have survived such a sandstorm. You're sure the horse had wings?'
'The testimony comes from your own men. And from others in the compound who witnessed, the servants of your household as well as Ri Amarah guards. In addition, as I said, there were independent sightings from elsewhere in Olossi.'
'Why were Ri Amarah guards at the compound?' asked the Silver. The man stood aloof from his Olossi comrades with his arms crossed and his slanted eyes giving him a suspicious expression.
What was the cursed man's name? Isar sen Haf Gi Ri. 'Your son and daughter were visiting, in the private garden.'
This statement surprised everyone except Anji. Isar muttered, skin suffused with blood. The hells! He was cursed angry, if Joss was any judge of expression. But he said nothing more.
'You do not think it was a demon,' said Anji.
'If you have to choose between what seems the most reasonable explanation, and what the cold, hard evidence reveals, go with the evidence. It was a Guardian.'
'The Guardians have vanished,' said the temple censor, called Guri.
'A Guardian,' said Anji, 'who according to your tales hold an exalted position as guardians of justice. Yet a creature matching the description of these Guardians has murdered two of my men. Now that I think of it, it would explain Eitai's death some weeks ago in the Barrens. Sayan's report of the incident was so disjointed that we
thought both men suffered a sun-sickness from heat and lack of water, and that Eitai died of it, but perhaps we were mistaken. Which means the Hieros was also mistaken in her assessment of the envoy of Ilu she thought was a Guardian, the one who removed the demon from her care.'
'I would not lightly dismiss the testimony of the Hieros,' said Joss. 'She is no fool. He likely was a Guardian, but considering the subsequent behavior of the outlander girl, she was already corrupted.'
'Or bringing what she thought was justice,' said Isar.
Joss was surprised to hear him speak; the others regarded him as if his horns were suddenly visible.
'What do you mean?' asked Anji.
'My people do not sanction slavery. According to the testimony of the witnesses, the demon — the Guardian — the girl — accused three of your soldiers of rape. Those who are slaves have no right to say yea or nay over what is done to them. Therefore, a slave woman who is in that condition made to have relations with a man has no choice. That is rape.'
'Not according to the laws of the Hundred,' said Censor Guri. 'We are not ruled by Silver laws.'
Anji frowned. 'She belonged to Shai. He sold her services to certain of my men one night only, which was certainly his right. When my wife objected, he ceased the practice.'
'Your wife is an honorable woman,' murmured Isar.
'I agree, although that is not the issue at hand. It would be easy enough to ascertain if the three soldiers who died are, indeed, the three who used her on that occasion.' He indicated Joss. 'But that does not explain how she killed them without leaving a mark on them.'
Censor Guri stepped forward. He was a burly, muscular man in the prime of life, vigorous and a bit aggressive, a typical adherent of Kotaru the Thunderer. 'Every Guardian carries a staff. So the tales say. Their staff 'measures life and death'. What if the Guardians walk the land to take vengeance, not to bring justice?'
Joss shook his head, his throat too tight to speak.
'Just because you don't want it to be true doesn't make it false,' pressed the censor. 'Just after the turn of the year, a family of
refugees walked through Storos on their way to relatives farther north. They'd escaped from their village on West Track. They said folk saw a man riding a winged horse with the invading army.'
'Which doesn't answer how it was done.' The fury that had scorched off Anji earlier had subsided, to Joss's relief. 'Is it sorcery? A sword has an edge, and can be met with other weapons. What weapon protects us against another attack such as this, whether demon or — as you say — Guardian?'
'Nothing,' said the censor. 'The gods set the Guardians over us, to serve justice.'
'We cannot raise our hands against the Guardians,' said the Storos councilwoman, Volla. 'They possess a second heart and third eye, to see into the heart of every woman and man.'
Anji looked skeptical. 'That being so, I should think they would be frightening to meet. Who among us wishes his innermost thoughts flung open?' He tilted his head, considering his own words. 'Although it might explain Chief Tuvi's lapse, which I can comprehend in no other way.'
'No, indeed, Captain,' said Chief Deze. He was a thin, phlegmatic soldier, tough as best quality rope. 'Tuvi would die before he would fail you.'
Joss wondered. If the Marit he had met at the refuge had not been a dream, as he imagined, then she had seen into his innermost heart. Now that he thought of it, she had often looked away while talking to him, as if she did not want to see the truth of what he had become. Aui! Blindness between lovers was a blessing.
'Marshal Joss,' said Anji, calling him back to the muggy courtyard under cloudy skies. 'I'd like to see for myself that my wife has weathered this storm before I continue my efforts here on the plain. Can you convey me to Olossi?'
'I can, and I will. My eagle needs rest, and meat. We've been a full day searching for you, and in any case he can't fly at night. We'll leave at dawn.'
Anji turned to the censor and the local official. 'That being so, we should finish our business. I have a proposition to make in my capacity as commander of the Olo'osson militia.'
They walked back to the training ground, Joss falling to the rear. Every temple of Kotaru was arranged in four quarters, with four
gates and four corner watchtowers. This temple had prospered and been requartered in the past. The walls of the original temple now constituted the barracks quarter, and new quarters for the sanctuary, workshops, and training ground extended from the old square, careful to keep a strict north-south and east-west axis despite irregularities of ground.
As they passed through the central crossing gates between the four quarters, Isar dropped back to walk with Joss.
'You said you interviewed everyone at the compound for their story of the incident. I trust you were not allowed to speak to my daughter.'
'No, indeed, ver. That had all been settled before I arrived and everyone returned to their place. But I did receive written testimony from her hand, which was read out to me by your son, Eliar. I must say, hers was a forthright and clear-sighted account, very useful to me.'
By his tightly clenched mouth, Isar was as angry, in his own way, as Anji had been earlier. And even less likely to be placated. 'It should not have been allowed.'
'That she give testimony, in such circumstances? Every free person who witnesses a crime is required to give testimony.'
Everyone said the Silvers were cunning merchants. The look in those dark, slanted eyes was angry, certainly, but calculating in its own way. 'But not slaves? Still, I was speaking to myself, Marshal, not to you. Forgive me for showing a father's vexation. I knew such a reckless scheme would come to no good. Grandmother and I argued against it, but Eliar twists his mother around his heart, and likewise several of the uncles could not say no to the pleas of the captain's charming wife, for which I am sure I do not blame them.' He nodded toward Anji, who was walking beside the censor, deep in conversation. 'But it is to be understood that the virtue of a Ri Amarah woman is only safe within her own household. Now my daughter is compromised.'
'Compromised, ver? For visiting the house of a friend?'
'You Hundred folk cannot understand.'
it is your people who live in the Hundred, not ours who live in a land of your making.'
'So it may seem,' he agreed. 'Forgive me for speaking intemperateIy.'
'Neh, think nothing of it. We are all upset to hear such strange tidings.'
'Do you really think it was a Guardian, Marshal?'
'Not as we know of Guardians from the tales and the records of the assizes kept by the Lantern's hierophants. We hear no accounts of summary execution. But the other elements — the light coming from no visible source, the winged horse, the cloak — how are we to think otherwise?'
'The tale of the Guardians speaks of corruption: 'I know that in the times to come the most beloved among
