LITMIR.BIZ

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of hers might have something to do with that.’

      ‘It’s possible, I suppose,’ I agreed. ‘Those jewels seem to be deeply involved in the children’s dreams. Ashad has one too, and I think it had something to do with that dream of his.’

      ‘What sort of jewel is it?’ Zelana asked curiously.

      ‘A black agate. It’s really rather pretty, and Ashad seems quite attached to it.’

      ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a black agate. Where did he find it?’

      ‘It was in the back of Mama Broken-Tooth’s cave.’

      ‘Who’s Mama Broken-Tooth?’

      ‘The she-bear who nursed him when he was a baby.’

      ‘Wasn’t it a little dangerous to hand your little boy over to a bear?’

      I shook my head. ‘Not really,’ I replied. ‘She-bears give birth to their cubs while they’re hibernating, and when they wake up, the cubs are nursing or playing in the cave. They automatically bond with the cubs they nurse, so Ashad wasn’t in any danger. Mama Broken-Tooth had already given birth to her cub Long-Claw when I took Ashad to her cave, and Ashad and Long-Claw think of themselves as brothers.’ I looked around. ‘Where’s Eleria right now?’ I asked quietly.

      ‘She and Yaltar are out in that meadow just beyond the trees,’ Red-Beard told me. ‘Planter’s looking after them.’

      ‘Who’s Planter?’

      ‘She’s the one who teaches the women of the tribe how to grow food,’ Red-Beard explained, ‘and the one the women go to when they have problems. She can be a little blunt sometimes, but she knows what she’s doing.’

      ‘You’re keeping something from me, aren’t you, Dahlaine?’ Zelana asked pointedly.

      ‘I was just getting to that, dear sister. Ashad’s dream was fairly specific about the invasion of Veltan’s Domain by the creatures of the Wasteland, but he mentioned a second invasion that won’t come from the Wasteland. It’s going to come from the sea.’

      ‘That’s ridiculous, Dahlaine,’ Zelana scoffed. ‘Has the Vlagh allied itself with the queen of the fish now?’

      ‘I’m just passing on what Ashad told me, Zelana. Where’s Veltan? We’d better go tell him what’s afoot.’

      ‘He’s out in the bay on the Trogite ship of Commander Narasan,’ Red-Beard replied. ‘Longbow can take you out there in his canoe, if you’d like. I’d do it myself, but I’m just a little busy right now.’

      ‘Is there trouble of some kind?’

      ‘Sort of. The fire-mountains destroyed Lattash, so the tribe’s busy setting up a new village out here. It might not be as pretty, but it’s safer.’

      I looked at the partially-completed lodges near the beach. ‘Those don’t look at all like the ones back in Lattash,’ I observed, ‘but they seem sort of familiar, for some reason.’

      ‘They should,’ Longbow told me. ‘They’re copies of the lodges up in the north of your Domain.’

      ‘It’s part of a fairly elaborate deception, big brother,’ Zelana said with a faint smile. ‘The men of Chief Red-Beard’s tribe believe that growing food is “women’s work”, and that it’s beneath them. The women needed help in preparing the ground for planting, and Longbow’s chief, Old-Bear, told these two that some tribes in your Domain live in a vast grassland where there aren’t any trees, and they build their lodges out of sod instead of tree branches. The men of Red-Beard’s tribe built the usual lodges out of tree limbs and then sat around loafing and telling each other war stories. But one windy night these two slipped around pulling down the new lodges. When the sun came up, they walked around with sombre faces telling the men of the tribe that tree limbs weren’t sturdy enough for lodges out here, and that they were going to need something more solid. They suggested sod, and the men of the tribe are out in that meadow cutting sod for all they’re worth. The women of the tribe are coming along behind them planting seeds. Red-Beard’s tribe will have nice sturdy lodges and plenty to eat when winter arrives, and nobody was offended.’

      ‘Clever,’ I said admiringly. Then I frowned. ‘Has something happened to old Chief White-Braid?’ I asked.

      ‘The destruction of Lattash was more than he could bear,’ Red-Beard explained sadly. ‘He knew that the tribe was going to have to find a new place to live, but he didn’t feel up to doing it himself because his sorrow – or maybe even grief – had disabled him to the point that he couldn’t make decisions any more. He realized that, so he laid the chore on my shoulders. I didn’t really want any part of it, but he didn’t give me any choice.’

      ‘You’ll probably do quite well, Chief Red-Beard,’ I told him. ‘I’ve noticed that men who don’t really want authority and responsibility make better leaders than men who yearn for the position. Let’s go talk with our baby brother, Zelana. There are things he needs to know, and I’m not sure how much time he has left.’

      Longbow led my sister and me down to the beach where his canoe was resting on the sand. There’s a quality about Zelana’s archer that I find more than a little awesome. He’s a bleak-faced man whose war with the creatures of the Wasteland had begun when he’d been hardly more than a child, and killing the servants of the Vlagh had been his only purpose in life. He was a grim man with very few friends and an almost inhuman level of self-control.

      It occurred to me that we might all want to keep this man around. If all went well, we’d turn back the servants of the Vlagh wherever and whenever they attempted to invade our individual Domains, but in all probability, the Vlagh would still be there. Longbow might very well be the answer to that problem. A single venom-tipped arrow would send the creatures of the Wasteland down the road to extinction, and that, of course, was our ultimate goal.

      Longbow pulled his canoe down to the water and held it in place while Zelana and I climbed into it, and then he pushed it clear and stepped into the stern all in one motion.

      ‘I think our baby brother’s on board Narasan’s ship, Longbow,’ Zelana suggested.

      ‘Probably so,’ Longbow agreed. He paddled us out across the bay to the oversized Trogite ship of Commander Narasan, where the young soldier called Keselo stood waiting for us at the rail. ‘Is something wrong?’ he asked as Longbow smoothly pulled his canoe in alongside the ship.

      ‘Not really,’ Zelana replied. ‘We just came by to tell our baby brother that it’s time to go to work.’

      ‘Has Eleria been dreaming again?’

      ‘No, young man,’ I told him. ‘It was my little boy, Ashad, this time, and there were some very peculiar things involved. We’re hoping that Veltan might be able to explain them for us.’ I paused for a moment. ‘Now that I think about it, though, you can probably explain them even better than Veltan. Why don’t you come along?’

      ‘Of course. Your brother’s back in Commander Narasan’s cabin at the stern.’

      ‘Is Narasan with him?’ Zelana asked.

      ‘No, Lady Zelana. The commander’s over on the Seagull conferring with Captain Sorgan.’

      ‘Good,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure that Narasan’s going to be very happy about some of the peculiarities that showed up in Ashad’s dream. Is your commander particularly religious?’

      ‘Not noticeably,’ Keselo replied. ‘Is that likely to be very significant?’

      ‘We’ll get to that in just a few minutes. Let’s go talk with Veltan.’

      ‘All right,’ the young man replied, turning and leading us back toward the ornate, almost house-like structure at the aft end of the ship. He rapped politely on the door.

      ‘Come

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