Traitors Gate

'They're disciplined,' said Joss. 'It's an admirable quality. That Anji is cautious makes me think better of him. If he were rash, I would think him likely to leap into a clash he could not win just out of recklessness. But he's got something to lose, should he fall and die. An infant son, and a cursed beautiful young wife.'

'So everyone says,' said Peddonon with a smile, 'although I'm not the right man to admire her. Of more interest to me is that folk say she's a cursed clever merchant, who drives a brutal bargain. I'd say she shares that quality with her husband.'

Joss leaned against the polished wood railing that surrounded the thatched-roof shelter built over the upright slab of rock — the actual stele on which the law was carved — whose base was buried in a trough filled with packed earth. Lamps hung from each corner of the shelter, although these days only one of the four was lit. It burned all night, of course. No matter how little oil they had, one lamp must always burn at Law Rock.

'Sometimes we only look at the surface of things, forgetting what substance lies beneath.'

'Poor Joss. Women whistling at you again?'

'Eh, it'll take a better insult than that to hurt me. Since when can a Fox's nip harm a handsome Ox?'

'Since the Ox got too slow to move out of the way. If you need a walking stick, just let me know. I'm a fair hand at carving.'

28

'That's one word for it, so I hear.'

'Aui!' The younger reeve laughed. 'A hit!'

'I've stored up a lot more insults in my very long and very old time. You'll never defeat me that way.' Yet his mood clipped his smile. He tried to read the words bitten out of the rock, but one lamp did not provide enough illumination. 'I'm just thinking about the law, and about Guardians.'

'The captain calls these cloaks demons, but what you say makes more sense, that they're corrupted. Although the hells what sense there is to be made of Guardians becoming corrupted I could not say. I just don't know what to think.'

'What if Guardians could be killed?' Joss asked, keeping his tone flat.

'They can't be. Anyway, I'd say that would be a cursed thing to do, wouldn't you?'

'What is this Star of Life army, if not cursed? Could you kill a Guardian, Peddo, if there was a way to do it? If it meant saving others?'

Peddonon glanced around. The shadowed figures of two firefighters stood at the guardpost on the farthest spur of the promontory, too far away to overhear. Behind, on Justice Square, a lamp burned to mark the entrance of the reeve compound; there was another at the barracks porch and a third at the warehouse entrance where two militiamen stood guard. Law Rock's defenders now consisted of eighteen reeves and two cadres of fighters, and most of them were loitering outside the council hall. At dusk, they had hauled up an ostiary and four other holy priests in the basket at the hidden cliffside so that these dignitaries from occupied Toskala could meet with Anji. The priests, the captain, the commander, and the rest had talked for quite some time, until Anji had called for a break in the proceedings so folk could stretch their legs, drink, and pee. Joss had taken the chance to contemplate Law Rock.

'That's a cursed odd question,' mused Peddonon. 'I can't say — it's hard to even imagine — it would be like burning a temple, wouldn't it? What makes you even think of it?'

As Anji had said, they could not tell anyone unless they were absolutely sure that person would act immediately and succeed on his first attempt. So Joss let it go. 'Lord Radas wears a cloak and commands the Star of Life army. He's no holy Guardian, not judged by his actions. So how do we defeat him?'

'In alliance, just like Captain Anji says.' He gestured toward Justice Square. Lanterns swayed where Anji, in company with the priests, walked back from the balcony overlooking the occupied city. 'Do those soldiers who attend Anji ever sleep?'

'I wouldn't know. I was cursed surprised when he left Sengel at Nessumara. I would have been less surprised had he cut off a hand and given it orders to coordinate the delta militia. That's Toughid to his right. Tohon, the other fellow, is one of the solidest men I have ever met.'

'A bit old for me, but good-looking in that outlander way.'

'Don't you ever stop?'

'Not until I cross the Spirit Gate,' said Peddonon with a grin. 'And, I pray, not even then.'

They began to walk back, sticking to a path that cut between strips of raised garden. The earth filling the troughs had looked pale in daylight, more grit than soil, but they were cutting it with night soil and leavings from the kitchens to strengthen it in the weeks before the rains.

'I never thought I'd see gardens up here,' said Joss.

'There's a lot of things I never thought I would see. Toskala under curfew. Folk being worked to death. Gates closed and people starving. Hauling folk in secret up by the basket to pass messages to and from the city.' With a harsh laugh, maybe covering anger, Peddonon punched him on the shoulder, and cursed if the blow didn't rock him. 'That was cursed funny when we hauled up the basket just after dusk and out hopped a scrawny old ostiary instead of a comforting armful of hierodule. I thought you were like to weep from disappointment.'

'Old! I don't think that ostiary is much older than I am!'

'Your vanity will kill you one day, Joss.' They converged on the stone ramp that led up into the council hall just as Anji's party arrived. Peddonon offered a final murmured comment. 'It's Ostiary Nekkar's approval we need.'

So it was, Joss reflected as they greeted the folk who had spilled out along the ramp to take a few breaths of clean air as the night filtered away into the twilight before dawn. Anji was chatting with the ostiary. The holy man was not particularly old, but he walked with a stiff limp like an elder. Moreover, he was astoundingly thin, with wrists so frail one might think to snap them in two. Yet he had a presence like the promontory itself, a massive rock that wind and water and years had not defeated, only weathered.

The other priests who had been hauled up by basket in the os-tiary's wake bent their attention to Nekkar. He was the one they touched, as if to assure themselves he had substance and was not a ghost. He listened more than he talked, and he listened well, not staring directly at people but cocking his head to one side as if to let the words pour more easily into his ear. He lifted a hand now and again to punctuate a point the other speaker had made.

Anji waved Joss over. 'Ostiary Nekkar met Zubaidit. She pulled him out of a heap of rubbish, did you know that?'

Joss was pretty sure Anji was teasing him, having seen Joss and Zubaidit together. 'Zubaidit came up in that same basket. That was months ago.'

'Where is Zubaidit now?' asked the ostiary with a gentle smile.

Anji shook his head. 'We cannot say.'

'Ah!' The ostiary nodded. In company with the other holy ones, he made his way up the ramp.

As everyone flowed up into the hall, Joss held back. The night was so very quiet. In the days before, you could hear the night market in Bell Quarter churning until dawn, singing, voices and laughter soaring in the currents of air that swirled around the promontory. But now Toskala lay utterly silent, its people afraid to sing, to speak, even to stir.

'An interesting net these priests have cast over the city, eh, Commander?' Tohon fell in beside Joss as they ascended, their feet clapping softly on stone. 'I asked the holy one how they smuggled him from his quarter to the basket in another quarter if all the gates between quarters are closed and guarded. Over the months, they have woven a net on which information and even people can be passed. An interesting way to get around the occupation. But after hearing his description, I can see ways it could be improved.'

'Is there anything the Qin cannot improve?' said Joss with a laugh.