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They trooped on doide corridor to the other end of the building and entered a cluttered room with iron-tipped spears and other weapons stacked in the corners, what appeared to be e central table, and white walls with extensive drawings on the Veltan exas They had no color, and there didn’t seem to be any central point to draw the beholder’s eyes "What are these pictures supposed to represent, Narasan?" he asked

"Land," Narasan replied "We call theround of various regions" He pointed at one of the larger drawings "That’s the Trogite E "It’s not very accurate, you know" He pointed at the upper part of the drawing "If that’s supposed to be the north coast, it doesn’t even coh toGunda objected "My family lives in that district, and I don’t see very ht explain some of the errors," Veltan said "We all tend to overe peninsula on the representation of the north coast "Your family lives here, doesn’t it, Gunda?"

"How did you know that?"

"The picture shows it to be at least twice as big as it really is"

"That’s our Gunda," another soldier laughed "He see as it really is"

"Is this big enough to suit you, Padan?" Gunda asked, holding up his clenched fist

"All right," Narasan said wearily, "that’s enough of that Just exactly where is this Land of Dhrall you were telling me about, Veltan?"

Veltan looked around the room at the various maps "It’s not on any of these," he replied "It’s about five hundred leagues to the north of Gunda’s ho up there but ice," a bone-thin officer called Jalkan scoffed

"It’s beyond the ice," Veltan told him "There’s a sea current that coe ice floes down from the eternal ice The ice floes form a barrier of sorts The fishermen of the south coast of Dhrall know all about them, and they kno to avoid them"

"Could you draw us a map?" Narasan asked

"Of course"

"I think it’ll be too risky, Narasan," Jalkan warned "No Trogite vessel I’ve ever heard of hasice s don’t seem to have much trouble, Jalkan," the soldier na our north coast for years now"

"Their ships aren’t as big as ours, and they’re faster," Jalkan pointed out "They can get out of the way if an ice er and slower We’ll lose at least half of our ar ice"

"We’re going to have to work out a few details, I think," Narasan told Veltan, "and it’s likely to take us a while For right nohy don’t we talk about payive us for our help?"

"How much do you want?"