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the massive and merciless blow Talisman had struck on their behalf, few

relished the prospect of defending themselves against marauding bands

of dead-faces armed with an endless supply of long sharp-iron.

At the outset it seemed an impossible goal. Mr Snow, exhausted and at

death's door, was unable to lend his reasoned eloquence or wisdom to

the debate but at the end of five argumentative and sometimes

acrimonious days a fragile consensus emerged. All agreed that the

Battle of the Trading Post marked the end of an era.

From henceforth, the interests of individual clans would have to take

second place to the protection of the Plainfolk. Warriors who, over

the centuries, had been blooded by challenging and killing their peers

from neighbouring clans would now have to earn their standing in combat

with the real enemies of the Plainfolk - the dead-faces and the

sand-burrowers.

It was this issue- inter-clan blood-letting- that aroused the most

controversy. To deny this right of challenge struck deep into the

warrior ethos. The courage to brave close, single-combat was - for the

Mutes - absolutely fundamental. It was the corner-stone of their

existence, the means by which an individual and the clan to which they

belonged measured their worth.

The history of the Plainfolk was the history of heroes.

Those who had 'chewed bone' stout hearts whose sharp-iron had filled

head-poles. Before the Battle of the Trading Post, no warrior worthy

of the name would have used a crossbow in combat against his peers.

Long sharp-iron was used solely for hunting game; the rifles and other

weapons used by the sand-burrowers were proof of their cowardice, their

lack of honour. They were animals whose blood-lust knew no bounds.

That was why it was permissible to use the cross-bow when fighting

them.

The Iron Masters used a different kind of bow and arrow made of wood.

It had a shorter range than the crossbow but a much higher rate of

fire. They also possessed other fearsome sharp-iron, long curved

swords that could slice through flesh and bone and the heavy black

pipes on the wheel-boats that spoke with the voice of sky-thunder and

whose fiery breath could tear a man to pieces at five hundred paces.

Their readiness to use such weapons plus the fact they were an alien

race placed them in the same category as the sand-burrowers. A

category to which - because of their denial of Talisman - the D'Troit

and their coconspirators had also been consigned.

The use of long sharp-iron had always aroused strong emotions.

Following the battle with The Lady from Louisiana, Mr Snow had stressed

the need to develop not just new tactics but a totally new concept of

making war.

His radical proposals had not gone down well with the traditionalists

within his own clan. There had been further objections following the

gift by Lord Yama-Shita of a hundred repeating rifles. Cut off from

further supplies of ammunition, they were now useless - as his

opponents had predicted.

Such deep-rooted differences of opinion over such a wide range of

issues could not be resolved in the space of five days, but there was

general agreement that the discussions should continue. The number of

the issues on which they were united was greater than the sum total of

those on which they remained divided.

Each delegation made a solemn pledge to come to the aid of any clan

attacked by the D'Troit faction or the dead-faces, but before this

could happen the present patchy bush-telegraph had to be replaced by a

more effective nation-wide system of communications. The discussions

on how this could be set up would continue within each bloodline, and

it was agreed that delegates from the clans now present would consider

any proposals put forward when the first Plainfolk Council was convened

at Big Running White Water (Sioux Falls,