Dragons and Destiny (19 page)

At last Elliot
was persuaded to leave and they made their way back to the hotel
where they had a good meal, visited the horses and went to bed.

* * * * *

Elliot, Hilla
and Robain

The Garda
Headquarters Complex of which the Academie was a part was situated
at the southern end of Settlement. It was split into four sections
and was encircled by a stone wall ten feet high. The walls looked
very imposing to the four visitors as they approached the gate.

Leftenant
Hallam was to meet them in the Guardroom at Third Bell when he
would take them on a conducted tour of all the sectors within the
complex before taking them for lunch at the Academie. In the
afternoon Philip was to give a lecture to both the First Year and
the Second Year Staticum about how the Regiments of Murdoch
defended their borders.

Philip hustled
them forward.

At the
guardroom the blue uniformed sergeant checked off their names
against a list he held attached to a clipboard then sent off
another blue clad figure to fetch Leftenant Hallam. Elliot realised
he must have been on his way to collect them when he appeared a
moment or two later.

He was a tall,
handsome young man in his mid-twenties and his was face wreathed in
smiles.

“Philip, Philip
Ross by all that’s holy,” he said, hand outstretched. “Good to see
you after all this time.” Robain regarded Elliot, James and Derek
with interest.

“Kellens Derek
and Walter Merriman and Kellen James Cocteau.”

“What brings
you all to Argyll?”

“We’re at the
beginning of a tour,” explained Philip and Robain nodded. Such
tours were not unusual. “We’ve got all the necessary documentation
and permissions.”

“I’m sure you
have,” said Robain frowning, “but I don’t understand. Have you
become a tutor to the rich? Last I heard you were in the service of
the Crown-Prince.” Robain’s face was one giant question mark.

“I was
available,” was Philip’s answer. “believe it or not I actually
volunteered. Fancied seeing a bit of the world again. The
Crown-Prince gave me leave.”

Robain
chuckled. “Court life not to your liking, eh?”

“It can be a
bit constraining,” admitted Philip. “When their fathers mentioned
that they were looking for someone to mentor their boys during
their journey, let us just say that I was happy to oblige and leave
it at that.”

“Wilco,”
acquiesced Robain and gestured that his guests should precede him
out of the guardroom. Outside he indicated that he and Philip would
walk in front and that the three ‘young gentlemen’ should
follow.

“We’ll start
with the H.Q. proper,” he informed them. “The admin buildings and
so forth and from there move on to the other ranks’ barracks then
the Warrant Officer’s School. The Academie after that and that’s
where I have arranged that we shall have lunch. This afternoon is
the lecture and if there’s time perhaps you could watch some of the
training. I’ve spoken to Major Bellahouston, he’s the O.C. of the
Academie and he said that would be fine. Are any of you three
heading for the army?”

Philip answered
for them.

“Two are headed
for royal administration and the other, Derek here is needed at
home. Their demesne borders on the nadlians of theLarg. They’ve all
had a certain amount of military training so I’m sure they’ll find
it interesting.”

“General
Sainjon would also like to meet you, perhaps around Seventh Bell? I
think he wants to pick your brains about the situation in the
south. There have been rumours of late about unrest among the
Larg.”

“Who is General
Sainjon?” whispered Elliot to Derek but Derek didn’t know.

“Please tell
General Sainjon that I will be delighted,” answered Philip.

“Unfortunately
I will not be able to accompany you all of the time. I’ve got
classes to attend to but Regimental Sergeant Major Wallaceson will
be here when I can’t. I’ve got to get the topic finished before I
go.”

“Go?” asked an
interested Philip.

“I’m about to
make Captain.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.
I’ll be posted out of the Academie.”

“Any idea
where?”

“Not officially
but the greenvine tells me that it is up north somewhere.”

“Looking
forward to it?”

“Yes and no,”
smiled Robain. “It’ll be good to be back amongst the troops again.
The Academie has been great fun and good for my career but two
years is enough.”

“So why the
no?”

Robain looked
embarrassed, “well,” he admitted, “there is this girl.”

“I knew it,”
laughed Philip. “The General’s daughter?”

“Nope. It’s one
of the Trainees.”

James and
Elliot had been walking close enough behind them to hear what was
being said and looked at each other.

“An Officer
Trainee.” James said to Elliot, sotto voice, “a girl?”

Derek had
overheard. “The Garda is made up of both sexes,” he explained.
“Don’t show off your ignorance.”

“But female
officers?” this from Elliot, “but that would mean …”

“… female
officers are in command of men,” continued James in amazement.

“Exactly,”
continued Derek, “and remember not to treat the women trainees any
different from the male ones. I’ve always thought,” he added in a
detached manner, “that in some ways they must be better than their
male counterparts.”

“Impossible,”
whispered Elliot.

“Think about
it, they’re female, not as physically strong but they must
accomplish everything the men do.”

“Bet you that
when the class-lists are read out the females are at the bottom,”
said James with a concealed snigger.

“I think you’ll
find that you will lose that wager, my young friend,” said Robain
who had overheard something of what was being said despite their
best efforts to the contrary.

“How?” asked
Elliot. “I don’t want to appear nosy sir, but I would like to
know.”

“The top
graduates for the last two years have been female,” Robain
answered.

Elliot was
gravelled and Robain had managed to silence James for the next half
bell.

“Now, this is
the administration quadrangle, offices are on the ground floor and
the Mess above. Unmarried quarters are at the back and on the attic
floor. The oldest part was built in AL267 after the older, wooden
buildings burned down. Behind it, you can’t see them, are the
maisonettes for the married officers and their families. There’s
not much to see inside so we’ll go straight through this door to
the service complex where all the staff are based. Main kitchens
are here too and the armoury.”

Elliot sniffed.
Lunch he decided was most definitely a-cooking and it smelt good.
His stomach started to rumble but Robain was hurrying them through
another door.

“This area is
where the warrant officers, sergeants and above, train,” he
informed his guests. “There’s no courses on at the moment, you’ve
come at an ‘in-between time’ so we’ll not hang around here either
but get on to the Academie where the Officer Trainees are. R.S.M.
Wallaceson can bring you back later if there’s anything you
especially want to see.”

“How long does
officer training last?” asked Derek.

“Two years.
Both infantry and cavalry spend the first year here. Second year
the latter move on to the cavalry school at Farquharson.”

“Can you tell
them apart?” asked Elliot, James not yet having recovered his
voice.

“Infantry blue
and cavalry green.”

“I mean between
the two years.”

Robain quirked
an eyebrow at this inquisitive young guest. He answered and
pretended not to see the quelling look Philip gave Elliot.

“Second years
wear white collar tabs,” Robain said. “This is the Academie.”

They saw a
pristine white building of two floors, with evenly spaced windows
and a low roof. It was built around three sides of a large paved
square which, Robain informed them was the main parade ground of
the Garda.

“The Academie,”
Robain said, pride tingeing his voice. “Home at this moment to
seventy-eight trainee officers and the training staff.

The four
visitors were impressed and showed it.

“It’s a
beautiful building, isn’t it?” enquired Robain. “It was designed by
Halbert. The stone isn’t local, it comes from the west and was
brought here by ship. I’ve always thought of her as an old lady
growing old gracefully, some of the greenvines she’s covered with
round the back are over two hundred years old.”

Elliot stood
staring and made the decision that when he became king the
Regimental Officer School at Fort must be rebuilt along the same
lines.

“Shall we look
inside the building?” asked Robain.

Elliot was
enchanted at the prospect.

Lunch, Elliot
and the others found, was a formal affair, the seventy-eight
uniformed first and second staticum trainees which Elliot had
learned held the rank Juvenis and Senis were seated in ordered rows
both sides of three long tables, twenty-six to each.

The training
officers and their guests sat at the other table at the top of the
room.

To Elliot’s
distinct annoyance, he and James had been given seats with their
backs to the trainees whilst Derek had been placed at one end and
Philip had accepted a chair at Major Bellahouston’s right.

Elliot didn’t
like it but he managed to smother any visible signs of annoyance
and accepted his place with resignation.

Robain saw the
faint flicker of annoyance and wondered. He also noticed as he
looked at Derek Merriman and back that although Derek and Walter
had been introduced as brothers, they were surprisingly unalike.
When he regarded the younger one, he noticed that there was an
indefinable oddness about him which he couldn’t put his finger
on.

He smiled at
the younger Kellen Merriman.

“I’m looking
forward to tonight. It will be a pleasant change to eat outside the
Academie. Food is good here but the restaurant we’re going to is my
favourite. Patron and chef both come from one of the islands and
specialise in traditional island dishes. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy
it.

“I’m sure we
will sir,” said ‘Walter’.

* * * * *

When Philip,
Derek, James and Elliot arrived at the restaurant they received
another surprise. Robain had told them that he was bringing three
friends to the meal and they had been expecting another three male
officers. They were trainees and they were female. Robain
introduced them as Juvenis Hilla Talansdochter, Juvenis Jen Durand
and Senis Sandra de Groot.

Elliot
introduced himself with tongue-tied confusion. James and Derek
managed better. All four Garda were wearing what Robain called
‘undress uniform’ which they wore during their time off duty but
not on leave when they could wear civilian clothes. In fact, he
explained further with a grin at one of the young women, trainees
were not allowed out of the Academie in anything
but
uniform. “It helps us keep tabs on them when they’re up to mischief
down town.”

Derek offered
Jen the chair to his right, pulling it out for her so that she
could sit down. James did the same for Sandra. Belatedly, Elliot
held out the chair to his right for Hilla. Robain sat next to Hilla
and Philip took the one between Robain and James, facing the
door.

There was an
awkward silence, James and Elliot especially not being sure what
they should say. In Murdoch one created polite chit-chat about what
Elliot privately called a lot of fripperation with female table
partners. The three southern lads found themselves at a loss.

“I saw you at
the lecture earlier,” Elliot said at last, turning to Hilla.

“I was there,”
she answered in a prim voice. These weren’t the first people from
Murdoch she had met, southern merchants often stayed at her
father’s inn but they were the first she had met in a social
environment and she wasn’t sure what she should say either.

“Do you have
lectures every day?” he persevered while Philip and Robain tried to
hide their smiles at this very correct conversation.

The waiters
arrived with the first course with the light wine Robain had
ordered and these small beginnings stalled.

“I took the
liberty of ordering,” said Robain.

“What is it?”
asked Elliot eyeing the crispy green concoction on the plate.

“Crisp
Seaweed.”

“Seaweed?”

“Delicacy of
the house,” Robain explained. “Hoe in everyone, it’s best eaten
hot.” Lifting his fork he speared a large leaf.

“It’s
absolutely delicious,” exclaimed an amazed James from opposite
Elliot. “Hurry up everyone.”

It was Elliot
who ended the tension. Snagging a large piece with his own fork he
raised it to his mouth where it promptly broke into about a
thousand little green pieces.

Everyone
laughed.

“Crisp isn’t
the word for it,” he said and went for another bit which he managed
to get into his mouth. “Gorgeous,” he added, chewing, eyes half
closed.

“We don’t get
food like this at the Academie,” agreed Jen who was making short
work of her own portion.

“Plain and
wholesome,” agreed Hilla with a grin.

“So tell me
what its like to be in the Garda,” Derek said.

“Pretty good on
the whole,” answered the blonde Shona and Elliot, seated opposite
wondered why such a pretty girl would
want
to be a
soldier.

“Why
soldiering?”

“Family
tradition mostly,” Shona answered, “same as Jen here, we both come
from families with a history of service. My father’s a
colonel.”

“Is that what
you want to be, a colonel?” asked Derek, “or are you aiming
higher?”