Homage and Honour (10 page)

“She is an
enigma,” agreed Danel. He turned to Rhian, “can you shed some light
on the subject?”

“Yes,” nodded
Rhian, “you have the right of it. I told Susa Lynsey she should be
straight with you from the first but there were reasons.”

Danel had a
‘told you so’ look about him as he faced his senior.

“Beth comes
from Murdoch, does she not?” he questioned, “and from one of the
noble houses too, which would explain her ineptitude with anything
remotely practical, also that indefinable air she possesses of
being ‘somebody’. There is an unconscious air of dignity about
her.”

“Her little
airs and graces,” Ranolf laughed, “she’s no farm child is our Beth.
I’m not saying she’s not willing you understand, but she’s the
despair of the cooks. I thought a rich merchant’s daughter but I
couldn’t place the accent either.”

“She is the
younger daughter of one of Murdoch’s Dukes,” admitted Rhian, “but
Susa Lynsey doesn’t want the information bandied about.”

“Great Andei’s
pawprints! How did she get here?” asked Ranolf.

“Ran away,” was
Rhian’s succinct answer, “I believe she was given the choice of
marriage or the cloister. She chose neither.”

“That took
guts,” said Danel, the said Beth moving up in his estimation by
leaps and bounds. Danel knew a great deal about the way the upper
echelons of Murdoch’s society operated.

“Indeed,” Rhian
replied, “ride her gently for the time being. She’ll get there in
the end. I’m sure we shouldn’t interfere. Too many paws in the
puddle make a muddle as the saying goes. She’s part of that
foursome with Cadets Jess, Tana and Hannah, they’ll keep her
right.”

“The Quartet?”
queried Melody, Ryzcka of the senior cadets, “I’ve heard of them
but none of them are in my mounted arms practice classes yet.”

“Hannah is
doing well,” replied Rhian, “if she works on it a bit, she might
well be able to join in with the more advanced weapons class before
too many days have passed. She’ll never be a genius, she’s too
timid, but in time she’ll be as competent as the rest of them. Tana
is good, Jess too but I’d expect that from her.”

“Tana is better
than good,” said Danel who shared the majority of the sword-work
classes with Rhian, “she came highly recommended by the Garda and
I’ve not been disappointed.”

“A real
livewire,” agreed Ranolf, “where she gets her energy from I don’t
know.”

“I do though,”
grinned Danel.

“How’s that?”
asked Melody.

“She drains it
from us!”

Melody
laughed.

Rhian and
Ranolf also appreciated the joke, one of long-standing amongst the
permanent training staff at the Vada Stronghold.

“She is going
to be very, very good,” agreed Rhian, “now that she’s got used to
the rapier.” She laughed, “it’s almost as long as she is tall and,
in fact, all those from the Garda are well grounded and the
ex-trainer Peter Littleman, he is good. He’s taking more time than
the younger ones to get accustomed to the longer weapon but I
expected that. Once he’s passed out of the riding classes he will
join the final year cadets, no point in holding him back.”

“He’ll graduate
with this year’s seniors, never fear Rhian,” opined Danel, “he goes
to a Ryzck?”

“Initially,
yes, in the future though I’ve got other plans for him.”

“Permanent
staff here?”

“He’s good with
the kids,” she answered, nodding, “has years of training
experience. Pity to let it go to waste. Our Militia here in Vadath,
he might well be an ideal instructor. He could travel, a sort of
peripatetic teacher. It could be the perfect solution, it’d save
the farmers leaving their farms to come here and train every year.
You know how difficult it is for them.”

“It’s a
masterstroke,” exclaimed Ranolf.

“I thought so
myself,” said Rhian trying to look modest and failing. The retired
Weaponsmaster of the Vada, one Anders had often waxed lyrical
during his years in office about the problems he faced training the
Vadathian Militia. Anders had had to resort to an appeal to the
Garda of Argyll for weapons trainers capable of instructing with
the infantry short sword.

The Argyllian
instructors now came to the Vada Stronghold each summer. The
members of the Vadathian Militia were required to report to the
Stronghold for a tenday-long intensive course and for some
volunteers busy with farms and livestock, this was difficult,
almost impossible. If the rumours were true and indeed the Larg
were beginning to be a ‘force to be reckoned with’after so long
then a well-trained Militia was a must so Rhian’s idea might well
prove to be a veritable lifesaver.

In the early
years, when mankind had first arrived on the planet, the Larg had
attacked the North twice and been repulsed only with great
difficulty then the pestilence had struck decimating the Larg
population. The exact figures would never be known but most
estimates agreed that over eighty per cent had perished. It was
only now, almost a century and a half later that intelligence
reports were indicating that their numbers had increased to a level
sufficient to cause concern.

The Avuzdel,
the semi-secret spying and intelligence unit of the Lind had sent
its first operatives back into Largdom some fifteen years ago, at
the time of the first rumours of a Larg resurgence. Over the last
few years there appeared to have been a power struggle amongst the
upper echelons of Larg society, the results of which were still not
clear. This had resolved itself during recent months and Largdom
was re-coalescing under one absolute ruler, the Largan.

At least, Rhian
thought, there would be no need to worry about the King of Murdoch
allying himself with the Larg against the North any longer. He was
even more worried about the Larg resurgence than were the Vada.

Rhian sighed
and wished Susa Lynsey was here at the Stronghold, but she and her
Lind, Bernei had gone to Argyll as one of the Vadathian delegates
to the annual conference. Rhian knew that one of the items on the
agenda was the Larg. This year, delegates from the Kingdom of
Murdoch had been invited to attend and also the leaders of the
largest inhabited islands of the Great Eastern Sea.

* * * * *

One of the two
trainers, responsible for the junior cadets they had been
discussing, had a private arms lesson that very afternoon. Not for
the first time Weaponsmaster Rhian eyed Cadet Beth with despair.
She was one of the most inept students she had ever had the
misfortune to teach. If she or any of the other trainers tried to
get her to do more than the most basic moves she only got
flustered, the patterns disintegrating into shambles.

“I trying to do
my best,” said Beth, echoing Rhian’s thoughts.

“I know you
are,” answered the patient Rhian although that was not what she was
thinking, “but you must concentrate.”

“Yes
Ma’am.”

Rhian looked at
her. Beth stood still, the very picture of how a cadet should look,
neat and tidy as always, too neat and tidy, too quiet.

“Don’t you like
it here with the Vada?” she asked at last.

“Very much,
“it’s just that …”

“What?"

“It feels
wrong.”

“Wrong? In what
way?”

Beth lifted
troubled eyes to Rhian.

“You are
teaching us to fight,” her voice was hesitant, “you know where I
come from?”

Rhian nodded.
Perhaps this was the root of Beth’s problem. “Continue.”

“You are
teaching us how to fight and to kill,” Beth stopped for a moment as
she searched for the words, “you think the South are preparing to
attack us again? The cadets are talking.”

“It is a
distinct possibility,” Rhian contented herself with this guarded
response.

“Then, if that
happens, I will have to fight them. I have a sister in Murdoch, a
father. I would have to fight and kill them!”

“So you think
that if you pretend that you can’t fight we won’t ask you to? You
have been pretending?”

Beth nodded,
“not altogether, I
do
find it difficult Weaponsmaster.”

“Not as
difficult as you are making out. Is that it?”

“Yes
Ma’am.”

“You are not
the first vadeln from Murdoch Beth. We will never ask you to fight
against your family. Would you have a problem defending men, women
and children against the wral and the gtran of the mountains or
against the pirates?”

Beth shook her
head.

“Or the
Larg?”

“No,” Beth
replied.

“So it’s
fighting against your family you are worried about?”

“Yes
Weaponsmaster.”

“I understand
Cadet.” Rhian debated, could she tell Beth more, should she? She
decided she must.

“I am telling
you this in confidence,” Rhian said, “I do not think that Murdoch
will attack the North. Like us the king is worried about the
resurgence of the Larg. I have access to intelligence that you do
not. I can, with confidence, tell you that you will never have to
raise your sword in anger against any of your kin and if I am wrong
in my surmise and Murdoch does join with the Larg to attack us, I
will personally make sure that you have duties elsewhere, probably
in the northern mountains. Does that put your mind at ease and will
you do your best with the training now that I have told you? Is
there anything else bothering you?”

“I don’t want
to end up with a Ryzck either. It’s all the other cadets talk
about, to finish their training and to be old enough to join.”

“But you don’t
see yourself there, I can see that. Your upbringing doesn’t help
either. Well, you don’t need to make up your mind until you are
older. There are plenty of other opportunities, the Holad for
instance. Many of them serve with the Ryzcks but others provide
much needed medical care throughout the lands.”

“In the
rtathlians too?”

“Even in the
rtathlians and if you don’t want to study medicine,” Rhian
continued, remembering the extent of Beth’s academic ignorance,
“there is the Express messenger service in Argyll and of course the
Supply Stations can always use extra staff. My advice to you is to
work hard during your junior cadetship and then make your decision.
What does Xei say about all this?”

“He wants me to
be happy but I don’t think he’d be content to hide away from
danger.”

“The Lind,”
sighed Rhian, “it’s part of their make-up, they feel that it’s
their primary duty to defend their pack-mates, their pack-range and
everybody else. Remember that, it might distress Xei if you refuse
to rise to your responsibilities as he sees it.”

“That’s what
makes it all so difficult.”

“I know, but
choices come to all of us. Do your best for now. I’m here if you
need to talk. Ranolf too, even Danel will help you if you ask.”

The Stronghold
bell peeled out. Out of the corner of her eye, Rhian could see the
first members of her next class approaching the salle.

“Take the rest
of the day off,” she instructed, “think about what we have
discussed.”

Rhian’s salute
was a dismissal.

Beth copied the
action realising that she should, by rights, have instigated the
gesture. She about-turned and marched away.

As Rhian
mentally prepared herself for a gruelling bell with the seniors she
wondered if she should speak to the Susa’s second about Beth then
decided to keep her counsel. The man was perfectly capable of
managing the day-to-day running of the Vada but was not the most
approachable or understanding when it came to problems amongst the
cadets and he had a barely concealed contempt for the Militia.
Rhian would wait for Susa Lynsey and Bernei’s return.

* * * * *

Beth’s three
friends were not unaware of the problems their fourth number was
experiencing and one of them had come up with a plan to take her
mind off her problems.

“What are we
going to do?” asked livewire Tana long before breakfast on the rest
day following Beth’s lesson with the Weaponsmaster.

It was a
rhetorical question, Tana had already decided.

“Today is a
‘rest’ day,” complained Hannah who had been woken by Tana’s
vigorous shaking and who found her friend’s unbounded energy
difficult to cope with on occasion. “It’s called a rest day so that
we can rest and recuperate from the exertions of the tenday.”

Hannah lay back
on her pillows (of which she had no less than four) with
exaggerated care and a touch of the theatrical.

“It’s
absolutely gorgeous out. Let’s not stay here, it’s beautiful out,
warm and sunny and winter’ll be here soon enough.” Tana’s voice was
all-persuasive.

Hannah looked
sceptical.

“We could go
outside into the woods. Ryzcka Ranolf said we might as long as we
went in groups and stay together,” continued Tana.

“Need to get
permission,” said Jess from behind Tana as she poked her head
through the cubicle door, “but sounds like fun. We could have a
picnic; get bread and cheese in the town on the way out.” Tana of
course, had already briefed Jess about her plans and both girls
knew by now how best to persuade Hannah to get up.

“Don’t forget
the bottles of gingrootbeer,” vouchsafed Tana who was partial to
the fizzy drink made from the sweet gingroot. It was a root native
to Vadath and in Tana’s eyes immeasurably preferable to the blander
beverages of south-eastern Argyll.

Hannah watched
them both out of jaundiced eyes.

“Oh come on,”
urged Tana, “say you’ll come.”

“I’ll come,”
grinned Hannah rubbing her eyes awake. “Where’s Beth? We mustn’t
leave her and Xei out. She’d be upset.”

“Gone to see
Ryzcka Melody,” said Jess.

“What about?”
asked Tana with interest.

Jess shrugged,
“I just took the message. Something about a friend of hers coming
for a visit.”