Traitors Gate

'Go on.'

'So I flew him there. At his request I left him and came back the next day to fetch him. He was wearing a different tunic and trousers. I only noticed because the ones he'd worn the day before were threadbare and patched, and these were newly sewn.'

'It's possible he changed clothes to make his offering. Like we do for festival days. Is there anything else?'

'He didn't bring the chest back with him.'

'Maybe it was part of the offering.'

'What do you suppose the Qin use for offerings? I asked around. Reeves who were up in Merciful Valley before with the mistress said she takes flowers as offerings, just as folk should.'

Joss thought of what Tohon had told him about the Qin habit of ridding themselves of imperfect children. Killing them. His cursed head was beginning to throb. 'Any news of the child?'

'Atani?' His smile was innocent enough to charm a cadre of susceptible young women. 'The market women in Astafero talk about him all the time. The mistress, she comes out to the big house in Astafero each month right around Wakened Ox and stays for a few days to confer with that Silver woman who runs her household there. If the Qin officers aren't carrying that child

around as gentle as you please despite their grim faces and cold swords, then the house women haul him everywhere. How the market women do fuss over that baby!' His own expression was wistful, as if he missed a younger sibling from home.

'Odd news, indeed. My thanks for bringing it to me, Siras.'

'Is there some trouble, Commander?'

'No. Why shouldn't a man make a private offering to thank the gods for the safe birth of a healthy child? If you see or hear aught else, bring it to me. I'm not just speaking of the Qin soldiers, mind you, but in a general sense. Olossi's council. What the market women are saying. Gossip among the militiamen. Rumblings among the hirelings. Whispers at the temple of the Merciless One.'

The young man's eyes widened as he absorbed his new assignment. 'Yes, Commander!' He grinned and hustled away, no doubt enamored of the idea of playing spy for the reeve halls.

What on earth did Joss think Siras might overhear, as guileless as the lad was? He walked into the shadowed cavern, his headache easing as soon as he was free of the sun's grasp. Yet the commander of the reeve halls was involved in a far greater enterprise than just simple patrol. The magnitude of what he'd taken on yawned before him like the gulf of air beyond a cliff face that drops away to jagged rock far below. Aui!

'Commander?' Captain Anji and his men were waiting.

Joss smiled crookedly and walked over to them.

Anji tapped Joss's forearm in a rare display of fellowship. 'Why wait, Commander? Send a message to my wife now. Let her be brought at once by reeve to meet with Horn's council. If we move quickly, our enemy will be less likely to guess at our plans and prepare to fight us.'

'You would risk her walking into a hostile city?'

Anji gestured to the emptied cavern, the shadowed ceiling, the dusty corridors. 'If even the inhabitants of this unassailable hall could be killed — by treachery — then there will be no safe place in the Hundred until we make it one.'

Joss grasped the captain's wrist, feeling the strength of Anji's arm beneath his hand. 'Of course you are right. It begins here.'

The gates of Horn were huge, the height of six men or more. They were closed tight shut. Militiamen leaned over the parapets, arrows nocked. Mai had practiced speeches and phrases so many times that it was not in fact difficult to address Horn's closed

gates. She had only to pitch her voice to be heard without sounding as if she were shouting.

'We are.come as representatives of Olossi's council to meet with Horn's council in a place of your choosing, here at the gate or within your council hall. I am called Mai. Master Calon and I are merchants. This hierophant, Jodoni, comes at the behest of the temple council of Olo'osson. Please hear our words. We are come today to ask you to join with us in an alliance against the army who call themselves the Star of Life. They have overrun most of the lands along the River Istrt. We beat back a second army at Olossi, as you may have heard, but you can be sure that if Nessumara falls, Horn will be next and after Horn, Olossi. Each city and town — every reeve hall — will fall as long as each attempts to stand separately. The only way to defeat this army and these demons posing as Guardians is to join together.'

'Practiced words from a pretty girl,' called a woman in a deep, powerful voice. Mai scanned the parapet but did not see her. 'Are you one of Hasibal's pilgrims? We've learned that an actress, one of Hasibal's pilgrims, crept into our city in disguise months ago and spied on us. Why should we trust you?'

'Olossi did send scouts into the north. They had to discover if Horn supported the Star of Life army.'

'We did not then nor did we ever!'

'Can you defeat the northern army if it marches against you in full force, fully fifteen cohorts?'

'Fifteen cohorts!'

A murmur of shocked voices drifted down from the wall. Wheels scraped, and the right-hand gate huffed open just far enough for a woman and a man to emerge. Both were dressed in formal council robes with sashes; the woman held the baton of a council 'voice.'

'I am Poro,' said the woman, displaying the lacquered stick, 'who speaks for the council. Seyon is the arkhon of Horn.'

'We don't have arkhons in Olo'osson,' said Master Calon, 'but I understand an arkhon is leader of the council.'

Seyon nodded but seemed uninclined to speak. He was short and slight and held about him a sense of chained energy.

The woman's emotions were all too evident, boiling right on the surface. 'Fifteen cohorts?' She examined Mai as if Mai were a bolt of silk labeled as best quality but merely being everyday quality. 'How can you know?'

'Reeves are excellent scouts.'

'Reeves are not meant to spy for councils. They are meant to preside over assizes courts, to track down criminals, to maintain a proper distance from councils who might otherwise influence their judgments.'

'What are they to do if the northern army overruns every city and town? If it burns the reeve halls? Then who will preside over the assizes? Not reeves. Not elected councils. Let me speak to your council and I will tell you what I know and what Olo'osson's council means to offer.'

'It's said Olossi is raising an army, commanded by an out-lander.'

'Olo'osson has already been attacked by the northerners. We intend to protect ourselves, just as you do.'

'Why not send this captain to negotiate with us, then?'

'Would you admit into your well-guarded city an armed man who is also an outlander?'

Poro laughed. 'A not unreasonable point.'

Seyon looked her up and down in a measuring way. 'An armed man appears as a threat. So instead they send a beautiful young woman who spins words like golden thread. Who is more threatening, I ask you?' His smile took the sting out of the words; she knew she already had charmed him because she could see in his expression the look men got before they paid full price in the market even knowing they ought to bargain.

She met his gaze with a frankness that pleased him, seen in the crinkling of his eyes. 'You have discovered our plot, ver. Forgive us the deception. But if we do not fight together, I assure you we cannot individually defeat fifteen cohorts and the lilu calling themselves Guardians who command them. If you cannot trust my report, we can send one of your trusted militia captains or council members north with a reeve to see for yourselves.'

'Why should we trust any reeves when Horn Hall abandoned us last year? Their own marshal came to the council and advised us to surrender to the northerners rather than fight a losing battle. Then they left. That's why we locked ourselves away, not knowing who to trust.'