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The usual crowd of faces was there Most were clan chieftains The heavily ht from chariots and were is around their opponents and hurl javelins That worked against tribal warriors but was useless against Morgon's highly disciplined troops

A girl of the royal guard entered the chamber and thued to stoop because the chaht

The queen took her place and the usual formalities were observed Frequent references to the Holy Mother punctuated accounts of Morgon's latest aggression and the need to take action Thunder stood beside the old woed

'Where are those buckets of sand?'

Touessed that, in private, their relationship was very different He watched as Thunder ran off, like a humble servant, and returned with tooden pails

'Put it down there'

She indicated a spot on the flagstones

Thunder tipped sand onto the floor andHe'd done it hi a sand map

The estuary was marked out The escarpment followed The territory of Gorm was delineated Thunder worked methodically The clan chieftains craned their necks Toon's forces about the port of Dunavon

It didn't e to ask Thunder if he was certain of his facts The queen called for co back as one chieftain after another told her that the chariots would sweep Morgon from his position and annihilate him That didn't make sense either The queen looked in To'

'I wasn't asked, Majesty'

'Well, I' you now What do you think?'

'I can't understand what's going on,' Toon has placed his forces in an exposed position If he were to be confronted by a similar force, he would be defeated He wouldn't stand a chance'

'What are you talking about?' One of the chieftains jumped up 'What do you know about the southerners?'

'I am trained as a warrior,' Tom said 'I am trained in the ways the southerners know Their soldiers do nothing but fight They do not farm They do not have families to protect That is why they are so difficult to defeat and that is why I have created a special force to fight like the southerners'