bear to get dressed, Kesta's here. She brought a Qin soldier found at Copper Hall. You know anything about a Qin scout gotten all the way to Nessumara?'
'That'll be Tohon.' His embarrassment sloughed off as quickly as the desert air sucked away the moisture on his skin. 'That's unexpectedly good news.'
Siras appeared with his clothes, and he dressed and met Kesta and Tohon in the mess hall. The reeve and the scout were talking like old comrades as they measured cups of cordial.
'Careful, Tohon,' he said as he came up. 'Kesta can outdrink every reeve I know.'
The scout rose to greet him in the Qin manner, forearm clapped to forearm, like two rams bashing.
'Ouch,' said Kesta.
Joss winced and sat, rubbing his arm, as Tohon grinned. Siras set down a tray laden with cordial and porridge and slid in beside Joss, staring wide-eyed at the Qin scout.
'So they found you, eh?' Joss asked.
'So they did,' said Tohon with a friendly nod at Kesta. 'Picked me up at Copper Hall. Hu! That was a thing to see, I'll tell you, the way that river got so wide and then split into so many tiny channels. I've never seen — what is it you call it?'
'Ocean,' said Kesta.
'Plains of water. What a sight! Then we flew a few circuits around the delta, to observe the army's positions. I'd say they mean to attack along the two causeways. Not sure that's wise, myself. Good archers — or reeves from the air — could pick them off as they march.'
'What of the others who were with you, Tohon?'
Kesta replied. 'We were able to strike a deal with that gods-rotted festering old Silver to place the other people from Tohon's party and the children they'd rescued on one of his vessels, sailing for Zosteria.' Her glare resembled that of an eagle. 'It's a cursed dangerous thing for reeves to be owing favors like that. Not just to a Silver. To anyone.'
'Does he want something besides coin?'
'He wants a lass from Olossi,' Kesta said sourly. 'I'm supposed to haul her to Nessumara.'
'I wasn't consulted about this!'
'Copper Hall agreed. Then told me to do it, since I was flying down here anyway. Can we refuse?'
'Eiya! I suppose we're committed now. What the Ri Amarah do is no business of ours, and he did help us get Tohon's party out of the reach of the army.'
'Where does the Star of Life army come from?' asked Tohon.
'Walshow,' said Kesta.
Joss shook his head. 'I think it started in Iliyat with Lord Radas, who expanded his influence north into Herelia first and then expanded into Teriayne and the highlands and set up a major base in Walshow. You don't know this, Tohon, but the region of Herelia has been closed to us reeves for twenty years. We no longer know what goes on there. It's all of a piece, isn't it?' He shook his head as that troublesome pain began its familiar throb in his temples. 'Bit by bit Radas has been placing his traps, eating the land, and surrounding us. And us never noticing because it came on so slow. What fools we've been!'
His voice had raised, but only a pair of hirelings loitering at the big tent's entrance turned to look as he grabbed his cup and downed the cordial in a gulp.
'It's strong,' warned Kesta.
As the taste stung in his throat, he started to hack. 'Too… late!'
'Best you eat some porridge, Commander,' said Siras. Cursed if the lad didn't sound like an old auntie cajoling a stubborn child.
Tohon regarded Joss steadily. The Qin scout was perhaps ten years older than Joss, and his years had weathered him more. 'I'd like to reach Captain Anji, Commander,' and so would you, I wager. He's gone by ship for Olossi.'
'I need to meet with Arda and the senior reeves, and then I'll fly you over the water. We'll wait for the captain in Olossi.'
'That would suit me.'
'It would suit me as well, for Scar will need a hunt and a rest.'
'Joss,' said Kesta, 'I want to see that Arkest gets released for a hunt. Do you need me?'
'No. I'll fill you in on the rest when we are back at Clan Hall.'
She left.
Joss set into the porridge, so hungry he thought he would faint if he did not eat, and his head was swimming from the effects of the cordial. 'Siras, find Arda and the senior reeves.'
'Yes, Commander!' The young man chased away the hirelings who had lingered by the entrance to stare.
This time of day, it was warm under the canvas even though the changing season brought a cooler tinge to the air. Tohon calmly ate his nai porridge as Joss dug into a second bowl. Hitting bottom, he sat back.
'Tohon, is it true the Qin kill any newborn babies among them who are tainted by demons?'
'Hu! A strange question to ask.'
'I beg your pardon. Perhaps I'm being rude.'
'It is something we don't commonly speak of, that's true, although it's known to all. Demons are dangerous creatures. Still, my youngest son never rode as a soldier for having a twisted foot that he was born with. The elders of our clan said at his birth that he was demon-tainted. We ought to have killed him, but he was such a beautiful child, quite the most beautiful of any born to my wife and me. She loved him for that twisted foot, because she knew it meant he would have to stay close by her. Not that he can't ride as well as anyone, it's just walking that he'll always do with a limp. In the end we lost one boy to the wars and another
rides in the east with the army still, so it's hard to say if he'll live or die, if he'll ever marry and sire children. And our daughter, of course, her we lost to the water spirits and my poor wife of grief soon after. So I'm not sorry for having taken the risk of sparing the other one.' Abruptly he looked up at Joss, his gaze steady. 'You saw Zubaidit, Kesta says, but what about Shai?'
Joss shrugged. 'She said he walked with her into the army's encampment. That's all I know.'
Like most of the Qin, Tohon was not a demonstrative man. He merely nodded, but Joss suspected deeper currents ran beneath.
Arda walked briskly into the mess tent, followed by Miyara, the reeve who, with Joss, had witnessed the birth of Mai's child.
He greeted both women, then turned to Miyara. 'The baby got off safely?'
'Atani?' Her smile lit her face. 'A sweet child, very small, mind you, but healthy. He was feted with a feast and songs, very proper, although done in the Qin manner. I don't mind saying that they eat terribly strange food.' She glanced at Tohon. 'Begging your pardon, ver. Just not what we are accustomed to.'
Tohon had a genial smile. 'Hard to offend me, verea. Food is food, different in different lands. As long as I'm not hungry, I'm content.'
Both the women studied him with that look women got, Joss had observed, when a man surprised them in a way that pleased them. It was different from an admiring stare for good looks or an attractive body.
An older male reeve hurried in, puffing as though he'd been running. 'Heya, Arda! I got the flag. Marshal Joss!'
'Etad. Greetings of the day to you. Please sit down.'
'I will. You're back from the north. What news?'
Siras entered with more cups and a pitcher of cordial. After he'd poured around, Joss leaned forward on his elbows. 'I've agreed to stand as commander over Clan Hall until the emergency has passed-'
'Or we're all dead,' said Arda with a snort.
'Or we're all dead,' agreed Joss, 'or some other calamity befalls us. In any case, I'm asking you three as representatives of Naya Hall if you'll accept Verena as acting marshal of Argent Hall for now, and with you, Arda, and Miyara and Etad to stand for Naya Hall as a daughter hall to Argent Hall.'
'That goes against tradition,' said Miyara, 'although in the tales-'
'Yes,' said Joss, 'we already discussed appointing an ordinand or a hieros.'
Miyara chuckled. 'There's some appeal in the latter. Yet in days like this, with that which ought to face
