"Much?" Vol said, his lips parting in a smile that contained no trace of warmth. It was filled only with cruelty. "Did you think that gold was for free? You are my stepping stones – and do not forget that fact. If you do not prove your worth, I will kill you myself. And, let it be known, that those men who have burned my ears with complaints these past two weeks shall have to fight hard enough to at least burn their complaints away."
"Here, here!" The older raiders said. They clearly spared no sympathy for the newcomers. From the start, the newcomers had had the wrong idea. It was they who needed to fight so that they would be accepted, not the other way around.
"Harland, seize that man," Vol said, quite calmly.
