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They hailed him loudly and enthusiastically, with the howls and shouts appropriate to a ready and dangerous host Best of all, they dispersed swiftly and with an efficiency brought about by anticipation and forethought Already they moved less like a bestial horde intent on s who could plan, act, and triumph

He turned, to approach the OldMother, but she had gone back inside her hall Her door was shut She had no need to interfere, after all She had already made her pronouncehand will rise or fall by his own efforts"

He gestured, and Tenth Son came forward "When our allies have all left the fjord, let the ones assigned as reavers go forth to harry in Moerin’s lands Let theiance to Nokvi still live But let a few skiffs patrol the coast, and let some of our brothers, the quiet and wily ones, travel where they can They must listen It may even be that soainst us I must knoho they are"

"It will be done" Tenth Son beckoned, and certain of his trusted lieutenants hurried forward to carry away Stronghand’s chair "Are there any you trust less than the others?"

Stronghand considered "Isa Ardaneka’s chief, because he came only when he saw that all the others had allied with room as chieftain over what remains of that tribe But send on this expedition those who can ith their eyes open" A thought occurred, and he turned it over and around, exa it, before he spoke it out loud "Let the and clever Therethe slaves of the other tribes"

Of all his people, only Tenth Son had ceased being surprised when Stronghand made use of his slaves in unexpected ways Tenth Son canted his head to one side, in the way of a dog listening, and looked thoughtful "It will be done," he agreed "There is another way to look for the tree sorcerers News of them must surely coh Bloodheart lost the city of Hundse--" What the humans called Gent "--much treasure still came to our tribe by his efforts Some of these treasures we could trade, and the ones who trade could listen and seek news in that way"

The words afflicted hihtness, shorn of cloud cover He had not expected his brother to think so cleverly "I hters s that mattered most: the continuation of the life of the tribe No wonder that they left him to work alone, unre and plunder, fighting and conquest, were insignificant and trivial In a thousand winters the rock would remain much as it always had, while his bones, and his efforts, would have long since been ground into dust

With chieftain’s staff in hand, he took the long walk up to the fjall Long halls gave way to abandoned slave pens, eed slaves too stupid to leave their confines Always, as he passed, he would first sfrom side to side in the ruins of their old shelters The decrepit lean-to barracks in which the slaves had once wintered had been torn down and the wood and stone reused to build decent halls Deacon Ursuline and her people had been industrious in the weeks since he had taken the chieftainship of Rikin

Fields spread everywhere along the lower slopes, fenced in by low rock walls The huiven a measure of freedom under the strict supervision of his oarriors and those of his slaves whorow crops where crops were suited to the soil and drainage Higher up, half-grown children shepherded flocks of sheep and goats and the herds of cattle on which the RockChildren depended Slaves at work in field and pasture noticed hi or to stare

Fields gave way to meadow and meadowlands to a sparse forest of spruce, pine, and birch As the path banked higher, the forest opened up, shedding the other trees until only birch greith a scattering of scrub and heather shorn flat by wind The last of the stunted trees fell away as he eh fjall, the land of rock andthe bones and iron rods tied to the crosspiece clack alar one shoulder, as if it retained a rown by the merfolk