Chapter three
A length of lumber instructs flutsmenThe task was to defeat the Empire of Hamal.
No. No, that was not strictly true. The task was not so much to defeat Hamal as to encourage the people to see the errors in their ways of carrying on. They had to see that instead of trying to conquer and subdue the people around them — and people like Vallians who lived at a considerable distance, by Vox! — they should join with them in a mutual defense against the weird Fishheaded folk who raided all our coasts.
I tasted the wind, looked around the heat-hazed land, remembered a few things, and started off walking.
I headed north.
If it seems ludicrous that a single, unarmed and almost naked man should thus set off to topple a proud empire — well, yes, it may seem passing strange. But it w
