Valpry was
quite in earnest.

So he sat on his throne, as sovereign Prince of Tanith, and
renounced his allegiance to "Angus, Duke of Wardshaven, self-styled
King of Gram." They sent it back on the otherwise empty freighter.
Another copy went to the Count of Newhaven, along with a cargo in
the _Sun Goddess_, the first non-Space-Viking ship into Gram from
the Old Federation.

* * * * *

Seven hundred and fifty hours after the return of the _Nemesis_,
the _Corisande II_ emerged from her last microjump, and immediately
Harkaman began hearing of the Battle of Audhumla and the destruction
of the _Yo-Yo_ and the _Enterprise_. At first, he merely reported a
successful raiding voyage, from which he was bringing rich booty.
Oddly varigated booty, it was remarked, when he began itemizing it.

"Why, yes," he replied. "Secondhand booty. I raided Dagon for it."

Dagon was a Space Viking base planet, occupied by a character named
Fedrig Barragon. A number of ships operated from it, including a
couple commanded by Barragon's half-breed sons.

"Barragon's ships were raiding one of our planets," Harkaman said.
"Ganpat. They looted a couple of cities, destroyed one, killed a lot
of the locals. I found out about it from Captain Ravallo of the
_Black Star_, on Indra; he'd just been from Ganpat. Beowulf wasn't
too far out of the way, so we put in there, and found the
_Grendelsbane_ just ready to space out." The _Grendelsbane_ was the
second of Beowulf's ships, sister to the _Viking's Gift_. "So she
joined us, and the three of us went to Dagon. We blew up one of
Barragon's ships, and put the other one down out of commission, and
then we sacked his base. There was a Gilgamesher colony there; we
didn't bother them. They'll tell what we did, and why."

"That should furnish Prince Viktor of Xochitl something to ponder,"
Trask said. "Where are the other ships, now?"

"The _Grendelsbane_ went back to Beowulf; she'll stop at Amaterasu
to do a little trading on the way. The _Black Star_ went to Xochitl.
Just a friendly visit, to say hello to Prince Viktor for you.
Ravallo has a lot of audiovisuals we made during the Dagon
Operation. Then she's going to Jagannath to visit Nikky Gratham."

* * * * *

Harkaman approved his attitude and actions with regard to King Angus.

"We don't need to do business with the Sword-Worlds at all. We have
our own industries, we can produce what