easy to mark because of their distinctive dress and manner of riding and also because one reeve was assigned to each cadre to scout for ambuscade or refugees in the lands along the Soha Cutoff.
Just after midday, they hit the shifting currents that marked the abrupt end of the hills where the land fell away steeply into the wide basin of Sohayil. In the distance, seen as green smudges, he saw hills to the north and east. These slopes were cut by the gaps of West Riding and East Riding, although in truth those gaps lay more to the north and south.
He banked low, spiraling down. Maybe his dreams spoke true, granted him by the gods. Maybe that really had been Marit talking to him, however impossible that might seem. Or maybe it was just a good hunch, filtered through his sleeping mind. For there they were, the pair of them with their three horses, plodding down the switchback trail from the height of the Soha Hills into the deep basin below. They were easy to spot, right out in the open on the bare slope, and they had nowhere to hide here in the afternoon with the rain holding off and no one else on the road. He recognized her the moment he saw her, for no matter how small she might appear there was something in her shape and posture he could never mistake for another. The fugitives paused to look up as he circled overhead, and although he was riding the thermals and quite high above them, he was sure she knew what reeve had tracked her down.
He sent Scar to earth at the base of the trail. The tall grass was greening under the onslaught of early rains. He unhooked from the harness, dropped to the earth, and strode forward to the road. Not too long after, they trudged into sight. It was obvious even from a distance that they were arguing, and soon enough he heard their conversation.
'Bai, we can't just give up-'
'What do you intend to do? Turn around and toil up that damned steep road? It's better to face what's chasing you than to keep running.'
She was close enough that he could raise his voice and hope to be heard. 'Good advice, verea. For here I am.'
Her gait shifted subtly, enough to make him catch in his breath as she sauntered in full swing toward him. She looked him up and down in a measuring way that made his ears burn. 'Yet I must be wondering why you have come after us and, apparently, alone but for your fine eagle there.'
He grinned. 'Reason enough.'
'So I imagine, by the look of you.'
'Bai!'
Joss spared a glance for the brother, then looked again, surprised that he recognized the young man. The intricate architecture of causation and consequence unfolded before him: he'd met this young man for the first time in the village of Dast Korumbos, when they were both standing over the body of an envoy of Ilu who had been mortally wounded by the ospreys — the bandits — who had invaded the village.
For a moment he was speechless; he'd known, but it hadn't really occurred to him that so many of the players in this tale were linked so neatly. Then they halted in front of him, the horses blowing and stamping, eager for water and yet nervous of the eagle, the woman amused and the man irritated and anxious. Two holy ginny lizards stared at him. Their gaze was unnervingly disapproving, so he shifted his attention.
'Keshad, isn't it?' he asked.
'So it is. We're clear of our debts. We're free to go.'
'As it happens, you aren't.'
The young man had an expressive, passionate face, although his features were marred by a sense of perpetual impatience and anger. 'That bastard Feden-'
'Master Feden is dead. His heirs, indeed all the Greater Houses of Olossi, are in disgrace. You're safe on that count.'
'What does the Hieros want?' asked Zubaidit.
She was a truly magnificent young woman, handsome without
shallow prettiness, built with the strength of a woman who knows how to labor, forthright, bold, unbelievably attractive. Her black hair was pulled back from her face, but a few thick strands fell over her shoulders. Her sleeveless vest was short enough to show a bit of belly; her kilted wrap left most of her long, muscular legs showing. The hike had made her sweaty; her brown skin glistened. Whew.
'What are you thinking?' she asked with a laugh.
'Just thirsty all of a sudden.'
'I can see you're the kind who drinks a lot.'
'Eiya! I'm hit.'
'Maybe. You clean up well, I'll say that.'
'Bail' protested the irritable brother.
Joss chuckled. 'Did I ever thank you for rescuing me?'
'Likely not. In my experience, men so rarely do. They get what they need, and they leave.'
'How can I thank you, then?'
'Not in the way you're hoping.'
'How can you possibly know what I'm hoping? Verea, I fear it's your own thoughts have taken charge of your lips. Not that I'm complaining.'
'Enough of this!' cried the brother. 'Make your claim, or let us go on.'
'Yes,' she agreed, smirking in that maddening way that made Joss hotter than the day warranted. The larger ginny opened its mouth, showing teeth. 'What claim are you making?'
The flirtation played between them lost its power to amuse. Whatever his expression showed, she caught his change of mood at once. The smaller ginny hissed.
'What?' she demanded.
He raised both hands, showing empty palms, the old gesture for 'it's out of my hands'. 'I've been sent by order of the temple of Ushara in Olossi, by order of the Hieros with the backing of the Olossi temple conclave, to return both of you to Olossi. For breach of contract. For theft.'
She looked thoughtful.
Her brother was not so patient. 'I delivered property to the temple, which the Hieros accepted as compensation for Zubaidit's debt. The accounts book was marked and sealed. I have it here in
my possession.' He patted the strap of the pack he had slung over one shoulder.
'New information has come into the light. That's why I'm here.'
'What I offered, the Hieros accepted,' said the brother. 'The payment was ample compensation for Bai's debt to the temple.'
Bai turned to look inquiringly at Joss, as if to say, 'How will you answer that?'
He shrugged. 'What you offered in payment for your sister's debt was not yours.'
'Of course it was mine! If I find a precious stone on the river-bank, it's mine. That is the law, that any item which has no other claimant can be taken and owned by the one who finds it.'
'There was another claimant.'
'How can there have been another claimant? I found the girl abandoned and dying in the desert so far south of here that I wasn't even in the empire, much less the Hundred! Am I to understand that now any person who likes can just claim whatever he wants? I claim your eagle, then. Or your sword. Or the temple itself! I'll claim Master Feden's storehouse, if I've as much right to do so as another person who dances in after me to claim what / found and I transported and I fed and cared for and I sold to pay off my sister's debtV
'Kesh,' said Zubaidit in a soft tone. 'Let him speak.'
'A man, mature but not yet elderly, came to the temple some nights after you made the exchange,' said Joss. 'According to the testimony of the Hieros, and corroborated by every hierodule and kalos I interviewed thereafter, he was dressed in the manner of an envoy of Ilu but claimed to be a Guardian.'
Kesh snorted. 'Guardians! There's a man who knows how to dance a fraud. The Guardians are gone. Vanished. Dead.'
'Kesh! Let him finish.' The teasing manner she'd had before had fled utterly. This was not a woman you wanted to cross.
'The man went on to say he was sorry if the treasure came into her hands in any manner which led her to believe she could own it.'
