Conflict and Courage by Candy Rae

are
ready.”
    There was
dismay and disappointment amongst the youngsters as they placed
their ‘weapons’ in the box.
    “You will begin
work with these swords,” Wilhelm indicated the untidy pile with a
wave of his right hand, “and it will be many weeks before you are
ready to try with anything more lethal than wood.”
    He drove his
point home, picking up the aforementioned father’s sword and
regarding it through narrowed eyes, “such weapons are dangerous.
They are made to kill,” he glanced at the kitchen knife being laid
on top of the pile, chuckled and added, “at least some of them are.
One wrong move and you might well kill your friends with it.”
    He stared at
the lads.
    “You want
that?”
    “No.”
    “No what?”
    “No Sir,” they
shouted in unison.
    “Weaponsmaster
is the correct address.”
    “No
Weaponsmaster,” they shouted.
    “On these
practice grounds I am in charge of all students, young and old. You
will never disobey me. If you do, I will become your worst
nightmare. Do you understand?”
    “Yes
Weaponsmaster,” echoed throughout the field.
    When they saw
the Weaponsmaster later putting the adults through their paces, a
group that included Susa Francis, even the most doubtful began to
regard him with awe and not a little apprehension. For a small man
he could certainly make his presence felt. “Fighting is hard,”
Wilhelm continued. “Kill or be killed. I am here to make sure that
you and your Lind have the best chance possible to survive. Now
pick up a practice sword each and form a large circle around
me.”
    After an hour’s
practice, Geraldine and Jsei arrived to put them through their
paces with a riding lesson then they had general studies with the
resident stronghold teacher.
    By lunchtime,
they were tired, very sore and part of the glory of joining the
Vada had dissipated and there was still the afternoon’s lessons to
go.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    Wilhelm
Dahlstrom’s son Eitel was finding time lying heavy on his hands.
When at the farm, he had been kept busy every minute of the
daylight hours, here at the stronghold he had no set chores apart
from helping his mother and attending the statutory lessons. He
watched the junior cadets brush with the authority that was his
father for a while and then went exploring. The boys and girls were
undergoing the most basic stroke-practice and his father had taught
him the moves years before.
    He wandered
aimlessly away from the practice field and headed in the general
direction of the river. At the bank he sat down and watched the
ripples of water bubble past. Pilli fish darted around in the
water; he gazed at them for a time but the sun was hot and he began
to feel sleepy, before long Eitel was deep in dreamland.
    The Lind female
Jilya couldn’t believe her luck. One of a group of unattached young
adults from green-striped pack Matvei who had arrived some days
previously, on the hunt for a suitable human with whom to pair, she
had not especially noticed Eitel before.
    She was looking
for a comfortable spot on which to rest. She had hunted that
morning and needed time to digest her meal, somewhere hidden from
Faddei who kept the unattached busy, at the moment they were
hauling the large tree trunks that were being used to build the
stronghold’s office block and storerooms. Yansei, who had led them
here, hadn’t seen fit to inform them that they would be required to
work, perhaps she thought, trying to be fair, he hadn’t expected it
either.
    She had been
kept far too busy to look for a suitable boy. It was difficult to
find any unpaired humans from whom Jilya could ‘hear’ the thoughts
and emotions that would tell her that he was to be her
life-mate.
    Yansei had
spied a likely looking girl from one of the farms that were
springing up in the area around the stronghold and had managed to
find the time to speak to her. He had told Jilya that she was ‘the
one’ for him but she was young and would not be allowed to