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And then the fleet sailed, and the choice went out the

He began to seriously regret that when the fleet of ships reached the band of ice floes that lay between the Eross understatee of floating ice’ would come ly narrow, and the towering cliffs of blue-white ice rose up and up and up until they seemed to blot out the very sky A lot of ‘ifs’ came unbidden into Jalkan’s mind as the fleet carefully ue with ‘if the wind coination He realized that the cause wouldn’t really matter, since the effect would be the saether, crushing the ships - and everybody on board the ships - slowly into splinters and bloody pulp

Jalkan went below decks at that point and refused to even look at the mountains of ice on all sides of the fleet

The weather had cleared off somehen the advance fleet sailed into the harbor of a native village called Lattash, but there appeared to be a great deal of snow in the e

Co on the beach when the ships dropped anchor, and he greeted his officers as they cae of Lattash was so pri on all fours like dogs, and the scruffy-looking Maag pirates weren’tpossibilities, though A well-trained ar of value fro up a sweat Jalkan was very happy that he hadn’t just stolen those few blocks of gold and run off while the fleet had still been in the harbor at Castano It appeared that there were all sorts of opportunities here

He al when Commander Narasan led them into a cave to meet Veltan’s sister A cave took ‘pri of the ladder

Then he saw Zelana for the first tiht of her almost stopped his heart She was by far the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen

The pirate leader Sorgan was quite another e, and the ones called ‘Ox’ and ‘Haer For some unknown reason, Co known as ‘Rabbit’ was somebody special

After a bit of discussion, Commander Narasan and the pirate decided to leave their men on board the ships in the harbor, and that didn’t particularly bother Jalkan The less he had to do with pirates and savages, the better

Time seemed to pass very slowly as they all waited for the snow in the mountains to melt off, but Jalkan wasn’t in any particular hurry

And then the day came when an old man from one of the native tribes told them all a wild story about people ere part snake and very dangerous Jalkan dismissed all of that as pure nonsense The less he had to do with these superstitious savages the better

Jalkan’s hideous discovery of the true reality that lay behind this dreadful war quite nearly dislocated histo Amar to protect him - not only from the evil snake-men, but estures he knew of that would hold evil at bay, and his fingers wereale by the bay

After what seemed to Jalkan almost an eternity, the army of Commander Narasan boarded the ships in the harbor and set sail for the southern reaches of the Land of Dhrall to fight the war they were being paid for Jalkan privately wished that they’d just keep on going south Everything here in the Land of Dhrall seemed so hideously unnatural

Jalkan found the Doion controlled by Veltan’s sister The forests of Zelana’s Doe hunters who lived there appeared to have little respect for those of superior rank The fact that Jalkan was an officer and a gentleman seemed to have escaped them At least the peasants of Veltan’s Domain seemed to know their place

Jalkan carefully questioned a peasant naious beliefs of the natives, and he was es had nothing even rese a church, and they were perod without benefit of the clergy

Jalkan concealed his outrage and rather slyly asked the crude buned ignorance Jalkan swore under his breath and stalked away He was fairly certain that in ti There were unbelievable opportunities here in the Land of Dhrall, but Jalkan needed more information before he’d be able to exploit theoodly distance up from the beach, they reached the castle of Veltan, and their host led them to what he called his ‘an becathy discussion of the terrain and probable tactics which n, but Jalkan paid very little attention It was fairly clear by now that the region around the Falls of Vash was old There was no other reason to defend the area, and it was equally obvious that it was also the reason for the ene crystal clear The volcanic eruption in the Doold deposits at the head of the ravine, so now the people of the Land of Dhrall were desperate to protect the deposits here in Veltan’s Do here, his next logical step was to find soe

After a while, a peasant woh the door to announce that the evening meal was ready, and Jalkan made a few complimentary remarks Any peasant woman in the Empire would have felt quite flattered by his observations, and no peasant man would have found theall to respond with violence Without so o drove his fist into Jalkan’s le blow

Jalkan ca at his knife-hilt, but the insolent young Keselo drew his sword and beganthreats

Jalkan appealed to Commander Narasan for justice The laas very clear in these circumstances Any peasant who struck one of his superiors was supposed to be executed on the spot