Conflict and Courage (55 page)

“That was
different.”

“He’s clearly
besotted with her and she him.”

“But it means
her moving to Argyll,” Jessica protested, “she won’t be hidden any
more. They’ll find her and take her back.”

“So we change
her name. Ruth is fine; it’s a popular one in Argyll. It’s the
Murdoch patronymic that is the problem.”

“Russell?

“That might
work. Argyll are controlling and recording the gene base and
population growth ad nauseam, all the boxes on the marriage forms
must be ticked and filled in. We could go and get special
dispensation from the Council but that would draw attention to the
marriage and we don’t want that. They need a quiet wedding,
perfectly legal, but quiet.”

“Talk to
Xavier,” decided Jessica, “see what he says.”

“I have to
admit that I’d hoped she would find someone in Vadath,” began
Gerry. “Will she be safe on your farm, that is the question? Are
Baker’s spies still looking for her?”

Both Xavier and
Ruth were in the daga with Gerry, together with Louis Randall and
Ustinya at the domta at Gerry’s request.

“My brother
would never insist that I return to Murdoch,” asserted Ruth with
some heat.

“It is not your
brother we are worried about,” said Gerry. “It is Lord Regent Baker
who rules in Murdoch. Two of his agents were caught at the
beginning of last year. He has not given up looking for you.”

“What do you
think?” he asked Louis.

“Information is
still sketchy, especially since the Fort resistance cell was
infiltrated and destroyed last year.”

“Understood,
but in your opinion is it safe for Ruth to go with Xavier?”

“She would be
safer here at Ratvei,” Louis frowned, “in Vadath even, but if
enough precautions are taken, I think it should be okay. That idea
about changing her surname is a good one.”

“I can go?”
breathed Ruth.

“You can go,”
Gerry answered and was nearly bowled over by the giant hug she
bestowed on him.

Ruth Murdoch
married Xavier Kushner early in year twenty.

She lived her
life on the farm in northern Argyll, Princess Ruth no longer but
Ruth Russell-Kushner, bringing up her five children, two of whom
bonded with Lind.

None of their
children were told about her antecedents.

Thomas
McAllister-Merriman never did bond with a Lind. He spent the next
six years at the Russell ranch then left for Argyll with a small
herd of horses. It was from the descendants of these horses that
the cavalry arm of the Argyll Garda bought the majority of their
mounts in the generations to come.

Gerry and
Jessica Russell remained at the rtath of Ratvei for the rest of
their lives. Of their four sons, three bonded with Lind and joined
the Vada, the fourth, Peter, inherited the ranch from his parents
and continued to breed horses, heavy draught animals for the
farmers and carriers, ponies and also fast and beautiful riding
beasts, much sought after the length and breadth of Argyll.

Violet Randall
did not marry Satirya’s Grant. She fell in love with Duguld
McCallum a year after the Battle of Trumpet Keep and spent her life
at the Vada stronghold where she brought up their many children.
Duguld never returned to his father’s farm. He did, however,
continue to play his grandfather’s trumpet. Violet never complained
about the noise, at least, almost never.

Duguld’s
mother, Elspeth McCallum?

In AL 36, word
came from Argyll that her body had been found by his cousins who
had inherited the farmstead on the death of their uncle. She had
not walked away from Duguld that night long ago without saying
goodbye. On reflection, Duguld surmised that she had probably
wanted to leave her husband and take him with her, an act his
father would never have agreed to.

The evidence
pointed to the fact that in a fit of anger, Alastair McCallum had
murdered his wife and hidden her body in a shallow grave in the
newly dug orchard.

Winston and
Janice Randall continued to build up their medical school. It was
the only domta in the land of Vadath whose name did not change with
the death or retiral of its leader.

Emily
Stanton-Randall completed her medical training, first under her
father-in-law then at the medical facility at Stewarton in Argyll.
She then elected to return to Vadath where she continued the work
Winston had begun.

Later, she was
joined by Hilary and Gsnei who decided to leave the Vada and make
their home at Holad domta Winston. Hilary had never felt entirely
comfortable with the military life.

Emily never
married again; neither did she totally recover from the deaths of
Brian and Sofiya. Her son, Alexander Stanton-Randall and his
younger sister Briany both became doctors. Alexander made his home
in Argyll whilst Briany took on the mantle of domta Winston when
Emily died.

Louis, Ustinya,
Cherry and Baltvei were frequent visitors . Louis and Cherry had no
children, but Ustinya and Baltvei more than made up for that with
their five litters, all of whom, to their parents’ great pride,
bonded with humans and served with honour with the Vada.

At the
stronghold, now officially named Vada, Francis and Asya continued
in their position as Susas until ill health brought about their
retiral.

Early in year
thirty-two, with a unanimous vote of confidence, Tina and Daltei
were selected by their fellow Ryzckas to take their place.

Wilhelm
Dahlstrom continued as Weaponsmaster with Ross as his capable
second for many years. He was over sixty when he retired, his place
being taken by Jacques Duchesne, whose claim as an eight-year-old
that he would be Wilhelm’s best pupil ever, was thus proved to be
true.

Jacques
Duchesne’s father Pierre, like most of the people who came north
with him, became a farmer in the arable lowlands west of the
stronghold. He never visited Argyll nor did he return to the
southern continent.

On the death of
the Gtrathlin, Mariya in year twenty-seven, Jim and Larya’s great
friend Afanasei succeeded her and he spent his term of office
promoting inter-species harmony.

Afanasei’s old
pack became the first whose ruling Elda was also vadeln-paired.
Matvei and his life-partner Kath Andrews-Rybak, ably assisted by
James and Rozya, took his place.

Geraldine
Fitzpatrick, Richard Moreno and their Lind spent their lives
serving with the Vada, eventually retiring from active patrol
service to take up a position of running one of the many supply
stations in southeastern Argyll. All four died in AL 42.

In the Kingdom
of Murdoch, King Elliot threw off the chains of Sam Baker’s regency
when he was in his early twenties with the support of Lord Henri
Cocteau and others.

The convent of
The Little Sisters of the Poor continued its ministry under Cara’s
guidance and before her death in the winter of eighty-two, had
daughter houses the length and breadth of the Kingdom of
Murdoch.

Not Vadath nor
Lind, nor even Argyll forgot the bravery and inspired leadership of
Susyc Jim Cranston and his Larya.

Every society
needs its heroes.

Many were the
sagas and legends that grew up about the famous pair. The stories
became larger than life and ever more embellished as the years
passed.

In Argyll,
monuments and statues sprang up. On the battle ridge above the
original settlement, at the site of the Battle of the Alliance in
year two, stood the huge statue of them both, mute sentinels at the
Island chain. There was another in the main square of the country’s
only city, Stewarton. Many towns erected their own smaller ones in
imitation.

Jim would have
laughed and Larya wouldn’t have understood what all the fuss was
about.

Vadath
contented itself with one memorial. It was erected by Tara and
Kolyei.

This, the
simplest monument, sat on a small rocky rise in the woods not far
from Vada.

It was not a
statue but a polished flat stone set close against the rock. The
weather side had inscribed on it three words only.

Jim and
Larya.

For those of
Vadath, these words were enough.

On the reverse
side Tara left a personal message but few knew of it and even fewer
cared. The stonemason who inscribed the message thought the words a
bit strange, but he was being paid good coin to complete the task
and asked no questions.

“Not the best
I’ve ever written, but it’ll do,” said Tara to Kolyei as she
supervised the erection of the stone.

“Perhaps not,”
he answered, “but it tells of what needs to be remembered.”

As the years
passed, and as the grass, moss and lichen grew around the stone,
even the few who knew forgot about the message.

Tara and Kolyei
remained at Vada with Peter and Radya where they raised their
numerous offspring. Peter and Radya continued to serve with the
Vada until their deaths at the hands of some pirate slavers some
thirty years later. The Battle of Trumpet Keep was the last time
Tara raised her sword in anger.

As with Jim and
Larya, Tara and Kolyei, the first duo to vadeln-pair became
renowned but not only for their bravery in battle.

They wrote
their books, one recounting the early years when mankind arrived on
Rybak and their History of the Lind, which they compiled from
various oral traditions.

They also wrote
other books, amongst which were ‘A Language Textbook and Dictionary
of Lindish’ and three volumes entitled ‘Tales of Rybak’, these
being a series of adventurous stories taken from both Lind oral
traditions and their own experiences. These latter volumes became
very popular among the people of Vadath, Argyll and even
Murdoch.

King Elliot
purchased a copy from the traders (a polite name for the pirates).
One story in particular interested him. Although Tara and Kolyei
had changed the names of the principal characters, he recognised
the story of his twin sister at once.

He placed the
volume with the other books he had managed to procure on his
library shelf. There it sat, side on with a well-read volume of the
works of William Shakespeare and one of American Tales, gathering
dust, for King Elliot had little time for reading. The Kingdom of
Murdoch was not an easy country to rule despite the apparent
disappearance of the Larg.

The Silver
Trumpet?

It would be
played by Duguld McCallum throughout his life and then passed on to
his son.

A long way in
the future, battered and silver gilding worn away, it would be
donated by a descendant to the Museum of Stewarton in Argyll and
relegated to a glass display cabinet.

A Prince of
Murdoch, travelling incognito on a ‘grand tour’ through the
northern continent would see it there and marvel at its history and
provenance, a family heirloom no more but a symbol of hope and
freedom to the northern continent and the free countries of Argyll,
Vadath and the rtathlians of the Lind.

* * * * *

There was peace
in the lands of Planet Wolf, the Larg nation a shadow of its former
self.

The convicts of
the Electra aged and then died out, unfortunately the feudalistic
society built up by Lord Regent Baker and the other Lords did not
die with them. As their descendants grew in numbers and power,
these children and children’s children considered the harsh
five-tiered totalitarian, militaristic Kingdom, made up of royalty,
nobles, free men, woman and slaves the only true way. Argyll they
looked at in amused amazement and thought it soft and ripe for the
picking when they were ready. Vadath they tried to ignore.

The
colonisation of the islands in the Great Eastern Sea continued
apace.

In Argyll,
peace brought prosperity. Weapons training, except along the
coastlines, where the pirates were wont to raid, lapsed.

In Vadath and
the rtathlians, neither Lind nor human forgot, nor did they lessen
their guard. The Vada grew in numbers, vadeln-pairs dutifully
patrolling the borders north, south and east.

They knew that
it would only be a matter of time before the Kingdom of Murdoch
flexed its muscles and turned its eyes towards the free north. The
Larg would recover from the pestilence and set out anew on their
quest to become the dominant species on the planet, determined to
rule over all, Lind, man and beast.

* * * * *

(Wolves –
Planet Wolf – Volume 1)

(Courage –
Planet Wolf – Volume 2)

(*Vadeln-paired)

NORTHERN
HUMANS

Absalom
Charles: Colonist and farmer, father of Tina (Courage)

Alan de Groot:
Colonial youngster, aged 13 on landing, Vada (Wolves, Courage)*

Alastair
McCallum: Colonist and farmer, father of Duguld (Courage)

Andrew:
Ex-convict, captured during the Battle of the Alliance
(Courage)

Anselm: Priest
of the Holy Writ, a religious sect prevalent in northeastern Argyll
(Courage)

Alexander: Son
of Brian and Emily (Courage)

Arthur Knott:
Colonist, blacksmith and inventor (Wolves, Courage)

Brenda
Urquhart: Colonial youngster, aged 15 on landing, Vada (Wolves,
Courage)*

Brian Randall:
Son of Winston and Janice Randall, aged 13 on landing, Vada
(Wolves, Courage)*

Carol:
Colonial youngster, aged 4 on landing (Courage)*

David Charles:
Colonial youngster, brother of Tina (Courage)

Duguld
McCallum: Colonial youngster, aged 14 on landing, son of Alastair
(Courage)*

Emily Stanton:
Colonial youngster, sister of Steven, aged 13 on landing, Vada
(Wolves, Courage)*

Eitel
Dahlstrom: Colonial youngster, aged 12 on landing, son of Wilhelm
and Unda Dahlstrom (Courage)*