‘I’ll be sure to tell him, Omago,’ the boy replied, fingering the peculiar-looking stone he had hanging on a leather thong around his neck like a pendant.
‘How did you manage to come by that opal, Yaltar?’ Omago asked.
‘I found it just outside the front door,’ Yaltar replied. ‘Isn’t it pretty?’
‘Beautiful,’ Omago agreed. ‘It’s a bit peculiar that you found it, though. As far as I know, there aren’t any opals around here.’
‘Maybe it was wandering around and got lost – or maybe it started feeling lonesome.’
‘Rocks almost never get lonesome, Yaltar. Ara’s cooking supper right now. Come along, and we’ll go eat.’
‘That sounds like a great idea, Omago.’
Veltan came home a week or so later, and he stopped by Omago’s house quite early one morning. ‘Yaltar said that you wanted to tell me something,’ he said. ‘He seemed to think it might be important.’
‘It could be,’ Omago replied and he repeated what Nanton and Selga had told him about the strangers and their questions.
‘I have to go talk with my brother,’ Veltan said. ‘Keep your ears open, and let me know about any more visits when I come back.’
‘I’ll do that,’ Omago promised.
The spring thaw that year produced a near disaster. The snow pack in the mountains had been much deeper than was usual, and the spring wind that melted off the snow each year wasn’t just warm; it seemed even hot. All the streams coming down out of the mountains overran their banks overnight, and then the floods began. To make things even worse, Veltan and Yaltar were away, so Veltan wasn’t there to control the floods, and the farmers couldn’t do anything except wring their hands as they watched the flood engulf their fields.
The shepherds who customarily grazed their flocks in the region to the west of the Falls of Vash began to bring word of some serious trouble in the Domain of Veltan’s sister Zelana, but the messages were sorely lacking in details.
As the flood began to subside, a few more shepherds stopped by, but their stories about events in Zelana’s Domain were so lurid that Omago viewed them with profound skepticism.
And then one night after the apple trees had begun to bloom, a clap of thunder woke Omago out of a sound sleep.
‘Veltan’s back, love,’ Ara told him. ‘I think we’d better go on up to his house. He’ll be able to tell us what’s really going on in his sister’s Domain.’
‘You’re probably right, Ara,’ Omago agreed. ‘The wild stories we’ve been hearing are starting to make me a little cross.’
‘I’ll go with you, dear heart,’ Ara said briskly. ‘I’m just as curious as you are.’ That struck Omago as a bit strange, but he let it pass.
They rose from their bed, dressed themselves and went on up the hill in the warm spring darkness. When they reached the house, Veltan was standing in the doorway. ‘I was hoping that you’d stop by,’ he said. ‘Please come in. I have a great deal to tell you, and I don’t have much time.’
‘I’m glad you came home, Veltan,’ Omago said as he and Ara followed Veltan up the stairs to the room where Yaltar spent most of his time. ‘The shepherds up near the border of your sister’s Domain have been telling me all sorts of wild stories, and I’d like to know what’s really going on up there.’
‘You might want to know, Omago,’ Veltan said bleakly, ‘but I don’t think you’re going to like it very much.’
They went into the cluttered room, and Ara looked around. ‘Where’s Yaltar?’ she asked.
‘He’s presently in the care of my sister,’ Veltan replied. ‘I don’t think he’s quite ready to ride my pet just yet.’
‘Good thinking,’ Ara replied.
‘All right, then,’ Veltan said, ‘as it turns out, Yaltar is indeed one of the Dreamers, and his dream gave us a glimpse of the future. The creatures of the Wasteland have invaded Zelana’s Domain, but Yaltar’s dream gave us time to make some preparations. Zelana went off to the west and hired an army of Maag pirates to fight the war in her Domain, and I went south and hired some professional soldiers to help us defend this part of the Land of Dhrall. I took an advance party of Trogite soldiers up to Zelana’s Domain to lend her a hand.’
‘Some of the shepherds told me about that,’ Omago said. ‘I thought they were just making it up.’
‘No, Omago, it’s really true. The outlanders are more advanced than we are, and their weapons are made of iron – or bronze in some cases. All of the tools and weapons here in the Land of Dhrall are made of stone or animal bones, but metal weapons are much better.’ Veltan took a knife out from under his belt and handed it to Omago. ‘That’s an iron knife, and I’m sure you can see how much stronger it is than flint or bone could ever be.’
Omago took the peculiar-looking knife and carefully rubbed his thumb across the edge. ‘Extremely sharp, isn’t it?’ he observed.
‘Indeed it is,’ Veltan agreed. ‘Did the flood do much damage down here?’
‘It could have been worse, I suppose,’ Omago reported. ‘A fair number of people lost their houses, and I’ve heard that quite a few on to the south of here were drowned. It’s subsiding now, so I should be able to get some more accurate numbers before too much longer.’
‘The flood was a bit extreme, perhaps, but it was necessary. The bug-like creatures that serve the Vlagh were invading my sister’s Domain, and Zelana’s Dreamer conjured up that flood to stop them until our hired armies were ready to meet them. The flood drowned thousands of them, and the Vlagh had to send new forces out of the Wasteland. The enemy force was using a ravine as their invasion route, and our forces have managed to block it off. We can’t really be sure how long the enemy forces will keep trying to break through. They aren’t really very bright, but sooner or later, I think they’ll give up and change direction. If they come South, we’ll have to be ready to meet them – probably up near the Falls of Vash.’
‘Do you think your hired army will have enough time to get here before we’re overrun?’ Omago asked.
‘I’m sure they will. They have large ships, so they’ll come by sea rather than marching overland. I’m going to try to persuade my sister to send some help as well. Her people are hunters, and they’re excellent archers. The commander of the army I hired is a brilliant strategist, and once he gets his people in place, it’s not very likely that our enemy’s going to be able to get past him.’
‘I don’t think we’ll be of much help, Veltan,’ Omago said dubiously. ‘We should be able to provide food for your outlanders, but we don’t even have anything resembling weapons. The shepherds use slings to protect their flocks from wolves, but other than that—’ Omago left it up in the air.
‘We’ll see, Omago. Talk with the other farmers and see how they feel about this. I think the most important thing right now is to start gathering up supplies. The Trogite army I hired has about a hundred thousand men, so we’ll need a lot of food.’
‘I’ll pass the word along, Veltan, and we’ll get started.’
‘I knew I could count on you,’ Veltan replied. ‘I think I’d better get on back. I wanted to warn you about what’s probably coming, but for right now, the war’s going on in Zelana’s Domain, so I want to be there in case she needs me.’
Omago had a growing sense of apprehension. Nothing in his background had anything to do with war, so he didn’t have the faintest idea of what to expect.
‘Don’t