Free Dragons and Destiny by Candy Rae Page B

looking at it.
    “That’s for
Zawlei. Now, put your holdall on the bed. We’ll go see the
Quartermaster and get your uniform and the rest of the stuff you’ll
need.”
    “Like
what?”
    “Grooming kit
for Zawlei for one and he’ll have your study stuff ready too. We
all get standard books etcetera.”
    “Oh,” started
Rilla, who hadn’t realised that things would be quite so organised.
Why, it was like what Hilla had written home about when she had
arrived at Settlement.
    “The Vada’s not
quite the Garda but there are similarities,” offered Shona who
seemed to know what Rilla was thinking. “We’re both armies if you
think about it logically and armies must be trained.”
    “I thought it
might be different here,” said Rilla. “Hilla’s an Officer Trainee,
I am not.”
    “We’re all in
training,” Shona corrected her. “We don’t have Officer Trainees,
just cadets and in the Ryzcks the Vadryzkas and Ryzckas are
promoted from the ranks. We all do military lessons work, hence the
books on tactics, geography and the like. Don’t panic, you don’t
look like a dud and I’m sure you’ll manage.”
    Shona’s head
cocked.
    “I hear the tic
tac of large paws, I think our friends are returning so let’s get
about it or by the time we get to the cookhouse all that will be
left will be a few burnt scrapings at the bottom of the pots.”
    “I’d hate
that,” laughed Rilla.
    By nightfall
Rilla had settled in, more or less.
    She had taken
possession of her cadet uniforms and the other myriad items that
the ‘powers that be’ deemed necessary for a cadet. The promised
books were stacked with exactitude on the shelf above the desk; the
uniforms had peen put away in the closet. The beds were made, for
Rilla a narrow one in the corner, blankets folded at right angles.
Zawlei had taken possession of the low couch affair, a walda hay
mattress covered with thick hessian, resistant to the ravages of
sharp chelas. It didn’t feel like home yet but it would. Tacked to
the inside of the swing doors that marked the entrance to her and
Zawlei’s little domain was her training timetable.
    Home. Rilla
wondered, as she had at intervals during the journey, what was
happening at home? How was Zilla? How was she managing on her own?
How were her parents taking the news that she was at Vada?
    The vadeln at
the first Supply Station they had stayed at had informed her that a
message would be sent when Rilla had told him that she and Zawlei
had left without a word. He had also provided her with emergency
clothing, enough to get to Vada and a temporary harness for
Zawlei.
    Home. Her
father would never forgive her. At least she had had a chance to
say good bye to Zilla.
    Rilla lay her
head down on the pillow and fell into an exhausted sleep. Shona had
promised her that tomorrow would be a busy day and an investigation
of the timetable had backed this up. Riding practice, that
shouldn’t be too difficult, I’ve been riding for years after
all.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    Big
mistake, thought a rueful Rilla. Riding practice, that
shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve been riding for years after
all. Joke of the season and it was on her. Rilla had never felt
so sore and stiff her entire life. Riding a Lind, she found out
during the first quarter bell of the lesson was nothing like riding
a pony. First of all, there was neither bridle nor saddle (thus no
convenient bits to hold on to when the going got tough) and Zawlei
had, under orders, twisted and turned in such a violent manner that
Rilla had hit the dust no less than eleven times. When Toinette,
the other newly-arrived cadet (and some five years older than
Rilla) protested, Vadryzka Lachlan, the riding instructor, had
merely smiled a grim smile and lectured Toinette and Rilla about
what would be expected of them in the coming months. “If you think
this is hard,” he wound up, “come look at what the final year
cadets are doing.”
    When Toinette
and Rilla did, they got