Valour and Victory

by Candy Rae

  Chapter 3

  Third Month of Summer - Lokrhed

  Tala and Danal

  “We’re almost there,” announced Padrig.

  “Thank the lai for that,” whispered Tala in an aside to Danal, “I’m parched.”

  “Plenty of water in the Electra,” Padrig called over. “There’s an underground river close by and our predecessors diverted it a bit so that it now runs under the ship.”

  “You’re not the first to make your home here then?” Danal enquired as Asya moved up to take position beside Padrig’s jedzic. The beast flicked ears and tail at her but Asya took no notice.

  : It is strange that the jezdic are not frightened of us is it not? :

  “People, runaway slaves mostly, have been using it as a haven for centuries,” Padrig informed them.

  “And the Larg leave you alone?”

  “We lose a few each year, that’s why we move around in large groups, they usually don’t attack large groups.”

  “Usually has a scent of repetitiveness about it,” observed Tala to Philip.

  “Of course, we’ve a few Larg with us,” said Padrig with pride. “They are our friends.”

  : That is why : said Asya.

  “Just the four. Two are blind and were chased out of their packs when they were little more than cubs. The other two are deformed in some way.”

  “You took them in?”

  “Aye, we did and we have never regretted it. Remember too, that place to live I mentioned…”

  “Demanded.”

  Padrig laughed, “they come with us. They’re part of the group.”

  “Understood,” said Danal. “So why out here?”

  “Better out here, even with the dangers thrown in than back in the slave-pens.”

  “That bad?

  “You cannot imagine. It’s not a life, merely an existence to be endured until an early death. Here I’m free.”

  “Do all the slaves work in the mines, even the children?” asked Danal.

  “Everyone who can. Women, well, if they’re not pregnant into the mines they go. Perpetual pregnancy or being worked to death, what would you choose?”

  “These days may be coming to an end,” said Danal.

  “Ah, you have hopes that the young prince you mentioned will see fit to free the slaves? Don’t take a wager on it friend Danal, he won’t. The mines of Sahara produce thousands of gold circles worth of ore and jewels each year, he can’t afford to free them.”

  “I believe he just might,” interrupted Philip. “This young prince is different. He’s seen free workers, seen how an economy can work with not a slave in sight. He’s also got Robain whispering in his ear about the iniquities of slavery.”

  “Aline’s brother?”

  “Yes. I think Prince Elliot liked what he saw in Argyll. If not for the war he would have found an excuse to stay longer. Emancipation will come Padrig, perhaps sooner than you think.”

  “If you say so,” said the unconvinced Padrig. “Now, I’ve been thinking about how you are going to get to the site of the power-core. I’d thought of sending a few along with you but their jezdic will never keep up with your Lind so I am going to send just the one. Grainne will go with you. She is small and light and will ride Inalei behind Tala. She knows the desert and where the hulk of the ‘ore-driller’ is. She will lead you there.”

  “Grainne, but she’s just a little girl!” exclaimed Danal.

  “You think that?" asked Padrig with amusement. “She is almost woman grown. Most slaves are built small, the effect of malnourishment when they are little and their mothers before them. The overseers only feed those most likely to survive. I will ask her if she will go with you. I think she will but she must make her own choice as a free person should.”

  “I was wondering,” said Tala, “if we I might be able to take a look at the engine room on the Electra, where the power-core was?”

  Padrig looked over his shoulder. “I’m afraid not. That part of the ship is unsafe. We never go in there.”

  They topped yet another sand dune and Padrig stood up in his saddle and pointed.

  “There is the Electra,” he announced and all six visitors gasped.

  Tala was the first to find her voice.

  “I didn’t think anything could be so big!”

  “It brought over twenty-thousand people here,” Danal reminded her, “but it is impressive is it not?”

  “Magnificence personified,” added the stunned Asya as she gazed at the edifice.

  * * * * *

  “That’s Peter Howard?” marvelled Tala, looking at the likeness embedded in the wall beside what must have once been the mounting for the ship’s bell though why a spaceship would have the need for such a thing Tala couldn’t quite envision. Tradition probably. Sailing ships have bells. Why not the ships that fly too?

  “It doesn’t say so anywhere,” Danal answered. The two of them, hand in hand, were exploring the accessible parts of the ship. The hull was still intact after six centuries and the systematic stripping of sections of its inner fabric for sale by its inhabitants.

  “Can’t be anyone else,” Tala insisted. “He’s got a nice face.”

  “You’re always telling me people have nice faces. I think he’s got a strong face rather than nice. Determined.”

  “But kind too. Strange to think that it was him who wrote the journal that has led us here. If he hadn’t given it to his daughter Jessica and she to Tara we might never have known about the core.”

  “A sobering thought.”

  “Do you want to see what we think must have been his cabin?” asked a voice.

  Tala and Danal jumped. They hadn’t heard Grainne’s soft footsteps.

  “It’s just down the corridor,” she added. “I’ll show you shall I?” and she led the way down the dim passage. “This is the one,” she announced and went in. There was no door, all the doors had been taken away.

  “There’s nothing here,” said Danal looking around.

  “The insides were stripped out a long long time ago,” she informed them, “but there’s where the bed must have been, you can still see the indents in the walls and here was another piece of furniture. I’m coming with you by the way. Padrig asked me and I said yes.”

  “It will be dangerous,” Danal warned.

  “All life is dangerous,” she shrugged. “I go and that’s all there is about it.”

  “Thank you,” said Tala with a smile.

  Grainne grinned, “you can’t do it without me anyway. I know the desert like the back of my hand. I’ve been here long enough. Dinner is served in the main living area. Cook sent me to fetch you.” She scampered off.

  “We’d better go,” said Tala but she didn’t mean it and Danal knew it.

  “We have to show face and have a bite to eat.”

  “But we don’t have to stay long,” Tala’s voice was wistful and she was exuding a sense of internal sexual tension waiting to burst forth. Today was the first time they had been alone together, really alone, since that magical night in Baron Ross’s manor. You couldn’t count, Tala decided, the snatched kisses during their journey.

  The others had understood, had tried to give them a little privacy but it had not been enough.

  Tala wanted Danal, here, now.

  “Tonight,” promised Danal, drawing her eager body against his.

  “I can’t wait,” she whispered as their lips touched and the remembered tingling feeling asserted itself in her lower abdomen.

  The kiss contained all that was love and commitment, bitter-sweet as it was. The most dangerous part of their mission was still ahead.

  Their sex that night was wild and passionate; they were like a pair of soldiers with a battle on the morrow when neither knew if the other would survive.

  The intensity of their mutual release hit them like an emotional and physical thunderclap.

  Neither wanted the night to end.

  * * * * *

  Julia


  By now, all but the last few segments of the Armies of the North, the levies from the islands and the northern duchies had arrived at the chosen battlefield. It was called Fallon Ridge.

  The Dukes of Graham and Duchesne were under the command of Susyc Julia and Alyei. As the Duke of Graham said, it made sense. Only Julia and Alyei with her Vada could communicate with both species and the Vada was trained to fight with infantry and cavalry.

  The ridge where the army would make their stand cut across the most southerly fringe of Duchesne and across the route the Larg would take on their was to the Island Chain. It had the advantage of height. Julia wanted the Larg to have to attack uphill and this was possible in all but two sections of the ridge where rivers had gouged out the rock. There were rough bridges connecting the three sections. There were also dense woodlands to the east and to the west. The Larg hated forests. They were not comfortable under trees and always avoided them when they could.

  Julia had placed Lind in the forests to stop any kohorts who might try to use them to try and outflank the army. Alyei had suggested the youngest of the Lind (and Julia had acted on his suggestion), augmented by a few older, more experienced warriors.

  Now Julia was about to address the officers commanding her army.

  Her address was held in the open air. The command tent was too small for everyone to fit in. As she surveyed the men, women and Lind assembled before her (the Lind stood to the back, they would listen to Alyei’s telepathic translation of her words into Lindish), she took a deep breath.

  Everyone knew exactly what he or she would be facing. Whether they really believed in the existence of the Dglai or not was immaterial, they had been told and Julia had based her plans on the assumption that the Dglai would arrive on the battlefield sooner of later, probably sooner, especially if the army managed to hold the ridge.

  “We are here to stop the Larg and the Dglai,” she began. “Nothing else matters. We will stop them if we work and fight together. We must forget all our differences; put aside all memories of past enmities.”

  : Right, keep going girl, you have their attention :

  “You have already received your detailed orders, to what part of the ridge defence you have been assigned and who is under your command. I am in no doubt that you will all be seeing action in the near future so I don’t want to hear any complaints that so and so's unit has been given a front position on the ridge while yours is in the rear. This battle is going to last a long time. It will be a battle of attrition, but we hold the high ground and that is our advantage. No matter what the Larg do, I don’t care if every Larg warrior retreats as if vanquished, there will be no pursuit. That order is absolute. If any of you do try and give chase, not one soldier will try a rescue when the Larg turn, which they will. I will merely order another unit up from the rear to take your place. You have been warned. Now return and tell the soldiers under your command what I have said.”

  Julia stood tall and straight in front of them, bowed, about-turned and Alyei at her side, walked back to the command tent. It was only after they were inside and alone that she gave vent to an explosive gasp of relief. The last half bell had probably been the most terrifying experience she had undergone during her entire life … so far.

  : You did very well : Alyei commended.

  : Had to be done my Alyei but it’s all talk. Nothing matters except that we keep the Larg and the Dglai so busy with us and stop them fanning out and finding Danal, Asya and the others. Even if we all die it will be worth it. It all depends on them :

  : It has always depended on them : he answered : we are all expendable :

  : Yes and I will send every man, woman and Lind on the ridge to their deaths if that is the only way :

  Julia burst into tears.

  * * * * *

  The Ammokko

  Quoi had finished his survey of the pack ranges of the Larg. He was satisfied with the information he had gathered. It was time to return to the area chosen by him as the landing site of the mother ship, the Ammokko.

  He manoeuvred his bulk on to the seat pad in his Quorko, pressed the toggle of the starting motor with his fore talon and listened as the engine, with a stutter, came to reluctant life.

  It was time the Ammokko was here. The crystals that provided the energy to run his Quorko needed recharging from her power banks. It was a wonder they had lasted as long as they had.

  He pressed another toggle and the Quorko responded, hovering in the air before setting off, back the way it had come, slowly at first then gathering speed as Quoi realised that the unit retained enough power to get him and his four crew members back to the landing site in time.

  * * * * *

  The Ammokko landed with ponderous precision, the thrusters blowing out great jets of hot air as the Dglai landing technicians fought to keep her stable. Seas of disturbed sand swirled around her, so much of it was there that Quoi could hardly see the hull.

  A scraped and dented old lady was the Ammokko. As she settled and the sand stopped swirling Quoi could see the replacement sheets where the repair gangs had mended her on the last planet the Dglai had visited and plundered.

  This was what the Dglai did. They travelled from planet to planet, destroying any resistance and living there until it was time to move on. They did not care how many civilisations they annihilated, nor how much of the total complement of planetary resources they took. All that mattered was the survival of the Dglai.

  But this time, Quoi suspected, it might be different.

  This was a large planet with abundant wildlife and vegetation to provide the proteins needed to feed the hungry Dglai. There were also many untapped mineral resources, metals and oils. The landmasses were huge.

  Quoi remembered the last planet. They had had no choice but to stop there to replenish but the entire planet had been made up of thousands of islands and only one landmass of any size, not suitable at all.

  This one was perfect.

  * * * * *

  The Lai

  “Fly low and in groups of no more than four,” Velku instructed those Lai who were setting out east, “but never straight. Hug the hills and use what cover there is. We go to the big lake above the human domta they call Stewarton. There the Guildmaster, Annert is his name, will meet us with his wagons that contain the bombas. There also are Haru, Chizu and Malaku.”

  “How many bombas has he managed to make?” asked Aniku, a young Lai whose golden hide was as bright as the sun. Velku’s coppery hide looked dull by comparison. As the Lind became white with age, the Lai gold became as copper.

  “He has enough for two for each of those who have volunteered to fly with us to light the bombas and drop them where they can do most good.”

  “How are the humans going to stay on our backs?” asked Aniku, who, as well as being young, was an inquisitive Lai.

  “The Guildmaster is bringing with him ropes which they will use to tie themselves on.”

  “From this lake, where do we go?” asked Leku.

  “Across the mountains then on to the islands. We then, the humans call it ‘island hopping’, to the southern continent. We should reach there safely.”

  “The Ammokko?”

  “She landed as night fell and as expected, in the nadlians of the Larg. Now is our only chance to fly to the southern continent undetected, before the Dglai get acclimatised to the gravity and the planet and before the Quorko set out from her holds. We have a window of perhaps four days. Once we reach the south we wait in the beach caves until word comes that either the power-core has been found or that it has not been found and it does not matter that we stay hidden. No matter what the answer is, we will fight.”

  * * * * *

  Elliot and Robain

  Elliot’s army of ex-slaves was over twenty thousand strong and growing. The slave-miners of the Duchy of Sahara were flocking to his banner. The banner was that of Sahara and not the Royal Standard. As Elliot said, that belonged to the King. Until his and his father’s death had bee
n confirmed, Elliot refused to raise it.

  As the growing army arrived at each mine, a group of ex-slaves would accompany Elliot inside where Elliot would say his piece. He had also sent out parties to visit those mines to the west, outwith their route. At irregular intervals more recruits arrived from them.

  There was a tributary of the River Murdoch that meandered through the Duchy of Smith and into Sahara and this was the route they followed. Sometimes groups of slaves (and some of their overseers) were waiting for them along the banks but more often the groups just appeared as if out of nowhere to join the irregular mass of people.

  Not all of them came from the royal mines and Elliot chose not to enquire as to how they had acquired their freedom. Virtually no overseers were with these often half-starved and ragged groups. They had come. That was all that mattered.

  By the time they reached the western border of the Duchy of Smith, Elliot’s ‘army’ numbered almost thirty thousand men, women and children, all eager to fight for their freedom.

  As they surged into the land beholden to the errant Duke of Smith, others began to join them, not merely ex-slaves but vassals (and their levies) of the said Duke, anxious to prove their loyalty to Elliot, to the Crown and to the united Kingdom of Murdoch.

  Elliot chose not to delve too deeply into these changes of heart either, nor did he enquire as to how the late Duke of Smith had met his end.

  From these Barons, Kellens and Thanes Elliot and Robain learned that the kohorts had advanced into South Baker and had reached Fort and the Citadel, which was now under siege.

  “They’ll not manage to overrun the Citadel,” declared Elliot to Robain during one of their frequent stops to rest. “The walls are too high and thick but that’s the only good news I’m afraid. The Larg will realise that they can’t get in soon enough. My worry is that they’ll bypass Fort and start fanning out through the countryside. Except for the castles and tower houses, very few buildings could withstand a determined Larg attack. The towns and villages especially are at risk. I’m not sure what to do.”