Kate Elliott - Traitors Gate

'It's Nallo. Avisha is my stepdaughter. The pretty one.'

He blinked. 'That's right.' He laughed at his awkward words. 'I meant, that's right that you're Nallo and she's Avisha. She got married.'

Nallo flushed, thinking of poor Avisha, orphaned and kinless with two small siblings to protect and thereby having no better option than to marry one of the Qin soldiers because they were rich and without wives. 'I hope he'll treat her well.'

Pil said, 'Who chose her?'

'It doesn't work quite that way,' said the reeve, scratching his clean-shaven, noble chin. 'I've forgotten your name.'

'It's Pil, Marshal.'

'Pil. That's right. Men can offer, but it's the woman who must accept or refuse.'

'How likely is it that a woman will refuse if her entire clan insists?' asked Nallo curtly. 'How much of a choice does a poor woman have if she has only one offer?'

Marshal Joss's glance at her was keen. 'That's right. In this case, your pretty stepdaughter had more than one suitor. One was Chief Tuvi.'

Pil whistled under his breath, but said nothing.

'However, she chose a tailman. A decent fellow, everyone says.'

'Jagi,' said Pil, and an unexpected grin flashed.

Joss shrugged. 'I don't recall the name.' He smiled winningly again and walked over to greet Odash. The two men moved down the alley between barracks and storehouse toward the

commander's cote, and most of the reeves followed in a shuffling, uncertain crowd, not sure what to expect or what to do now that help had come from the south in the form of a single reeve known to be a drunk and a womanizer. Nallo walked to the gate, Pil pacing alongside her.

'Will he treat her and the children well?'

'He will.' The certainty in his tone brought tears to her eyes.

'Good, then. Good.'

She settled against one of the gateposts and, crossing her arms, stared out at Justice Square. The rations line had gotten shorter; about forty people, including the fuming merchant, waited to receive their portion. Others had retreated to the porches to sit in the shade. From the direction of the militia barracks came the call and clap of drill.

'Heya, Pil.' Kesta smiled, and settled in beside Nallo. 'They want you to report on the incident you observed on the river.'

'Now?'.

'Now.' Her smile collapsed into a brooding frown as Pil strode off toward the commander's garden. She looked at Nallo. 'So here we stand, surrounded by countless enemies, plagued by self-important merchants, and hoping we can fly in enough food to keep us going while we stick it out here more for the show of the thing than for any purpose. Does Clan Hall even serve a purpose? Do the reeve halls want to work together to battle this army, or are they only going to look after themselves?'

'If they do that,' said Nallo, 'we'll fall one by one.'

'You don't need to tell me that. When the commander and senior reeves were murdered on Traitors' Night, I felt like the reeve halls were murdered, too. She did her best for all these years to be a fair and effective commander. Yet who now listens to Clan Hall? Why should they? We're as barren as a woman without a basket, as impotent as a man with no plow.'

'There has to be something we can do!' But in swiping strands of hair off her sweaty forehead, Nallo measured the fragility of her words, how they might penetrate the air with seeming force only to dissipate as if they had never been uttered. 'Maybe Marshal Joss can do something.'

Kesta mopped her own brow as in imitation of Nallo. 'So here we all wait to see what Joss will say and what Joss will do! Eiya! I don't know whether to laugh or to cry'

'We've been fortunate so far with the provisions from Nessumara,' Odash was saying as Joss picked up his cup of rice wine and, with a grimace, set it down without drinking. 'But it can't go on forever. We'll need another source of rice and nai. We've flown off forty-eight refugees, mostly children, but that still leaves us with one hundred and fifty-seven in the reeve hall, ninety-eight firefighters, militiamen, and ordinands, thirty-eight clerks of Sapanasu, and four hundred and sixty-three refugees from Toskala of whom two hundred and three have stated they are able and willing to join the defense of the rock.'

Joss turned the cup around. 'I'm not sure reprovisioning is our biggest problem. We can continue to delegate less experienced reeves to fly supply and take off the remaining refugees. As long as we are careful to ration the food strictly and control what numbers we allow to remain up here, we can hold the rock. The cisterns and the deep well will supply water indefinitely.'

'What do you think is our biggest problem?' Peddonon's earnest expression reflected all their worries.

'The top leadership and all their years of experience were wiped out ten days ago. Not to mention Volias dying like that. He may have been a prick, but he knew what he was doing.' He downed the rice wine in one gulp, feeling the burn, then wiped his mouth. 'That's one thing. The other is that the army took Toskala through treachery. We don't know who we can trust. Finally, setting aside the matter of what the enemy intends to do next, these demons who call themselves Guardians can fly onto this rock and kill any of us.'

'Do you think they're demons?' Odash asked.

'Captain Anji does. He's the outlander captain who saved Olossi. But I'm not sure he means the same thing by the word as we do. For myself, I don't know what to think.'

'It was swords killed all the men and women in the council hall on Traitors' Night,' said Odash.

'You're sure? In the tales it's said Guardians can kill with a word and a look alone.'

'The only survivor of the massacre was one of the traitors. She said the cloaks promised order and wealth to anyone who aided them. Afterward, the cloaks turned on the traitors who had done the dirty work of actually murdering the council, and killed them — with a look and a word, like in the tales.'

'Used and discarded! So the question is, why didn't the cloaks kill the council themselves? Can I interview this survivor?'

As Odash hesitated, all the others drained their cups. 'She threw herself off the promontory.'

'Eihi! Just like in the tale. What did she tell you?'

'Nothing but how if she'd known otherwise she wouldn't have done it, useless apologies, if you take my meaning. All I know is that she's from the Green Sun clan, and they all cleared out before the attack. If we can get more information from the city about what other clans cleared out, we might know who betrayed us.'

'We'll send that message as a warning to Nessumara,' said Joss as folk nodded.

'Why, just so!' cried Odash as the others looked at Joss and then at their empty cups. 'That's why we need a new commander.'

'Commander of Clan Hall? Over all the reeve halls? Are you asking me?'

Odash bent a baleful glare on Peddonon. 'Surely Peddo mentioned-'

'I thought he was joking!'

'We didn't kriow who else to turn to,' added Odash.

'I'm the only one who answered the call?' He rested his forehead on fists, his head so heavy he thought he might never again raise it. 'Let me sleep on it. I'm cursed tired from the journey and everything we've had to deal with down south.'

'Allies from Toskala are sending up a messenger tonight.'

'All the more reason to sleep now.'

Peddonon hung back after the others had gone. 'I wasn't joking. We need you, Joss.'

'Let me sleep first!'

Peddonon grinned. 'Can't keep your looks without enough rest, my friend. Wise of you.'

'I wouldn't want to end up looking like you, true enough. Say, how are the two recruits doing? The young Qin reeve gave an excellent account of the encounter on the river.'

Yet he wondered: had Zubaidit been on that barge Pil had seen on the river? Was she still alive?