double-dozen

Updated: May 23, 2025

On this, from the box, they placed twenty-four newly severed opal-grinning heads, in four neat rows. They had all been freshly scrubbed and polished, but they still smelled like crushed cockroaches. The three Terrans looked at them gravely. A double-dozen heads was standard payment for an attack in which no Terran had been killed.

H. Beam Piper - Ullr Uprising