Read Conflict and Courage Online
Authors: Candy Rae
Tags: #dragons, #telepathic, #mindbond, #wolverine, #wolf, #lifebond, #telepathy, #wolves
Conflict and Courage
COURAGE
* * * * *
SMASHWORDS
EDITION
* * * * *
Conflict and
Courage
Copyright ©
2013 Candy Rae
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
This ebook is
licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be
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this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy
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it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return
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respecting the hard work of this author.
* * * * *
Conflict and
Courage
is dedicated to my father, Robert Crawford. I miss him
still.
* * * * *
Artwork
Copyright © 2010 Jennifer Johnson
Proofreading by
Irene Rixson, Auchterarder, Scotland
* * * * *
CONTENTS
Chapter 2 - Rtathlians of
the Lind
Chapter 5 - Rtathlians of
the Lind
Chapter 8 - Nadlians of
the Larg
Chapter 12 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 14 - Rtathlians
of the Lind
Chapter 17 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 19 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 24 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 25 - Nadlians of
the Larg
Chapter 27 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 29 – Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 33 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 35 - Nadlians of
the Larg
Chapter 36 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 38 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 40 - Kingdom of
Murdoch
Chapter 42 - Rtathlians
of the Larg
COURAGE
The story so
far:
In the
twenty-fourth century, a convoy of seven spherical deep-space
vessels set out from the main space facility that sat in permanent
orbit over a dying Earth. Six were directly bound for a colony
world light years away.
The seventh
ship was different. Although the World Coalition Prison Ship
Electra
would eventually head for Riga to drop off the much
needed heavy machinery, tools and transport vehicles, it would
first make a detour to another, less hospitable planet, where it
would unload its animate cargo before rejoining its sister ships.
The
Electra’s
animate ‘cargo’ was made up of some of the
vilest criminal classes on the planet.
The journey of
the seven ships should have taken twenty years. The living quarters
on board were extensive. The colonists spent the time training for
their new lives in the ship sections designed for that purpose and
were looking to the future with a great deal of optimism.
Twelve years
out from Earth, disaster struck.
The seven ships
plunged one by one into a huge cosmic storm and only two survived.
One was the World Coalition Colony Ship
Argyll
with some
eight thousand colonists and crew on board, the other the WCPS
Electra
, carrying twenty thousand male convicts.
Independently
of each other and against all odds, both ships endeavoured to find
and safely land on a planet that could sustain human life.
Unknown to the
humans, they were not the only sentient life forms inhabiting this
strange new world.
Wolves and
War
, Volume One of Planet Wolf recounted what happened during
the first year and a half after the cosmic storm.
Where the WCCS
Argyll
landed lived the Lind, a peace-loving species with a
highly developed culture and oral tradition. These colourful
inhabitants of the northern continent broadly resembled the wolves
of Planet Earth but had the size and build of thoroughbred
racehorses. They lived in family units within their packs and were
ruled over by elders, the Lind called them Elda, defending their
pack-mates and lands against the frequent southern incursions.
Where the WCPS
Electra
landed lived the tawny coloured Larg. They were
heavier in build than the Lind, more like carthorses in stature.
Theirs was a warrior-based society, based on the survival of the
fittest.
The humans had
stumbled into an eon’s long war between the Lind of the northern
continent and the Larg of the southern continent.
On the eastern
coastal plains of the northern continent and watched by the Lind,
the colonial families built their homes and began to cultivate the
land. Eventually the Lind decided to make contact with these
visitors from outer space and twelve Lind secretly persuaded twelve
children to run away with them so that they could find out more
about the newcomers and to warn them about the Larg.
The twenty-four
realised that they could communicate telepathically with each other
and lifelong bonds were formed. These bonds, one human and one
Lind, became known as pairs, vadeln, or vadeln-pairs.
The colonists
sent out a search party to find the missing twelve and after a long
chase the searchers reached the pack’s home and were reunited with
the children.
There they
learned of the existence on the planet of the convicts from the
Electra
, that their continent was in grave danger of
invasion from the Larg of the south and that the Larg had allied
with the convicts.
A delegation of
human and Lind returned to the human settlement to warn the
colonists. An alliance was formed between the colonists and the
Lind to combat the danger. More humans and Lind became
vadeln-paired.
Meanwhile, in
the south, the crew and families of the prison ship
Electra
tried to escape the convicts, fortifying a natural hill, which they
called Fort. In a violent and vicious attack the convicts overran
them, slaughtered the men and took the women and children
prisoners. Only a terrified trio managed to escape.
A few months
later, thousands of convicts and Larg invaded the north.
The Lind army
waited for the Larg on the wooded heights above the coastal plain
where the WCCS
Argyll
had landed. The Larg attacked these
heights, to be met by lines of Lind, aided by a regiment of human
infantry and a small cavalry force made up of paired human and Lind
called the Vada. The northern army was close to defeat but, with a
supreme effort and many losses, they managed to force the Larg to
flee.
The convict
army attacked the human settlement and broke through the perimeter
defences. Street-to-street fighting ensued. The superior numbers of
convicts over colonists forced the latter back, but then word came
that the Larg were retreating and the convict army was forced to
flee with them, not being able to hold on without Larg support.
They escaped back to the south, taking some female prisoners with
them.
Despite the
losses, the north rejoiced at their victory. The alliance between
colonists and Lind was formalised, the continent being split into
three, in the west the Lind, in the east the humans in the country
now named Argyll after the spaceship that brought them to the
planet and in the middle, the joint lands inhabited by both
species.
But the
southern threat continues to be an ever-present one; Aoalvaldr, the
defeated Larg commander, has vowed undying revenge and
retribution.
* * * * *
The Battle of
the Alliance was over. The southern armies had fled.
The armies of
the north dispersed, the Lindars returned to their rtathlians, as
they called their pack-lands, jubilant that the largest Larg
incursion within living memory had been fought off. No Larg kohorts
were marauding through the continent, killing all in their
path.
The Lind knew
the reason for this unparalleled success, Susyc Ruza Jim Cranston
and his Lind Larya. Commanding the northern armies, Jim had
introduced revolutionary tactics and drawn the disparate Lindars
into a cohesive force never seen before.
Before mankind
had arrived on Rybak the Lindars of the individual packs had tended
to fight in isolation, thus allowing the Larg kohorts to punch
through gaps in their lines. The Larg had been unable to penetrate
the tight ranks on the hill above the battle plain and when they
had tried to outflank the Lindars, Jim had ordered the reserves to
tackle them where they least expected it. Never before had the Lind
had any reserves with which to surprise their enemy. The small
cavalry force that had turned the tide of battle was to become a
permanent fixture and would be called the Vada.
Jim Cranston
was a tactical genius. He had outflanked the out-flankers.
Jim knew that
although the battle was won, danger from the southern continent had
not gone away. The north must prepare for the future, preparing for
the day when the southerners, both convict and Larg, returned. Both
he and the more thoughtful of the colonists realised that with the
arrival of man, the entire coastline was now under threat. No
longer would the Larg need to attack over the chain of islands that
connected the two continents. Now that the Larg had made alliance
with the convicts there were other methods which they could utilise
to reach the northern continent, boats came to mind immediately and
Jim had a very good idea of the type of people who would be aboard
these boats.
Jim’s answer
was simple, train everybody to defend themselves and also recruit
more men and women to the infantry and the Vada.
Not all the
colonists were happy about their children setting out to join an
army which was training for the invasion Jim Cranston felt sure was
coming.
* * * * *
“I don’t see
why you’ve got to make up your mind immediately Brian,” said an
exasperated Janice Randall, “your fourteenth birthday was only
yesterday. There’s plenty of time to decide.”
Brian looked
down at her. His height had shot up over the last few months and
Janice was built on a diminutive scale, unlike him and his elder
brother Louis.
“I have thought
about it Mother,” he said in a soothing voice, “and I want to be a
member of the Vada. Sofiya agrees. I spoke to Louis.”
“Did he
encourage you?” asked Janice sharply.
“No he didn’t.
He said that I was old enough to make up my own mind.”