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in
position and ready to slash at Josei’s paws.
    The sound and
smells of battle receded in Thalia’s mind as the two of them
concentrated on this, their private war to the death.
    The man
stumbled again.
    : Left : she commanded and Josei obediently turned as Thalia swept her sword
up then down. It came down so fast and with such anger behind it
that the blade went deep into the pirate’s chest. With clinical
detachment, anger didn’t keep you alive, in fact anger resulted
more often than not in the complete opposite, Thalia twisted her
wrist again as she wrenched the blade back out.
    The pirate
staggered back, his face full of horror and all blood drained from
his face. His legs buckled under him and he collapsed; but his
hands were still moving as he fumbled for his knives.
    Josei didn’t
hesitate. With a snarl his forepaws landed on the pirate’s upper
torso, pinning his arms.
    : Me : he ordered Thalia, the word a command as his jaws opened.
    With a gurgle
and a cackle the man died, but it was quick. Josei despatched him
as he would a kura buck after a hunt, as painlessly and as quickly
as he could. For Lind the actual kill was a necessity and not an
action to be enjoyed. Volat, the Lind called it. Volat was the
needless slaying in pain or the joyful kill of any living
creature.
    Thalia’s senses
returned and she could hear again.
    It was quieter
now, the battle-chaos was getting less.
    Looking up and
towards the river she spied one galley getting away, its oarsmen
striving with every ounce of strength to row fast enough to they
could escape what they were already calling ‘the killing
ground’.
    A few pirates
were still fighting at the water’s edge. Thalia knew they would not
surrender. This way they would die on their own terms and not at
the end of a rope.
    There were
however, a couple of very dejected men standing to Thalia’s right,
guarded by two vadeln-pairs.
    : We go help
at water’s edge : Josei informed her as he turned, adding :
pirate man tastes very nasty :
    They joined in
the melee once more. Now the pirates who were left were outnumbered
instead of the other way around.
    It wasn’t easy,
fighting never was but slash by slash the vadeln-pairs overpowered
and killed them. It was not without cost. As the last pirate was
cut down, Thalia and Josei backed away from the carnage and looked
around.
    She realised
that they had lost to death at least seven vadeln-pairs. Their
bloodied bodies lay still and quiet, the only movement the ripple
of the night-breeze on fur.
    One of them was
Jenna and Stasei. They hadn’t made it through their first fight.
Thalia felt sick.
    This wasn’t the
first time she had seen her comrades die in violence but Jenna had
been so young, just eighteen.
    : It’s not
fair! : she cried in the silence of her mind.
    : It is
never fair : Josei answered : but she and Stasei knew it
could happen as do we. It is part of the price we too may have to
pay in the future to keep others safe from harm :
    the words
didn’t help, they never did.
    : If we
hadn’t stopped them : Josei added : they would have ravaged
the land, stealing, raping and all that is the same :
    : I know Josei
but Jenna and Stasei are dead and they didn’t deserve that. They
had their whole lives in front of them :
    : But that does
not detract from what we have achieved this night :
    Thalia had to
agree but Josei’s words were still not helping her to come to terms
with the grief she was feeling. That would take time.
    Josei knew
this. It was always the same for his Thalia.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    NORTH-EAST
ARGYLL - THE PATROL SECTOR OF THE FIFTEENTH RYZCK
     
    As they
returned to their patrol area Thalia began to come to terms with
the deaths of Jenna and Stasei. Josei knew his Thalia and wouldn’t
talk about it. He understood she needed the time to grieve. Some
human halves of vadeln-pairs would react differently he knew, they
wanted to talk and did, but not her.
    The others
among the Ryzck knew of this