Traitors Gate

'I'll take that risk, if I must.' Zubaidit grinned in a way that made Nekkar laugh softly.

'A hierodule, indeed,' he murmured.

'I serve the Merciless One,' she agreed. 'And the reeves?'

'I'll talk to my people,' said Vassa. 'And they'll talk to other people. It's dangerous, with this curfew, but there is one hidden path. Can you be patient, verea?'

'I can be as patient as I must be.'

5

Stuck all day up on Law Rock because Tumna was out on her hunting day, Nallo had had enough.

'Sit your stinking ass down and keep your mouth closed, ver.' The snap in her voice made the cursed merchant take a startled step backward, out of her face. 'I'm tired of hearing you complain, and so is everyone else, neh? You'll have your turn to get your rations and make your complaints when it comes to you.'

'I'm a respected guildsman! You've no right to talk to me in that way, some village girl thinking she's as good as me just because-'

'Just because I have an eagle that can rip your head off? End of the line, ver.'

Nallo signaled to the firefighters who made up what passed for a militia atop the rock. Using their fire hooks as prods, the young men chivvied the furious merchant out of his place and to the back as he protested in an obnoxious voice while onlookers smirked. He'd made no friends with his demands for special treatment.

She surveyed the folk waiting in line for their daily rations. 'We mean to hold Law Rock. So you've got to bide your time, do your part, accept your rations, keep calm. Those of you who can train to fight, will train. Those who are hoping for a lift off the rock will have to wait your turn.'

At the head of the line, on the long porch fronting the militia barracks where many of the stranded people slept, a shaven-

headed clerk sworn to Sapanasu the Lantern made a mark in her accounts book as the fire captain ladled out a ration of rice porridge to a woman with two children hanging on to her taloos. The clerk called for the next person in line, and bent forward to hear his name.

We're Toskala's last defenders, Nallo thought, and a sad herd of bleating goats we're proving to be.

The cadre sergeant beckoned. 'Heya, Nallo! You're called to a reeve's meeting.'

'Hold the line,' she said to him. 'Anyone who bawls out of turn gets sent to the back like that one. Better we had a sack of mildewed nai than him. At least we could dump the rotten nai on anyone trying to clear the steps.'

'Heh, that's a good one.' The firefighters liked her irritable temper and sharp tongue, although few others she'd known in her twenty years had appreciated it. 'Wish I'd seen your eagle rip the head off those men who killed the two eagles on Traitors' Night.'

But Nallo remembered how her friend Volias had dropped dead beside her in the instant his own eagle had expired. That her own eagle, Tumna, had slaughtered the murderers didn't make her feel better. 'I'd have ripped off the heads of those gods-rotted, hells-bound traitors if I'd gotten to them first.'

'Aui! I'll bet you would have!'

She trotted over to the gate that led into the reeve compound, where she found Pil waiting. She paced beside him into Clan Hall, an impressive complex with its skeletal watchtowers where eagles could perch, the two vast lofts for shelter, a long, narrow parade ground for training, and a sheltered garden tucked away behind it all near the edge of the cliff where the commander of Clan Hall had her office and chamber. The commander was dead, of course, murdered with so many others on the night they were all now calling 'Traitors' Night.' Odash, the old reeve who had acted for years as hall steward because he was too crippled to fly, had taken the cote's porch for his headquarters as he tried to keep Clan Hall functioning.

The forty-eight reeves remaining, not counting the four who were on patrol and the thirty-three who were in some stage of flying individual refugees down to Nessumara and returning with sacks of rice and nai, gathered in the commander's courtyard. Seventy-two fawkners, stewards, hirelings, and slaves were also

stuck up on the rock. Odash sat on a three-legged stool, looking as exhausted as ever.

He raised a hand and everyone quieted. 'We've held this rock ten days. We're helpless to stop the murders going on below. However, we've now established communications with the city, via the auxiliary basket on the north cliff. Yesterday a message was left in the basket. Here's the news: There's been extensive looting. The army is forcing all refugees to leave the city. Anyone who speaks out against the army, and people who have ties with militia or specific clans are executed immediately. A governing headquarters has been set up in Flag Quarter. Taxes are being levied compound by compound. Wherever weapons are found, they are confiscated. A curfew's been established. The markets are closed, and people are hungry.'

Pil made a gesture that caught Odash's notice.

'What is it, Pil?'

It wasn't easy for Pil to speak up, but he managed to force out words. 'The army wants to rule the city. If people have hunger and have fright, they then will obey the ones who rule, if they fear them.'

'That something your people used to do, out in foreign lands?' demanded one of the older reeves, a man named Vekess. He eyed Pil with suspicion.

'It is an effective method.'

Some of the reeves hissed, but Kesta moved closer to slap Pil on the shoulder. 'Cursed glad you're here with us, Pil. Gives us some insight into what these gods-rotted criminals might be doing.' She bent her fierce gaze on Odash.

The old reeve made a business of clearing his throat to focus attention back on himself. 'My contacts want to send a person up here to meet with us.'

'Could be a trap,' said Vekess.

'Cursed well could be, but there's little danger for us if we haul the contact up in the auxiliary basket. The one in the basket and those who must set him there are the ones who might be caught.'

'That's fair to let them take the risk,' said Vekess. 'They're more expendable than eagles.'

'Reeve Vekess is right,' said Pil unexpectedly. 'There are few eagles, and many people.'

At Vekess's flush, some chuckled. Pil's mouth quirked, as it did

when he was practicing archery and scored a solid stream of bull's-eyes.

'It's a fair argument,' agreed Odash. 'I'll give the signal. Expect someone to come up in the basket tonight.'

The meeting dissolved into the usual chorus of indignant comments and exchanges of angry recriminations, not for any of the assembled reeves, of course, but for the army, the traitors in Toskala who had opened the city gates to let in the enemy without a fight, the other reeve halls that had not responded to their pleas for help. The general disorganization of it all. A wind wafted the smell of rotting waste off the city; as the breeze turned, Nallo caught the sweet scent of the late-blooming vine roses growing in the troughs that rimmed the commander's cote. The sliding doors were closed tight. Odash slept on a pallet on the covered porch, like a dog waiting for its master to return. She couldn't decide whether she found it touching, or idiotic. Sheh! What was she thinking? He was doing his best, accustomed to carrying out the orders of a leader who had been horribly murdered just ten days ago.

'Heya!' Simultaneous shouts rose from the watchtowers. 'Eagles coming in.'

Reeves ran for the parade ground.

Kesta said, 'That's Peddo and Jabi. Aui! There's Scar!'

The eagles came in with wings outstretched and talons lifted, thumping onto the big perches in the middle of the parade ground. Unhooking, the reeves dropped from their harness and stepped out from under the shadow of the eagles.

Peddonon, grinning as usual, called out. 'Heya, Kesta! How'd you fare at Copper Hall?'