Page 108 (1/1)

‘We were fairly sure things were going to work out that way, Rabbit,’ Ox said

‘They hit a snag, though,’ Rabbit announced ‘Soet up to the ri when the red-suits carabbed the red-suits and threw ‘euess the black-suits are the ones who make sure that the red-suits do what they’re supposed to do, and theyanybody who tries to break the rules’

Sorgan winced ‘How far doould you say it is from the rim to the rocks down below?’ he asked

‘Two hundred feet at least, Cap’n,’ Rabbit replied ‘I wouldn’t say that very many red-suits walked away after a fall like that’ He shuddered ‘Anyway, Padan sent e is finished and that the red-suits won’t just co in up here They’ll come here by the hundreds at least’ He paused ‘Oh, one other thing, Cap’n Padan and his people are about an hour behind me, and he said he’d really appreciate it if there was soet to your barricade without having to tiptoe through those poison stakes’

‘We’ll see to it, Rabbit,’ Sorgan said ‘Nohy don’t you hustle on up to Gunda’s wall and let Narasan knohat’s afoot?’

‘I’ll do ‘er, Cap’n’ - just as soon as soh the poison stakes in the other trenches without co doith a bad case of dead’

Padan and Torl reached Sorgan’s first trench before first light and they were some distance ahead of their ed just a bit,’ Skell advised thes up, was he? Are those men dressed in black really that brutal?’

‘Worse, probably, big brother,’ Torl replied ‘Padan here sort of filled anization of those church arite church tends to take brutality out to the far end The ones they call "Regulators" keep the soldiers -and the priests theuess their standard approach goes so the lines of "if you don’t do e tell you to do, we’ll kill you" Then they prove that they ht there on the spot’

‘Is he an asked skeptically

‘No, Captain Hook-Beak That’s pretty ulators operate,’ Padan said ‘The church is out to get thetio’ He peered out into the darkness on either side of Sorgan’s trench ‘I gather that the east sides of these trenches lie along the riverbank,’ he noted ‘How have you an replied ‘There’s a rock face that runs for about a e I suppose that a man could climb up that face if he really wanted to, but it’d probably take quite a while If those church soldiers are all excited about the iold out there in the desert, they wouldn’t want to waste that much time Our poisoned stakes at the botto and we scattered tree leaves over the top of theht’

‘Are you sure that they’ll penetrate the soles of those soldier-boots?’

‘I wouldn’t want to try to run across the trench to find out How er would you say it’s likely to take all of those church soldiers to get up here?’

‘As near as I’ve been able to determine, they’ll be at it for about two and a half days, captain Nohether they’ll wait until all of their men are up here before they start, or march this way a battalion or so at a ti atop the barricade farthest to the south at first light the following an was able to deterun their march ‘No visitors yet,’ he said to Padan ‘Are you positive that those church soldiers won’t recognize our yellow ribbons as markers?’

‘Not very likely, Captain,’ Padan replied ‘Gunda and I came up with that notion ere still children, and we kept it pretty much to ourselves We knohat they mean, but nobody else does’

‘What about that one called Jalkan? If I understood what Narasan told me, that scrawny rascal was atime, but now he’s a part of the enemy army’

Padan shook his head ‘Gunda, Narasan and I kept the idea strictly to ourselves,’ he said Then he sht down to the botto just a bit childish about it The yellow ribbons were our idea, so we kept thee strips of yellow fabric, andHow did you e to sneak in and steal our secret?’

‘Narasan was ed to tellparty Skell would probably have thought you’d just gone crazy when you started tying yellow ribbons to bushes and trees along the way’

‘Here co off toward the north, ‘and it looks tohibow Lady Zelana would skin n yet of those "friendly enean replied ‘Of course, it’s still early The sun isn’t even up yet How did Narasan take our news, Rabbit?’

‘He clai those church armies came up with, but that deep down, he really approved of what those Regulators did to persuade the soldiers not to run on ahead so that they could getto happen when the church arrinned ‘That’s our Narasan for you,’ he said, ‘but to tell the truth, I’ forward to it myself’

‘Enemy to the front,’ Padan announced in an almost bored tone of voice