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‘You’re not serious!’

‘I’ is that it worked out quite well The Maags are undisciplined, but they’re very good fighters’

‘They’re monsters, Gunda!’

‘Maybe, but they’re not nearly as ’

‘Barbarians, I take it?’

‘Several steps below barbarians, Andar I don’t think they even qualified as animals’

‘Could you be a bit more specific, Gunda? I want to know just exactly e’re likely to be co to like it luold’

‘That bad?’

‘Even worse, I think If I understood what I was told correctly, the things ere fighting were only part hus and snakes’

‘I think your load’s starting to shift,’ Andar scoffed

‘Everybody’s load shifts up in that part of the world, Andar We kept coht-snakes will put you in your grave right there on the spot’

‘That’s not the least bit funny, Gunda’

‘Do you seethis up, Andar You’d better take everything I tell you seriously, because your life could depend on it’

‘Are the natives up there as helpless as our eested?’ Andar asked

‘The natives of Veltan’s Doht be, but there’s an archer up in Zelana’s Domain who doesn’t seem to kno to miss He was the one who told us how to use the enemy’s own venom to kill other ene bugs, Andar, not people Ethics aren’t relevant when your ene to take you a while to hire enough ships to carry all of our men on up to Veltan’s Domain, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Quite a while, I’le, for some reason, and sometimes it takes half a day to hire just one ship Were you planning an extensive visit to the local taverns to celebrate your ho?’

‘Not really,’ Gunda replied ‘I’m fairly certain that I know approximately where the Commander and the rest of the advance force is likely to be bound for, but I’ the next war I think I ht want to drift around the waterfront just a bit and find one of those dinky little fishing-sloops - like the one Veltan used to take Narasan on up to the Land of Dhrall before the rest of us in the advance force went on up there I’ll have one of the clerks draw you a copy of h the channel to the southern part of the Land of Dhrall Then I’ll go on ahead and talk with Narasan and find out just exactly where he wants us to go ashore Then I’ll come on back I’ll probably h the ice, and I’ll be able to guide you to the place where Narasan wants us to land’

‘That probably would save us quite a bit of tihtly ‘Did we lose very many men up there?’

‘Several thousand at least’