She whispered in that scrap of a mouse's voice. 'An eagle's dropped in. Carrying a-' Her voice faded, and he barely caught the last two words. '-Qin soldier.'
'Aui!' He straightened.
'The hells!' muttered Medard. 'I don't trust those outlanders with their funny eyes and their strut. I hope you're not going to make us eat with one of them.'
Joss laughed, although he wanted to slug the horse's ass. 'That's funny, I recall one of the Qin soldiers remarking the same thing. I wonder why that might be.'
With a grin to point the sting, he left before Medard could decide whether a retort was worth the risk of insulting his new marshal. Siras scrambled after.
As Joss walked alongside the girl, he considered his position within the reeve hall as an outsider brought in to restore order. He couldn't decide if the night's dance with Verena would earn approval or disdain from the hall at large, and so far no one was ready to challenge him to his face. Medard's carping seemed of a piece with his personality, nothing serious. So far.
Out on the parade ground, a fawkner and his assistant had raced up to take charge of the newly arrived eagle on its high perch. The reeve was unhooking a Qin soldier from the harness that allowed a reeve to haul a passenger hooked in front.
When he saw Joss approaching, the Qin soldier spoke a word to the reeve and then came over. 'Marshal Joss!'
'Tohon, greetings of the day to you. I'm surprised a man of your position among the Qin was chosen for messenger duty.' He
grinned, because the other man was a little white about the eyes, like a panicked horse.
Tohon was a man willing to laugh at himself, as well as being a superb scout. 'I was the only one brave enough to volunteer. Hu! A good horse under me is all I need! Not wings. Still.' He eyed the eagle, whose feathers were ruffled as it decided whether to settle in or take off. He glanced heavenward, to the eagles circling above. 'It's amazing how much you can see from up there.'
'True enough. A man of your skills can truly appreciate it. What's your report?'
'We are tracking down the remnants of the Star army as it runs north. We need more reeves out on patrol. They can spot soldiers hiding, or those lagging back. I will tell you this.' He scraped a hand through hair mussed by the wind. He was a man somewhat older than Joss, stocky, fit, and as tough as they came. Entirely ruthless, Joss suspected, when it came to the honor and safety of his captain. 'There are refugees everywhere. They wander down the roads, they get in our way, they beg for help or throw rocks at us. What do you want us to do with them?' He paused, and when Joss did not reply right away, went on. 'We cannot restore order when so many landsmen wander away from their homes. Also, soldiers from the army can walk among the refugees and pretend to be what they are not.'
Joss rubbed his forehead. 'Eiya! A heavy list of complications. Let me think on it.'
Tohon's grin flashed. 'My boys need me back by evening. I thought I would piss myself, I was so scared at first, but then I got to staring so much I forgot where I was. Hu! The land looks different from up there.'
'That it does. I'll not keep you longer than I have to. Meanwhile, if you go to the eating hall, a reeve named Medard will get you something to eat.'
Back at the marshal's cote, Joss sent Siras to fetch Volias. While he waited he downed the third cup of wine, then composed himself with a satisfied smile, having hatched his revenge.
Volias slithered in with a smirk on his ugly face. 'Medard's spouting. You gave him a real kick in the ass by sending that Qin bastard in to ask for food. Especially that one fellow, their special scout.
That cursed smile of his makes me nervous, and I swear to you he figured your angle the moment he walked into the eating hall, he's that canny, and it amused him to tweak a few ears. He pretended not to know how to use a spoon! I don't think Medard likes you better for making his ears red.'
'Medard doesn't need to like me,' said Joss equably, just barely able to suppress a smile.
Volias glanced suspiciously around the chamber, which was no neater than it had been this morning. And the wine cup was empty.
Joss slid an unused cup — there were four more on the tray — over to the ceramic bottle. He picked it up and tipped it. There was just enough to fill a new cup. He set down the bottle and pushed the cup toward Volias. Siras, hovering by the door, made a move toward the desk, as if to take the bottle away for refilling, and then with the graceless charm of a young man who hasn't learned to disguise his thoughts, made himself stop and sit down beside the open door. No doubt they had given him instructions: Don't let the marshal drink too much.
'For me?' Volias picked up the cup, held it briefly beneath his nose to take in the aroma, then downed it in a gulp. Setting the cup down, he licked his lips. 'Not bad. I trust I'm about to hear something I won't like.'
'Sit down.' Joss indicated a pillow.
'I'll stand.'
A sense of glee filled Joss, but he kept his voice level. 'The fnost significant problem the Qin and the militia have encountered seems to be refugees. There are far too many folk uprooted and displaced by the recent incursion. Disruption will lead to trouble if order isn't restored. I need you to get out there, identify a few collection points, and arrange for the militia and the Qin to send refugees to those points. We'll need a temporary assizes at each one. All these people out wandering on the roads will merely create more trouble.'
Volias snorted. 'That came out smoothly. Getting your revenge on me?'
Joss felt the sweetness of this petty victory. He smiled, as at a woman he was seeking to win over. 'I wish it were so, but the truth is, you've the experience to do a proper job.'
'Smile that pretty smile all you want,' said Volias, 'and I hope you
end up sucking on it for a cursed long time, because I know it will turn sour. Still, I admit I'll be glad to be out of this pus-hole.'
Siras grunted as though he had swallowed a nasty-tasting grub. Out in the marshal's garden, voices rose as two men laughed at a shared joke; they were coming closer. Siras glanced out the crack in the door that let him see outside, but he shrugged and did not rise, so with no great surprise Joss watched as the door was slid open and Askar walked in with the informality of a man accustomed to his voice being heard.
'Heya!' Askar looked at the table as he wiped his hands on a linen scrap. 'Any chance there's wine, Marshal?'
Siras leaped up, grabbed the ceramic bottle, and left.
'No surprise but that the mess this place is in, it builds a strong thirst,' remarked the fawkner, ignoring Volias's smirk. 'And I do have a tale to tell.'
He patted his lips with the cloth, then wiped his brow. 'I'm back from Olossi. Cursed merchants and guildsmen running around like ants with their hill smashed. So it happens, Marshal, that I went to the temple of Sapanasu, and explained your situation, and cursed if the hierophant didn't tell me they would be best pleased to send a clerk to be at your disposal.'
'Surely that's good news,' said Joss.
'Wait for it,' murmured Volias, who had the instincts of a stoat when broken eggs are about to be revealed.
'Which they did say they would do as soon as they have cleared all the contract work to do with the burning of the outer city and the tangle of contracts and legal claims that the siege has brought to Olossi's assizes.'
'That could take weeks!'
'Sure enough. They were quick about dismissing me, too, leaving me with my hair on fire, I don't mind telling you. I had to go cool my head with a few drinks.'
'Too bad the marshal couldn't have joined you,' said Volias with a foul smile.
Joss curled a hand into a fist, but he let it go. 'Then we'll wait a week, to be polite. I'll go next week myself, once the worst of the disorder in Olossi is put to rest. They'll not be so quick to push aside my request if I come in person.'
Volias opened his ugly mouth, no doubt to make a retort about some attractive clerk being taken with Joss's charms, but Askar cut him off in the manner of a man who hasn't heard a thing.
'So there I was, drinking in the Demon's Whip, which is not the kind of establishment you might think it is from the name, and a hierodule walks right up to me and says I'm to come to the delta, to Ushara's temple. She says the Hieros has a message to be delivered personally to a representative of Argent Hall so I can bring it
