“How in the world did you come up with this idea?” Zelana asked Red-Beard when he showed her the sod lodges in the new village.
“Longbow’s Chief, Old-Bear, told us that the tribes of the far north in your brother’s Domain build their lodges out of sod because there aren’t that many trees up there. It’s windy here, so sod lodges give the people more protection. That’s not really why we decided to do it this way, though.” Red-Beard quickly described the scheme he and Longbow had used to trick the men of the tribe into clearing the ground for planting.
“You’re a very devious man, Red-Beard,” she observed with a faint smile.
“I’m glad you approve,” he replied with a sly smirk. “It all worked out quite well. Everybody got what they needed, and nobody was offended. Old customs and ideas can get in the way sometimes, but if you’re quick on your feet, you can usually come up with a way to step around them.” He looked around at the blocky sod lodges. “It’s not as pretty as Lattash was,” he observed rather sadly, “but Lattash is gone now, so this village will have to do, I suppose.”
“Nothing lasts forever, Red-Beard,” Zelana said rather sadly. “After a while you learn to accept your losses and move on.”
“I don’t particularly like that very much, Zelana,” Red-Beard admitted.
“You don’t have to like it, Red-Beard,” she said sweetly. “You just have to do it.”
“Let’s talk about gold, gentlemen,” Zelana suggested to the gathering of Maags and Trogites later that day in the large cabin at the stern of the Trogite ship that served as Commander Narasan’s headquarters.
“I could talk about gold all day long,” Sorgan Hook-Beak said with a broad smile.
“We’ve noticed,” Longbow observed.
“As you may have realized,” Zelana continued, “our war here in the Land of Dhrall isn’t over yet. Actually, it’s only just begun. As you gentlemen have probably noticed, Veltan and I didn’t provide too many specific details when we offered to give you gold for your help. Now that we’ve all come to know each other a little better, I think we might want to reconsider some of the terms of our original agreement.”
“You’re going to cut our pay in half?” Sorgan asked, his eyes narrowing.
“No. I thought we might double it instead. You people turned out to be about twice as useful as we’d originally thought you’d be, so twice as much gold would only be fair, wouldn’t it?”
“I like the way Lady Zelana thinks,” Ox said with a broad grin.
“I’ll go along with you there, Ox,” Gunda agreed.
“Are you going to follow your sister’s example, Veltan?” the Trogite Narasan asked with a certain enthusiasm.
“I never argue with my sister,” Veltan replied blandly. “Now that you’ve gotten to know her, I’m sure you can see why.”
“Why, yes,” Narasan said. “Now that you mention it, that does seem to be the wisest course.”
“Is there really all that much gold here in the Land of Dhrall?” the bone-thin Trogite, Jalkan, asked in a tense voice.
“Mountains of it,” Veltan said with an indifferent shrug. “Our older sister Aracia will quite probably have her next temple made out of the silly stuff. It’s sort of pretty, I guess, but it’s too soft to be of much use. Iron’s not as pretty, but it’s much more useful.”
A strange, almost hungry expression came over Jalkan’s face. Red-Beard didn’t particularly like the Trogite Jalkan. He seemed to spend most of his time trying to impress Narasan, and he didn’t treat the men under him very well.
Narasan looked at Sorgan. “I take it that you’ll be coming south with us then?” he asked.
“I might even get there before you do, Narasan,” Sorgan boasted. “We could make a wager on that, if you’d like.”
“I’m not really a betting man, Sorgan.” Narasan looked at Veltan. “How much time do you think Sorgan and I have before trouble breaks out in your part of this land?”
Veltan squinted. “I couldn’t really say for certain, Commander. The servants of the Vlagh are probably a bit confused right now. It’ll take them a while to change direction. The ravine was the only possible route for an invasion, and now it’s totally blocked off. From what the people of my Domain have told me, it’s obvious that the servants of the Vlagh will be paying me a call before too long.”
“I don’t think you should delay,” Longbow told him. “Those Trogite ships will have to come back here after they’ve delivered your armies down there.”
“Why’s that, Longbow?” Sorgan asked.
“You didn’t really expect the tribes of Zelana’s Domain to walk, did you?”
“Are you saying that you and the other archers plan to join us, Longbow?” Narasan asked with a certain amount of surprise.
“Of course. Zelana owes her brother for bringing you and your men here, and we’re the ones who take care of those responsibilities. You helped Sorgan, so Sorgan’s going to help you. Veltan helped Zelana, so it’s only right for her to help him. There’s more, though.”
“Oh?” Narasan said. “What’s that?”
Longbow grinned at the Trogite. “You didn’t really think that we were going to let you two have all the fun, did you?” he demanded.