'On law shall the land be built. I released the cloak to the gods.'
Anji's eyes narrowed, a flicker of anger that flashed like a blade's edge. Then his expression smoothed, and he took a step back as two soldiers came forward, bearing trays that they set down on the camp table beside the unrolled maps.
'Eat with me,' said Anji, and yet the words sounded more like a command than a request.
'I'd like to know,' said Joss, hearing words pour out of his mouth as impelled by a lilu he hadn't known dwelt inside him, 'if you have some objection to what I did, considering you may have had other ideas of what would best serve the Hundred.'
'My concern is solely to win this war. Lord Radas's death aids us. Your courage and determination are to be praised, Commander Joss.'
The appreciative murmur that greeted these words reminded Joss that he and Anji were not alone. No, indeed; Anji sat at council with many men — all men, an odd enough sight to Joss's eye. Chiefs Sengel, Deze, and Esigu sat closest to Anji, flanked by Captain Targit and two Qin chiefs unknown to Joss. Captain Arras was sitting at his ease among several militia captains, two wearing the kroke badges common in Nessumara and another wearing Skerru's forked lightning. Arras leaned over and whispered something, at which they grinned. There were other captains: a pair wearing badges from Horn and six bearded men most likely from Olo'osson. No reeves. No merchants or artisans. Not a single priest. All military men.
A tiny jeweler's chest, bound with chains, sat tucked between Arras's feet.
Anji set down his cup. 'And if Lord Radas is truly dead, then we have a significant hope of victory.' He broke off, his gaze catching on movement behind Joss.
Reeves approached, caught by the gatekeepers before they could come too close, but a stockier man striding in their wake pushed between them.
Joss leaped up with a grin. Tohon!'
Sengel stepped forward on one side, Deze on the other, like shields. Tohon's gaze flicked from one to the other, assessing their movement and his risk, but his jaw had a determined jut that made Joss step aside, making space for him.
'Did you find Wedrewe?' Anji asked casually. Yet his own cursed chiefs subtly shifted position as if they had some notion that Tohon — Tohon! — might be a threat.
'I did. Commander, I hear you've found Shai. That he's grievously injured.'
'We've recovered him. He lives. After you give your report-'
'I'll see him now,' said Tohon in a friendly tone no man could possibly misunderstand. 'My report can wait, if the lad is doing so poorly that, as I heard as I walked through camp, it's rumored he's like to die. Where is he?'
Sengel coughed as might a man reminding a comrade he's forgotten his manners, but Tohon's gaze was fixed on Anji and did not waver.
Anji gestured to one of the curtained chambers. 'The hierodule is nursing him.'
'That's something,' muttered Tohon. He nodded a greeting at Joss, then looked again, as taken aback as a man might be to wake and discover his wife has become a kroke. 'What happened to you?' The words were only a reflex. His brow creased; a frown darkened his expression as his thoughts scouted elsewhere. He walked to the curtains and vanished within. It had grown so silent under the awning that Joss heard the murmur of voices, male and female, as Tohon and Zubaidit greeted each other, but he could not make out what they were saying.
'Commander?' asked Sengel, so softly Joss heard the word only because he was standing next to Anji.
'We've no proof he's anything but Beje's man,' replied Anji, equally softly. 'Not my mother's. Not my uncle's. He's served faithfully enough. Let it be for now.' He picked up his cup, gesturing to the captains. 'Now. About our lines of supply. We must not strip what remains in the countryside and the towns lest the population starve. Our task is twofold. Obviously, we must hunt down and destroy the remnants of Lord Radas's army, any companies or
captains who might dream of restoring the army. This could take months, or even years. But we cannot achieve these objectives if those we've fought to protect die. People are afraid to return to their villages. Supplies are low everywhere. Reserves are depleted. People cannot plant until the rains, and then must hope for an uneventful growing season while waiting for the crops to ripen.'
'So you're saying we'll be eating a lot of se leaves?' asked one of the Olossi captains, and men chuckled.
' " Better to live on sour se leaves than die with your hand in an empty rice bowl,"' Anji replied to approving laughter, having learned at least one common Hundred saying. 'Even if all that goes well, which it will not, for you can be sure no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, then what about Wedrewe? Captain Arras?'
Arras rose. If some regarded him with suspicion, the rest waited to hear what he had to say. 'Wedrewe is where all the orders came from, although I never went there myself. More cohorts will be training there, and I'm cursed sure all the coin and precious loot and best silks were sent there, so no doubt they guard a healthy treasury. The're's also Walshow. That's where many cohorts were raised, including mine. It's isolated, hard to reach, and easy for folk to scatter into the wilderness and hide should they be attacked.'
Arras kept a foot pressed against the jeweler's chest, keeping track of what was, after all, the prize that had earned him Anji's acceptance.
Anji was standing next to the table, his own boots blocking a gap where two small jeweler's chests bound by chains rested under the table. Joss's heart took a sudden lurch; he sank down on his stool as flashes of memory blinded and deafened him: the billowing cloak as bright as sunlight; Lord Radas's limp body; the way one arm, stuck in rigor, had seemed impossible to cover with dirt, fingers clutching for air as Joss had ruthlessly buried him.
'We cannot relax our vigilance,' Anji was saying. 'Only six of the demons have been killed, while three remain at large.' He loosed a glance at Joss. 'The cloak of Sun will rise to corrupt another man, who can take control of remnants of the army.'
'Hold on,' murmured Joss. 'I only know of four.' Anji had killed Earth; Masar had unclasped Blood; Shai and Zubaidit had
killed Night and given the cloak to Arras. Joss had released Sun. 'How did there get to be six? We agreed no hunting beyond those allied with Radas and Night.'
Anji was in many ways an ordinary-looking man, if you surveyed what appeared on the surface: Of medium height and neither slender or stocky, he was strong with the fitness that comes from constant relentless movement. He had the broad cheekbones of his mother's people and the hooked nose common in the empire. But the land cannot be understood with so cursory an inspection. Nor could a man. Handsome eyes redeemed his face, but that was not what commanded the eye. His gaze was as bright as steel, and it penetrated not to your heart or mind, as the gaze of Guardians did, but to your gut, where you decided not just whether to trust this man but whether to place your life and welfare in his hands. He had powerful hands, not big but graceful and masterful, a man who held on to what he possessed and never let go.
Once Anji got hold of the Hundred, why should he let go? The Qin soldiers were conquerors, weren't they? That's what they trained from boyhood to be. Brutal. Effective. Relentless. Utterly reasonable, with those cheerful grins and easy laughs.
Anji's gaze narrowed as he studied Joss studying him. 'I haven't finish briefing my captains,' he said as Sengel took a step closer to Joss. 'Did you have a report the officers need to hear, Commander?'