Ambition and Alavidha by Candy Rae Read Free Book Online Page A

Fifteenth
Ryzck got back to their domta early the next morning and the first
place Thalia visited was the bathing pool. Ryzcka Vandiel hadn’t
let his Ryzck stay at the Supply Station for the night being
desirous to get back to their patrol area as soon as possible.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    A month passed,
day after day of nothing happening. There were no more pirate
incursions. Replacement vadeln-pairs arrived to replace those who
had lost their lives and the badly wounded.
    Thalia came to
accept the loss of Jenna and Stasei.
    She couldn’t
wait for the end of their tour of duty however. It hadn’t been a
happy one, despite their achievements.
    Ryzcka Vandiel
was intending to return to Vada not by the direct route but would
instead lead his Ryzck west, paralleling the North Caravan Route
and then turn south to Vada once they had passed the border between
Argyll and Vadath. It would add a full three days on to their
travelling time thus cutting into their leave period but he had
decided that this option was the more prudent.
    Tension had
been growing in recent years between some elements of Argyllian
society and Vadath.
    Each Ryzcka had
in fact, received orders from Susa Malkum who commanded the Vada to
keep contact to a minimum, especially in the Argyll interior.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    So, one fine
day just over a month after the fight with the pirates the Fourth
Ryzck ran in and the Fifteenth gathered up their belongings and
prepared to move out.
    As Thalia
packed her harness-bags she wondered if her Ryzck would be
returning to this area any time soon. She hoped not but she wasn’t
holding out much hope in that direction. Next patrol they might not
be but if not the one after that it would almost certainly be the
one after that. But what was the alternative?
    : Request a
transfer : was Josei’s suggestion : if you really don’t want
us to come back here :
    : Why didn’t I
think of that? But it wouldn’t solve the problem Josei. Any Ryzck
can be ordered back here :
    : West. Let us
request a transfer to one of the Western Ryzcks. I would like that
Thalia. Closer to my rtathen I would be :
    : Then we will
my Josei, just as soon as we get to Vada :
    : Good :
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    The journey
home was an anticlimax. Thalia usually looked forward to her and
Josei’s leave periods but normally, especially during the first
days she felt a bit down in the dumps and this journey she felt
more low than usual. Josei was right, it was time to move on.
    Although it was
summer, they met but few travellers on their route; some Express
Service riders and their Lind delivering packages and letters and
the occasional merchant and farm worker, that was all.
    Everyone they
met greeted them with smiles and cheers, especially in the east.
News of their victory over the pirates has spread. Passing through
solitary farmsteads Vandiel didn’t have to request water. It was
brought to them by a succession of grinning children, all eager to
get close to a Lind and perhaps to talk to one.
    Thalia left the
farms cheered. When they ran over the border into Vadath she was
almost back to her old self, in fact everyone and everylind cheered
up as they entered the lian of what were known as the Home Packs
whose rtathlians were situated in the north of the country. The
Vada Stronghold, along with most of the human inhabitants of Vadath
lived in the southerly areas, where the land was flatter and more
arable.
    “We’re coming
home,” Thalia hummed the well-loved Vada running song. Oh I
can’t wait.
    And Josei could
only agree.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    THE STRONGHOLD
OF THE VADA - VADA - VADATH
     
    It was with a
great deal of pleasure that Thalia found out that her friend Katie
was in residence at the Stronghold. A flying visit she was
told.
    “Me and Kenlei
leave in the morning,” Katie informed her.
    “Yet another
message on behalf of the Susa?” hazarded Thalia. Actually, it
wasn’t difficult to guess. Katie and Kenlei were