Valour and Victory

Candy Rae

* * * * *

SMASHWORDS
EDITION

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Valour and
Victory

(2nd
Edition)

Copyright ©
2013 Candy Rae

Cover Artwork
Copyright © 2010 Jennifer Johnson

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All characters
in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real
persons, living or dead; is purely coincidental.

All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of the author.

Smashwords
Edition, License Notes

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* * * * *

Valour and
Victory
is dedicated to everyone who volunteered to read the
draft copies of the series and who provided me with valued
feedback, with special thanks to Fiona.

* * * * *

Prologue

Chapter 1 - First Month of
Summer AL 608 - Dunrhed

Chapter 2 - Second Month of
Summer AL 608 - Vadrhed

Chapter 3 - Third Month of
Summer AL 608 - Lokrhed

Chapter 4 - Fourth Month of
Summer AL 608 - Sanrhed

Chapter 5 - Fifth Month of
Summer AL 608 - Rakrhed

Chapter 6 - First Month of
Winter AL 608 - Dunthed

Chapter 7 - Second Month of
Winter AL 608 - Vadthed

Chapter 8 - Third Month of
Winter AL 608 - Lokthed

Chapter 9 - Fourth Month of
Winter AL 608 - Santhed

Chapter 10 - Fifth Month of
Winter AL 608 - Rakthed

Chapter 11 - Second Month of
Summer AL 609 - Vadrhed

Chapter 12 -
Postludes

REUNION - A Short
Story

Characters

Glossary

Appendices

* * * * *

Dragons and
Destiny
and
Valour and Victory
are books written
‘around’ ten main characters, most of who meet each other as the
story progresses or are related by blood.

Other
characters have roles to play, some important, some incidental.
Most of them know one, if not more of the ten main characters. It
is their destiny, their lachesis, to meet and to play their parts
in the story. Their individual clothos spin within the events that
lead to the new age on Planet Wolf and atropos swings its axe down
on the lives of not a few. Planet Wolf’s destiny is their destiny.
Planet Wolf’s lachesis is their lachesis.

* * * * *

The Ancient
Greeks of Planet Earth believed that there were three types of fate
that governed the world. The first, Clotho, spanned the thread of
life. The second, Atropos, cut the thread of life. The third,
Lachesis, assigned a person’s destiny.

* * * * *

Niaill and
his Lind Taraya -
(Ryzcka(s) of the First Ryzck of the Vada).
In AL 607, Niaill and Taraya, on leave, came across a strange
object in the rtathlians of the Lind. They had found the Boton, the
name for the fact-finding probe sent out through space to find a
suitable planet for its makers, the space-roving predatory
Dglai.

The Dglai have
been travelling through the galaxy in their gigantic spaceship for
eons, landing on planets rich in water, minerals and edibles,
eradicating any resistance and stripping the planets of everything
they can eat and use. Spaceship replenished, they move on to their
next target world.

Niaill and
Taraya reported their find to the Gtrathlin, Vanlya, the
pre-eminent Lind who, realising the seriousness of the situation
took steps to report the existence of the Boton to the Avuzdel, the
keepers of the deepest secrets of the Lind.

Niaill was
directed to read the volumes that had been entrusted to the care of
Gtrathlin Afanasei, Gtrathlin of Lind by Tara Sullivan and her Lind
Kolyei during the first century AL.

Niaill learned
that the Avuzdel had been searching for the Boton for generations
under the direction of a Lind with the title Susalai, overall
commander of the Avuzdel of the three continents. To his surprise
he found out there was a branch of the Avuzdel amongst the Larg.
This pack trod a dangerous paw between their loyalty to the Largan,
the ruler of the Larg and the Susalai.

It was realised
that Planet Wolf was to be the Dglai’s next target and a way must
be found to stop them before they stripped the planet.

Niaill was well
versed in the traditions of the Lind. He knew of their belief that
long ago huge fire-eating flying creatures called the Lai had
arrived, had taught the Lind how to talk and guided their first
steps. Reading Tara’s writings he found out that the tradition was
not a fable but truth. The Lai still lived on the planet, hidden on
the smaller of the two northern continents. They were guarded by
the Avuzdel and a pack (rtath) of Lind known as the Sinetad Rtath
(Secret Pack).

The Lai were
related to the Dglai and they came out of hiding to help humans,
Lind and Larg discover how to stop the Dglai.

Tara’s writings
told of technical computer print-outs hidden in one of the
Guildhouses at Stewarton, the city of Argyll and of an object
called a power-core that had powered the
Electra
, one of the
spaceships that had brought humankind to Rybak. The
Electra
’s Captain had buried it in the desert of the
southern continent. In the wrong hands it could become a weapon of
immense destructive force.

The fact that
the majority of those travelling on the
Electra
were
murderers and hardened criminals had everything to do with this
decision to hide the power-core and later, the print-outs. The
print-outs contained the knowledge of how to turn the power-core
into a weapon that might be able to destroy the mother ship of the
Dglai, the
Ammokko
.

The print-outs
were found and a team was set up to decipher them and to work out
how to manipulate the power-core’s mechanisms. The man appointed to
lead this team was the elderly Guildmaster Annert of the
Technicians Guild.

After helping
to find the print-outs Niaill and Taraya decided to return the
vadeln of the First Ryzck. It was their honour and duty to lead
their men, women and Lind into battle.

At the
beginning of
Valour and Victory
Niaill and Taraya are
leading the thirty-two vadeln-pairs of the First Ryzck. They are
running east towards Settlement, to the war.

Danal and
his Lind Asya
- (Niaill’s elder brother) (Member(s) of the
Avuzdel) were sent after Prince-Heir Elliot, Robain Hallam, Philip
Ross and James Cocteau as an extra bodyguard when they left
Settlement after a failed assassination attempt.

He shadowed and
protected the four of them until they reached Stewarton when he was
contacted by the Gtrathlin about the print-outs, the power-core and
the emergence of the Lai. He led the search for the print-outs.

He and his Lind
Asya are the leaders of the team who are to find the power-core in
the desert east of the Kingdom of Murdoch. He is falling in love
with Tala Talansdochter.

The members of
the team are Baron Philip Ross, Kellen Derek Merriman, Tala
Talansdochter and three Lind of the Avuzdel, Inalei, Jilsei and
Denei.

As
Valour
and Victory
begins he and Asya are about to land in a secluded
inlet on the coast of the Duchy of Graham.

Julia and
her Lind Alyei
- (Susa(s) of the Vada). It is Julia’s destiny
to lead the combined armies of the north into battle against the
Larg and the Dglai. She plans to meet them in battle south of the
Island Chain at the eastern-most tip of the Duchy of Duchesne.

The Avuzdel
have found out that a scout ship, known as a Quorko has landed
amongst the Larg and its occupant has persuaded the Largan to ally
with them against humans and Lind. The Dglai have promised to help
the Larg become rulers over the entire planet. Fired with
enthusiasm all but one of the Larg packs have begun to gather
forming the biggest army the planet has ever seen. The pack that
has not responded is the one that is the southern continent’s
Avuzdel.

Warning was
sent to the Lord Marshall of Murdoch who realised the Larg were
going to attack although he was sceptical about the existence of
the Lai and the Dglai. In the divided Kingdom of Murdoch only a
very few of those in charge believe their planet is about to be
invaded by visitors from outer space. The dukes of the northerly
duchies of Gardiner, Brentwood, Duchesne and Graham and to a lesser
degree North Baker understood that the Larg are planning a major
attack. The dukes of the southernmost duchies, Cocteau, South
Baker, Smith and van Buren believe the Lord Marshall’s warning is a
northern plot designed to weaken the Kingdom.

The countries
on the planet have been warned about the imminent arrival of the
Dglai. The Lindars of Lind, the Militia and Vada of Vadath and the
Militia and Garda of Argyll are converging at the eastern and
southern coastlines of Argyll.

At the
beginning of
Valour and Victory
Julia has assumed the title
Susyc and has called for the muster of her army. She and Alyei are
leading the vadeln-pairs of the Vada as they run east towards
Settlement.

Elliot
-
(Prince-Heir of the Kingdom of Murdoch). Elliot is the eighteen
year old son of Crown-Prince Paul. He was brought up at the royal
palace at Fort, pampered, guarded and with servants to cater for
his every whim. After the tragic death of his bride in a carriage
accident in the summer of AL 607 his father decided to send him on
a ‘Grand Tour’ of the southern islands and of the northern
continent as his replacement bride, Margravessa Isobel Cocteau was
too young for marriage until the following year.

With three
companions, his boyhood friend, Count James Cocteau, Kellen Derek
Merriman and in the charge of Baron Philip Ross, a trusted retainer
of Crown-Prince Paul, the four set out, arriving in Argyll during
the first months of AL 607. At Settlement, assassins sent by
Prince-Duke Xavier, the jealous younger brother of Crown-Prince
Paul tried to kill Elliot. They failed but in the melee Derek
Merriman was hurt. Captain Robain Hallam of the Argyll Garda took
his place.

During their
travels Elliot met all of the children of Talan, Innkeeper of the
Little Rover Inn
at Dunetown. Hilla Talansdochter he met at
Settlement where she was in her first year of training to become a
Garda officer. She suggested he visit the family inn and give her
regards to her brother Zak and her triplet sister Zilla. He met and
fell in love with the youngest triplet when the party stayed at the
inn. Although Elliot loves Zilla, he knows he cannot marry her
because to break off the engagement to Isobel Cocteau will split
the Kingdom and start a civil war between the old-fashioned,
traditional, southerly duchies and the more forward-looking
northerly ones.

At Vada, where
the four journeyers also visited he met the middle triplet, Rilla
who with her Lind Zawlei was in training with the Vada. He also met
Julia, Susa of the Vada and Ryzcka Niaill and his Lind Taraya.
Later the four travellers stayed with Zala, twin sister of Zak and
her family and met the middle sister Tala.

By the time
they reached Stewarton Elliot was no longer a pampered royal brat.
He was growing up and was lean and fit. He was also beginning to
question how the Kingdom of Murdoch was organised, especially the
institution of slavery, endemic in the more southerly duchies.