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The one with the chilling voice began to swear

"I feel the sao advise the Vlagh that your sche fleet’s on the way to Dhrall, and there’s nothing we can do now to stop it Our war in the on’t be as easy as we thought, I’h to be the one who takes thatvoice replied "Bad news angers the Vlagh, and those who tell it things it does not wish to hear seldoo down"

"I’ve noticed that I’d say that you’ve got a bit of a probleh, but Kajak was a poor choice to carry it off"

Veltan sauntered past the , and they both tried to shrink back into the shadows to stay out of sight, but Veltan had already seen enough The one who’d brought the news lookedon the streets of Weros--fur-clad, hooded, bearded, and dirty--but he wasThe other one was also wrapped in a hooded cloak, and Veltan caught a single gli eyes, afrom the top of an oval head

Veltan strolled on past the alley as if he hadn’t seen or heard anything out of the ordinary, but he was quickly revising a few preconceptions Given the general tone of what he’d just heard, it was fairly obvious that the insect outranked the human in the social structure of the Wasteland They were both far ent than Veltan had expected, however The term "hive-mate" hinted at an insectlike mentality, and that raised the possibility that That-Called-the-Vlagh ence of the two in the alley sort of confir his sojourn on the ht just be a characteristic driven by necessity If your eneeneration would be larger than the preceding one That had suggested to Veltan that a clever enemy would virtually demand the expansion of one’s mind in response The alternative would be extinction

"Enough," he h the rest of Weros to the edge of the town He crossed the stump-dotted field to the west of Weros, and once he was in the woods, he called out to his thunderbolt "Let’s get out of here, dear one I’ve heard and seen enough It’s time for me to have a talk with an’s fleet There were a few ships in the harbor of each village he and his pet passed as they flew south along the coast of Maag, but Mother Sea had implied that there would be many ships at the place where Zelana was The difference between "few" and "many" wasn’t too precise, but Veltan was fairly certain that two or three didn’t exactly qualify assouth

Then his pet carried hie far to the south of Weros, where dozens of Maag ships were anchored "I think this is the place, dear," he told his pet "Put me down a little ways out, and I’ll walk on in You’re lovely beyond words, but we don’t want to attract attention You’ll be able to crash and booo back to Dhrall and start s ice"

She flickered affectionately at his cheek and then set hirove of trees a little way to the west of the village

Since Zelana had co to recruit an army, Veltan was fairly certain that the one the aliens had called Sorgan was the one he should try to find, and that his sister would probably be on board the ship called the Seagull

The weather was unpleasant as Veltan walked down across the open field toward the shabby village A gusty wind swept in from the east, and a steady drizzle of rain swirled in fro the shabby buildings

When he reached the village, he found it tee with sailors despite the chill drizzle It didn’t take hiroup ofman he spoke with pointed the barrels and big, bulky sacks into several se felloith a neck like a bull seee