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Show "That be not altogether certain," put in Elsen, shrugging up his wide shoulders, "for they be indeed much dulled in wit." "Ye know nothing about it!" snapped Lusela. "They could well be massing over there with Techs in the hundreds to bring us all into the Network lit up like Christmas trees." "But in MidWinter?" asked Elsen reasonably. "Aye, indeed! For they be much enamored of...of the.. .Northern gold!" she cried triumphantly. "And of the Eastern women!" growled Zud, brandishing his sword and snapping his teeth. "Aye!" said Lusela witheringly-such specimens as they were, runtish and pale, kept indoors like caged things, and beaten like common men! "For those who have a taste for such fare," she added. "Come, come," said Jothra. "Ye both be raving." But his mind- after Zud and Lusela left him with sullen looks-became something unsettled. "Think thee," said he to Elsen, who had agreed to stay over for the Christmastide Feast, "think ye that they over there would feel we in the Provinces were worth subjugating?" "Friend Jothra," said Elsen, slapping the young king on the back. "I think the Commendium Network folk are wooden-headed idiots, incapable of finding their own feet in broad daylight. Concern thyself not." Then by early summer, the murrain had disappeared, for hoofworm cannot thrive on dry pasture. Horses hardly able to walk far enough to feed themselves the fall before were prancing all over the fields. Spring rains 312 |