Shadow Gate (33 page)

“When I make a plan,” Anji said, “I prefer to know as much about my enemy as possible. I have heard the Tale of the Guardians, but surely there is more you can tell me about the Guardians.”

“The gods formed the Guardians out of the land to serve justice. The gods sustained them as they went about this duty. Yet they vanished from the Hundred when my grandmother was a girl, so we had come to believe they were gone forever.”

“Anyone may claim to be a Guardian,” said Joss suddenly, “and maybe they are, and maybe they aren't.”

The Hieros turned her proud gaze on the reeve, making him glance away before he had the courage to meet that stare. “ ‘You will know the Guardians when you meet them,' ” she quoted. “Can you doubt it, Marshal Joss? Do you doubt it?”

He said nothing.

She said, “I do not doubt, nor should you. I have seen the truth with my own eyes. I have touched the truth in my heart. The envoy told me that there is war among the Guardians. Fear this, for even as he spoke the words, I knew them to be true in my heart and in my spirit. Where the Guardians war, the Hundred falls into darkness and chaos. The tide of that war has swept over us once. If we do not resist it, protect ourselves, and push back, we will drown.”

“What you're saying, holy one,” said the captain, “is that in truth you know very little about the enemy we face.”

“Captain,” murmured the reeve warningly.

Master Calon fluttered a nervous gesture with a hand.

The Hieros smiled coldly. “That is indeed what I am saying. The Guardians withdrew from the affairs of ordinary men many rounds of years ago. We who are mortal were never privy to Guardian councils in any case. Now their wars have spilled over the land, but we are as
ignorant of their plans and feuds and their network of influence—always hidden from us!—as are newly born infants just waking to the riot of life.”

“Ignorance will kill us,” said the captain.

“Yes.”

He nodded. “This is my proposal. We send scouts into the north.”

“To what end? The reeves already spy out the northern army, scout troop movements, mark which villages and towns are under threat, and report back.”

“They do their work well,” he agreed, nodding at Joss, “but they and their eagles are targets when on the ground. They cannot walk into the heart of the enemy and hope to learn their plans.”

“Any such venture is likely to end in death,” she said.

“Perhaps. But without good intelligence, and careful observation of the lay of the land and the discipline and organization of the army, we can't hope to confront, much less defeat, a force so much larger than our own. Tohon is a scout of unsurpassed excellence, whose observations I would trust with my life. He can bring one of his own men to carry a message back to us, if necessary. If I had my way, your servant Zubaidit would go as well. We must seek every opportunity that offers itself. If anyone can assassinate the army's commander, she can.”

Kesh gasped aloud. He hadn't finished the wine; it spilled now, the dregs staining his tunic. Tohon grasped his wrist and tightened his grip until Kesh sank back passively. But he'd already lost the battle. A grin tugged at Bai's lips. Her shoulders straightened, and her chin rose.

“Eiya!” said the old bitch. “You're quick to throw my best weapon into the worst battle.”

“The battle will be upon us whether we wish it or not, holy one. The only question is, on our terms or theirs? You know she is the best choice.”

She knew it, so she refused to acknowledge him.

Bai said, “I'll go, but on condition that Keshad is cleared of all charges against him.”

“Yes, indeed,” said the Hieros scathingly, “cleared of charges, let to go free, and you'll hare off and join him once you've walked out of Olo'osson, no doubt.”

“He can remain under house arrest under my guard until Zubaidit returns, or her death is confirmed,” said the captain.

“Do you think you're bargaining over a loaf of bread or a bolt of silk?” demanded Kesh. “I refuse—”

“Enough!” said Marshal Joss. “Shut your mouth, you self-regarding idiot! You've got no rights in this negotiation. If you're fortunate, you may benefit from it, so just be quiet.”

“You've got no call to talk my brother that way!” cried Bai.

“You've come to me to set the seal on your plan?” asked the Hieros of the captain.

“You stand highest among those who sit in authority over the temples of Olo'osson,” said the captain. “You know it must be done this way.”

“ ‘A sharp blade can cut both ways,' ” she said.

“I beg your pardon?” demanded Joss. “What has the Tale of Change to do with the matter at hand?”

“Do our weapons serve us well, or ill?” Raising both hands, she traced phrases from the tale with graceful gestures accompanied by the tinkling of her wristlets. She did not need to sing the chant, for they all knew the words by heart.
In he rode, the one meant to save them, the handsome one, with his sash and his kilt, his sash and his kilt and his garland of sunbright. But the gods embrace silence. The gods turn away, they avert their eyes.

“This is not a language I understand,” said the captain.

“No,” agreed the Hieros. “You are an outlander. It is the language of our heart, we who live in the Hundred. Very well. It is true that if we cut off the head of the snake, the body might die. The price Zubaidit names for her cooperation is not too high. I will consult with the other temples and we will choose a second candidate as
well, someone suitable for spying. What about the council, Master Calon?”

“I think it's a fool's errand,” said Master Calon with a heavy sigh, “tried once before and ending in utter failure. But my voice was overruled. The council wishes to make contact with clan members in the north, restore alliances, and so on. Three have been chosen to go, well-connected sons and nephews, alas. That cub Eliar pushed and pushed.”

“The Ri Amarah wish to send one of their young men as part of the scouting group?” asked the Hieros. “To see what profits can be reaped?”

Kesh snorted. “In what way are they different than the rest of the merchants, then?”

The captain said, quietly, “The lives of the Ri Amarah are at risk, just as ours are.”

“The presence of a Ri Amarah man would give away the scouts immediately,” said Joss.

Calon raised his hands to signal a stop. “The cub's father forbade it before I was forced to point out that a Silver would be spotted a mey away. The three men we're sending are at least good fighters. However, anyone seeing the Qin soldiers will know them at once for out-landers.”

“They'll pose as runaway slaves,” said the captain.

Kesh touched the raggedly healed scar beside his left eye.

The marshal said, “Will you tattoo them? That's how debt slaves are marked here. The enemy will have heard tales about the outlanders who aided Olossi. They'll be suspicious.”

“I'll take Shai,” said Tohon, “for he looks nothing like the Qin. No one need know we are any relation. Anyway, Shai has family business up by this town called Horn. Captain?”

At first, the captain looked ready to refuse, but then his expression changed as he thought of something he
did not share with the others. “Yes,” he said with narrowed eyes. “Shai might prove very valuable. But let me tell my wife that he's to go.”

“We are agreed, then.” The Hieros clapped her hands. Her attendants helped her stand, although Kesh doubted she needed the aid. For such an old woman she was limber and vital, perfectly at ease. Before she stepped off the pavilion, she turned back. “So, Captain, what does your wife do now, while you sit in the councils of power?”

“She is not absent from the councils of power. Her skills are of a different constitution than mine. I would suppose that right now she is settling matters of land, title, and business.”

“Ah.” She acknowledged Master Calon and Marshal Joss with a nod and Bai with a critical stare that, strangely, softened her eyes. Kesh might as well not have existed, but at length she smiled at Tohon.

“Hu!” He laughed. “Don't mind if I do. Captain?”

The captain nodded. As Tohon followed the Hieros into the garden, Anji caught Kesh's attention with his gaze. “You'll come with me,” he said, no argument about it.

Kesh looked helplessly at Bai, but she shrugged. The hells! She was already thinking about walking into the shadows. Walking into death, it might as well be. He'd bought her freedom with tainted goods, and now they'd been thrown back into slavery, as if the simple act of daring to grab for freedom had cursed them to worse than what had come before.

She'd be dead and he . . . It hit him as in the gut, a blow that made him double over with fear and grief. He'd be alone, without purpose, for that was all that had sustained him during the twelve years he'd labored as Feden's debt slave: the hope of freeing his beloved younger sister.

“Kesh?” Leaping up, she crossed to kneel beside him. “Is it something you ate? The old bitch didn't even offer you wine, just for the spite of it!” Her hand warmed Kesh's shoulder.

“I'm all right.” He forced his fear under control like a hand pressing billowing cloth back into an open chest in a high wind. “Do you have to go?”

“Of course I have to go.”

“You're just going to abandon me? And the ginnies, too?”

“They can't come on such a mission. They'll be well taken care of.” She turned to confront the captain. “He'll be well taken care of, Captain. That's what I expect.” She swiveled her head to glare at the reeve. “All the charges dropped, just as I said, Marshal. Is it agreed?”

She was a wolf, ready to lunge for the kill, but they were predators, too. Joss was a proud, handsome eagle. Folk had started calling the Qin soldiers “the black wolves” for their manner of dress, and even though Captain Anji had not been born in the Year of the Wolf as Bai had, he might easily be mistaken for that beast.

Anji's smile showed teeth, a threat. “Are you questioning my honesty, or my honor?”

She grinned the reckless grin Kesh had come to distrust. “You're still an outlander, Captain Anji. So we'll see.”

Anger burned in his expression, a tightening of the eyes.

“I expect to be judged in the same manner,” she added. “Yet you've held a hostage for my honor.”

His shoulders relaxed. “True enough. I'll treat him as my own cousin.” His wolf's grin flashed. “By Qin laws of hospitality, I assure you, for in the imperial palace of Sirniaka, any male cousin or half brother of mine is dead by now.”

“I'll see Keshad is well treated,” said Master Calon. “I know his worth.”

Kesh offered him a grateful nod.

Bai embraced him. “Courage, Kesh. Keep your eyes open and your heart bold.”

She released him. Let him go.

“I never had anything to do with the charges brought against your brother,” said the reeve to her, “and I'll thank you not to imply I had.”

Kesh put on his shoes and, with the captain and Calon, descended by the stairs behind Kass. Bai remained in the pavilion, and it appeared she had fallen into a roaring argument with that cursed reeve.

“Whew!” said Kass with an appreciative look toward the pavilion and the pair under its roof. “She really fancies him, doesn't she? She'll chew him right up, and I bet me he'll love every minute of it. I never saw her go after a man like that before.”

“She's a respectable woman,” said Anji repressively. “It's ill-mannered to speak of women in such a way.”

Kass laughed merrily. “You outlanders!” He looked around for someone to agree with him, but Kesh couldn't be bothered and Calon was lost to sight down the path. Kass glanced back a final time. “Heya! She's slapped him! I knew she had a temper, but—”

A thick curtain of patience cut off their view.

“Slapped him!” yelped Kesh, shifting to go back, but Captain Anji caught his wrist.

“If she didn't fancy him, she'd have slugged him and been done with it,” said Kass. “That's foreplay for certain folk.”

“I've heard enough,” said the captain.

Branches rattled. Bai appeared on the path, flushed and breathing hard.

“He wouldn't lie down quickly enough, eh?” said Kass.

Her hand darted out.

“Ow! That hurt!” A mark reddened on the lad's forearm.

“You pinched him!” said Kesh.

“Nothing the little pest hasn't earned twelve times over!”

Grinning, the lad rubbed his arm.

Her glare did not cause the flowers to erupt into flames, but it was a close thing. Kesh remembered the woman who killed so skillfully that she couldn't possibly be his timid little sister. He remembered the way the reeve had stared at her after the ambush. Troubled, Kesh had to admit, rather like Kesh was troubled. He wanted to hate that cursed arrogant reeve, but at the moment he wondered if they shared something in common, wondering what kind of person Bai had become, an assassin sent into the north to kill.

“There comes a time when change overtakes the traveler.” Bai pushed past Kass and Kesh, and skirted the captain more politely. “If you don't mind, I'll walk a little way with you. Where do you go now, Captain?”

He was an odd man, seeming such an outlander one instant and then, with an unexpectedly charming smile, such a familiar one. “Where do I always go, to find my heart's ease? To my wife, of course.”

A trio of hirelings unshackled and dragged open the doors before retreating to the courtyard to await further orders. Sunlight poured a path into the dark interior. Mai ventured a few steps into the empty warehouse, smelling dust, the loft of air above her head, and a faint sweet rotting scent.

Chief Tuvi cut in front of her. “Let the lads go in first.”