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‘It don’t really matter what kind of excuse we come up with, Cap’n,’ Grock advised ‘All that’s really ie afore the natives kill ever’body in the fleet’
‘We did hire on to fight a war, didn’t we, Cap’n?’ Baldar Club-Foot suggested
‘That’s what cousin Sorgan toldon dry land al forts or barricades, I’ve heard tell Since the ene this way fros above town runs through a narrow ravine, we could tell all the other ship-cap’ns that your cousin Sorgan told you to go up a ways and build a fort to hold the ene like that, Club-Foot,’ Skell objected
‘Lie to ‘e to do is to keep the kilt, ain’t it?’
‘That coht not be very nice, but if it keeps ‘em alive, it’ll be worth the trouble’
‘And, if you tell the other ship Cap’ns that they won’t get paid if the fort ain’t good enough, they’ll hustle right along, I’ll bet,’ Grock added
‘I guess it’s worth a try,’ Skell conceded a bit dubiously
When Sorgan’s fleet finally arrived, their employer, the beautiful Lady Zelana, evidently decided that a bit of honesty ht be in order First off, one of the old head flood That really disturbed Skell, since most of his men were up in the ravine where they’d be trapped - and drowned - if the old chief’s description of the yearly disaster ca accurate
Then there was the issue of venom Skell had heard stories about poisonous snakes, but he’d never actually seen one - and he really wanted to keep it that way
Lady Zelana’s bleak-faced bodyguard, Longbow, put Skell somewhat at his ease, however, with his description of the process whereby he’d used the enemy’s venom to kill other enemies It seemed to Skell that there was a certain justice involved there
Skell would be the first to admit that he hadn’t once encountered one of what his cousin colorfully called ‘the snake-ely because he’d spent nable fort to prevent any intruding enee of Lattash He’d seen a few of the’s a half-mile away it doesn’t usually posethat had really disturbed Skell during the war in Lady Zelana’s Dos There was no question about the fact that Coood soldiers and that they’d been a great help, but it had just sees for allies