Homage and Honour (46 page)

“Let them deal
with their troops on their own,” growled young Duke Richard of
Baker. He looked very much like his grandfather at that moment. “We
have had alliance with the Larg for over a century and a half and
they have not broken the treaty, nor should we.”

“Only because
they could not,” Anne retorted with some heat. She did not like her
son-in-law, “only in recent years have they had enough warriors to
challenge.”

“We must not
break the treaty,” agreed the Duke of van Buren, “but, well, they
will be stripping their coastlines of Garda and the Vada and will
have to rely on their Militia. Could we not volunteer to patrol
their coasts? That would protect them from the pirates and we could
thus prove our peaceful intentions to Argyll in a manner that will
not compromise our treaty with the Larg.”

“We trade with
the slavers,” warned the Duke of Brentwood in whose demesne lay the
main slave-port.

“Warn them,”
suggested the Duke of Gardiner, “tell them to keep away from Argyll
for the duration. Their main activities are in the islands
anyway.”

So it was that
an emissary was sent to tell Count Charles Cocteau instructing him
to inform the Council of Argyll that the Navy of Murdoch would
protect the coasts along their eastern and southern seaboards.

More Anne,
Queen of Murdoch could not do.

* * * * *

Santhed (Fourth Month of Winter) -
AL166

War (4)

The Lind
Galansei crawled with due care towards the caves that were the pack
dens of this Larg pack. This was the third such community he had
visited on his fact-finding mission. Each day more evidence emerged
that the Larg kohorts were anywhere but in their home ranges.

He peeked over
the rocks, gazed into the valley and took in what he was seeing. He
was due to report at sundown, Ledei would be waiting for his call,
a tight beam of images taken from the valleys he had visited and a
quick spurt of wordage to minimise the chance that he was being
overheard but he was confident that no Larg would be listening. The
valleys were empty of any adult male Larg and there were not as
many females as he had expected around either, only the old, the
young and nursing mothers. He had met few hunting parties and those
he had seen had been made up of females and older males. This last
visit was confirmation of his findings to date.

Galansei slunk
away, being very careful to stay under cover. He looked enough like
the Larg to pass as a lone male, exiled for one reason or another
from his pack but he wasn’t going to take any chances.

At the
appointed time he ‘sent’ his report north and the Avuzdel Ledei,
waiting for it, latched on and held it. The message was clear, the
kohorts were gone.

It was time to
go home. He ran north, easily avoiding the young Larg when he
sensed them or bluffing his way through when he couldn’t. He didn’t
waste any time, the dye with which the Avuzdel hid their stripe
pattern always started to wear off after a month or so and there
were telltale violet hairs beginning to show.

Galansei was in
no mind to become the main course of any Larg’s next meal.

* * * * *

War (5)

The advance
party from Vada led by Lynsey and Bernei did not wait for the main
fleet. They sailed west as soon as they could. Although the
Tranet
had a mast and sails it also had a plenitude of oars
and men to row. In fact, it was so similar to the pirate galleys
that roamed the Great Eastern Sea that it hardly looked any
different.

Lynsey and the
other members of the party said little to the swarthy and
tough-looking Captain about their suspicions regarding the true
nature of his and his crew’s livelihood. She had instructed Captain
Wylie to commandeer for her the fastest ship that he could and the
Captain had taken her at her word. Why the
Tranet
had been
berthed at the Vada port in the first place Lynsey deemed it
politic not to ask. It did emerge during the voyage that Captain
Wylie had paid the Captain a large number of gold crowns for his
trouble, a revelation that only served to place credence on
Lynsey’s belief that their transport was indeed used for more
nefarious purposes than the transportation of legal merchandise
between islands and mainland.

* * * * *

At Port
Lutterell Paul and Benya led their Ryzck, the Forty-fifth, up the
gangplank and on to the deck of their designated transport. They
were off to war, to fight the battle the Vada had been preparing
for all these years since the last time. The two of them stood on
deck as the other thirty-four pairs of their Ryzck scrambled
aboard.

First up were
Terez and Danei, the Holad pair, then Robain and Balindifya who
were responsible for communications. During a battle, this pair
would not only keep in touch with the members of the Ryzck but
would also relay messages to and from the Command Post. The young
man looked determined and resolute, as did the others who followed
Balindifya aboard.

Once the Ryzck
had boarded, others requested permission to join them, those
members of Ryzcks who had been on leave in Argyll and were
returning to the Stronghold (among whom Paul recognised Jen,
Trnslei, Tamir and Whalya of the Third Ryzck). This was the last
boat. Sundry late arrivals from the Garda were also boarding.

The last to
jump down on to the deck was a young woman accompanied by three
Lind, one of which Paul decided must be the longest-legged he had
ever seen.

She came to
attention in front of Paul and saluted.

“Beth and Xei
of the Fifty-first,” she announced, “with Lei and Renlei of the
Avuzdel reporting for duty.”

“Pleased to see
you,” Paul answered with a smile of welcome. He noted the Honour
Star on the collar of Beth’s uniform tunic.

“Thought we’d
never make it in time,” Beth continued, her southern accent still
obvious even after all this time, “we ran all night, knew this was
the last ship.”

“There’s food
laid out on the deck below this,” Paul informed her, “feel free to
partake and meat for our friends. The ship’s leaving now. They only
waited this long because of us. The Captain assures me that he will
catch up with the fleet. He tells me that his ship is the fastest,
which is why it was he who volunteered to be the one who waited.
Tide is turning.”

The Captain was
as true as his word, the transport caught up with the tail end of
the convoy at dawn.

* * * * *

Liam Durand,
General Commanding the Garda of Argyll had done everything he could
to answer the muster. On the way to the aid of the Lind was
everyone who could be spared from the defence of the country and
some over. As he had told his men and women, “the Lind, they have
protected us, fought for us, all these many years. Now is the time
to repay that debt.” The transports of the ‘volunteer’ fleet
contained some three thousand Garda infantrymen and women and the
entire complement of Garda cavalry, both heavy and light.

The majority
had obeyed his orders willingly but some had had to be
threatened.

Among the
latter was the Brigadier in command of the Heavy Cavalry. The
difference between his response to the crisis and that of his
opposite in the Light Cavalry had been striking.

The latter had
been willing, even eager to answer the call. The Light Cavalry was
considered by their heavy counterparts to be the poor relation. The
Light Horse was a hard-working unit around two hundred and fifty
strong who had always worked closely with the duty Ryzcks. They
fought with them. Lightly armoured and fast, they patrolled in
small troops of similar size to the Ryzcks. They prided themselves
on their speed of response and their valour in a fight. They knew
the Lind and valued their friendship. They wanted to repay the
debt.

On the other
hand, the duties of the Heavy Horse were ceremonial. The troopers’
breastplates were always burnished bright, the plumes on their
helmets perfect and their horses immaculate. Liam had watched them
drill the precise formations and secretly laughed at their pride in
what they thought of as their ‘elite status’. They had never,
during the ninety years since the regiment had been formed, raised
their swords in anger, had never faced an enemy in battle. They had
however, been trained for such an eventuality.

Brigadier
Halland, Officer Commanding, had spent his entire adult life with
the ‘Heavies’ as they were disparagingly called by the hard-working
‘Lights’. The Brigadier was a peacetime cavalryman par excellence,
of a good family, well groomed and overweight. Great had been his
shock when the embarkation orders had arrived on his desk.

He had argued,
threatened and, when that had failed, pleaded that his command
should be excused the campaign. He was needed and Liam was going to
get the ‘Heavies’ on to the transports. It was only when Liam had
gone as far as to threaten Brigadier Halland with being replaced
that the man bowed to the inevitable and had, with a great show of
reluctance, led his men and horses to the dockside.

The light
horses were similar to the Lind in terms of speed and build if not
stamina. The heavy horses were another matter, not fast, very big
and full of muscle; they would be the only force on the battlefield
that would be able to rival the Larg for weight.

The fleet from
Port Lutterell met up with the ships congregating at Settlement on
schedule and the augmented armada set out westwards. The current
was fast and most of the varied elements of the fleet made
reasonably good time.

Liam’s
transport stopped in to pick up any laggards (there were a few) who
had missed the embarkation departure cut off and then set sail
again.

As they sailed
west, the fleet was joined by more ships and boats from the towns
and villages of South Argyll and Vadath, full of men, women and
Lind determined to do their bit.

It was during a
stop to take on water that an elderly man with an almost pure white
Lind partner requested permission to come aboard. He declared his
intention to fight.

“Me and my
Lind,” he told Liam, “may no longer be able to fight within a Ryzck
but we can help. We will stand with you and your infantry and
provide your communications link to those at the CP. We have the
experience and it will be our honour to do it. Please General, do
not refuse us.”

Liam had been
about to refuse, thinking them too old and frail but then he caught
the Lind’s pleading eye and understood in that moment the look on
her hairy face. Duty and honour were of paramount importance to the
Vada. She was begging him to say yes. He agreed.

The duo’s names
were Harld and Alya, friends of Beth and Xei.

It would turn
out to be one of the best decisions Liam had ever made. By the time
Liam reached the rendezvous he had in his mind a thorough
understanding of the methods the Ryzcks and Lindars employed in a
fight and of how his sister would command her army.

From the port
at Vada other ships set sail, filled to overfull with the Ryzcks
and the Vadathian Militia.

Those closer to
the west made their way on paw, on hoof or on foot.

As the ships
reached the river estuary and began to make their slow and
ponderous way upriver to the disembarkation point deep within the
rtathas of the Lind, three ships to the rear of the straggling
convoy peeled away, heading to the ice-reef where the Larg would
cross.

Two of them
were fast cargo ships, the
Emily Stanton
and the
Malinon
, the third was not. The powder ship was an ungainly
vessel, difficult to manoeuvre with a single mast and sail. It made
for slow going, although the current was swift, the
Powderflower
was not built for sea sailing, she was a
coastal vessel and not in her first youth.

They would not
reach the reef until long after the troopships reached their
landing site upriver, around thirty miles from the rendezvous at
Fountains Head. The landing site was a small Holad station known as
the Outpost.

The staff at
the Outpost were working with frenzied speed. Their task was to
co-ordinate the initial planning and implementation of the medical
support for the army. It was a daunting task for Talin, the elderly
Holad medic in command of the post. Not only would Vada Holad
contingents be arriving but teams of doctors, nurses and medics
from the Garda together with civilian medical personnel who had
volunteered (or who had been volunteered) to serve with the army
for the duration of the campaign.

Smaha root,
carriages to transport the wounded, bandages, stretchers, surgical
implements, the list was endless. Talin felt as if his head was
bursting with the stress and the strain.

As Lynsey and
Bernei disembarked from the
Tranet
they looked around the
Outpost with a great deal of interest. It wasn’t large but she had
expected that, consisting of five buildings only. The first was a
low cabin that was home to Talin and his Lind Mederthya, another
that was home to his staff and the third and largest building was
the medical facility itself containing treatment rooms, storerooms
and operating theatre. The final two buildings contained the wards
for the patients. One was large and was dedicated to the Lind and
the small one was for humans.

As they led the
advance party on to the jetty it was Talin and Mederthya who met
them. She was an arthritic white Lind of advanced years, some four
seasons older than her life-partner and Lynsey knew that Talin was
over seventy. Although he would not be accompanying the army west,
all but one of his staff would. His youngest daughter would remain
to help her father tend to the needs of the local Lind.