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The foreigner, Kou'te-bpe as he has asked to be called, has been learning the use of the spear at a commendable rate. Likely he'll never be an expert in its use, but one cannot have everything. Besides, he above all men has less need than most to keep his enemy as far away as a spear will reach; so as long as the enemy still uses bronze, and does not turn to rampant foolishness and silver-plate their weapons, it should be well.

But there remains the matter of knowing what he is entirely capable of, and so today he is being called away from spear practice to the high-walled enclosure where cattle are kept, one or two at a time, before being led to sacrifice. If there is any place in the Citadel where the foreigner can show what he is capable of without there being danger to everyone else, it is there.

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From:

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"The three nights of the full moon...I will probably come here." Spoon slaps the wall of the cattle cell, "And I will need live meat. The more it fights, the better. The rest of the month it is under my control."

The ability to say that truthfully is a hard won one indeed.

From:

hippodamio

"That can be arranged," says Hektor. "You have not met our bulls, I think. They are not quite so big as the Cretan stock, but it is as much as a man's life is worth to cross one when he is in a temper. It will be counted against your shares of plunder in the combat that lies ahead."

From:

there-is-a-me.livejournal.com

Kou'te-bpe's voice is wry, "Then I will have to hope that there is plenty of plunder. Without meat those three nights it is more likely that I will lose control. Fighting as a man will help as well."

With no other duties, that is what he does from when he wakes until when he sleeps. The foreigner rises as early as any in the palace and works with spear and shield or sword until the dinner hour. It helps.

From:

hippodamio

"There will be," Hektor says, in the tone that other men reserve for the sun will rise tomorrow. "These bandits have been digging themselves into the cliffs for years now, ever since Crete was thrown down. The lands along the Euxine shores are rich, and many a ship passes up the Straits of Helle, but few enough of them make it back down again. These men have built up much in their fortress stores. I don't think any man will lack for his fair share."

From:

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"Good." is the response, "Need enough to keep me in moon-meat, and enough to take care of Rhene." Because he's going to take care of her. She's his, as much as he's Sergeant Harry Wells' Spoon. "When do we fight?"

From:

hippodamio

"As soon as the weather turns our way. There are two holdings between here and Dardania that I want flushed as swiftly as possible, but the men who claim them were fine sailors once. When the winds turn foul and they haven't the option of escaping by sea, we'll sweep in on them to begin with."

From:

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His lips quirk, then, and he asks, "Should I try to get a facsimile of my armor made? It won't be the skeleton of a kainde amedha, of course, but I remember how to shape it."

From:

hippodamio

"Our smiths are busy turning out new weapons at the moment," says Hektor. "But the tradition here is that whatever else is captured in battle, you keep the arms and armor of those men who fell by your own hand. It would not be such a difficult thing, to put a smith to reshaping such armor to suit your needs once you had it."

From:

there-is-a-me.livejournal.com

The yautja nods, smiling faintly. This won't be the first time he's gone into a fight wearing little to no armor at all. "Sounds like a good way of dealing with things. Won't need all of it, of course, but at least I know what to take for trophies."

From:

hippodamio

Hektor nods. "We'll get you a proper shield, the man-covering kind," he says, "and a helmet if you wish- there are enough of them. Will you need anything else?"