Ambition and Alavidha (34 page)

“You have much
the look of your grand-sire about you, Jill Hallam,” said Maru,
adding, “and the wish for adventure.”

“Father does
say I take after his father, usually when I’ve done something wrong
or disobedient.”

Maru laughed,
“and the temperament of others before you and in your blood-line
too I see.”

Jill didn’t
quite know what to make of that but she was a duke’s daughter. She
knew her manners and clearing her throat suggested that Maru might
wish to speak to her father himself.

“I can go get
him for you if you don’t want to come to the manor.”

“Not yet Jill
Hallam, daughter of your father and descendant of the Robain whom
once I knew. Not yet awhile. Now I must take my leave.”

* * * * *

Jill watched
Maru fly away, she watched until he was only a pin-prick in the sky
then she hurried home to tell her father.

As she kneed
her pony into a canter she was wishing Maru had taken her away to
‘fatten her up’. Before today Jill had believed that riding her
pony was the most wonderful thing she would ever know. Now she was
not so content.

She wanted to
fly!

* * * * *

-47-

THE SOUTHERN
CONTINENT – THE NADLIANS OF THE LARG

The
Dalina
dropped anchor at, as Captain Hallam told them, the
last safe anchorage at the very eastern tip of the Kingdom of
Murdoch.

“This is as far
as I can take you,” he told Thalia, “you sure they landed around
here? It’s a pretty inaccessible spot.”

“Vya is sure
and I believe her,” Thalia answered, “she is Avuzdel and they have
ways of finding out things that would probably defy both of our
imaginations. It certainly does mine. If she says the men landed
here then land here they did.”

“Fair enough,”
he answered. “You want me to take a message back for you?”

“Thank you
Captain but that won’t be necessary and thanks again for all your
help, hospitality and the supplies. They will come in very useful
where we’re going.”

“I wish I could
do more,” Alun Hallam fretted, “I don’t like the idea of you five
on your own out there. You could be walking into a trap.”

“I am assured
that we are not,” said Thalia, “true, the thieves have met with
others, we’re not sure how many yet but Vya says that there will be
help available if and when it is needed.”

“Strange are
the ways of the Lind.”

“How true that
is. I've been bonded with Josei for a number of years and he still
surprises me.”

Captain Hallam
laughed, “I’m sure he does. Well, that’s it then Vadeln Thalia.” He
held out his hand for the traditional goodbye handshake. “Good luck
and good hunting. Perhaps we’ll meet again some day.”

“Thanks on both
counts,” grinned Thalia as she passed through the sally-port for
the last time and dropped into the boat which would take her to the
shore.

Captain Hallam
sighed as he watched his oarsmen make headway through the surf.

He wondered if
he should have sent a party with her, at least for part of the way
but discounted the idea almost as soon as it hit him. Lind were
fast and his sailors would only have become an encumbrance.

Back to the
islands the
Dalina
would go.

* * * * *

On the beach,
Thalia spoke to Daniel.

“We’ll have to
skirt round the duchies. Vya and Josei don’t look much like horses
nor do they run like horses.”

“No hooves
either,” Zeb mentioned.

“It’ll be much
quicker to travel through Charleson,” complained Daniel who had
friends in the duchy and had been looking forward to a comfortable
bed for at least one night.

Thalia
pretended to consider that but answered as he knew she would, “we’d
never get through undetected.”

“Disguise?”

This time
Thalia’s answer was a withering look.

“Ok, point
taken, we go through Largdom.”

They began
their run south, Daniel wondering anew at the ground devouring lope
of his mount. It was far more comfortable and faster than a horse.
He would be sleeping in a bedroll again come nightfall but the
travelling was certainly much more easy that if they had been
riding a-horseback.

* * * * *

That evening,
both Daniel and Zeb undertook to brush Vya together.

“You know Zeb,”
began Daniel as they worked, “women are unfathomable
creatures.”

“I’ve heard
Uncle Nonder say the same once or twice of an evening,” said Zeb,
continuing his brushing with long and even strokes.

Vya chuckled
: It is what we are :
she telepathed to Zeb
: a bit
higher please. There’s an itchy bit just there. Yes, you’ve got it
:

She leant into
him.

“What did she
say?” asked Daniel who although he could not ‘hear’ her unless she
forced the rapport which gave him a headache, he had watched Thalia
and Josei ‘talk’ and knew the signs now.

“She agrees
with you,” answered Zeb and mystified, he added, “she seems to
think it’s a good thing.”

“I can’t fathom
out what Thalia’s thinking,” Daniel complained.

It was Zeb’s
turn to chuckle.

“Vya says that
is how it must be. I don’t see it myself. Girls seem to me to be a
lot of trouble; look at Uncle Nonder. His women always seem to be
doing and saying things that annoy him and he used to say they
costed a lot of coin, always wanting trinkets and baubles to dress
themselves up with.”

“Thalia’s not
that sort of woman.”

“No she isn’t
is she?” Zeb said, “she seems a very sensible person, for a girl
person.”

Daniel stopped
brushing to think about that. Resting his arms on Vya’s back he
stood gazing at the campfire where Thalia was preparing supper.

“I like her
sensible,” he murmured.

Vya flicked an
ear at Zeb.

: The boy is
smitten :

Zeb
groaned.

: The boy girl
thing? Oh shucks, do they have to? :

: The boy
girl thing :
she confirmed with a swish of her
tail : you’ll
understand when you are older :

* * * * *

They were about
sixty miles inland when Vya stopped in her tracks.

: Larg ahead
:
she telepathed to Josei and he stopped too. He seemed uneasy
and Thalia sensed it.

Daniel felt it
too and Zeb, he went white as a sheet. Both looked at Thalia, Zeb
was riding pillion behind Daniel.

“What’s up?”
asked Daniel.

“Larg,” she
whispered.

Gods
,
thought Daniel, going hot and cold all over and all at once.

Zeb however,
after his initial became quite suddenly relaxed and Thalia shot him
a concerned look.

: Don’t
interfere :
Josei instructed her before she could make a
comment.

* * * * *

The Larg Vya
had warned them about was on his own, a fact for which Daniel felt
inordinately relieved.
He can’t do much to us
, he decided,
there are four of us, five if I count Zeb and surely even a Larg
wouldn’t try. Might leave this one to Thalia, she’s in constant
contact with Josei’s mind.

But to Daniel’s
consternation, it was Vya who stepped forward. He gulped.

“It’s all
right,” Zeb hissed in his ear, “Vya won’t let anything happen to
us.”

Something, that
indefinable thing which Daniel was only peripherally aware of and
was the emotive telepathic contact passed between Vya and the Larg.
Vya relaxed.

“He is a
friend,” she said aloud.

“A friend?”
Daniel squeaked, “are you sure?”

“I am,” she
said, adding, “stop being so nervous Daniel, I can feel it and to
experience is unsettling. There is nothing to fear.”

The five
waited.

The Larg when
he reached them was as tall as Josei and Vya at the withers but his
body mass was larger and his legs not as long. This gave him the
appearance of being more powerful than either of the two Lind.

The Larg opened
his mouth wide as he began to speak. Daniel noticed that his teeth
were large, pointed and very long.

“Greeting Vya,”
he said in thickly-accented Lindish. “You look well.”

“The seasons
have been kind to me Aeolvaldr,” she replied with a couple of
skittish steps.

Gods
,
thought Daniel,
she’s flirting with him!

“Indeed they
have.” Aeolvaldr’s look was admiring.

“Well?” Vya
prompted.

“The men on the
horses that you are hunting are six in number. They passed from
here into Murdoch three suns past,” Aeolvaldr informed her and much
to Daniel’s surprise. He snuck a look at Thalia but her face was
impassive. If she was surprised she was hiding it well. He
privately suspected that she and Josei had been keeping secrets
from him just so see how he would react.

Thalia looked
over to him. It was unapologetic. She shook her head, ever so
slightly.

Not surprised
but she didn’t know, Daniel deduced, somewhat comforted but Josei
had still probably been relaying some information to her. He tried
not to feel jealous about the fact that Thalia could ‘hear’ the
Lind and he could not.

“They ride
south on the other side of the border, “Aeolvaldr continued, “we
should catch them without too much pant-time. Largan Laeolvaldr
sent me.”

“We can
definitely catch up with them?” asked Thalia.

“They ride
horses do they not?” he asked by way of answer. His accompanying
whine was half way between a derisory snort and a yelp. “They have
to rest and often. Is very funny.”

“Let us run
together,” ordered Vya.

* * * * *

That night they
all rested beside some rocks. Aeolvaldr ran off and returned with
meat for the stew Thalia proposed to make. He placed down in front
of her two good-sized rudtkas, a southern burrowing animal, related
to the vuz in the north.

Thalia prepared
the meal with her usual competence and soon an appetising smell was
emanating from her cook pot.

Aeolvaldr was
very interested in the process of cooking. He sat beside her
watching and sniffing. He licked his lips and admitted he had never
tasted cooked meat before and so he was looking forward to it,
especially if it tasted as good as it smelt. In passing, Daniel
noted that the big Larg ate twice as much as Josei and so he must
have liked it more than a lot.

As they lay
digesting their meal Aeolvaldr told them that Largan Laeolvaldr
intended to visit them on the morrow.

“He will meet
us as we run,” he informed them. He quirked and eye and his
whiskers shivered. Then he placed his large paws over his eyes and
went to sleep.

It wasn’t just
Thalia and Daniel who stifled giggles this time. Josei almost bit
his tongue. Zeb almost
did
laugh but Vya stopped him with a
single word
: No!
: and he stuck his fist into his mouth to
stop himself.

“I thought the
Larg were vicious and scary people,” he whispered to Thalia.

She shook her
head and pressed a finger to his lips.

Vya answered
Zeb, although Thalia didn’t realise it.

: The Larg
:
she telepathed
: are very like us Lind. Now, go to sleep
young Zeb. We have a long run ahead of us when the sun comes up
:

* * * * *

Tomorrow
dawned, bright and dry. Winter arrived later the closer one was to
the equator. Zeb remembered this fact from one of the books Thalia
had borrowed from Captain Hallam when they had been on the frigate.
He had enjoyed that one although there was lots in it he didn’t
understand. He thought however that in the future he would like to
live the year on alternative continents so that it was always
summer where he was.

The Largan was
waiting for them beside a small oasis. He was a very large Larg
indeed, imposing was how Zeb tried to describe him later, with a
very commanding presence. The Larg who were accompanying him were
few. Thalia had expected that he would have had more with him.

: Like an
entourage :
she complained to Josei with disappointment.

: Perhaps
the rest are busy elsewhere :
Josei answered
: I believe the
Larg Nadlians are not easy to rule :

: You’re
probably right :

: I am right
more often than I am not right :

: Stop
blowing your own trumpet :
she retorted, but giving him an
affectionate slap as she slid to the ground and telling Zeb to stay
where he was astride Vya, as usual. He almost never wanted to ride
behind Thalia on Josei these days.

She led the way
towards the Largan and a lindlengh away she stopped and bowed, very
low.

“Largan,” she
greeted him.

“Vadeln
Thalia,” he greeted her. His accent was worse that Aeolvaldr’s.

Thalia spoke a
few pleasantries then thanked him for sending Aeolvaldr.

“We Larg know
the ground here while you do not. Even Vya. I knew that you would
be able to catch those you hunt much faster if he was with you.
They are,” he paused, searching for the words, “about to pass into
that place, that part of Mur-doch man call Hal-lam.”

“We’ve almost
got them, thank the Lai,” Thalia breathed.

“But you will
need help to do this thing,” the Largan continued, nodding his
wise, white head. “There are to many for you and your companions to
bring down, even if you were to have the help of Aeolvaldr which
you will not have. Our treaty with the lady ruler of Murdoch does
not let us enter her lands unless there is no other way.”