‘He won’t listen to you any more than he’ll listen to me, Torl.’
‘I just have to speak to him in a different voice, cousin Sorgan,’ Torl replied mildly, handing Narasan’s note to the stubborn Trog.
Danal read Narasan’s written command twice, and then he gave up. ‘It’ll take about an hour to get all of our ships over to the other side of the river,’ he said. ‘Will that cause you any serious problems?’
‘Not really,’ Torl replied. ‘Our men are still climbing down that steep stream-bed, but we’ll need to have our ships up here so that we can get everybody on board. We’ll probably be out of your way by mid-morning tomorrow.’
‘I’d appreciate that, Captain Torl,’ Danal said. He hesitated slightly. ‘Is the commander absolutely certain that this second invasion will involve Trogites?’ he asked.
‘Our information came from a very reliable source, Brigadier. Evidently, the Trogite church is very interested in the Land of Dhrall.’
‘The church?’ Danal exclaimed.
‘That’s what our source told us.’
‘Would you like some help?’
Torl grinned. ‘I think we can handle it, my friend,’ he replied. ‘I gather that you’re none too fond of church people?’
‘Try the other side of “fond”, Captain Torl. I hate the Amarite church!’
‘We’ll go on down there and spank them for you, then - and probably send them to their rooms without any supper.’
‘I was thinking of something just a little more severe.’
‘So was I, Danal. “Spank” doesn’t even come close to what we’re going to do to those rascals.’
‘Good. I’ll go get my ships out of your way.’ Danal turned and went on down to the riverbank.
‘What was that piece of paper all about, Torl?’ Sorgan asked.
‘It was an order from Commander Narasan, cousin. Did I forget to tell you that I had it tucked up my sleeve? I’ve really got to start paying closer attention to all these picky little details. It must have just slipped my mind.’
2
‘You’ve got to pull the bow-string all the way back, Iron-Fist,’ Torl chided his first mate. ‘We’ll be a good hundred paces away from those Trog ships when we go past them, and I want our burning arrows to hit the ships, not to come down in the water. Water doesn’t burn very well.’
‘Where in the world did you come up with this here idear, Cap’n?’ Iron-Fist demanded.
‘Have you ever seen the native called Longbow skewer a snake-man, Iron-Fist?’
‘I was lucky enough t’ be stuck here on board the Lark when ever’body went a-runnin’ on up the ravine, Cap’n.’
‘I wouldn’t exactly call a broken leg a stroke of luck, old friend,’ Torl disagreed.
‘It kept me off the beach, Cap’n, an’ around here that’s about as lucky as a man’s a-goin’ t’ get. Is this Longbow ever’body keeps a-talkin’ about really that good?’
‘He’s probably the best in the whole wide world. Anyway, I’m sure that cousin Sorgan and big brother Skell will fall back on the idea of throwing torches at those Trog ships we want to destroy, but I got to thinking that a bow could shoot a burning arrow five or six times farther than anybody in the whole world can throw a burning torch, and if I’ve got a dozen or so men with bows and bundles of arrows, they’d be able to rain burning arrows down on the Trog ships in no time at all. That way, we won’t have to swing in and slow down every time we see one of them. If you and the other men can do this right, we’ll just fly past those scows and leave every one of them looking like a floating bonfire after we’ve gone by’
Iron-Fist grinned broadly. ‘Somethin’ like that would purty much roon the day for any Trogs a-standin’ on the beach, wouldn’t it, Cap’n?’
‘That was the whole idea. Ruining the day for Trogs is almost as much fun as having a winning number come up on your dice.’
Iron-Fist squinted out across the choppy waves at the other longships nearby. ‘Didn’t you say that your cousin wants to go ashore when we get down to the beach near Veltan’s house?’ he asked.
‘That’s what he told me. Why do you ask?’
‘I think that maybe I might want to drift around a bit when we get there and find out if anybody just happens t’ be in a bettin’ frame of mind - with the bets based on some sort of number.’
‘Something on the order of “I’ll bet that we can set more Trog ships on fire than you can”?’ Torl asked.
‘That’s purty much the way I’d put it, Cap’n.’
‘How are you fixed for money, Iron-Fist?’
‘I ain’t quite all bent over by the weight of my purse, Cap’n.’
‘I think I might be able to help you out a bit if you start to run short.’
‘Share and share alike?’
‘Sounds fair to me.’
‘I’ll put the other men as knows a bit about shootin’ arrows t’ practicin’, Cap’n. I think we’ll want ‘em all t’ be a-rarin’ t’ go when we start a-burnin’ ever’ Trog ship in sight - particularly if n we happen t’ have money a-ridin’ on it.’
Torl scratched his chin. ‘I think maybe I might want to see how my cousin and my big brother feel about some of those same kind of bets,’ he mused.
‘If they’ve got money a-ridin’ on it, I don’t think they’ll be just too happy when they see us a-buildin’ floatin’ bonfires all along that south coast, Cap’n.’
‘What a shame,’ Torl said with mock regret.
The beach near Veltan’s house came into view about noon on the following day, and cousin Sorgan led Skell and Torl on inland to take a long look at Veltan’s map. There were several peninsulas jutting out into the sea down there, and the peninsulas formed bays. ‘I thought so,’ Sorgan mused. ‘The best way to do this will be to block off the mouth of each bay and then sweep on in and set fire to every Trogite ship anchored in that bay. Then we’ll move on to the next one. We don’t want a single one of them to get away from us. If even one gets clear, it’s altogether possible that it’ll sail back down to the Trogite coast and gather up more ships and men. What we really want to do is make sure that the ones who are already here are trapped so that the only way they’ll be able to go for more help will be to walk.’