Homage and Honour (32 page)

Valary sent
Tana, Tamir and their Lind to hunt for any stranded people down a
narrow road some three clicks inland from the docks whilst she and
Beth and their Lind took the next one up. The fires had not yet
reached this area although the smoke was already thick enough to
make breathing uncomfortable and eyes smart.

Tana and Tamir
found no-one during their search and turned away, as they had been
instructed to do when the smoke got too thick to see. She did
rescue a small dog that had been left behind by her owners in their
haste.

As Tana
informed Tamir as she leant down to pick up the shivering little
object, Valary hadn’t precisely told them that only humans were to
be rescued.

“She didn’t
think she needed to,” Tamir observed. “Animals can take care of
themselves.”

“This one
can’t,” she said in defence cuddling the pup as it gave her face a
quick lick and settled down in her arms.

Valary’s face,
when they reported in, was a picture of resignation, “just keep it
out of the way, better still find somewhere safe and leave it.”

“Nowhere is
safe,” Tana protested and placed the pup inside the half-empty
saddlebag that contained her clean clothes. The pup cuddled into
what was Tana’s last clean uniform tunic and fell asleep.

“Where’s Beth?”
asked Tamir, noticing that she and Xei weren’t there.

“Next street,”
Valary replied, “the one we last checked was warehouses and
offices, all empty. We’ve been told that there are two old cottages
in the next along and Beth volunteered to check. Should be clear.
These streets were emptied as soon as the fires began to take hold.
You found no-one but the pup?”

“Empty thank
the Lai,” answered Tamir. “Do we move on to Beth’s street now?”

“Yes …” began
Valary.

Xei’s mental
cry of alarm was a mind-wrenching ‘shout’.

“Lai’s Blood,”
cried Valary, “they’ve found some people!”

Tana was
already urging Tavei towards the street. Valary, Jsnei, Tamir and
Whalya followed hard on Tavei’s paws. When the six turned into the
street the Lind skidded to a halt. There was no sign of Beth and
Xei, nor was there any sign of fire.

“Where are
they?”

: Xei says
the house is burning :
telepathed a helpful Tavei.

: Where? Can
you bespeak Xei? :

: He does
not answer my call! :
Tavei’s ‘voice’ was full of distress.

Tavei reached
out with his senses.

: I can ‘feel’
him! He is in much danger :

:Can you sense
where? :

: We go :

He and Tana did
not wait for permission. They bounded away, into the swirling
smoke. The other two pairs followed, Valary calling out, “wait for
us,” at the top of her voice as she saw Tavei’s tail disappear.

Following
orders, Beth and Xei had gone to check on the two cottages. As she
told Valary later, they were empty, the shabby doors swinging. It
was as the two of them were turning away that they heard the cry
for help. It was Xei who heard the cries first.

* * * * *

: There is
someone here :

Although
frightened, Beth did not hesitate. She urged Xei forward, relying
on his sense of ‘feel’ and direction to get them there. Deeper they
went into the swirling smoke. It was thick and cloying. The thought
of imminent suffocation was in their minds but they kept going.

At last, they
came to the building, the door was open, a child stood slumped
against the doorframe gasping for air. Beth heard a woman scream, a
deeper voice pleading.

As Xei stopped,
Beth swung herself out of the saddle and towards the child. She
lifted him up and stumbling over the uneven cobbles she all but
threw him on to Xei’s back.

“Hold on to the
harness,” she shouted at the child, “I’ll be back.”

He nodded and
grabbed the nearest leather strap.

Beth turned
back and headed for the door.

Inside the
building it was worse.

“Anyone there?
Quick, we don’t have much time.”

A man’s form
loomed out of the smoky gloom and thrust an object at Beth. It was
a smaller child than the one in the doorway, little more than a
baby. The man disappeared. Beth dithered for an instant. Should she
take the child to Xei now or wait for the man? The flames were
beginning to lick at the roof timbers and she could hear the roar
of the main fire. She turned and raced back to Xei. He had
positioned himself at the door.

: We must go
:

: No :
Beth placed the baby in the other child’s arms and taking another
choking breath went back inside.

She took three
steps. Looking back she realised that if she had gone any further
in, none of them would have got out alive. The flames were eating
at the roof. The heat was overpowering.

The man had an
unconscious woman in his arms.

“Quick,” she
commanded and all but dragged them out.

“Climb up on
Xei,” she shouted over the crackling noises of the fire.

“My wife,” he
choked.

“Climb up,” she
ordered as the roof timbers crashed down behind her. The walls
shivered.

How she managed
it, Beth couldn’t explain afterwards but she held the unconscious
woman while her husband mounted. With a strength born of
desperation she lifted the woman until the man could pull her up in
front of him.

: Beth!
:
screamed Xei.

: Go, take
them, come back for me :

: No. I will
not, mount :

: Too many,
too heavy. Go! :

: I can manage
another :

Beth realised
that Xei would not go without her. She threw herself on to Xei’s
back, on top of the woman. Xei staggered with the extra weight but
with a grunt of effort stayed upright.

Xei began a
slow walk up the street away from the fire. To run was impossible,
the weight of his passengers was too great and breathing was
becoming more and more difficult. Step by painful step Xei walked
though the gradually thinning smoke to safety.

At the top of
the road, Valary and Jsnei and the others were waiting. With a cry
of relief Valary jumped down and went to help as Xei’s legs buckled
under him.

Tana and Tamir,
ignoring orders, dismounted and went to help too.

Tana grabbed
the little boy who, for a wonder, still held his younger sibling in
his arms. One child under each arm, she staggered towards Tavei
with her double burden while Tamir pulled Beth off Xei’s back and
dragged her into cleaner air.

With the weight
on his back reduced, Xei managed to stumble to his paws again and,
gasping for oxygen, followed Valary towards Jsnei.

Valary ordered
Tana and Tamir to take their burdens to the aid station some
streets inland. She and Jsnei accompanied Xei as he made slower
progress uphill after them.

Some days
later, word came that Xei and Beth were to be awarded the Honour
Star, the woven silver mark of honour and renown of the Vada, the
Vada’s way of rewarding those whose courage and moral fibre had
saved lives.

She was the
first of the Quartet to gain the honour and she and Xei were the
first cadet duo to be recorded in the Honour Roll for over a
quarter of a century.

When their
attachments were completed and the Quartet back at Vada, Beth was
more than a little embarrassed.

“Any one of us
would have done the same,” she said, sewing the star on to her
uniform tunic, “I was there, that’s all.”

“You and Xei
could have died saving that family,” said Tana, “we’re so proud of
you both.”

“Not bad for a
duke’s daughter,” said Jess with a smile and, turning to Hannah,
gave her a firm poke in the ribs, “and you too my girl, well
done!”

* * * * *

Quartet (6)

Hannah and
Kolyei’s attachment had been with the Fifth Ryzck, whose duty
station was in Argyll, at the north of the island chain, which was
the traditional route of the Larg when they wished to attack the
North.

She had not
swerved from her determination to undertake Holad training when she
became a Senior Cadet and when Susa Lynsey had allocated the
destination to those going, she had not hesitated to add Hannah’s
and Kolyei’s names to the small group of would be medics that were
bound for a medical facility a mile west of Settlement.

She had been
accompanying one of the doctors on his rounds when the first human
half of a vadeln-pair reported in sick.

The weather was
still hot for this the fifth summer month, much like the previous
year only wetter. The sick Holad medic and his Lind had been in the
middle of a four tenday duty in the dock area. It was discovered
later that a local fisherman had come across a southern merchantman
riding at sea anchor some nautical miles west of the great current.
Ignoring the fever flag, he and his two sons had boarded the vessel
and found the crew dead. They ransacked what they could, picking up
a number of valuable objects.

The black
gemstones they purloined found a ready market and after a long and
drunken celebration of their good fortune in one of the taverns,
the three set sail for their home village. They never arrived.

As one after
another of the people the three fishermen had come into contact
with fell sick, the medics at Settlement and the Vada Holad
realised that they had an epidemic on their paws and hands. The
Holad set up an exclusion zone to stop the spread of the disease,
much as King Elliot of Murdoch had done when the plague had struck
in the South the previous summer.

Those
medically-inclined cadets on attachment with Hannah fell ill, as
did most of the other medical staff. Hannah appeared to be
impervious to the infection.

The disease
killed fast, the very old and the young. More females were affected
than males.

It began with a
cough, a rash then a fever. Death came after about four days
although the infirm and very young died in two.

Lying on her
pallet late one night, Hannah lay awake, her agile mind working
furiously on the problem. Why, out of everyone, did she remain in
splendid good health? There must be a reason.

: Why me?
:

: Perhaps
you have been somewhere they have not :
was Kolyei’s sensible
suggestion. He knew disease could spread from pack to pack.

: Where, I
ask you? :
asked an irritable Hannah. She was tired,
lind-tired.

: I do not
know :

He did however
explain why he had arrived at this suggestion.

Hannah’s eyes
snapped open.

: The farm!
:
her mental ‘shout’ so loud that Kolyei covered his ears with
his paws in a vain attempt to shut her out. He did manage to raise
his shields but not so much as made any difference.

: The farm?
:

: Has to be.
When I was small the whole area was hit by some kind of virus. It
hit every family but ours. There were a lot of deaths :

: Perhaps
you and yours were not in contact with anyone who was infectious
:
was Kolyei’s logical answer.

: But we were.
It struck under a tenday after Festival day when I was ten :

She was old
enough to remember that time. It was still remembered in the
district as the month of funerals.

: Then you
were immune :
replied Kolyei. He, like his vadeln-pair wished
to make the Holad his future. Older than Hannah by some years he
was already attending some classes in the Lind section of the Holad
training block at Vada.

: You could
be on to something. I wonder if I
am
immune? :

: What
happened that year? :

She couldn’t
remember exactly what the disease had been like but she did
remember her parents talking about it. From what she recalled, the
symptoms had been similar to those she was dealing with now.

: It can’t
be the water up there :
she surmised to Kolyei
: Hansi
Guntarson, he who’s paired with Olya, he’s got the cough and he
came from a farm downriver. If there was anything in the water he’d
have the immunity too :

: Something
else then :

What was so
special about the Knutson farm that she hadn’t been affected?
Hannah had no idea. She also had not had more than the most basic
Holad training as yet.

She knew that
during training proper the senior cadets attended as many classes
on diseases and their cures as learning about battlefield injuries,
infection and shock. What had Nadil said? It had been one night in
the common room and Nadil had been telling Hannah what to expect.
He had been talking about a class he had attended. What had it been
about? It was no use asking Kolyei for help, he had been out
hunting at the time. The conversation had occurred at the end of
her first year, it had been raining outside and many cadets had
been sipping hot kala and gossiping to while away the bell before
bedtime.

He had been
talking about a pestilence; that was it, the pestilence that had
ravaged Largdom about the time of the Battle of Trumpet Keep. Some
of the Lind had caught the disease and the Holad medics of the time
had found a cure.

Kolyei was
following her thoughts
: how? :

She had to find
out. Rising from her pallet she crept out of the dormitory and went
downstairs to the room where the Holad medical records were kept.
There she found Malin, the senior medic, sitting on a stool
struggling to read a book in the hope that he could find something
to aid his search for a cure. He was coughing. He raised
pain-bleared and sleep-deprived eyes in Hannah’s direction.

“Hannah! What’s
wrong? Are you sick? Coughing?”

“None of
these,” she replied, “and shouldn’t you be resting?”