Homage and Honour (35 page)

“They attacked
Vadath before.”

“That was with
our ancestor’s help,” said Charles, “without ships there is no
other route north apart from the chain. Even the pirates don’t have
enough ships to transport the entire Larg army, two kohorts at the
most and why should they? No profit in it for them. We will have to
increase the border guard I fear. Conscription even.”

David groaned.
The interminable debates in Conclave on increasing tax revenue to
pay for more regiments was not one he wished to think about on his
afternoon off thank you very much and conscription, he could just
see Sam Baker’s apoplectic face when he suggested it.

David wished he
was back at home on his farm. That afternoon he was wishing for a
return to those carefree days more than ever.

* * * * *

INTERREGNUM - YEARS 158 TO
166

AL158

Count Charles
Cocteau married Miss Sandra Lambert, daughter of Thane Lambert of
Crownholme.

Prince David,
younger brother of Jess, Annette, Xavier and Ruth was born.

Duke Sam
Baker’s plot to force Queen Anne to abdicate in favour of her son,
Crown-Prince Xavier failed.

AL159

Beth’s sister
Marcia gave birth to her first child. She was christened Marcia
after her mother.

The first signs
of the illness that would eventually kill Prince Consort David
became evident to those close to him.

Contessa Sandra
Cocteau (nee Lambert) gave birth to her only child. He was
christened Charles after his father.

AL160

The price of
Duke Sam Baker’s support for Anne’s claim had been that his
granddaughter, the Contessa Michaela should be betrothed to
Crown-Prince Xavier. Alas for his hopes Michaela, always a sickly
child, died in 160 after a short illness.

Before his own
death a few months later, Duke Sam Baker insisted that, as a
replacement for this match, his grandson and heir Richard should
marry Princess Annette. With reluctance, David agreed. Prince
Xavier was betrothed to Geraldine, the granddaughter of Duke Henri
Cocteau.

Tom Brentwood,
thwarted again in his marriage plans, started to search for another
potential bride. His gaze fell on one Kellessa Susan Ross, one of
Princess Annette’s Companions.

The Quartet
completed their training.

Graduation

Three tendays
before the Quartet’s year group was to graduate, the postings list
was pinned on the noticeboard in the common room. As the last four
years had not dampened (at least not by very much) Tana’s tendency
to be up with the malinon, she was the first to see it, the first
to learn in what Ryzck she and Tavei would be serving.

She learnt that
it was to be the Seventeenth, a fact that pleased her enormously as
she already had friends serving in it. The icing on the cake was
the fact that Jess and Mlei were also going there. Hannah and
Kolyei were posted to the Fourth and, to her surprise, she found
Beth and Xei’s names under the aegis of the Fifty-first!

She looked
again, the Fifty-first! She couldn’t remember any newly graduated
being accepted by that Ryzck.

The
Fifty-first, the Susa’s Own was the Ryzck that came under the
direct command of the Susa herself. They did not, as did the other
fifty, patrol in the various duty sectors on the continent. The
Ryzck was based at Vada and its vadeln-pairs performed whatever
duties or actions the Susa ordered, whether it be delivering secret
documents or taking any steps the Susa deemed necessary for the
security of the North. Rumour had it that some of its members had
performed the occasional assassination. Certainly the Fifty-first
worked closely with the Avuzdel; the semi-secret spying rtath of
the Lind.

Only the best
belonged to the Fifty-first. The other fifty Ryzcks wore their
Ryzck badges on their chests with pride; the Fifty-first wore a
small silver badge clipped on to their collars, also with
pride.

Tana ran back
into the girl’s corridor to broadcast the news.

The Seventeenth
for her and Jess! This was wonderful! The two of them hadn’t wanted
to be separated. How good of Weaponsmaster Rhian to suggest to Susa
Lynsey that they should stay together.

Vow

A half-bell
before their final parade muster as cadets the four young women
were putting the finishing touches to their new uniforms making
sure that the tunics were fitting just so, the trousers not
bagging, their kepis sitting at the correct angle.

“Remember that
vow we took four years ago the night Hannah arrived, to be true to
each other? I think we should do it again at this parting of the
ways,” said Jess.

“But it’s not
farewell,” protested the practical Hannah.

“We’re going
out to serve,” explained Jess, “we need a vow that is more
important, more definite and more binding.”

“Blood Oath,”
said Tana, “like in the story, you know the one, when the Children
of the Wolves did it before the battle of the Alliance.”

All four knew
the story, when Tara Sullivan, the first human to bond with a Lind
and the other original children had sworn to be true to each other
until death and had cemented their oath with the mingling of their
blood amongst the dalina flowers at their domta, little knowing
that these flowers would soon be decorating four of their number’s
grave mounds.

“It’s only a
story,” persisted the literally minded Hannah.

“But it
encapsulates what we four mean to each other,” said Tana at her
most persuasive.

“I’ll do it,”
said Beth in a quiet and resolute voice.

The four stood
facing each other.

“We swear, on
our blood, to be true to each other, to the Vada, to Vadath, to all
our allies,” began Hannah. Pricking her finger with a resigned
face, she watched as the globule of blood emerged.

“Until death,”
continued Beth, pricking her own finger and placing it on
Hannah’s.

“And if one of
us should die with a promise unfulfilled,” said Tana with a quick
glance at Jess, “we vow to do everything in our power to complete
that promise.” She added her own bloodied finger to Beth and
Hannah’s.

Jess threw Tana
a thoughtful look, knowing full well what her friend was about. She
had, years ago confided her dearest wish to Tana.

“And I,” she
agreed, “vow the same.” She pricked her thumb and added it to the
others.

The Quartet
stood for one long moment then drew apart, embarrassed at the
emotion the act had generated.

: That was
well done :
telepathed Tavei to his Tana
: but I hope that
it will never be needful to finish Jess and Mlei’s quest for them
:

: We will if
we have to :

“You didn’t
need to add that last bit you know,” whispered Jess to Tana as they
prepared to depart the barracks for the passing-out parade.

“I promised
when you told me that me and Tavei would go with you,” whispered
back Tana, “the vow just makes it more formal.”

“It is my
problem.”

“A problem
shared is a problem halved. It is our problem,” Tana corrected.

Oath

Jess, Tana,
Beth and Hannah stood straight and tall beside their Lind, Mlei,
Tavei, Xei and Kolyei as the eight of them, together with their
year group declared the Vada Oath in proud and clear voices.

“For and by the
Honour of the Vada, we do solemnly swear that we will support and
defend the rtathlians, lands and the inhabitants of Lind, Vadath
and Argyll against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that we will
bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that we will obey
the orders of the Susyc of the Armies of the North and the orders
of the Susas, Ryzckas and Vadryzas appointed over us, according to
regulations. So help me the Lai.

AL161

Hannah Knutson
began her training as a doctor at the University of Stewarton in
Argyll.

Another
conference was held at Settlement in south-eastern Argyll. The
major topic under discussion was the re-emergence of the Larg.
Again, Count Charles Cocteau was in attendance as leader of the
delegation from Murdoch.

AL162

Alas for Tom
Brentwood, he lost another betrothed. Kellessa Susan Ross died at
the beginning of the year of the marsh fever, aged sixteen. Tom
Brentwood tried again, this time for his cousin Margravessa Julie
Brentwood. Her father was about to agree when Julie announced her
intention of becoming a nun. Tom Brentwood turned his roving eye in
Princess Ruth’s direction.

Princess
Annette married Duke Richard Baker.

Princess Ruth
was betrothed to the Duke of Brentwood’s heir Tom.

Larg numbers
along the Murdoch borders increased and Duke William Duchesne
raised the number of his border guards for the fourth time.

The Councillors
of Argyll voted to increase the strength of the defences at the
island chain at Settlement in the First Ward. The motion to
increase the number of Garda infantrymen and women was defeated by
a small majority.

Beth’s sister
Marcia gave birth to her second child. He was christened Brandon
after his father.

AL163

Vadeln Tana and
her Lind Tavei were transferred to the Fifth Ryzck from the
Seventeenth.

AL164

Jessica Robson,
mother of Queen Anne of Murdoch died. She was buried at Vada.

Princess
Annette gave birth to her first child. He was christened Richard
after his father.

Tana was
appointed to the permanent training staff at Vada with the rank of
Vadryza.

AL165

Hannah Knutson
graduated as a doctor and returned to Vada.

Beth’s sister
Marcia gave birth to her third child. She was christened Elisabeth
after her missing sister.

The marriage of
Crown-Prince Xavier and Contessa Geraldine Cocteau was postponed
for a year at the insistence of his father on the grounds that both
were too young.

Jess and Mlei
were transferred from the Seventeenth Ryzck to the Seventh with the
rank of Vadryza.

* * * * *

Lokrhed (Third Month of Summer) –
AL166

Queen (2)

Queen Anne left
the Conclave Chamber in high dudgeon. Really, the Dukes were
impossible. Since David’s illness had manifested itself they
ignored everything she said. She ground her teeth with
frustration.

Lord Gardiner’s
last comment had summed it all up, with its undercurrent of ‘go
away and play’, even the supplicant’s audience scheduled for the
afternoon would be a farce. The people knew where the real power
lay, with the Dukes, and it would only be the most trivial problems
that would be laid before her, selected to keep Anne busy.

The nobility
had respected David, aye and feared him but now they were beginning
to savour the taste of power again and would not be keen to give it
up. This gave Anne even more to worry about. When she died, Xavier
would ascend the throne and she did not want to bequeath him this.
Xavier was seventeen; a fine lad and he would be a fine king,
provided he had the guts to stand up to the Dukes.

She composed
herself before entering David’s bedchamber. He would be fretting
she knew, tossing and turning in the large canopied bed. If he knew
what the Dukes were planning he would force himself to rise from
his sickbed and he was going through a bad spell right now. The
cancer was spreading throughout his body, painkillers helped, but
they made him drowsy and unable to think clearly.

Anne knew that
there was nothing that could be done to save him. Once upon a time,
doctors had known of a cure for the disease but that knowledge was
lost and had been for decades, at least here in Murdoch. Perhaps if
they had remained in Vadath something could have been done, the
medical facilities in Argyll had managed to retain a certain amount
of knowledge but, even if she was permitted to seek aid there, Anne
knew in her heart that it was too late. The disease was too
advanced, the prognosis was a year at most and then Anne and Xavier
would be at the mercy of the Dukes.

David was awake
when she entered, he was sitting reading, his illness had not
affected his mind and as he looked up he knew by Anne’s thunderous
face that there was trouble.

This trouble
was the impending marriage of their youngest daughter Ruth, still
known as the tomboy princess.

“We have to get
her out, but how I have no idea. Perhaps the underground could
help,” said Anne.

David shook his
head. “The palace is too well guarded. If we could get her to the
royal manor in Smith things might be different? When has the
marriage been scheduled?

“Summer
equinox.”

“Might be
possible. Let me think about it.” He yawned and his eyelids
fluttered.

Anne
sighed.

When David woke
they discussed it again and then Anne spoke once more about her
dearest wish.

“I do want to
visit the North, see Jessica again. Letters aren’t enough. She’s
twenty-four years old, a young woman and I haven’t, we haven’t seen
her since she was fourteen and she brought Tana and Beth to visit
us. Remember?”

David and
Anne’s eyes met.

“The Dukes will
not be happy,” he said, his eyes gleaming in his white face as he
imagined their reaction.

“Again!”

“They complain
that you’re always gallivanting about.”

“Nothing else
to do my love as you well know and it’s important that our people
see me. I try to bring the people together, to find a feeling
within them that it should be Kingdom first, Duchies second. It’s
not easy.”