Conflict and Courage (32 page)

Tara nestled
against him.

“Say it again,”
she commanded.

“What?”

“That you love
me.”

He did so.

It was some
hours later when the two began to wonder if perhaps they should
make an appearance. Kolyei and Radya were returning, full of beans
and eager to see their two humans together at long last.

Engrossed in
their enjoyment of each other, both couples, Lind and human,
remained blissfully unaware of the events unfolding outside the
domta.

* * * * *

“Come to help?”
asked Janice with a smile of welcome as her adopted daughter
entered the Randall cabin the following morning..

“Thought you
might do with some, if Louis and Ustinya are due later today. I
know how much they eat.”

Janice laughed
and hugged the young woman she always thought of as her own
daughter.

“Messages
aren’t enough, are they?” she said as they broke apart, “where is
Kolyei?”

“Reporting to
Afanasei, Jim and Larya. He shouldn’t be long.”

Janice
nodded.

“Louis and
Ustinya will be here this evening,” she announced in a satisfied
manner. “It’ll be good to have the whole family together again,
even for a short while.”

“How is
Louis?”

“Always busy
and goodness knows what he and Ustinya are up to half the time. He
hasn’t said, but I think he has been in the south again.”

“In the south?
Are you sure?”

“Pretty
positive. I’m in a permanent state of worry about their safety. One
hears such tales.”

“I shouldn’t
worry,” said Tara, picking up one of the kitchen knives and
beginning to pare the roots, “Louis can look after himself.”

“He told Jim
and Larya that this is a flying visit only, one night. I wish he
could stay longer.”

Janice busied
herself cleaning the whiteroots and gestured Tara to put down the
knife and take a seat at the kitchen table.

“Do you
remember Cherry Howard?” Janice asked suddenly, “daughter of the
Captain of the
Electra
?”

“Of course,”
answered Tara, greatly wondering.

“She joined the
Vada after you left,” said Janice. “She’s almost at the end of her
training. She and Louis have an understanding, Ustinya and Baltvei
too of course, same as you and Peter.”

“I am glad.”
Tara’s face broke out into a smile.

“The
hand-fasting is planned for the end of summer. Will you and Kolyei
be here?”

“We don’t have
any exact plans for the moment,” said Tara. “I was going to teach
for a semester at the new University in Argyll, they are crying out
for Lindish tutors, but now, who knows.”

“Winston thinks
there is something afoot.”

“What do you
mean?”

“I’m not sure,
but he says the Lind are edgy and it’s strange that Louis is coming
for one night only. He usually stays for at least a week.”

“You worry too
much,” advised Tara with a smile of affection.

Janice smiled
an answer but her uneasiness refused to go away.

Louis arrived
home, welcomed back his brother, sister-in-law and Tara, ate a
gigantic meal, talked with his father for some hours then went to
bed.

When Tara woke
the next morning, he and Ustinya were gone.

* * * * *

The first real
indication the revellers had that ‘something was up’ was when Brian
and Sofiya received orders to report to the Vada stronghold at
once. Their extended leave of absence was, as Emily succinctly put
it, ‘terminated herewith’. Emily and Ilyei were not to join them,
the maternity leave for human mothers inaugurated by Laura
McAllister-Merriman was two years so she still had over a year’s
grace although Laura’s Faddei warned Ilyei privately that every
trained medic might be needed if events transpired in the manner
Jim Cranston thought they might.

Peter and Radya
received their call later the same day Brian and Sofiya left.

“I am a serving
vadeln,” said Peter, sad that their honeymoon was to be of so short
a duration. “When the call came for Brian and Sofiya I knew me and
Radya’s orders would not be long behind them.”

“But why?”
asked the perplexed Tara.

“Jim and Larya
have put the Lindars on alert.”

“The Larg?”
asked Tara with a stab of panic.

“A
precautionary measure,” Peter tried to reassure her, “no more than
that. It happens most summers. There’s no need to worry.”

Tara gazed at
her husband of a week but forbore to say more. Peter returned her
look, a bland expression on his face, not for worlds did he want to
spoil their last day together.

Privately, Tara
decided to speak to Jim and Larya herself before she was much
older, but a quick telepathic question to Kolyei as to Jim and
Larya’s whereabouts left her none the wiser. He was not at domta
Afanasei.

At lunch at the
Randall cabin, conversation, naturally enough, was full of the Vada
recall and Tara learned that Peter and Brian were not the only
ones. Hilary and Gsnei were also to return to take up their medical
duties again.

Tara also
learned that Jim and Larya had left domta Afanasei for an unknown
destination early that morning. Winston Randall, Tara’s adoptive
father was saying little. Tara did manage to glean a few bits of
information but none that shed any light on what was bothering her.
He looked worried, not a good sign.

“Where is
Louis?” she asked at last and intercepted a sharp glance between
him and Janice. So Louis and Ustinya are a part of this.

“Louis and
Ustinya are on a mission with the Avuzdel,” Winston informed her,
adding in a whisper, “don’t ask any more questions. I don’t want to
worry the girls.”

Tara knew the
Avuzdel’s main theatre of operations was in the south. One did not
need to be a genius to guess that that was where the duo were and
Tara’s brain worked overtime as she tried to work out the
implications behind what Winston had said and what he was not
saying. If Louis was in the south, that, taken with the recall
orders of the vadeln-pairs, could mean only one thing.

War.

She had to
know.

“Are the Larg
coming back?” she got out at last, dreading the answer her ‘father’
might give her.

A wide-eyed and
startled look from Violet was the result and Winston glanced at
Janice. His wife sat white-faced for a moment then, with hands that
shook, began to gather together the dirty dishes, ordering in
unusually curt tones, Violet, Lucy and Juliet to help her.

Left alone at
the table with Tara and Peter, Winston sighed.

“Jim warned me
that you would not be kept in ignorance.”

“Tell me.”

“The Lords of
Murdoch are planning something,” he admitted. “It’s difficult to
get reliable information but our man down there has told us that an
attack might, and I say might, be in the pipeline.”

“We do not know
for sure,” interposed Peter.

“Better safe
than sorry,” was Winston’s comment, “the Garda are manning the
fortifications at the beachhead.”

“As a
precaution, nothing more,” reiterated Peter.

“I’m sure there
is nothing to worry about,” Winston tried to reassure her, looking
with concern at Tara’s whitening face, “Malcolm Chambers … you knew
Robert Lutterell died didn’t you?”

Tara
nodded.

“Go on,” she
urged.

“He’s head of
the Council now, a good man if a bit narrow minded. He forced
through conscription the other month. If the Larg do come over the
island chain, they’ll not get further than the immediate
beachheads, the fortifications are now so extensive.”

“Do you think
the Larg will return?”

“Quite
honestly, I don’t know. We don’t have enough information, now stop
worrying about what might never happen and finish your meal, Janice
knows how much you enjoy redfruit pudding. We’ll know more when Jim
and Larya get back. I for one would like to hear more about your
adventures in the west.

Janice and the
girls sat down again and in the animated story telling that
followed, Tara forgot her worries, at least for a little while. The
events that were spiralling beyond anyone’s control would have
severe repercussions for all who sat round the table.

The rest of the
day passed in a blur, Tara had never seemed gayer for she was
trying to forget that on the morrow Peter was to ride to rejoin his
Ryzck.

They spent more
time loving each other then reminisced about the hours spent
together as teenagers. It was surprising how much they remembered,
how much they had enjoyed each other’s company even then.

“It should have
been obvious that we were meant for each other,” Peter said, “I
only had to bide my time, I always knew that.”

“There are
added benefits now we are older,” Tara answered in a prim
voice.

“What are you
suggesting?”

Her reply was a
long and lingering kiss and Peter responded. When Kolyei and Radya
returned from their hunt, they were still under the bedcovers.

“Still not up?”
asked Kolyei with a twinkle. He looked at his own mate, “perhaps we
should go away for while, come back later?”

Radya whined
her amusement, “I’m sure that if I think very hard that I could
think of something pleasurable we could do.”

Kolyei wagged
his tail.

The two Lind
made for the doorway.

“We’d better
get up,” said Tara regretfully.

“Not on our
account surely?” teased Kolyei as his tail swished out of the
daga.

“Why my love,
don’t say that you’re tired of my company already.” Peter leant
over, eyeing the shape her body made under the covers. “I can think
of something far more interesting to do, something similar to what
Kolyei and Radya have in mind.”

Tara and Kolyei
watched Peter and Radya leave at dawn.

: We’ll see
them soon :

: How? :

: The Larg will
not attack yet … we have time :

: But where
? :
Tara fretted
: and what or who will we be facing? I ask
you that :

Kolyei deemed
it wiser not to answer.

Janice Randall
had known Tara would come to see her once Peter and Radya were
gone. To take her adopted daughter’s mind off things she and
Winston had arranged a surprise for her.

“We have a
present for you Tara,” said Winston. With an air of a conjuror he
brought out from under the table a square brown package.

“Call it three
birthday presents rolled into one,” said Janice, “you’ve been away
quite some time.”

“What is
it?”

“Open it and
see,” suggested Janice with a smile, “hope you like it.”

Tara began at
one corner of the rough brown covering and peeked inside, her eyes
wide and incredulous, “it’s
paper
,” she exclaimed, “how did
you manage to get paper? Real paper to write on.” She raised a
glowing face to Janice and Winston.

“Where did you
get it? I’ve been writing using parchment but this is wonderful.”
Tara’s eyes shone, why, she and Kolyei could write thousands of
words on the thick wads of pristine sheets.

“We know about
your ambition to write your great history of the Lind. Janice and I
thought this might help.”

“It’s the most
wonderful present I have ever had, but where did you manage to get
it?”

“From
Settlement,” explained Winston, “there’s a paper manufacturer there
now. With the durapaper stocks finished, an alternative had to be
found.”

“I thought we’d
have to write on parchment forever and it’s expensive,” said Tara,
“was this expensive?”

“Moderately
so,” grinned Winston, delighted at the effect of the gift, “it was
Violet’s idea, she thought you’d like this more than anything.”

“Oh, I do.
We’ve got stories already; some history from the oral traditions
and some tales of our own, Kolyei’s head is clogged up with them.
He’s been complaining about it, now I can write them down and he
can forget them. He’ll keep his favourites in his mind, ones we
like to listen to but the others, he’ll just shunt them into the
back part.”

“The back
part?”

“Hilary calls
it a sort of inner consciousness. I think it’s how the Lind
remember so much, they put it in there until it is needed then they
take it out. They learn how to do it when they are young at the
same time they are learning how to control their telepathy. I must
remember to thank Violet, you couldn’t have given me a better gift
if you’d tried a million years.”

“Even a new
harness for Kolyei?” Janice teased.

Tara stared at
them.

: I like it
very much :

Tara smiled,
“Kolyei says he likes it very much.”

“The girls have
put it on, they made us promise not to tell,” said Winston, “Jathan
had something to do with it.”

“Jathan?”

“Jathan arrived
last winter from Argyll,” answered Janice. “Lucy finds him deeply
attractive, a feeling he appears to share thank the Lai.”

“He’s a
vet?”

“He’s a
doctor,” corrected Janice, “here for the year to increase his
skill-set amongst us.”

“Like Hilary
then?” queried Tara.

“Not exactly,
Hilary has Gsnei and her life is here, in Vadath. Jathan’s is not,
he returns to Argyll when he is ready to take up a permanent
position there. You knew they were building a town up at Lake
Stewart?”

“They’d started
building before we left,” said Tara.

“Well, it’s
coming along, many have already relocated there. The Council moves
next spring; the main medical facility and the University are
already there, just about everyone. After a lot of debate they’ve
agreed that Stewarton is to be the name.”

“So Lucy
intends to go back with this Jathan,” surmised Tara, pleased that
her little ‘sister’ had found someone. “I’m glad and it isn’t that
for away on a fast Lind.”