Dragons and Destiny (8 page)

After luncheon
the fathers of Julean and Rilla spoke at length arranging matters
to their mutual satisfaction.

For Talan it
was a most splendid match and he told Zanda so when he informed her
he wanted to speak to Rilla.

Zanda wasn’t
nearly as ecstatic and expressed her doubts in no uncertain terms.
She didn’t want Rilla forced into a marriage with a man she hardly
knew.

“They’ve only
spend a few bells together,” she fretted. “Rilla needs more time to
know whether the match is to her liking.”

But Talan
wouldn’t listen and insisted Rilla be sent for.

That was when
it was realised that Rilla had vanished. The search, instigated by
an angry Talan when Zanda reported that Rilla couldn’t be found
showed up no trace of her at all. Lightfoot was in his stable and
her half of the bedroom was just as she had left it when she had
gone for her matinal ride. All the servants, both indoor and out
were questioned but none professed to have seen her.

It was if she
had disappeared into thin air.

Zilla knew
where her sister had gone but she said nothing, lifting a guileless
face to her father when the furious man questioned her.

“I’ve not seen
her,” she lied, quaking into her shoes. She fled to Lightfoot’s
stall where she shed bitter tears into his warm neck.

Her father
would find out soon enough where Rilla had gone.

“Now it’s only
me left,” she sobbed.

Lightfoot
whickered and nudged her. He knew Zilla and although Rilla was his
preferred person, Zilla would do very well until Rilla
returned.

Lightfoot
didn’t understand that Rilla was gone.

An angry
Councillor Horatio Anders, disappointed son in tow, left the inn
early the flowing morning.

* * * * *

To return to
that point in time when Julean took his leave and went off to seek
his father, Rilla busied herself making sure every bit of sweat
from the ride was gone from Lightfoot’s glossy coat. He stood,
oat-crunching and Rilla stood still and quiet, one arm moving as
she stroked an appreciative Lightfoot’s neck.

The stable
staff looked at her, some with pity in their gaze as they passed by
on their way to the kitchens for their lunch. Like most domestic
and outside servants they knew all they needed to know about their
employers. They knew what Talan had in mind and none had been that
impressed with what they’d seen of Julean Anders.

Rilla stood
alone with the horses. It was quiet except for an occasional whinny
and the crunching of teeth on feed.

A peculiar
prickling sensation at the back of Rilla’s neck was the only
warning she got, that and a sense of unease emanating from amongst
the hoofed inhabitants of the stable. She looked round, started
with surprise as she looked into a pair of large blue eyes.

: Hello
Rilla :
said the owner of these eyes.

* * * * *

Rilla

Rilla and
Zawlei arrived at Vada one fair evening some eight days after they
had left the inn. The journey had been uneventful. Rilla was amazed
at how fast Zawlei could travel when he felt inclined. His paws
seemed barely to touch the ground as he ran and riding Zawlei was
as unalike riding her pony Lightfoot as the difference between
chalk and cheese. Lightfoot was the fastest mount in the ward but
Zawlei was faster and as smooth as a skiff skimming over water.
Rilla was managing pretty well without saddle and stirrups. She
gripped hard with her thighs and thanked the gods that she was used
to riding. How those town-bred managed she didn’t want to imagine
though Zawlei informed her that such newly-paired would travel at a
much gentler pace.

She got the
impression from Zawlei that it was a good thing that she could
already ride and that she would probably be exempt from the basic
riding classes.

“Why’s that a
good thing?” enquired Rilla and was informed that it meant that she
could start the more advanced classes that much earlier and so
might be able to catch up with those of similar age.

Rilla knew by
now that she would be one of the oldest of the new cadets. Most
Lind found their life partners when both were around the age of
fourteen. The duo then spent the next four years as Vada Cadets,
graduating at eighteen. Rilla was seventeen years old already and
had been worrying about being so much older until Zawlei told her
that provision was made for such vadeln pairings.

She continued
to worry about how she would fit in and plied Zawlei with questions
about the training. Surely Zawlei had made a mistake, choosing her
as his partner? Unlike Hilla, Rilla had never felt the inclination
to be a soldier and had attended the compulsory defence classes
back home as something to get through somehow. Hilla had been the
one who had gone to the extra classes.

“You will be in
a special class,” Zawlei informed her. An image came to Rilla’s
mind of a cadet in the maroon uniform of the Vada.

It was a girl,
Rilla realised, with a bubbles crop of auburn hair peeking out of a
maroon kepi. Zawlei drew her attention to the thin white stripe on
the upper part of the girl’s left sleeve.

“That is the
single stripe that tells us that she is a first year cadet,” he
informed her. “Second years have two stripes and so on.”

Rilla learned
that she would wear one thick white stripe like all those in the
special class. Once she had reached the standard of others of her
age she would be slotted into one of the year groups. First and
second years were all under sixteen and had to attend general
lessons in reading, writing and reckoning as well as the ones more
pertinent to the Vada such as First Aid.

“You’ll have to
attend Lindish classes,” Zawlei added, “I speak your language well
as I was brought up in Vadath and probably what the teachers call
geography unless you studied Vadath and Lind at your lessons
place.”

This
conversation regarding lessons occurred as they arrived at the
outskirts of Vada itself. They threaded their way through the
straggling town and up to the gates of the Stronghold. At the gate
Rilla spied guards standing on the ramparts in the Vada uniform.
Two had silver piping and badges on their tunics, the third’s
piping was white, a cadet with three narrow white year stripes.

: Shona
:
Zawlei identified her
: her Lind is called Danei of pack
Crendei from deep within the rtathlians of the Lind. She will look
after you and get us settled in. You will like her :

As she and
Zawlei stepped through the gate all of Rilla’s trepidation and
misgivings came back tenfold.

: Be calm
:
Zawlei advised.

: I am
trying :
her mind-voice shook.

: Dismount
now :
ordered Zawlei.

Rilla did so,
wondering what was to happen next but when Zawlei spoke like that
Rilla couldn’t do anything else but obey.

The girl
approached, a welcoming smile on her face.

: Shona
knows something about how you feel :
Zawlei told her
: she,
like you was older than many when she arrived here with Danei and
that not long ago. She has recently exchanged the wide stripe for
the three :

That made Rilla
feel better but not by very much. Would she manage as well as this
Shona?

“Rilla,” Shona
said, “a thousand welcomes to you and Zawlei.” She executed a quick
bow in Zawlei’s direction. Rilla had learned that such courtesies
were appreciated by the Lind. “I’m Shona. I’ll be looking after you
for a while, help you settle in. Let’s get you both to your
quarters so you can freshen up after your long ride. Food too, you
look as if you could do with a good meal, didn’t you stop at the
Supply Stations along the way?”

“Yes,” answered
Rilla, “each night.” There was no need, Rilla decided, to tell
Shona that she, despite Zawlei’s support felt nervous and
apprehensive about the about turn her life had taken. She kept one
hand on Zawlei’s withers as Shona talked.

Shona didn’t
pursue the matter for which Rilla was grateful.

“You’ll be
stiff and sore,” continued Shona, “but we’ll leave the bath for a
while, the bathrooms will be fit to bursting with cadets at this
bell.”

She began to
lead Rilla towards a conglomeration of large two-storied buildings
and eyed her new charge. “You don’t look that sore.”

“I’m not,”
Rilla admitted. “I’m used to riding. I had a pony of my own at
home.” A wave of homesickness swept over Rilla as she remembered
Lightfoot and she wondered how Zilla was getting along looking
after him. As they neared the first of the doors of the buildings,
Danei and Zawlei veered away and Rilla suppressed a surge of
anxiety which Shona was quick to notice.

“Don’t panic,”
she soothed. “They’ll be back soon. My Danei is taking your Zawlei
off to look over the complex and then probably they’ll go on to the
hunting grounds to get something good to eat.”

“Hunting
grounds?” stammered Rilla. During their journey to Vada Zawlei had
eaten at the Supply Stations but the meat had already been dead and
butchered. She had forgotten that in their native habitat the Lind
hunted live meat.

“A mile or so
to the south of here,” explained Shona. “Our friends like to hunt,
it’s natural for them and the Vada keeps the area well stocked.
They’re not averse to having their meat served on a platter so to
speak but they hunt once in a tenday if not more when they can.
There’s virtually no hunting in Argyll though most farmers will
provide culls. Mostly our vadeln will provide payment if asked but
they’re more usually paid as a reduction of their contribution to
the defence tithe. Probably they’ll not hunt tonight though
Danei’ll show him the kill-sheds.”

“Kill-sheds?”

Shona laughed.
“I’ll explain later, come along and get settled in. This is the
girl’s barracks. There are three. One for the girls, one for the
boys and a much smaller one for adult cadets. What age are
you?”

“Seventeen.”

“Oh. You don’t
look it. I thought you about fifteen. You’ll not be a junior.
That’s for the fourteen and fifteen year olds who still attend
general lessons.”

“I finished
schooling last year,” Rilla offered the information. “Passed the
Leaving Exam too.”

“Good,” said
Shona, “that means that you’ll soon catch up with the rest of us.
My sixteenth birthday was last month and I’m a senior cadet.”

Rilla was
relieved Zawlei had explained the Vada rank structure.

“I get the
single white stripe?”

“Zawlei told
you? Good. That’s right, a wide one and you’ll keep that until
you’re ready to be slotted into one of the standard training
year-groups. Probably the Thirds with me and Danei.”

“When do you
think that will be?”

“Depends on how
fast you learn.”

“Riding and
sword work?” Rilla ventured to ask.

“And the rest,”
answered Shona with another grin. “First Aid, Living off the Land,
Scouting, Tactics, Lindish; not many from Argyll know much more
than a yes and a no.”

“I can speak it
a little,” said Rilla. “My family runs an inn on the Southern Trade
Route and there’s no Supply Stations that close so we get Lind
passing through though not often. Zawlei speaks Standard.”

“Well, he
would, wouldn’t he? He’s a blue stripe, his rtath’s in Vadath; to
the north of here. Most Lind, from what we call the home packs
learn both. It’s good, means that you should find Lindish easy to
pick up, more time to catch up on everything else.”

“Thought I’d
finished with lessons. My sister Hilla, she’s with the Garda, she
expected more but when I left the schoolroom I certainly
didn’t.”

“Hilla your
sister? Older or younger?”

“Older, by a
bell,” grinned Rilla.

“Twins
then?”

“Believe it or
not, triplets. I’m the middle one. Hilla went to the Garda three
months ago. She’s an Officer Trainee. Zilla’s the youngest. She’s
still at home.”

“Triplets,”
marvelled Shona. “I’ve never met a triplet before. Are you all
alike?”

“Not really but
everyone who meets us says that there is a likeness. Hilla’s
pretty, she’s strong too. Zilla’s the really attractive one. An
absolute mane of wavy blonde hair and even if I am her sister, a
complexion to die for. Hilla’s hair is a curly dark red. Mine, as
you can se, is vuzy brown, almost black and as straight as a die.
The Plain Jane of the family, that’s me. Even Tala is prettier and
Zala is another edition of Zilla.”

“Gracious. How
many of you are there? Never mind, I’ll find out later and okay,
you’re not exactly beautiful but I can’t see that you’ve much to
complain about. You’re no worse than many and much better than
some. Fastia for example. Now she’s a ‘Plain Jane’ and would be the
first to admit it if asked. Her sisters are the same. It’s strange
because her brothers are handsome. She says that it’s a good thing
that her Xlei paired with her else she would have become an old,
unmarried maid with nothing to look forward to at all.”

“Is she a
cadet?”

Shona laughed.
“Absolutely not. She’s the Vada Weaponsecond. You’ll meet her soon
enough. She’s awfully strict, more so than Weaponsmaster Jilmis and
he’s got a reputation. Tough as old boots he is, has to be with all
us cadets to train.”

Rilla gulped.
She had been beginning to feel more at ease and this information
brought her nervousness back to the fore with an almighty leap of
her stomach innards.

“Are all the
trainers like them?”

Shona
considered the question and gave an honest reply.

“Pretty much
but the Junior Ryzcka is very kind. She’ll not have much to do with
you and Zawlei though, not even when you exchange your wide stripe
for the three.”