for nothing. She might not know how to read, write nor reckon much but she did know her manners.
She curtsied.
The other four Lind she noticed, appeared to find her action somewhat amusing. They began to wag their tails and to whine. Was this how the Lind laughed?
She flushed in embarrassment.
“You have met our friends then?” Harld asked, walking towards her, “and Altei has introduced himself too I see. You’ll get to know him better during your travelling. He will teach you about Vadath and the Lind.”
“Yes,” Beth faltered.
“First though it’s breakfast and then I’ll send you both on your way.”
Surprising herself, Beth answered, “I’m looking forward to it.”
Harld looked at her although all he said was, “glad to hear it. Perhaps Alya and I’ll see you at Vada when we get a spot of leave.”
“You and Alya are in the Vada?” asked Beth over breakfast.
“Where else,” he declared with pride, tapping his chest, “with this uniform? We’ve been serving over thirty years! It’s an honourable profession, especially here in Vadath, Argyll too.”
“What does the Vada do exactly? I never even heard of it until a tenday or so ago. You’re soldiers, aren’t you? A special kind of soldier.”
“We’re a cavalry army, much better and faster than the horse cavalry. Better fighters too.”
“Have you fought? Are there wars here?”
“Bless you child, no. This is Vadath. Alya and I, before I got too stiff, fought the pirates and some nasty large predators that inhabit the mountains to the north, the gtran and the wral, fearsome beasts both.”
“No Dukes, no Barons, no Thanes? No King?”
“No need. We just get on with our lives. The four home-pack domtas and domta Winston lie to the north; it’s woodier there. Most humans live on the plains and lowlands. It’s different in Argyll. It is divided into wards, I don’t rightly remember how many and their rulers are elected. There’s a Council there as well, at Stewarton, but you’ll learn all that in lessons. That’s not to say that some families in Argyll aren’t rich and powerful but if they started calling themselves ‘Lord This’ and ‘Lady That’ they’d be laughed out of town.”
“It will be nice to be an ordinary person,” said Beth with satisfaction.
: Nothing ordinary about this one : Altei telepathed to Alya.
: You might be right :
: I know I am :
: Is she for you? :
: No : Altei’s reply was regretful.
Harld helped her mount Altei, showing her how to fasten the leather straps that would keep her in the saddle then he fastened on the saddlepacks.
“Don’t worry about feeding Altei,” he advised, “Vada is only a three-day or so journey away and he’ll catch something himself if he gets peckish. The Lind don’t need to eat a big meal every day. When you’re getting tired, tell him. Your water bottle is in with the food.” He then placed her hands on the raised pommel strap of the saddle.
“Hold on to this.”
“Thank you,” Beth said, “you’ve been very kind.”
“My pleasure, young damsel of the South,” he answered, “It’s not every day that someone as pretty as you arrives on my doorstep.”
He stepped back.
“Run well … we will meet again soon.”
He nodded to Altei who took the hint and bounded away, slowly at first then faster and faster still. The wind flipped at her short curls, at her face. She laughed with delight.
She was free. She was in Vadath. She was of Vadath now!
* * * * *
Convergence (3)
The second member of the quartet had known for a number of years that to be the human half of a vadeln-pair and to join the Vada was her future.
Jessica Crawford was fourteen and came from Vadath itself, the only one of the four to do so. Her family farmed west of the Vada Stronghold, at the western edge of the great arable plains where most of the human citizens of Vadath lived and worked. Her great-grandparents on her mother’s side had moved to Vadath from a farm in northern Argyll when first their only son James had paired with a Lind and joined the Vada and then their daughter married one of the same. Her father, David Crawford was descended from generations of serving vadeln-pairs. Her Great-Uncle James, although sixty years old, was still a serving vadeln at Vada although he was no longer part of an active-duty Ryzck.
Mlei, Jessica’s Lind pair, had singled her out as his future human partner when barely out of puppyhood and Jessica a toddler of six. The young Jessica had romped and played with Mlei and his littermates throughout the long summers of her childhood.
Their mental ties had therefore been formed a long time before this day and on Jessica ‘coming of age’ earlier that month, all Mlei had had to do was to telepathically inform her that he was on his way. The formal acceptance of the bond had thus been very low-key. The two had been sharing their innermost thoughts for years.
Jessica’s mother Anne watched her eldest daughter leave that morning with resignation. Jessica’s grandfather had been killed in a fight with the gtran when she herself had been only seven years old and although she knew this day had been bound to come, she was filled with misgivings. A lifetime of service within the Vada was an honourable one.
“Don’t forget to remind your Uncle James to visit before he and Siya head west.”
“I won’t mother,” promised Jessica. She knew that her uncle and his Lind Siya were only remaining at Vada to welcome Jessica and Mlei, the first of her generation to accept the challenge.
Anne Crawford waved goodbye. Jessica’s younger s
ister Anne, known as Annette to differentiate her from her mother, her brother Xavier and baby sister Ruth watched her go, the latter with envy in her gaze. Her father David had said goodbye earlier, he was by now some miles away. This was market day. The early root crops were ready for sale and a farmer’s duties waited for no man, even for a daughter leaving home.
* * * * *
The third member of the quartet had always wanted to become vadeln to a Lind and had done her level best to become so.
To the east, in the human country of Argyll, she was halfway through her term of Garda training. Not that every teenager took the time to complete the training these days, but Tana's father knew his duty and, at his daughter’s insistence, had sent her along with her other yearmates, although he had refused to pay for the more extensive private instruction like some of her fellow students. He did not wish his eldest daughter to make a career out of soldiering. Clothier Cartwright was ambitious and his plans for the future expansion of his business included the advantageous marriage of his young daughter to the son of one of his rivals.
The same day as Anne Crawford bade a tearful goodbye to Jessica, Tana Cartwright bounced out of her bunk. Not that there was supposed to be anything special happening this day but it was an acknowledged fact amongst her friends that Tana was always up with the malinon, not for her to lounge in her bunk until reveille sounded. She was a real livewire, always on the go. She didn’t want to waste a moment of her term at Settlement. She dressed with her usual economy of movement after running back from the ablutions block.
“It’s a gorgeous morning,” she announced to no-one in particular as she fastened the buttons on the simple grey uniform tunic they all wore.
There were groans from the other bunks. This was a rest day and the students were permitted an extra bell-time in their beds before they rose to perform their daily chores after which they would be set free until curfew. Tana and her girlfriends fully intended to take advantage of their free day and were planning an excursion into town later.
“I’m going for a walk before breakfast,” she continued to her unresponsive audience, “see you when the bell rings.”
Suiting actions to her words Tana made for the door, being careful to shut it quietly behind her (the training corporal slept in a slip of a room nearby and did not appreciate rude awakenings on rest days – as Tana had learned to her cost) and made her way down the narrow stairs, her boots, despite her best efforts, clumping on the wood. She made for the courtyard, expecting it to be deserted.
Not so that morning. The yard was filled to overflowing with Lind. Their heads swivelled round as they sensed her presence, as did the officers who were assembled en masse to her left.
Tana was quick on the uptake. She took in the scene before her, noting that none of the four-pawed visitors had humans with them. It was not a Vada troop, or Ryzck as they were known, these were Lind looking to life-bond. It didn’t happen every term she knew; what luck that they had decided to come now. Before anyone thought to stop her, Tana turned and ran back through the barracks’ door, up the stairs, boots resounding staccato-like on the hardwood and burst into the dormitory. She ignored the angry shout from the corporal.
“The Lind are here, masses and masses of them,” she cried in a stentorian voice. “Get up everybody and come and see.”
“Stop the joke right now,” commanded a girl with a hard-looking face.
“I’m not joking, honest.”
One or two heads lifted from the pillows.
“None of the officers said anything yesterday,” announced one girl.
“They never do,” replied Tana, “get up, do and let’s go and find out.”
Down in the courtyard the officers looked at each other with rueful expressions.
“That’s torn it,” said one, “I forgot that Tana would be up with the dawn, rest day or no.”
“We’d better get organised,” said another, “they’ll all be down within a quarter bell, or less.” He turned an inquiring look at the Lind.
“We go to the field,” uttered a large violet-striped male, “you will bring candidates to us there?”
“I will. Do you require anything else?”
“Water is there. We will drink. Eat later.”
“I’ll send a runner to warn you when we are marching them out. You wish to see everyone who would like to be given the chance?”
“Yes. A hundred of us we are. All wish to find vadeln.”
“I have a couple of older men who might be interested?”
The Lind nodded agreement as he turned to follow his four-pawed companions to the practice field, the traditional place.
“I take it that was a yes?” asked the Major of his fellow officers, “not that they choose those of mature years very often.”
“I’ll let the cooks know.”
So it was that when the barracks emptied itself of its excited youngsters, the Lind were gone from the courtyard.
Some looked at Tana accusingly but there was no time to say anything. The sergeants were ordering them into file so any comments remained unsaid. There was some jostling as the students formed up, the more slow-witted still wondering if young Tana had been joking with them, others realising that she probably had seen what she claimed, why else would they be forming up on a rest day?
It was at this point that the officers explained the situation and told any person who did not wish the chance to bond with a Lind that they could dismiss. A few did, including the hard-faced girl who had complained earlier.
Thank goodness, Tana thought as her squad marched to the practice field. The girl was not one of her favourite people, oh jumping jiminikins, what luck! Tana had a dream, to be chosen by a Lind, to ride off with him to Vadath, there to become a great warrior of renown and here she was, surely she was in with a chance?
She never spoke about this dream, even to her oldest friends, frightened they would laugh at her. Tana was the smallest of the twelve to fifteen-year-olds presently learning basic swordsmanship and defence in accordance with the law of Argyll which said that a certain proficiency with weapons must be achieved before one reached the age of sixteen, although these days the law was upheld only in the southerly wards and along the coasts.
Tana was smaller by a head than the smallest of the other students in her class. She did, however, more than hold her own. Indeed, in the practice bouts, height and weight notwithstanding, she often won, much to the chagrin of the other larger students, especially the boys.
Their principal instructor was slow to give out praise and Tana thought these wins must have been lucky flukes. Not so her instructors, Tana had no idea that she was considered one of the more promising of the first term students.
Tana marched on, stretching her legs to keep up the required pace and rhythm.
Her training warrant officer watched her as they marched. If anyone was a prime candidate to vadeln-pair it was Tana he was thinking, despite her size. She was the best and the most naturally talented student he had taught in a long time. He would have her under his command in an arrowshot, despite what the others said.
It can be surmised from Warrant Officer Peter Littleman’s thoughts that he had been the recipient of much ribald teasing about his promulgation of his favourite pupil. Tana herself would have been amazed if she had known; she thought she was his least favourite pupil; he was half as much again harder on her than on anyone else.
They arrived at the field and orders were uttered to fan out, to make a circle round the perimeter and wait for the Lind to arrive from the paddock more usually dedicated to the officer’s cavalry mounts and where butts had been placed in one corner and filled with cool, fresh well-water.
The nervous students stood, wondering who would be chosen. Tana stood with the rest, her shaking hands held tight behind her back in case anyone should tease her about it later.
Peter Littleman positioned himself behind Tana, anxious for her sake. He had met the girl’s father, tried to persuade h
im to allow Tana another term under his tutelage and had not been impressed with the man’s lack of vision or understanding. It was not that the family was short of money; Luke Cartwright merely didn’t wish his daughter to make soldiering her career. Peter Littleman knew she’d be wasted as a clothier’s wife and that if anyone was born to be a soldier, it was Tana.
The Lind began to move towards them. He stared at them, trying to communicate the fact that the small erect figure to his front should be the one they choose.
Take her, take this girl.
What happened next was something he had never envisaged. A large female, yellow striped, made a direct path towards him! She came to a halt some ten paces away.
: I am Sarya. You can hear me? :
Peter Littleman took a step backwards.
“I am not a candidate.”
: I know. I have seen you before, you are a teacher. I did not sense your mind before but I do now, very strong :
She gazed at him out of large blue-green eyes.
: We vadeln? :
I must have got through to her when I wished so hard for Tana, thought Peter Littleman in shocked and unbelieving surprise and not a little alarm, it must have augmented my latent abilities or something.
: Ceja : Sarya agreed : now we hear each other :
Peter shook his head slightly, clearing his thoughts and answered as the full realisation of what was happening to him hit him, “yes, I would like the chance very much. I never thought though ...”
: Good, come with me now :
In front of the amazed gaze of his fellow instructors and his stunned pupils, he did so, stumbling over his own booted feet in his haste to get to her side. He glanced back at Tana with a pang of guilt.
Sarya interpreted both look and feeling.
: Peter not worry, that girl has very strong thoughts. Three argue now about who will be with her :
: Three? :
He had reached Sarya’s side. The yellow-striped female Lind leant in to him. He staggered.
