Veltan shuddered. “Not so that you’d notice it, big brother. Bugs are hideous—or were you aware of that?”

“They’re very well designed, though. Their skeletons are on the outsides of their bodies to maintain their shape and also to serve as armor.”

“Perhaps, but they’re stupid beyond belief.”

“As individuals, perhaps, but there seems to be a sort of group awareness involved in the behavior of some varieties. The group is wiser by far than the single individual.”

Veltan squinted at his older brother. “What on earth ever persuaded you to take up the study of bugs, Dahlaine?” he asked.

Dahlaine shrugged. “I was bored, Veltan. Cycle after cycle sort of ambled along before any creature with anything remotely resembling intelligence came along. Bugs were all that there was, so I studied bugs.”

Veltan frowned. “I think there might be a hole in your theory, though. I’ve heard that there have been men—who look like men—who’ve been roaming around in my Domain, nosing around and asking questions. If they can communicate with my people, they almost have to be smarter than bugs, don’t they?”

“What sort of questions are they asking?”

“They’re curious about how many of my people live near the Falls of Vash, and if there’s very much contact between Zelana’s people and mine. From what I gather, they’d really be a lot happier if Zelana and I hated each other.”

Dahlaine frowned. “I hadn’t anticipated that,” he admitted. “The Vlagh may just be more clever than we’d thought. Evidently it’s not going to rely on sheer brute force if it’s sending spies into our Domains. This might just turn out to be a more interesting war than we’d expected. Have you managed to locate any warriors yet?”

“It took me a bit longer than I’d expected, Dahlaine. I went on down into the Trogite Empire thinking that all I’d have to do would be to wave gold in front of some high official, but it doesn’t quite work that way. Once I’d located the right man, though, it went more smoothly.” Veltan snapped his fingers. “I nearly forgot something. Are you likely to be in contact with Aracia any time in the near future?”

“Probably. Why?”

“Could you tell her that I’m going to cut a channel through her ice zone? I’m hiring a Trogite army, but it won’t do us any good unless I can get it here to the Land of Dhrall. Aracia created that ice zone to keep the Trogites away, but the circumstances have changed. We want the Trogites here now.”

“Why don’t you tell her?”

“She won’t listen to me, Dahlaine. You should know that by now. She’s older than I am in this cycle, and she seems to think that she outranks me. You’re the only one she’ll listen to this time, because you’re the only one who’s older than she is. I’m not really looking forward to the next cycle, when she’ll be the eldest. Maybe I’ll just go back to the moon and wait her out.”

“You can’t do that, Veltan. You know you can’t.”

“It was just a thought. Have you managed to find your army of outlanders yet?”

“I’m still working on them. Have you ever heard of Malavi?”

“Aren’t they the ones who ride cattle?”

“Malavi call them horses, and they don’t exactly think of them as cattle. There aren’t any horses here in Dhrall, so the creatures of the Wasteland are going to be in for a nasty surprise if they decide to come north.”

“Is Aracia working on anybody in particular?”

“She’s negotiating with some people off to the east. She wasn’t very specific about just who they are.”

“I’d better go see if I can find Zelana,” Veltan said. “Things seem to be coming to a head, and since there’s a strong possibility that the first confrontation’s likely to take place in her Domain, I think it’s time for her to come home. Do you think you might have time to go warn her people about the possibility that the creatures of the Wasteland might be coming to call before very long?”

“I’ll see to it, Veltan,” Dahlaine promised. “Go warn Zelana, and I’ll let her people know what’s afoot.”

3

I need you again, baby,” Veltan silently summoned his pet thunderbolt as he left Dahlaine’s cave under Mount Shrak.

As always, she grumbled a bit, and the flickers of light and distant rumbles of her discontent came to him from far to the south. “Oh, quit,” Veltan chided her. “We’ve hit a busy season, that’s all. Things should go back to normal in a while, so don’t be so bad-tempered.”

There was a sudden flash of light and a crash that shook the very earth, and she was there.

“Good girl,” Veltan said fondly. “We need to find Zelana. Dahlaine says that she’s somewhere off to the west. We may have to jump about a bit to find her, but it’s very important. If you’re extra, extra good, maybe we can have a bit of fun a little later. There’s a band of ice mountains floating off the south coast of Dhrall, and I’m going to need an open channel through them before too much longer. I think we’ll be able to smash our way through, don’t you?”

The lightning bolt skittered around enthusiastically.

“I thought you might like the idea. For right now, though, let’s go find Zelana. Don’t make too much noise when we cross Mother Sea, though. We don’t want to irritate her, now, do we?”

The thunderbolt rattled her agreement, Veltan mounted, and they were off.

It was the dead of winter, and the face of Mother Sea was clouded and stormy. Veltan shuddered. Mother Sea’s face was as dreary as it had been on that awful day when she’d banished him to the moon. He’d probably be there still if the friendly moon hadn’t interceded for him.

His thunderbolt reached the coast of a land far to the west of the Land of Dhrall much earlier in the day than it had been back in Dhrall. That was one of the advantages of going westward. If a traveler moved right along, he could pick up hours of extra time.

“Set me down here, baby,” Veltan told his pet when they were a mile or so out from the coast. “I’ll walk on in from this point. Let’s not disturb the aliens if we don’t have to.”

She muttered something.

“I won’t be long, dear. Stop all your grumbling.” He smiled then. “As soon as we find Zelana and tell her what’s going on, you and I can go home and amuse ourselves by smashing that floating ice. Won’t that be fun?”