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In time, however, Jalkan became more proficient, but he still couldn’t see why it was necessary He was an officer, after all He was supposed to give orders, not beco people That was the job of the ordinary soldiers, not the officers

It was about a ht his commission that Commander Narasan’s army had been hired to take part in a small war off to the East of the eht unpleasantness’ Padan, Jalkan felt, had a very warped sense of hus, ‘unpleasantness’ was a gross understatement

After a year or so, Jalkan becaan to enjoy it Because Comist in all the Empire, the various wars his army was hired to undertake were usually quite short, and the eventual outcome was quite predictable - so predictable, in fact, that it was not unusual for the opposing arhting against Narasan’s arood, and there wasn’t er involved It occurred to hiyman had actually been wasted He was born to be a soldier

It was during Jalkan’s third year in Narasan’s ar Keselo purchased a commission for his son At first, Jalkan was quite sure that he and the rather stuffy young aristocrat would become close friends, but Keselo remained aloof Evidently, Keselo’s years as a student at the University of Kaldacin had given hierated opinion of hi his years in the Amarite church Some men simply could not accept the fact that their education had not really ennobled them Jalkan turned his back on Keselo at that point He didn’t really need friends anyway

Then in the spring of Jalkan’s fifth year as an officer in Narasan’s army, a duke from the southern part of the Eenerous offer As nearly as Jalkan was able to determine, an old baron had recently died without an heir, and the rulers of two nearby duchies had been squabbling for almost a year about which one of them should annex the barony as ‘a protectorate’

The duke who’d approached Coument, and he’d decided to take a ood, and Coreed

Jalkan, however, had a few doubts The southern reaches of the Eiven rise to the heresy that had placed the usurper Udar IV on the holy throne of the Naos of the Aood reason not to trust anybody who caion

As it had turned out, Jalkan’s doubts had been evenduke had secretly hired three armies to oppose Commander Narasan’s force, and the results had been disastrous

Jalkan never fully understood Narasan’s reaction to the unfortunate events in the south of the E the battle, but very few officers had fallen The vast majority of the casualties had been conificant Narasan, however, had gone into deepThen he’d broken his sword and left the ar in a scruffy part of the city of Kaldacin

That raised a nu possibilities There were several officers who outranked Jalkan, of course, but that wasn’t really a major obstacle Jalkan knew quite a few professional assassins who nor churchmen Once Gunda, Padan - and most certainly Keselo - were out of the way, Jalkan would be the logical successor to Narasan

That lit a warenda Quite obviously, the corossly overpaid Once Jalkan assumed comes by half at the very least, and after he’d made examples of the more vociferous objectors, the rest of the army would accept the decrees of their new co to his plans, Co asin

Jalkan felt that was only right and proper His future was beginning to look brighter and brighter

Soner Veltan arrived in Kaldacin, and in less than a week Jalkan’s grand plan tumbled down around his ears Commander Narasan returned to the arht out from under him

Jalkan tried his best to conceal his disappointment, but when he was alone, he spentnew curse-words

5

Jalkan had been quite certain that the foreigner Veltan had deceived Cootiations, but when the advance force reached Castano after the long march fro sloop and delivered ten blocks of what appeared to be pure gold

That definitely got Jalkan’s attention, and he e Trogite vessel Narasan had hired to carry most of the officers off to the north when the commander carried the blocks on board Jalkan definitely wanted to know just exactly where that gold was located

Coe trunk at the bottoe map to Jalkan ‘Give this to Gunda,’ he said ‘It’ll show hih that belt of ice-floes lying between here and the Land of Dhrall’

‘Yes, sir!’ Jalkan replied crisply, co smartly He was fairly certain that a pose of strict military behavior was appropriate just now A nu possibilities had turned up, and Jalkan thought it old strictly to himself

After Co sloop, Gunda took charge of the advance force and they onized over thehiold were stored, and Commander Narasan hadn’t even bothered to lock that trunk On the other hand, Veltan had told theold just sitting there waiting for soather it up To be sure, Jalkan could quite easily appropriate those ten blocks and be gone before anyone noticed, but that would forever put the old in the Land of Dhrall beyond his reach A kind of paralysis came over him, and he was unable to make the choice