Conflict and Courage (13 page)

“Do you have to
play that thing? It is most hurtful to my ears,” Duguld’s Ganya
would say.

“Only way to
get better is to practice,” Duguld would reply, “at least that’s
what my mother told me when I was a little boy. The trumpet
belonged to my grandfather. He was a great player, not like me. His
father taught him. I only had a few lessons when we were on the
ship, from Ryzcka Nell as a matter of fact.”

He wondered
sometimes where his mother was. The trumpet was the only link he
had with her now. Despite enquiries, no one had come forward with
any knowledge of Elspeth McCallum’s whereabouts.

“Where are you
from?” asked Mark of Duguld one night as the cadets sat in their
common room oiling their leather harnesses.

“My father is a
farmer,” answered Duguld, “root crops mostly, he doesn’t think
there’s a future in livestock.”

“It’s different
here,” said Mark. “We have mixed farms and livestock breeding is
very important. There’s hundreds of Lind to feed, stands to
reason.”

“Where are you
from?”

“About a day’s
run from here. I’ve got four brothers and one sister. Plenty of us
to keep the farm going, though what Mum and Dad will do if we all
pair with a Lind I don’t know. What about you? Have you got
brothers or sisters?”

“Nope. I’ve got
cousins though. They joined us after the Battle of the Alliance
when my aunt and uncle were killed.”

“They still
with your parents?”

“Parent,”
corrected Duguld. “I haven’t seen my mum for a long time.”

Mark didn’t
quite know what to say to that.

“She ran off,”
continued Duguld, “not long after we left Settlement. One morning
when I got up she was gone.”

“Gone
where?”

“I don’t know.
It was just me and my father for a while then after the battle my
two cousins arrived.”

“Do you miss
them?” asked Mark who
did
miss his family and couldn’t wait
until the first leave-time was announced when he could go and
visit.

“After Mum left
it wasn’t really a home any more,” Duguld confessed. “All my father
thinks of is the farm, what areas to plant and with what. He used
to talk about it for hours at a time, to the cousins mostly. They
were interested; at least they acted as if they were. I am my
father’s great disappointment. He said I take after my mother. She
was a musician, a singer. I always wondered why she married
him.”

“So she decided
to leave, just like that, without saying goodbye? Seems a bit
strange. Why didn’t she take you with her? Didn’t you ask your
father?”

“Ask my father?
You must be joking! He’s got a vicious temper and a heavy hand when
he’s in a rage. I’ll find her one day though.”

Emily had been
listening to their conversation.

“Well, she
wouldn’t have gone back to Settlement,” she offered, “too many
people would know her there and I don’t think she’d have gone
north, that’s where the religious sects have headed. I’d start
looking to the southwest. There are oodles of coastal villages and
hamlets springing up. She might even have travelled here to
Vadath.”

“I don’t think
so,” said Duguld, “if she had she’d have come here I think, but
thanks, I’ll keep what you’ve said in mind for when I go
looking.”

He thought of
the trumpet sitting in his cubicle. He would like his mother to
listen to his playing sometime. Despite Ganya’s complaints, he
was
improving.

* * * * *

The eight
northerners, four Avuzdel and four Vada landed in a deserted inlet
some miles east of the main river that bisected Murdoch. Their
landing site was, had they but known it, in the recently created
Lordship of Gardiner, but at this time Gardiner did not even know
of the inlet’s existence and would not have cared a toss if he had.
He was far more concerned with what was happening at Fort.

“Good land
here,” was Maurice’s comment as they set up their first night’s
camp under the tall southern trees.

“Much water
here,” Aglaya agreed. “No water there.” She indicated south with
nose and paw.

“Better make
the most of it then,” he answered as he gathered together some
fallen wood to make a fire. Aglaya had said that a fire would be
fine this far north, the only creatures to see it being the
occasional stray kura. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?” “Sleep when
light and journey dark,” was Aglaya’s emphatic answer.

“Safer,” agreed
Ustinya, nodding her head. “How many runs?”

“Zan,” Aglaya
said.

“As many as
that?” exclaimed Maurice with surprise.

“We must be
careful,” she answered, “we do not want to be seen.”

“Do we all go
as far as Fort?” asked Louis.

“I don’t think
so,” Maurice said, “Aglaya, Qenya and I will go to the hidden dom
beside Fort. Aglaya has been there before so she knows where it is.
You Louis, Ustinya, Baltvei, Alesei and Vsei will hide at another
dom up in the hills, just inside the woods. It is completely
isolated. Aglaya or Qenya will call you in, if and when we need
you.”

“You’ll need us
as mounts if there more than this Gerry coming back north with us,”
said Ustinya.

“We must make
contact first,” decided Aglaya, then her head swivelled round
suddenly and her body tensed.

“Hush,” she
commanded. “Listen.” The camp was devoid of all movement as eight
sets of ears strained to listen.

“What is it?”
mouthed Maurice to Aglaya but she ignored him, ears forward and
twitching with the effort to push her mind out to assess potential
danger.

: Something
out there :
‘said’ Qenya in Maurice’s mind.

: Larg? :

: No, human and
more than one … they talk :

: Men ? Out
here? :

: Quiet
:
Qenya shushed.

The six Lind
were listening, Louis and Maurice aware that Ustinya and Qenya were
probing outwards with their senses.

: Down in
the valley :
‘sent’ Qenya at last
: Men :

: What are they
saying? :

: Plan :

: Plan? :

: Have left the
Lindar of one named Gardiner, they do not want to go back. This
good spot. They are going to stay here and set up domta here in
lian :

: What do we do
now? :

: Aglaya says
break camp and skirt round :

They did so in
silence and it was not until they had covered a considerable
distance that the eight breathed a sigh of relief. There was no
point advertising their presence, there was no way of knowing where
the group of men’s loyalties lay even if they did appear to be
deserters.

Aglaya turned
to Maurice. “Good to know not all men are happy here.”

Louis edged
towards them. “Should we not speak to these men at least? Perhaps
they could help us.”

“No,” replied
Aglaya in alarm, “at least not until we are on way back.”

“I agree,” said
Maurice. “If they are setting up shop here, we’ll know where they
are. Did anyone pick up any names?”

“Nicchloas was
one,” she offered.

“I’ll remember
it,” said Maurice with a satisfied nod, a germ of an idea was
beginning to form in his mind.

“But will you
remember
here
?” queried Louis with some humour.

“I might not
lad, but Qenya most certainly will. I’d back her against anylind to
remember a who, a when, a what and a where.”

Aglaya wandered
off at that point, but Louis remained. He was noted amongst his
friends for being remarkably quick on the uptake and he had noticed
a certain look in Maurice’s eyes. “You’re thinking what I’m
thinking, aren’t you?”

The man looked
at Louis, an amused expression on his tanned face.

“And what might
that be?”

“That it might
be useful to have some friends here in the south? Agents that can
fit in. Agents who actually are convicts, the real thing?”

“Perhaps not
friends exactly, more paid employees. These men appear to have cut
themselves off from the others. They’ll have to make it on their
own now and that will be difficult for them. Perhaps if we were to
offer them tools, shelter, clothing, weapons even, they might be
persuaded to work for us.”

“It might
work,” agreed Louis. “Our mission though is to find Gerry, find out
what is happening here and if we can bring out Jessica and Jenny’s
families, but they’re not the only ones stuck here in the south,
are they? There are the families from the
Electra
and those
of ours taken from Settlement.”

“Precisely.”

“That’s what
you and Qenya are going to do then? Stay down here and get them
out?”

“We’re going to
try,” answered Maurice. “Jsei told me before we left that Gerry
would certainly not remain here. He’ll want to get back to his
horses, he only went back to try and save Jessica’s people. That
will leave us with no one at Fort to find out what the convicts are
planning. Qenya and I spoke to Fernei and he suggested I might like
to think about it. Seems to think we’re eminently suited to a life
of subterfuge.”

“It will be
hazardous.”

“So is fighting
with the Vada if you think about it.”

“I still think
it is too dangerous,” Louis persisted, “especially if you are
alone.”

“This forest is
huge,” said Maurice. “It will be a long time before exploration
teams get this far. I’ll be safe enough.”

“Need any
help?”

“Thanks for the
offer, but I think Qenya and I will be better off on our own. You
are young and have family in Vadath. Me, well, I’m much older than
you and I never did have any children. Spent my life in space,
never any time to meet a wife, thought I’d live and die up there.
I’ve had a taste of freedom now, breathed the fresh air, the feel
of the wind in my face. This job will suit me well enough and Qenya
has seen to it that I have imbued enough of that sense of duty that
is part of the Lind to acknowledge that I should. We are needed
here. This way I can do both, indulge my new-found need to be apart
from my fellow man with Qenya and also serve the greater good.”

“I think I
understand what you are saying, but it wouldn’t be the sort of life
I would choose. Does Aglaya know of your plans?”

“I’d be most
surprised if she doesn’t.”

Maurice bent
over at the merrily bubbling stew pot, “I think our meal is ready,”
he said giving the pot another stir. “It certainly smells
ready.”

“I’ll get my
plate,” said Louis. “I am so hungry I could eat a horse.”

“Don’t let
Gerry hear you say that.”

“I’ll bear that
in mind for when we meet him.”

He passed over
his plate, which Maurice filled to the brim with the appetising
mixture. “I do seem to have made rather a lot,” he mused passing it
over, “make the most of it, in a few days all we will be eating
will be the salted zarova in the ration packs.”

Louis
grimaced.

“Perhaps
another few helpings might be a good idea,” he agreed. “I’m a
growing boy when all is said and done.”

They reached
the woods to the north of Fort as sunrise loomed over the horizon
after the promised ten days of travelling. It had been a nervous
journey. Although the lands of Murdoch were sparsely populated,
they had no mind to be seen by any intrepid souls who may have
ventured away from the river areas. To their relief, the Larg had
been conspicuous by their absence; obviously they were keeping to
their side of the bargain and were avoiding the lands their Largan
had ceded to the humans. In a strange way, this had made their
journey that much more difficult, any convicts would know that they
were not Larg and might report any sightings to the
authorities.

They found one
of Jsei’s doms, left as it had been by him the previous year and
settled in to rest during the daylight hours. It was a tight
squeeze, but they managed to make themselves relatively
comfortable. They were all on edge. The really difficult part of
the mission lay before them. The next night they would make for the
larger dom on the hill inside the woods, a day’s journey from
Fort.

They were
approaching the hill on top of which Aglaya intended setting up
base camp when they came across the next batch of southerners. The
forest was becoming less dense now, the clearings between the trees
more noticeable.

It was Baltvei
who sensed them. He came to a careful halt as he sniffed the air
around them.

: I smell fire
:

: Men? :
telepathed Alesei in alarm.

Aglaya turned
to Baltvei
: go take a look :

Baltvei nodded
and slunk away, his paws making little disturbance as he vanished
from sight.

After some
tense waiting for the other seven he reported
: six men; they
hunt :

Fernei was
right, thought Aglaya; young Baltvei is doing well. He was
remembering his training and his telepathic report was short and to
the point. The more succinct a report was, the less chance of being
overheard. On a battlefield, reports had to be quick, not least
because the Larg could eavesdrop on any telepathic conversations.
If Baltvei could remember this part of his training now, it boded
well for his future.

“We’ll go
round,” whispered Maurice, “approach from another direction.”

Aglaya led them
away from the danger and it was while they were clambering up the
almost perpendicular hill to reach the densely overgrown area at
the top that would become base camp that disaster overtook
them.

Maurice had
dismounted and was climbing up beside Qenya when the crumbling mud
gave way beneath them. Qenya managed to cling on, her paws giving
her purchase as she clawed her way to the more solid ground.
Maurice was not so lucky and tumbled back down the slope, grasping
for non-existent handholds. It was a losing battle. He fell right
to the bottom where he came to an abrupt stop, his left leg
doubling beneath him with an audible crack. Then pain engulfed him
and he lost consciousness. A frantic Louis reached him seconds
later, closely followed by Ustinya. Louis felt for a pulse.