out the field work, Ank?" Blejjo asked. "I'm too old to handle
that. Come spring, and--"

"I said, as far as the village is concerned," Anketam said. "I've got
another man in mind for the field work."

And no one was more surprised than Basom when Anketam said: "Basom, do
you think you could handle the crew in the field?"

Basom couldn't even find his tongue for several more paces. When he
discovered at last that it was still in his mouth, where he'd left it,
he said: "I ... I'll try, Ank. I sure will try, if you want me to. But
... well ... I mean, why pick _me_?"

Old Blejjo chuckled knowingly. Jacovik, who hardly knew the boy, just
looked puzzled.

"Why not you?" Anketam countered.

"Well ... you've always said I was lazy. And I am, I guess."

"Sure you are," said Anketam. "So am I. Always have been. But a smart
lazy man can figure out things that a hard worker might overlook. He can
find the easy, fast way to get a job done properly. And he doesn't
overwork his men because he knows that when he's tired, the others are,
too. You want to try it, Basom?"

"I'll try," said Basom earnestly. "I'll try real hard." Then, after a
moment's hesitation. "Just one thing, Anketam--"

"What's that?"

"Kevenoe. I don't want him coming around me. Not at all. If he ever said
one word to me, I'd probably break his neck right there."

Anketam nodded. The Chief had given Zillia to Kevenoe only two months
before, and the only one who liked the situation was Kevenoe himself.

"I'll deal with Kevenoe, Basom," Anketam said. "Don't you worry about
that."

"All right, then," Basom said. "I'll do my best, Anketam."

"You'd better," said Anketam. "If you don't, I'll just have to give the
job to someone else. You hear?"

"I hear," said Basom.

V

The war dragged on. In the spring of the following year, over a hundred
thousand Invader troops landed on the seacoast a hundred miles from
Chromdin and began a march on the capital. But somebody had forgotten to
tell the Invader general that it rained in that area in the spring and
that the mud was like glue. The Invader army bogged down, and,
floundering their way toward Chromdin, they found themselves opposed by
an army of nearly a hundred thousand Xedii troops under General Jojon,
and the invasion came to a standstill at that point.

Farther to the west, another group of forty thousand Invader troops came
down from the Frozen Country, and a Xedii general named Oljek trounced