"Not if you've got metal arrowheads," Tracker replied. "Stone arrowheads aren't as sharp, and metal cuts through much easier. We'll have fresh meat for supper tonight. Your cousin Sorgan gave us exactly what we needed to make our lives more pleasant."
"I'm sure that he'll be glad to hear that. Did you happen to encounter any bug-people?"
"We saw a few of them, but they were holding back for some reason."
"I've been meaning to ask one of you people a question," Skell said then.
"I'll answer it if I can," Tracker said.
"Over in the Land of Maag, we almost never see a bug roaming around in the wintertime, but the bugs out in the Wasteland don't seem to pay any attention to the fact that it's turned very cold."
Tracker shrugged. "The Vlagh does all sorts of things that other bugs don't," he replied. "Our shaman, One-Who-Heals, told us that the Vlagh wants the Wasteland all to herself. The other bugs hole up in the wintertime, but the Vlagh's children don't. They break into the nests of the other bugs, kill them all, and then run back to the Vlagh's nest with all the food the other bugs had stored up for the winter."
"That's terrible!" Skell exclaimed.
" 'Terrible' pretty much describes the Vlagh, yes," Tracker replied with a faint smile. "If I understand it right, she wants the whole world, and she wants her children to eat everything—and everybody—who lives there. For her, more food means more children."
"We've got to get rid of that monster!" Skell declared.
"You should take that up with Longbow, Skell. That's his lifelong goal. After one of the Vlagh's children killed Misty-Water, Longbow set out to kill the Vlagh, and sooner or later, he'll probably do just that."
"Who was Misty-Water?" Skell asked.
Tracker sighed. "She was the daughter of Chief Old-Bear, and she and Longbow were right on the verge of mating. One of the servants of the Vlagh killed her, though, and now killing the Vlagh is Longbow's only real goal in life."
"That explains a lot of the things about Longbow that I didn't really understand," Skell said. "I'm glad that he's on our side. Having Longbow for an enemy would cut back a man's life-expectancy by quite a bit, wouldn't you say?"
"Almost back to nothing at all," Tracker agreed.
Chapter Two
It was about noon on a cloudy day when they reached the upper end of Long-Pass, and Skell was forced to concede that Gunda's fort was very impressive.
"I can't really take credit for all those boulders in the front wall," Gunda said. "Ekial and the Malavi hitched their horses to rocks almost as big as houses and dragged them here. I don't think the bug-people will have much fun trying to climb that wall, particularly now that we've got all those archers you just brought here."
Then Longbow and the Trogite army commander Narasan came out to greet Longbow's friends.
"Ho, Longbow," Tracker called.
"What took you so long?" Longbow asked with a faint smile.
"We ran into some of the Creatures of the Wasteland. Red-Beard said that they've been sneaking around quite a bit. I don't think the Vlagh's too happy about all the archers her people are going to come up against. They didn't rush us or anything, but they were watching. Oh, Chief Old-Bear told us to give you his regards."
"How's he doing?"
"The same as always. He can still put arrows where he wants them."
Skell went over to the south side of Gunda's fort to speak with the other Maag sailors who'd come along with Longbow's friends. "I want you men to behave yourselves," he told them. "Don't insult the Trogites or the natives. They're on our side in this war, so don't make fun of them."
"We've heard all this before, Skell," a bearded sailor said.
"Good. Now you've heard it again. Maybe if you hear it often enough, it'll start to seep through into your mind."
"We've been using Keselo as our go-between, Skell," Commander Narasan said the following morning. "He has access to a fast sloop that can take him down to the temple-town in about half a day, so your cousin can keep him up to date on what's happening down there." Narasan smiled then. "Keselo came up with another idea as well. Prince Ekial gave him a horse called Bent-Nose, and Keselo tamed the horse in about a half a day."
"With a whip?"
Narasan laughed. "No, not really. He even startled Ekial when he used candy instead. It seems that a horse will do almost anything for candy. That means that Keselo can reach your cousin in about a day and a half, and he can bring information back to us in about the same amount of time."
"I'd start watching my tail feathers very close, Commander," Skell said. "A young fellow as clever as Keselo might start to have ambitions, and he might just decide that he'd be a better commander than even you are."
"He does show quite a bit of promise," Narasan agreed. "Anyway, your cousin has persuaded Queen Aracia that the bug-people are running all over her Domain, and she's even gone so far as to order all those fat, lazy priests of hers to go help your cousin build forts to hold back the Creatures of the Wasteland. The priests aren't very happy about that, but they're even unhappier about the steady diet of beans Sorgan offers them three times a day."
Skell laughed. "Sorgan's very good at things like that," he said.
"Indeed he is, and he's keeping Aracia and all of her priesthood so frightened that they don't even know that we're fighting the real war up here in Long-Pass."
"That's all that really matters, I guess," Skell replied.
A REPORT FROM THE NORTH
Chapter One
"She moves right along, that's for sure," Red-Beard said to Keselo as the sloop cut through the waters of Long-Pass bay.
"When you add oarsmen to a good following wind, you're not going to stay in one place for very long," Keselo agreed.
"How did you get stuck with being the messenger boy between Narasan and Sorgan?" Red-Beard asked the young Trogite.
Keselo shrugged. "I spent a lot of time with Sorgan during the war in Lady Zelana's Domain, and we got to know each other quite well. Commander Narasan felt that using somebody Sorgan knew and trusted as the messenger would work out better for all of us. Sorgan will tell me things he wouldn't mention to a stranger or some low-ranking soldier who doesn't know what's really going on." Then he smiled. "I'm not really complaining about it, Red-Beard. Prince Ekial gave me Bent-Nose, so I don't have to walk very much."