Nowhere did he see a woman, and children were scarce. This is the reception the old-timers talk about when Guildsmen come to the rescue? he muttered. Where are the flowers? Where are the cheers? Where are the eager damsels? Haaken, Im not going to like it here. Ive seen brighter people at funerals.

Haaken had his shoulders hunched defensively. He grunted his agreement.

The column passed through the castle gate, into a stronghold as spartan as its defenders. Everything inside looked dry and dusty, and was colored shades of brown. Dull shades of brown. The companies fell in one behind another in a large drill yard, under the hard eyes of a group watching from an inner rampart. Those guys must be the ones who hired us, Bragi guessed. He studied them. They did not look any different from their followers. To him, very strange.

Reskird murmured, Two things Id give up what Haaken owes me to see. A tree. And a smile on just one of their ugly faces.

The group on the wall came down and joined Hawkwind. Time passed. Bragi wished they would get on with it. After all that desert all he wanted was a gallon of beer and a soft place to lie down.

Things started moving. Men led the horses away. The front company filed through an inner gate. Bragi surveyed the fortress again, scowled. Not damned likely to be any comfortable barracks here.

One by one, the companies ahead marched away. Then it was the recruits turn. A lean native youth approached Sanguinet and spoke briefly. The Lieutenant turned and started bellowing. The company filed out.

The quarters were worse than Bragi had imagined. Two hundred men had to crowd into space meant for maybe seventy. Only a serpent would be able to slide in or out after taps. He tried not to think of the horror consequent to an alarm sounding after dark.

Even officers and noncoms got shoved into that overcrowded cage. There was no room at all for gear. That they left outside.

The growling and cursing died a little. Reskird muttered that he didnt have room enough to get breath to bitch. Their youthful guide said, I offer my fathers apologies for these quarters. You came earlier than expected, and at a time when many of our warriors are away, fighting the Disciple. You will be moving to better quarters as soon as they can be furnished. Some may move tomorrow. Your commander is already meeting with my father concerning duty rosters. Men who are assigned stations far from here will be moved nearer immediately. He spoke Itaskian with a nasal accent, but much more purely than Bragi or his brother.

His gaze crossed Bragis. Both youths stared for a moment, startled, as if seeing something unexpected. Once their eyes moved on, Bragi shook his head as though trying to clear it.

Whats the matter? Haaken demanded.