ht breeze, and it was fairly cool beneath the
overhanging branches of the closely bunched trees.

Blejjo had spotted a big, red-and-yellow striped beauty loafing quietly
in a back eddy, and he was lowering his hook gently to a point just in
front of the fish when both men heard the voice calling.

"Anketam! Anketam! Blejjo! Where you at?"

Blejjo went on with his careful work, knowing that Anketam would take
care of whatever it was.

Anketam recognized the voice. He stood up and called: "Over here, Basom!
What's the trouble?"

A minute later, Basom came running through the trees, his feet crashing
through the underbrush.

Blejjo sat up abruptly, an angry look on his face. "Basom, you scared my
fish away."

"Fish, nothing," said Basom. "I ran all the way here to tell you!" He
was grinning widely and panting for breath at the same time.

"You suddenly got an awful lot of energy," Blejjo said sourly.

"What happened?" Anketam asked.

"The invasion!" Basom said between breaths. "Kevenoe himself came down
to tell us! They've started the invasion! The war's on!"

"Than what are you looking so happy about?" Anketam snapped.

"That's what I came to tell you." Basom's grin didn't fade in the least.
"They landed up in the Frozen Country, where our missiles couldn't get
'em, according to Kevenoe. Then they started marching down on one of the
big towns. Tens of thousands of 'em! And we whipped 'em! Our army cut
'em to pieces and sent 'em running back to their base! We won! We
_won_!"

III

The battle had been won, but the war wasn't won yet. The invaders had
managed to establish a good-sized base up in the Frozen Country. They'd
sneaked their ships in and had put up a defensive system that stopped
any high-speed missiles. Not that Xedii had many missiles. Xedii was an
agricultural planet; most manufactured articles were imported. It had
never occurred to the government of Xedii that there would be any real
need for implements of war.

The invaders seemed to be limiting their use of weapons, too. They
wanted to control the planet, not destroy it. Through the summer and
into the autumn, Anketam listened to the news as it filtered down from
the battlegrounds. There were skirmishes here and there, but nothing
decisive. Xedii seemed to be holding her own against the invaders.

After the first news of the big victory, things settled back pretty much
to normal.

The harvest was good that year, but after the leaves