Conflict and Courage by Candy Rae

five-star!”
    Emily’s
eyebrows rose.
    “Your harness
goes there,” Brian said, pointing to the hooks on the wall. “I’ve
managed to scrounge extra chairs and put up some more shelves. I’ll
do the same for you if you like.”
    “Yes please,”
answered Emily with a smile of thanks. “It’s so very …”
    “Spartan?”
    “Exactly.”
    He stopped and
a distant expression came over his face.
    “Sofiya says
two more new people are on their way in,” he told her with a
resigned grin. “I’ll go get them and bring them here. Then we can
all have some lunch.” He sped off.
    Emily picked up
the two remaining packs. “I’d better take these over to Laura,” she
called after his departing heels. “I can manage, you’ve been great
looking after me like this.”
    “What are
friends for? Come back here when you’ve finished and I’ll show you
round some more, the cookhouse bell will be ringing soon.”
    Making her way
to the Holad cabins, Emily hoped Laura wouldn’t keep her long; it
was not only Ilyei who was very hungry.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    “Do we know the
approximate ages of all the cadets?” Wilhelm Dahlstrom asked
Francis as he, Jim and the Susa ate their own luncheon in the
office complex. The three human commanders of the cadet troops were
also present.
    Francis handed
him the roster.
    The
Weaponsmaster took one look at it. “I must admit that I did not
expect so many,” was his dry comment.
    “One hundred
and eleven all told with more coming in,” said Francis.
    “We never said
that it would be easy,” interposed Jim Cranston. “Have you come to
any decision about how you’re going to split them up?”
    “Geraldine and
I discussed it on our way in, young Louis Randall too when he and
Ustinya joined us, three classes, the under sixteens, sixteen to
eighteen and then the adults. If we do that and jiggle the
timetable a bit, I think we can accommodate them all.”
    “You’ve still
to fit in the active vadeln-pairs, hone their skills.”
    “I won’t
forget.”
    “Don’t forget
the smaller ones either,” added Nell who had the very youngest in
her charge, “they can’t be expected to have the same strengths as
the bigger ones. It might be better if they are kept completely
separate.”
    Jim pulled the
timetable towards him. “Pretty comprehensive, they won’t get much
free time will they?”
    “I’ve got to
get as many ready for active duty as fast as possible,” answered
Francis.
    “Are you still
going to accept the under eighteens for active duty if Wilhelm here
says they are ready?” asked Jim.
    “I have
to.”
    “I don’t like
it.”
    “Neither do I
but I don’t have a choice.”
    Francis turned
to Geraldine, “and are you sure that you and Jsei can manage all
the riding classes on top of your other duties?”
    “I think so,”
she answered, “so long as Ross and Lililya can manage the younger
ones on alternate mornings.”
    They then moved
on to a more detailed discussion about the best way to allocate the
available instructors to the classes.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    The morning
after Emily and Ilyei’s arrival, the Weaponsmaster met two of his
future pupils.
    Brian and Emily
were on their way to the cookhouse for breakfast and saw him
standing indecisively outside his new quarters.
    Emily poked
Brian in the ribs.
    “It’s the
Weaponsmaster,” she whispered sotto voce. “He looks a bit lost. Do
you think we should offer to help?”
    But Wilhelm had
spotted them. “You there,” he called, “are you on your way to the
cookhouse?”
    “Yes
Weaponsmaster,” answered Brian. “We are going for breakfast.”
    “If you would
care to join us?” invited Emily shyly.
    He most
certainly did, supper with Jim Cranston had been a long time ago
and this seemed to be a good opportunity to see what sort of
youngsters he would be dealing with.
    They walked for
a few moments in silence. Emily and Brian didn’t quite know what to
say and Wilhelm was in a deep