Crystal Gorge

That produced a great deal of screaming, but not nearly as much as the demand that the border between the two clans should be adjusted so that the source of that brook would now and forever be in the lands of Ekial’s clan. The alternative, “back to war, then,” reduced the screaming to a few whimpers, and the matter was settled right then and there.

Ekial thought that all in all it had been a rather interesting war, but now it was time to move on. Wars are rather nice, but they tend to interfere with more important matters.

As the years plodded on, Beast began to slow down quite noticeably, and Ekial decided that it was probably time for him to train a new mount and put Beast out to pasture.

It took Ekial several weeks to choose his new mount, but he ultimately chose a chestnut stallion with a white patch on his forehead. The owner of the young horse called him “Bright-Star,” probably because of that patch. Bright-Star was not as aggressive as Beast had been, but he ran nearly as fast, and he seemed to have a great deal of endurance. That was very important in the Land of the Malavi. It didn’t take Ekial nearly as long to break Bright-Star in as it had taken him to train Beast, and the two of them got along quite well. Bright-Star was more playful than Beast had been, but he was obviously younger than Beast was when Ekial had begun his training.

There were several other clan-wars in the next few years, and Ekial collected more sabre-scars—and ears—as time moved on. His reputation seemed to grow with each scar—and ear—and by the time he reached his midthirties, he was generally believed to be the finest horse-warrior in the Land of the Malavi.

In all probability it had been that reputation that had persuaded a foreigner named Dahlaine to seek him out in one of the north-coast enclaves where the Trogite cattle-buyers had set up shop. Dahlaine was an older man with burly shoulders and an iron-grey beard. “I’ve been told that you’re the finest horseman in the entire Land of Malavi,” he said.

“That’s probably true,” Ekial replied, “but I don’t get involved in horse-races anymore.”

“I wasn’t really talking about horse-races, Ekial. There’s a war in the Land of Dhrall, and I need soldiers. Have you been involved in many wars?”

“Once in a while, yes. Not very many here lately, though. The word seems to have been spread around that it’s not a good idea to get involved in a war where I’ll be a member of the opposing clan.”

“Are you really all that good?”

“I’m the best. Of course, my horses probably have something to do with that. Bright-Star isn’t quite as good as Beast was, but he’s still better than any other horse in the Land of Malavi.”

“Isn’t ‘Beast’ a peculiar sort of name for a pet?”

“I didn’t really think of Beast as a pet. The first time I tried to ride him, he threw me off and broke my arm. It took me quite a while to persuade him to behave himself. He was the fastest horse in the Land of Malavi, though, so we won every race we ran.”

“What sort of weapons do the Malavi use?”

“Sabres and lances. We slash with the sabre and stab with the lance.”

“You seem to have quite a few scars on your face. That sort of suggests that you’ve lost a few fights, doesn’t it?”

Ekial shook his head. “I came out of those fights alive; my enemies didn’t. That’s how we define winning and losing here in Malavi. I don’t really think I’d be very interested in fighting a war in some foreign land, Dahlaine. Wars are fun, I suppose, but we make our money by selling cows to the Trogites—for gold.”

“I think we’ll get along just fine, Ekial,” Dahlaine said with a faint smile. “You like gold, and I pay with gold.” He reached under his furry tunic and pulled out a bright yellow block. “Pretty, isn’t it?” he asked with a sly smile as he handed the block to Ekial.

Ekial noticed that his hand was trembling violently as he hefted the block. “Why don’t we go someplace quiet and talk about this?” he suggested.

2

They went a short way out into the meadow where nobody was near and then stopped.

“I’ve heard some of the men of your clan referring to you as ‘Prince Ekial,’” Dahlaine said. “That means that you’re the ruler here, doesn’t it?”

“Well, sort of, I suppose,” Ekial replied. “Actually, it’s a term we picked up from the Trogites a while back. It impresses the Trogite cattle-buyers, so we use it to get the price we want when we sell cows to them. When you get right down to it, the clan doesn’t really have what other people call ‘rulers.’ We talk things over before we make any decisions. The clan-chief is older than the men and boys who do the work, and we usually follow his suggestions, but we’re quite a bit more relaxed than the Trogites are. Let’s talk about this war that’s going on in your part of the world and how much gold you’ll be willing to pay us to go there and fight your enemies.”

“How many horsemen would your clan be able to send to help us?”

Ekial squinted across the open grassland. “I’d say about ten thousand—or so. We can’t take all of the men, you understand. At least half of the men of the clan have to stay here to tend the cattle.” Ekial hefted the gold block. “I’m sure that I’ll be able to get the interest of other clans if I show this to them, though,” he added.

“We can get into that somewhat later,” Dahlaine said. “There’s a war in progress in my brother’s Domain right now, and I think it might not be a bad idea for me to take you there as an observer. That should give you a chance to see the enemy and come up with some tactics that might help us push them back.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Ekial agreed. “Now, then, how are we going to get there?”

“Leave that to me, Prince Ekial,” Dahlaine replied with a faint smile.

It seemed to Ekial that he’d drifted off to sleep for some reason during his conversation with Dahlaine, and he woke up suddenly just outside a strange-looking structure that quite obviously was not anywhere in the meadowland. It was also quite obvious that it was nighttime here. “What’s going on, Dahlaine?” he demanded suspiciously.

“Don’t get excited, Ekial,” Dahlaine replied. “We just made a little journey, that’s all. We’re in the southern part of the Land of Dhrall, and our enemies will begin their attack before long. That building is the house of my younger brother, Veltan, and there are people in that house that you need to know.”