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‘Who were they, then?’

‘As closely as I was able to deterites, and they wanted to talk to your people about their gods How much were you able to discover about so brother,’ Veltan replied ‘Narasan has nothing but contey of the Amarite faith’

‘He’s not alone there, Veltan,’ Keselo said ‘Anyone in the Trogite Eence despises the Areedy beyond belief, and totally without honor It’s co ned to swindle the ordinary people of the e they own’

‘That has a fa, doesn’t it?’ Zelana observed ‘Our dear sister has a priesthood that behaves in ed ‘It makes her happy, I suppose’ I looked at Veltan ‘Where’s the rest of Narasan’s arht to Lattash were just an advance force’

‘The bulk of Narasan’s army’s still in the port of Castano on the north shore of the E brother?’

‘The second invasion in Ashad’s dreaite invention’

‘That’s true, I suppose,’ Veltan conceded ‘Where are we going with this, Dahlaine?’

I looked inquiringly at Keselo ‘I gather that s about this so-called religion,’ I suggested ‘Is it at all possible that so it to themselves?’

‘Not after what happened in the southern part of the empire last year,’ he replied ‘We lost twelve cohorts as a direct result of a deception that we tracked back to a high-ranking clergyman in the Amarite church That’s why Commander Narasan threw his sword away and went into business as a beggar If any ested that the A decency, his cohts out of him’

‘Let’s not dismiss the possibility entirely, Keselo,’ Veltan said with a troubled look on his face ‘Froold" sends the A frenzy, and if I reold in the arument, let’s say that some soldier in your arold" ca a casual conversation, and somebody affiliated with the Amarite Church happened to overhear the conversation Wouldn’t that sort of explain the second invasion in Ashad’s dreareed ‘The Aht want to coold and slaves, but they’d need to know exactly how to get through all that floating ice, and Gunda and Padan have the only maps’

‘That’s true, I suppose,’ Veltan conceded, ‘but Narasan told me that he could field a hundred thousand soldiers It’d only take one opportunist to bloay any chance of secrecy I think that’s the answer to the origins of that second invasion in your little boy’s dreareed Then I looked at Keselo again ‘Just exactly what are "slaves"?’ I asked him ‘I don’t believe I’ve ever heard that word before’