‘What was that one built for, dear Veltan?’ Ara asked. ‘It doesn’t seem to fit in with the others.’
‘She moves very fast,’ Veltan said proudly. ‘I use her when I want to go someplace in a hurry.’
‘Isn’t that what your lightning bolt’s supposed to do?’
‘My pet’s fast, but she’s very noisy. Sometimes quiet is more important than fast.’
There were four men on the sloop. One of them seemed quite small, another was medium-sized, and the last two were fairly tall and were dressed in leather clothes.
‘The little one’s that Maag named Rabbit that I’ve told you about, Omago,’ Veltan said. ‘The young fellow’s a Trogite soldier named Keselo, and the two others are Longbow and Red-Beard, archers from Zelana’s domain.’
‘They’re hunters, aren’t they?’ Omago asked.
Veltan nodded. ‘Very good hunters,’ he said. ‘Red-Beard’s not quite as good as Longbow, but then, nobody’s as good as Longbow is. As far as I know, he’s never missed. His arrow always goes where he wants it to go.’
Omago smiled faintly. ‘When I was a boy, I used to dream about being a hunter. It must be a very exciting life.’
‘I suppose it is, Omago, but Longbow isn’t just an ordinary hunter. His war with the creatures of the Wasteland started a long time ago. He hates them, and he kills every one he sees. Technically, I suppose he’s working for my sister Zelana, but he doesn’t take orders very well. Eleria’s about the only one he really listens to, and he’ll even jerk her up short every now and then.’
‘Doesn’t that make your sister angry?’ Ara asked.
‘Not really. Zelana knows that he’s loyal and that he’s doing his best to help her, but he does things his own way.’ Veltan shrugged.
‘It’s the results that really matter. The method isn’t all that important.’
‘Where’s Yaltar?’ Omago asked.
‘He’s traveling with Zelana and Eleria on the Seagull - that’s the ship of Sorgan Hook-Beak, the commander of the Maags,’ Veltan replied. ‘Someday I suppose I’ll take him for a ride on my pet thunderbolt, but he might be a little young for that right now.’
‘Much too young,’ Ara said firmly.
The small ship Veltan had called a ‘sloop’ came ashore somewhat in advance of the rest of the fleet, and Veltan introduced Omago and Ara to the men who’d been on board. ‘This is the one I’ve been telling you about, Omago,’ Veltan said, putting his hand on Rabbit’s shoulder. ‘If you tell him what you need, I’m sure he’ll be able to hammer whatever it is out of metal.’
‘I hope so,’ Omago replied, looking at the little man Veltan called Rabbit. ‘Veltan came by a while back,’ he told the Maag, ‘and he told me what was happening in his sister’s Domain. Then he gave me a knife to show me what he was talking about when he used the word “metal”. I got to thinking about it, and it seemed to me that if I lashed the knife to the front end of a long pole, it might make a fairly useful tool when we come up against the creatures of the Wasteland.’
‘We call those tools “spears”, Omago,’ Rabbit said, ‘and they’ve been around for a long, long time.’
‘Really? I sort of thought that I’d come up with the idea all by myself. We don’t know all that much about wars, though.’
‘This one’s very quick, Rabbit,’ the young Trogite Keselo said. ‘If he’s never seen a spear or even heard about one, it seems that he invented it right on the spot.’
‘It does sort of look that way, doesn’t it?’ Rabbit agreed with a slight frown. ‘If you come up with any more of these ideas, Omago, describe them to me. Then I’ll hammer one out and we’ll see how it works. How did the idea of the spear come to you?’
Omago shrugged. ‘I’ve got an extensive orchard, and I use a long pole with a crosspiece tied to the tip to pull down the higher limbs so that I can pick the fruit without climbing up the tree. I was standing there with the knife in one hand and the pole in the other, and the notion of putting them together sort of popped into my head.’
‘Any time you hear one of those “pops”, let me know about it,’ Rabbit said.
‘Some skiffs are coming in,’ the tall archer Longbow said. ‘Sorgan, Narasan, and a few of the others will be here soon.’
‘Good,’ Veltan said. ‘We’ve got work to do, and we haven’t got much time.’
Omago was more than a little surprised by the hulking Maags. He’d never seen people so tall before, and the assorted metal weapons they had hanging from their belts were quite intimidating. The Trogites were shorter and somewhat darker, but they were also well-armed.
Then Omago saw Yaltar trailing somewhat to the rear with a beautiful lady who was almost certainly Veltan’s sister Zelana, and perhaps an even more beautiful little girl, who was obviously Zelana’s Dreamer, Eleria.
Ara rushed down toward the water and embraced the boy, and Yaltar clung to her as if something terrible had recently happened.
‘Nice country, Veltan,’ a Trogite with silver-touched hair at his temples observed.
‘Thank you, Narasan,’ Veltan replied. ‘Where’s Gunda?’
‘I sent him on back to Castano to bring the rest of the army here,’ the Trogite replied. ‘I’m hoping that the open channel through the ice is still there.’
‘It is,’ Veltan assured him. ‘Did you run into any problems on the way here?’
‘No, the only problems we encountered cropped up before we set sail. Red-Beard’s tribe wasn’t very happy when he told them that he’d be gone for a while. His elevation to the rank of chief was fairly recent, and he’s been quite open about his dislike for the whole idea. They’re convinced that he seized on the idea of sailing south as a means of escape. There’s a lady in his tribe named Planter, and she said some very uncomplimentary things to him before we left.’
‘Just let it lie, Narasan,’ the red-bearded fellow who’d come ashore from the sloop growled.
‘Just trying to explain a few things, Red-Beard,’ Narasan replied. ‘My employer has a right to know about these little squabbles, wouldn’t you say?’
Red-Beard turned and stalked away, muttering to himself.