“Ten days or so, actually,” Red-Beard said. “It was a very unusual kind of snowstorm, though. I can’t remember the last time I saw snow falling out of a clear blue sky.”
“That would be a bit peculiar, wouldn’t it?” Longbow agreed.
“Storms that come out of nowhere seem to be turning up fairly often here lately,” Rabbit observed.
The three of them looked inquiringly at Zelana.
“All right,” she said. “I cheat a little bit now and then. Don’t make a big issue of it. I just wanted to be sure that nothing serious got under way until Sorgan’s fleet reached Dhrall. Snow isn’t quite as cold as ice, but if there’s enough snow, it pretty much freezes everything in place.”
“Couldn’t we just leave all that snow up there in the mountains, Beloved?” Eleria suggested. “The bad things won’t be able to move until it melts, and if it never melts, they’ll have to stay right where they are.”
Zelana shook her head. “Father Earth wouldn’t permit that, Eleria. A year without a summer would kill too many plants and animals, and plants and animals are as dear to him as people are. We can keep that snow up there for a few weeks longer, but then we’ll have to let it melt off. If Veltan can get here before the snow melts, everything should be all right. If he’s delayed, things might start to get interesting.”
“Your brother’s bringing help?” Red-Beard asked.
Zelana nodded. “Trogite soldiers.”
“Trogites!” Rabbit exclaimed. “You expect Trogites to help Maags? That’s not very likely, you know. Trogites hate us like we were some kind of disease.”
“Veltan’s paying them not to hate you,” she told him. “You can go back to hating each other after the war’s over and you’ve all gone home.”
Rabbit shrugged. “It’s your war, Lady Zelana, so we’ll do things any way you want us to, but I think there might be trouble before the war’s over.”
“There’s all the trouble we’re likely to need camped up at the head of the ravine right now, Rabbit,” Red-Beard said.
“Did any of those rampaging sailors happen to find Lady Zelana’s cave?” Rabbit asked him.
“No,” Red-Beard answered. “Chief White-Braid told the young men to cover the cave mouth with bushes and tree limbs and then put a couple of huts in front of it. There were guards, but they weren’t too obvious.”
“I think it’s time for Eleria and me to go back to the cave,” Zelana decided.
“I’ll take you there,” Red-Beard offered.
“That would be nice,” Zelana said. “Rabbit, go tell Hook-Beak that he can have his cabin back now.”
“I’ll need to get my canoe out of the forward hold,” Longbow said to Zelana. “Do you want me to bring Rabbit to the cave?”
“I think so, yes. See what Sorgan has to say about it first, though. Let’s not ruffle Hook-Beak’s feathers if we don’t really have to.”
Rabbit was a bit surprised by Zelana’s decision to include him in the rather select society of the cave. Despite what had happened in Kweta, Rabbit still didn’t think of himself as one of any kind of inner circle. He gave it some thought as he went forward to the bow of the Seagull. “Lady Zelana’s going ashore now, Cap’n,” he reported. “She says you can have your cabin back now.”
“Well finally,” Sorgan said. “Things might go back to being normal now. Has she left yet?”
“She’s on the way, Cap’n. Red-Beard’s taking her and Eleria ashore in his canoe. Longbow’s hauling his canoe up out of the forward hold as well, so we’ll have the Seagull to ourselves for a change.”
“I think maybe you should go stay in that cave with Lady Zelana, Rabbit,” Sorgan said with a thoughtful squint. “She likes you, so keep her happy. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that a lot of the gold in that cave’s going to be ours when this is over. Make sure that it’s well guarded.”
“I’ll do the best I can, Cap’n,” Rabbit promised. Then he went back out on deck and helped Longbow lower his canoe into the water.
“Did he argue with you about it?” Longbow asked as they both settled into the canoe.
Rabbit grinned at his friend. “I didn’t even have to ask. He really, really wants somebody he knows near all that gold stacked up in the cave.”
Longbow nodded and then pushed his canoe away from the Seagull with his foot, picked up his paddle, and started them toward shore. “Lattash seems much larger than our village,” he observed as they approached the beach.
“Some of that’s probably because the people of your tribe moved here while we were off in Maag trying to pick up a lot of ships,” Rabbit suggested. Then something occurred to him. “You’ve never been down here, have you, Longbow?” he asked.
“We usually avoid the villages of other tribes, Rabbit,” Longbow explained. “The chieftains of the various tribes occasionally meet, but usually in open meadows, where there’s not much chance of surprises.”
“You folks here in Dhrall are kind of nervous, aren’t you?”
“Cautious, Rabbit, cautious. It’s very rare for the people of one tribe to completely trust the people of other tribes. Wars between the tribes are very common.” Longbow beached his canoe, the two of them pulled it up farther onto the sand, and then they trudged up toward the cave mouth.
Eleria was waiting near the front of one of the huts Red-Beard’s people had erected to conceal the cave mouth. “What kept you?” she asked. “We’ve got company. The Beloved’s big brother came here a little while ago, and they’re talking right now back in the cave.”
“Veltan again?” Rabbit asked her.
“No, Bunny, it’s Dahlaine. He’s the oldest one in the family, and he thinks he’s the most important creature in the whole world. He tries to order the Beloved to do things, but she doesn’t pay too much attention to him.” Eleria giggled. “That drives him absolutely wild.”
“You live with a very strange group of people, baby sister,” Rabbit said.
“I know, and it’s loads of fun.”
Rabbit and Longbow followed her through the empty hut and back into the cave, where Rabbit saw Zelana speaking with a large, burly fellow dressed in bearskins. He had piercing eyes and an iron grey beard.