Ambition and Alavidha (45 page)

“How many men
o’ war were lost?” he asked.

The Earl
Marshall took a few judicious steps back before he answered. This
alerted him to the fact that the defeat must be a bad one but even
Cadan was dismayed and shocked when the Earl Marshall told him.

“Five ships of
the line Your Majesty and two were captured. The gunnery of the
Argyllian Navy was I am reliably informed both accurate and
deadly.”

Cadan let out
an explosive breath.

“The rest of
the fleet?”

His teeth were
grating together with vexation. The navies of Eilidon and Randall
had been supposed to be on his side and what was the Leithe fleet
doing to be so close to Galliard anyway? Galliard was situated in
waters under Argyll’s protection.

“We lost half
of our frigates to either sinkage or capture and all but four of
our sloops. It was one of those that brought the news. In addition,
all of our bomb-ketches lie in the sea bed.”

This is no
defeat, it is another disaster.

Cadan was
digesting the news.

“We believe
that the bomb-ketches were the Argyllian Navy’s primary target,”
the Earl Marshall added, taking another step back.

The
bomb-ketches were one-masted, flat-bottomed, ungainly and slow
ships used to bombard an enemy’s shore emplacements thus destroying
their coastal defences leaving the way open for invasion troops.
Cadan had used them to good effect during his island expansion
policy.

“I take it that
you have informed me of the full extent of the tragedy?” Cadan
asked through clenched teeth.

The Earl
Marshall had left the worst news until last.

“Crown-Prince
Catar is lost Your Majesty,” said the Earl Marshall, his body
quaking in spasms right down to his well polished boots. “His ship
went down, afire. There were no survivors.”

King Cadan’s
son and heir was dead.

He knew what
would have to be done. His second son, Prince Lars was his heir now
and the five young children of Catar, their lives were forfeit.
Leithe’s heir was always a man and of adult age.

The Earl
Marshall knew it too and his face paled as he realised what King
Cadan’s next order would be. The law was the law. It didn’t mean
that the Earl Marshall had to like it though.

“See to it,”
commanded King Cadan in an emotionless voice, turning away.

* * * * *

King Cadan
should have been a broken man but he was not. He should have been
prostrate with grief that he has lost his son but he refused to
give in. Perhaps his ambition had mentally unhinged him, but mad or
not, he was still King of Leithe.

He would build
a new navy, more ships and bigger ones. He would consolidate the
gains he had made to date. He would not permit the resent setbacks
to destroy him.

Of the deaths
his ambition had caused, of the lives he had ruined, he cared not a
whit. He would start grooming Prince Lars for kingship, for the
time when he would ascend his father’s throne.

He set to work
on new ambitions, new goals.

He had no
suspicion that a plot was being hatched to orchestrate his
downfall.

* * * * *

The plot was
being led by Prince Kador, King Cadan’s younger brother. How Kador
had survived Cadan’s previous, murderous familial purges only the
Gods knew but survive them he had. It was probably because he kept
his head down and out of trouble and rarely came to court. He had
worked out it was safer to live on an island far from the shores of
Leithe itself and to cultivate the reputation of being a soft in
the head recluse.

Unfortunately
for Cadan’s continuing good health, Kador was a good friend of the
Earl Marshall. Instead of killing the five children, the Earl
Marshall smuggled them aboard a ship with their mother and spirited
them away to Kador’s island retreat.

In this he had
the compliance and help of King Cadan’s youngest son Prince Rand
who was nervous about his own position and life.

The new
Crown-Prince, Lars, was of a mould and disposition similar to that
of his sire and Rand had a little daughter, four years old to
consider. Lars might well think that he, Rand was a threat and
dispose of him and his family in the traditional manner.

Rand picked up
a few possessions, collected his wife and daughter and also left
for the home of his uncle.

* * * * *

“Lars is of the
same ilk as my brother,” said Prince Kador to Prince Rand and the
Earl Marshall, “ambitious, ruthless and see where Cadan’s lust for
power has got us. We’re isolated and alone. Murdoch hates us as do
Eilidon and Randall. Murdoch is rapidly becoming an enemy too and
will become one if we don’t take steps to prevent it. Argyll has
become aware of my brother’s territorial urge and that is why their
fleet moved to destroy the bomb-ketches.”

“They destroyed
more than the ketches,” said Rand.

“The other
ships were merely in the way,” said the Earl Marshall. “Did the
King order Catar to take the fleet east into Galliard waters?”

“I believe
Catar did it off his own bat,” answered Rand, “eager to prove
himself to Father.”

“I tried to
warn Catar to keep the fleet within bounds,” said the Earl
Marshall, “I should have known he wouldn’t listen. He never
did.”

“So what do we
do?” asked Rand, “depose my Father?”

Prince Kador
nodded, there was no regret on his visage. He had known for some
time that Cadan had murdered their elder brother Atan and he had
hated Cadan for many years.

“We must,” he
told them, “and the sooner the better.”

“Lars?” asked
Rand.

“He must go
too.”

“But surely not
his son?” said the Earl Marshall. “It is time that law was
eradicated from the law books. It is an abomination.”

“I agree,” said
Rand, “But who will rule in my father’s stead?”

“You are next
in line,” said his uncle.

“I do not want
the throne,” protested Rand.

“Nor do I,”
Kador agreed, “but Leithe needs a ruler.”

“I shall act as
regent for my brother Catar’s eldest boy Cadan,” announced Rand,
“and he shall be raised to look after our people and not to use
them as tools to further his own grandiose ambitions. I swear this
on my daughter’s life.”

“Then from this
day Leithe itself will cease to be an autocracy,” declared Kador.
“We are in agreement I think. A government shall be formed, by the
people and for the people.”

“You have my
hand on that,” declared the Earl Marshall, thrusting his at Kador’s
who accepted the tight grip with a grimace.

“And mine,”
cried Rand, adding his own, slimmer one to the two.

* * * * *

It was silent
night when the boat carrying the two princes and the Earl Marshall
drew up to the little used jetty.

The men weren’t
talking, they had no need. The next two candlemarks had been
planned in detail and down to the last drip.

Dressed all in
black they clambered on to the jetty and began creeping towards the
tunnel entrance. It had been Prince Kador who had told them about
the tunnel. His beloved, deceased elder brother Prince Atan had
told him about it.

“It can’t have
been used for years, decades,” Kador whispered, leading them into
the tunnels cold, dark maw.

Rand shivered
and followed him in while the Earl Marshall took up the position of
rearguard.

It took them
quite a while to negotiate the tunnel which led from the beach
straight up to the royal bedroom. The door lay behind the arras in
the corner of the bedroom opposite the door. Kador had seen it.

At the door the
three stopped to get their breath.

Then greatly
daring and scarcely breathing, Kador lifted the latch. It made no
sound. Rand realised that his father must keep it oiled, just in
case.

The three
slipped through and stopped behind the arras. But it didn’t matter.
The King was asleep, sleeping the sleep of the just and the weary.
He was snoring too, in little puffs.

The three edged
out from behind the arras. Kador and Rand made for the bed while
the Earl Marshall crept over on silent feet to guard the door.

Uncle and
brother, nephew and son reached the bed, each taking one side.

A quick nod
from Kador and Rand leant over his father and with all his strength
grasped his shoulders and held him down.

King Cadan
woke, opened his eyes and looked into those of his youngest
son.

What he read
there was death.

Without any
fuss, Kador bent over and slit his brother’s throat saying, “you’re
getting a cleaner death than Atan brother dear.”

“Now the
killing is over,” announced Rand, closing his father’s eyes, “there
has been enough. Lars we do not kill. Exile will be enough.”

His uncle
nodded.

“So be it,” he
said.

* * * * *

The three men
left the late king’s body cooling under the bloody bedcovers and
departed to inform the people of Leithe that their nightmare was
over.

A new age for
Leithe was about to begin.

The three did
not know that a new age for all humankind on the planet had
already begun.

* * * * *

-72-

THE NADLIANS OF
THE LARG

They were
running, but not hard nor very fast.

It was their
last run together, running free on the surface of their planet;
feeling the wind on fur and hair, the sting of the flecks of sand
on skin and hide.

The group
numbered eight, three Lind, three humans and two Larg.

“Isn’t it
wonderful?” Katie Durand called over to Thalia who grinned and
called back.

“It’s the most
wonderful feeling in the entire world!”

: Better
make the most of it :
‘said’ Josei
: we’ll be breathing what
the Lai call the re-cyc-led air on the spaceship before we know it
:

: I will
:
Thalia looked behind her and Josei to where Zeb and Vya were
following. The boy was screaming with unbridled fun and enjoyment,
at one with his Vya at last.

He isn’t
looking back, he’s probably the only one of us who is looking
forward to the journey. It’s a great big adventure for him, a new
beginning.

: It will be a
new beginning for us all. Watch out Thalia! Katie and Kenlei are
getting ahead. Let’s race them! :

As Thalia,
Josei, Katie and Kenlei sped ahead, Zeb and Vya slowed to an amble,
beside them Aeolvaldr and Danavdr did the same. The Larg could not
run as fast as their long legged Lind cousins.

Vya had slowed
because Zeb was still unable to ride her as fast as Thalia and
Katie could their Lind without falling off when she wasn’t wearing
a harness. The harnesses were already stowed aboard the spaceship
on which they would soon be leaving for the stars.

As expected
Josei and Kenlei’s race was a draw and Zeb and Vya watched as the
four returned at a walk.

“I’ve no
regrets,” Katie was telling Thalia, “not really. I’ll miss my
family though, but …”

“There’s always
a but, isn’t there?” Thalia asked by way of reply, but it was a
rhetorical questions and they both knew it. Katie was aware of
Thalia’s one real regret.

: She should
have asked him to come with us :

: She
believes that it is for the best :
Kenlei answered.

: We’ll have to
try and make it up to her somehow but I don’t know how. Perhaps if
we keep her busy? :

: That will not
help. Love is a thing that cannot be forgotten and should not be
:

: We must try
:

Katie looked at
Thalia. She was gazing into the distance, her expression pensive
and her thoughts unfathomable.

“Thalia?” Katie
said in a bright voice, “what will we do for exercise on the
spaceship? I mean, they’ve told us it will be large enough but how
large? Spacious enough to run?”

“Josei says
that provision has been made,” answered Thalia, “I admit I haven’t
thought about that aspect of the journey much. Why do you ask?”

“I like to keep
fit,” replied Katie with a grin. “We don’t know much about the
planet we’re doing to do we? Might contain dangers, you never know.
Me and Kenlei like to be prepared for all eventualities.”

“Spoken like a
true Fifty-first-ite! I don’t believe we’ve got much to worry
about, seriously. Maru and the Lai can’t possible be leading us
into any danger but I suspect we’ll know more after the meeting
tonight. They’ve got images of the planet for us to see. I can’t
wait!” Thalia laughed; the first happy laugh Katie had seen since
they had left the Duchy of Hallam.

Katie relaxed.
Her ploy had worked, Thalia was thinking about the future and not
about Kellen Daniel Ross, for the moment at least.

* * * * *

-73-

THE FAVOURITE
MANOR HOUSE OF THE DUKE OF HALLAM - DUCHY OF HALLAM - KINGDOM OF
MURDOCH

Paul, Duke of
Hallam was standing outside the manor building gazing at the stars.
This wasn’t unusual, what was unusual this night was that this
night was
unusual.
Tonight some of his children were leaving
for the stars. Perhaps if he was very lucky he might see their
spaceship taking off.

He would like
that, to see a spaceship.

* * * * *

A candlemark
later and Paul Hallam was still standing in the same spot. He
hadn’t seen the spaceship leave but he knew it had gone.