'Go on in, Captain,' Joss said. 'I'll follow in a moment.'
Anji looked at Joss, followed an unseen thread to Siras, smiled slightly, and nodded. With his men, he strolled into the first cavern, the soldiers staring around' like curious children.
Joss hung back in the sun-swept plaza as Siras hurried over. 'Greetings of the dusk, Siras. How is your eagle? Your training?'
The young man grinned. He didn't even need to say anything. But when his gaze shifted to the cave mouth and the huge vault within, his mouth turned down. 'It's like this, Commander. Verena is marshal of Argent Hall — of course you know that.'
The sun's glare was, at long last, triggering an ache in Joss's temples. Or maybe it was only the secret Marit had told him eating away at his heart. He nodded.
Siras went on. 'She sent word to Arda at Naya Hall that the Qin have asked for reeves to be assigned as messengers and transport for the captain's use.'
'Verena and I discussed it,' agreed Joss, rubbing his brows.
'It seems because I served as your assistant for that time in Argent Hall, that the captain decided I was trustworthy. So he came to me five days ago-'
'Anji came to you?'
'He came to Naya Hall and asked me to fly him to Merciful Valley-'
'Merciful Valley?'
'That's what they're calling that valley up in the mountains where the captain's child was born. Mistress Mai placed an altar at the birthing place to her god, and no one could say her nay.'
'No, I don't suppose they could. The Spires are the borderlands of the Hundred. I don't see why our gods would be jealous of an altar in such an isolated place. Go on.'
'Afterward the captain said he'd like to keep the place off limits to reeves for the time being, until some holy thanksgiving boundary has passed. He's been going up once a month on Wakened Ox with his wife to make a thanksgiving offering. They take up a small chest, the kind you'd store expensive spices in or rich folk their jeweled combs and gold necklaces. Three months running. But this time the captain asked me to transport him up there alone.'
'Alone?'
'That was the first puzzling thing, because you know he never travels anywhere, without those two guards. He took up that same chest, only this'time it was bound with an iron chain. He said he needed to make a father's private offering at the cave where his son was born.'
'Go on.'
'So I flew him there. At his request I left him and came back the next day to fetch him. He was wearing a different tunic and trousers. I only noticed because the ones he'd worn the day before were threadbare and patched, and these were newly sewn.'
'It's possible he changed clothes to make his offering. Like we do for festival days. Is there anything else?'
'He didn't bring the chest back with him.'
'Maybe it was part of the offering.'
'What do you suppose the Qin use for offerings? I asked around. Reeves who were up in Merciful Valley before with the mistress said she takes flowers as offerings, just as folk should.'
Joss thought of what Tohon had told him about the Qin habit of ridding themselves of imperfect children. Killing them. His cursed head was beginning to throb. 'Any news of the child?'
'Atani?' His smile was innocent enough to charm a cadre of susceptible young women. 'The market women in Astafero talk about him all the time. The mistress, she comes out to the big house in Astafero each month right around Wakened Ox and stays for a few days to confer with that Silver woman who runs her household there. If the Qin officers aren't carrying that child
around as gentle as you please despite their grim faces and cold swords, then the house women haul him everywhere. How the market women do fuss over that baby!' His own expression was wistful, as if he missed a younger sibling from home.
'Odd news, indeed. My thanks for bringing it to me, Siras.'
'Is there some trouble, Commander?'
'No. Why shouldn't a man make a private offering to thank the gods for the safe birth of a healthy child? If you see or hear aught else, bring it to me. I'm not just speaking of the Qin soldiers, mind you, but in a general sense. Olossi's council. What the market women are saying. Gossip among the militiamen. Rumblings among the hirelings. Whispers at the temple of the Merciless One.'
The young man's eyes widened as he absorbed his new assignment. 'Yes, Commander!' He grinned and hustled away, no doubt enamored of the idea of playing spy for the reeve halls.
What on earth did Joss think Siras might overhear, as guileless as the lad was? He walked into the shadowed cavern, his headache easing as soon as he was free of the sun's grasp. Yet the commander of the reeve halls was involved in a far greater enterprise than just simple patrol. The magnitude of what he'd taken on yawned before him like the gulf of air beyond a cliff face that drops away to jagged rock far below. Aui!
'Commander?' Captain Anji and his men were waiting.
Joss smiled crookedly and walked over to them.
Anji tapped Joss's forearm in a rare display of fellowship. 'Why wait, Commander? Send a message to my wife now. Let her be brought at once by reeve to meet with Horn's council. If we move quickly, our enemy will be less likely to guess at our plans and prepare to fight us.'
'You would risk her walking into a hostile city?'
Anji gestured to the emptied cavern, the shadowed ceiling, the dusty corridors. 'If even the inhabitants of this unassailable hall could be killed — by treachery — then there will be no safe place in the Hundred until we make it one.'
Joss grasped the captain's wrist, feeling the strength of Anji's arm beneath his hand. 'Of course you are right. It begins here.'
The gates of Horn were huge, the height of six men or more. They were closed tight shut. Militiamen leaned over the parapets, arrows nocked. Mai had practiced speeches and phrases so many times that it was not in fact difficult to address Horn's closed
gates. She had only to pitch her voice to be heard without sounding as if she were shouting.
'We are.come as representatives of Olossi's council to meet with Horn's council in a place of your choosing, here at the gate or within your council hall. I am called Mai. Master Calon and I are merchants. This hierophant, Jodoni, comes at the behest of the temple council of Olo'osson. Please hear our words. We are come today to ask you to join with us in an alliance against the army who call themselves the Star of Life. They have overrun most of the lands along the River Istrt. We beat back a second army at Olossi, as you may have heard, but you can be sure that if Nessumara falls, Horn will be next and after Horn, Olossi. Each city and town — every reeve hall — will fall as long as each attempts to stand separately. The only way to defeat this army and these demons posing as Guardians is to join together.'
'Practiced words from a pretty girl,' called a woman in a deep, powerful voice. Mai scanned the parapet but did not see her. 'Are you one of Hasibal's pilgrims? We've learned that an actress, one of Hasibal's pilgrims, crept into our city in disguise months ago and spied on us. Why should we trust you?'
'Olossi did send scouts into the north. They had to discover if Horn supported the Star of Life army.'
'We did not then nor did we ever!'
'Can you defeat the northern army if it marches against you in full force, fully fifteen cohorts?'
'Fifteen cohorts!'
A murmur of shocked voices drifted down from the wall. Wheels scraped, and the right-hand gate huffed open just far enough for a woman and a man to emerge. Both were dressed in formal council robes with sashes; the woman held the baton of a council 'voice.'
'I am Poro,' said the woman, displaying the lacquered stick, 'who speaks for the council. Seyon is the arkhon of Horn.'
'We don't have arkhons in Olo'osson,' said Master Calon, 'but I understand an arkhon is leader of the council.'
