long family of warriors," he explained, ''we have
served our Chieftain for over twenty generations. I was rather low rank
and didn't have much, a small patch of land, which I rented, and a few
head of sheep, who I had someone else taking care of.
62 I spent most of my time at The Chieftain's Hall, a huge place cut
out of the side of a mountain. And of all the stupid things to do, I
went and fell in love with The Chieftain's daughter! She was the only
girl and had seven brothers, each one thinking it his personal duty to
protect her maidenhood.
63 Well, the girl kind of took a hankering to me, too, and we'd sneak
off every now and again. And wouldn't you know it? The worst tempered
of her brothers caught us one day, and he wasn't too pleased with what
we were doing! The damned fool tried to put a dagger in me, but it
ended up in HIM instead!
64 I swear, I never intended to harm him. I could've taken the thing
away from him, and slapped him silly, but somehow he fell, and drove
the thing through his own throat.Well, I'm no coward, mind you, but
both the girl and I had a pretty good idea of what her father would
do. So I took off, went straight through The Valley of Shadows, and
joined up with the Tr army.
65 It wasn't a year and a woman got me in trouble again! My
War Leader had a really beautiful wife, but the damned fool left her
alone all the time, and she came looking for company.Well, I'm not one
to send a lonely woman away.
66 I was comforting her one night, when The War Leader and seven of his
men showed up! They had plans of ridding me of my manhood, so naturally
I broke their necks. Considering my War Leader was The King's nephew, I
figured it was time to move on again.
67 I was going to give Muk a try, but on the way