Homage and Honour (8 page)

“Low practice
field,” said Jess, after a quick check of the timetable she had
copied out and attached to the wall above her battered table. She
had studied the timetable until she knew it by heart but it was as
well to make sure.

Jen tried
without much success to hide a grin. She remembered well her and
Trnslei’s first class.

“I’m looking
forward to it all so much,” declared an enthusiastic Tana.

“Remind me to
ask you this time tomorrow if you’re still of the same mind,”
laughed Jen, “I hated it all at first as a junior, exited the first
class tip to toe in burgeoning bruises from the tumbles I
took.”

But the
optimistic Tana wasn’t to be put off. Hannah was looking more than
a little nervous and Beth terrified.

“Except for the
journey here, I’ve hardly ever ridden,” she confessed and Hannah
nodded in agreement.

“Neither have I
except for the farm horses back home. How bad is it really?”

“Well, it’s not
trotting round in circles,” answered Jen, “They’re teaching us how
to fight and as Ryzcka Ranolf will tell you, we must be able to
stick on our Lind’s backs like glue. The riding straps help but
Ranolf doesn’t allow you to use them at first. In a fight the
straps can spring loose and the pirates, they try to cut them and
so dislodge the rider.”

“Have you been
in a fight?” asked Tana.

“Not yet,”
admitted Jen, “I’ve just become a Senior Cadet and it’s only
seniors who spend some time on patrol with one of the Ryzcks. I
expect me and Trnslei will be doing our first attachment sometime
soon.”

“How long do
they last?”

“Well, let me
see, a normal patrol period is three months, which doesn’t include
travelling to and back from the sector. I think an attachment lasts
about half that long.”

“Any idea where
you’ll be going?”

Jen shook her
head, “nary a one, some sectors are better than others of course.
I’ve been told that the ones in the mountains, especially in
winter, can be very unpleasant. I don’t think cadets are sent up
there, at least not in Argyll. Takes too long to travel I
suppose.”

“How often,
once we’ve graduated to a Ryzck that is, are we expected to be on
patrol?” asked Tana.

“Fountain of
questions, aren’t you?” teased Jen.

“I like to
know,” replied Tana, refusing to rise.

Jen sighed,
“three months on then two off is normal but you’ll learn all about
it during lessons never fear.” She turned to Hannah, “you’ll be
pleased to know that young Robain seems likely to settle down at
the domta. He’s most disgruntled by the fact that he’s too young to
start his cadetship at once.”

“Do the younger
ones get training?” asked the persistent Tana. She hadn’t realised
that some children younger than fourteen became vadeln-paired with
a Lind.

“How many are
there?” asked Hannah, determined that Tana should not monopolise
the questions, “I promised his parents that I would write and tell
them how he and Balindifya are getting on.”

“At the moment
there are more than twenty of them,” answered Jen. “They’re not
cadets so don’t come under military discipline like we do. They do
general lessons and some basic weapons work but the domta itself is
more like a large family unit than anything else. I should know, me
and Trnslei spent two years there. My Trnslei couldn’t, wouldn’t
wait until I was fourteen.”

“Who looks
after them?” asked Jess.

“An older
couple, man and wife. Jadred’s retired from the Vada, his Lind was
badly mauled some years ago and they can’t serve with a Ryzck any
more. His wife Maria never did pair. Don’t worry about Robain;
Maria has children of her own and a generous heart. They get all
the parenting they need and they can visit their own families twice
in the year, not that all of them do, some Argyllian families
disown their children when they bond with a Lind.”

Tana thought of
her own father who, if he hadn’t exactly disowned her, had not been
best pleased. “I hope he settles down and is happy,” she
vouchsafed.

“I’m sure he
will and Hannah and Kolyei can take him home first leave time. Now,
we’ve been talking for ages and I really must get to bed. You may
have a riding class first thing but me and Trnslei have mounted
arms practice with Weaponsmaster Rhian and that class is the most
backbreaking of them all.”

“It’s not that
late,” protested Hannah.

Jen grinned.
“You’ll learn you can’t go burning the candle at both ends and keep
up with all you have to do. The instructors will know if you are,
believe me, and they will take steps.” She spoke as one who had
learned through bitter experience.

Jan grinned and
left. The four juniors looked at each other.

“That’s it
then,” said Tana, “from tomorrow we begin the first day proper of
the rest of our lives.”

“I’m scared,”
mouthed Beth.

“We’ll get
through it together,” Jess promised.

Jess placed her
hand, palm downwards in front of the other three. Tana followed
suit, placing her tiny hand on top of Jess’s long-fingered one,
then Beth’s soft white one and last, Hannah’s larger one.

“Together,”
they promised.

* * * * *

When the rising
bell sounded out shortly after dawn Tana tumbled out of bed. She
grabbed her bathing robe and was on her way to the ablutions block
before Tavei had the chance to bid his life-mate a good morning. He
sighed and his telepathic greeting followed her as she ran towards
the block. He was getting used to the fact that Tana was always on
the go.

She met the
other three on her way back to her cubicle. They were progressing
in a far more decorous manner, not that there was time for a
leisurely stroll but, as Jess said to Beth and Hannah as Tana
passed in a blur of blue, what was the point of exhausting oneself
right at the beginning of what was likely to be a very busy
day?

Consequently,
Tana was ready and waiting at the barracks’ door long before the
other three had donned their uniform tunics of maroon with white
piping and laced up their boots. She skipped from one foot to the
other with impatience as one cadet after another emerged and began
to make their way to the cookhouse for breakfast and still her
three friends did not appear.

Jess, Beth and
Hannah were amongst the last to emerge and the four had to run to
reach the cookhouse in time. As had been pointed out to them on
numerous occasions since their arrival at Vada, breakfast was a
Parade with a capital P. If they were late, or horror upon horrors,
missed it completely, they might well be put on a charge and
marched in front of one of the Cadet Ryzckas and awarded an
unpleasant punishment.

Once the
barracks was empty of its human inhabitants, the Lind emerged to
make their way to the water sluices for a drink. The Lind did not
eat as the humans did. One large protein-rich meal every three days
or so was the norm for an adult Lind, supplemented by smaller
snacks, the Lind called them rdhas, in between.

Breakfast over,
the cadets ran back to the barracks to groom their partners and to
fit the riding harness. It was made of supple zarova leather,
buckled into place and the saddle attached. The saddle used by the
Vada was a masterpiece in design. It had to be flexible enough so
as not to restrict movement in battle yet still be able to give
enough support for the rider when he or she was fighting. In a
battle situation the rider was strapped and harnessed to the saddle
for security but the junior cadets had not yet been issued with
these straps. Tana watched enviously as the senior cadets fitted
the fighting harness as she scrambled up on to Tavei. Jess mounted
Mlei with ease, an ease born of much practice mounting her father’s
farm horse (and his riding horse when he wasn’t looking). Hannah
managed quite creditably for someone of her build and stature. Xei
had to hunker down so that Beth could climb aboard.

The eight of
them made it to the practice field with only a few heartbeats to
spare, falling into place at the end of the second row. Ryzcka
Ranolf said nothing, perhaps he realised the difficulties some of
the new cadets were experiencing this, their first morning of
training proper.

He reviewed
them two-by-two, walking along the lines and adjusting harnesses
and saddles here and there.

Then work
began. They were ordered to form a circle and set to walking round
as Ranolf corrected seat and leg positions. He was not sparing in
his comments. He told Hannah that she sat like a sack of
white-roots and that if Beth continued to sit like a hardwood board
he would go and get a long pole and shove her off Xei. Jess he
criticised for riding Mlei as she would a carthorse and told her to
relax. Tana and Tavei he brought into the circle where he forcibly
pulled Tana’s lower legs forward as he explained in a loud and
carrying voice that if anyone sat perched forward as Tana was doing
they would tumble over their mount’s head as soon as he began to
gallop.

Once Ranolf was
satisfied that the cadets were more or less in the correct
position, the Lind edged out of a walk and into a trot and, if they
thought walking was bad, trotting was a hundred times worse. Their
thighs ached with the strain of gripping and Tana especially began
to long for the bell signalling the end of class. Being on the
small side and Tavei so solid, she was finding the situation
difficult. Nor was she the only one, Beth and Hannah were in tears
and Jess’s face was set and strained.

Their legs
protested when Ranolf ordered them to dismount. Tana’s buckled
under her as her feet hit the ground and she had to hold on to
Tavei’s neck for support. Beth crumpled to the ground with a
stifled sob.

“You’ll have to
do better than that,” declared Ranolf, “now there’s the bell, same
time tomorrow,” and he watched, with barely concealed amusement as
the cadets limped out of the practice field on their way to their
next class. It was always the same and the cadets wouldn’t thank
him at this moment for telling them that, within a short tendays,
their muscles would begin to get accustomed to the exercise. The
first tenday was always a painful one except for those lucky few
who had paired at a younger age and had been taught basic riding
skills while living at the nursery domta.

The cadets
forced their trembling legs to walk up the shallow hill to the
barracks where they unsaddled their Lind. It was with relief that
they entered the classroom and settled down to two bells of book
learning. It would give their protesting muscles the chance to
recover.

After lunch
they headed to the salle where they were to begin their tuition in
sword-work, not a few of them expressing audible relief that they
would not be undergoing mounted arms-practice yet. A good half of
their Lind accompanied them to watch although they had not been
ordered to do so. It was, however, encouraged and many wanted to
know how their human partners were likely to handle a weapon.

Of the quartet,
Tana fared best, drawing a commendation from the Weaponsmaster as
she displayed proficiency with the wooden practice blade despite it
being much longer and narrower than she was used to. Argyllian
infantry fought with a short flat stabbing blade unlike the rapiers
Vada used. Jess and Hannah were no better or worse then the
majority of the others.

Beth soon
proved herself to be worse than useless and was relegated to a
corner of the salle with three others who were also rank beginners
under the tutelage of the Weaponsmaster’s Second who had, as
Weaponsmaster Rhian knew, far more patience than she had with the
kura-handed.

At the end of
the class they were all gathered together and informed that from
now on the class was to be split into three groups.

Tana found
herself in the smallest group of the more able whilst Beth was to
remain with the beginners until she could be promoted to join in
with the majority.

After
arms-class their formal lessons for the day were declared over, the
authorities, after a century and a half of training youngsters,
realised that they would have had enough by this bell-time. They
were told that, as term progressed, more classes would be added
until their timetables were full.

“Use the time
to get ready for tomorrow,” advised Rhian, “and have a hot bath. It
will help.” Rhian knew that all their muscles would be aching, “and
use the green salve,” she added for good measure.

“I feel that
I’m going to die,” moaned Hannah as they left the salle.

“Me too,” Beth
was as white as a sheet, “I didn’t realise I could hurt so much and
still be alive.”

“The
Weaponsmaster and Ryzcka Ranolf are right though,” said Tana, “a
hot bath will make all the difference.” Tana was also aching,
“we’ll all be sore and stiff tomorrow. Best thing is to keep moving
lest the muscles tie up. We should all go out for a ride this
evening.”

“You’re
joking,” exclaimed Hannah.

“Not in the
least,” answered Tana cheerfully.

Jess and Hannah
looked at each other and groaned, but after due consideration,
decided that Tana had the right of it and joined her.

Beth groaned
too but decided she couldn’t face another ride. Next morning she
wished she had.

The second
evening the four girls who were already becoming known as ‘The
Quartet’ went on an evening run then did muscle relaxing exercises
in the squashed privacy of Tana and Tavei’s cubicle. They continued
this self-imposed regimen during the days that followed. It made
them fitter and more supple but it didn’t do much to make Beth’s
sword-work any better.

* * * * *

Nemesis (2)

Lady Eloise,
Duchess of van Buren was in both a quandary and a state of nervous
collapse. The most important of the wedding guests were approaching
at the manor gates and her husband was not here to welcome them. He
had sped off to the ricca fields that dawn in response to an urgent
call from the Chief Overseer and she had heard not a word from him
since.