Kate Elliott - Traitors Gate

It was difficult to imagine how his life could become more tangled.

'Here we are,' muttered a male voice.

They heaved the basket up over the edge and dragged it back from the brink. A single person sat inside.

'Eh, that was a ride, I'll tell you,' she said as she clambered out. 'I thought I was going to pitch right over and fall to my death. And I'll tell you — that path out along the rock isn't a path at all! It's not even a goat track. I slipped into the river twice. I'm soaking wet.'

Joss sagged against the rock as his pulse hammered in his ears.

'Best we know who you are first.' Peddonon stepped out from the wall.

She chuckled, as Joss knew she would. 'I'm called Zubaidit. I convinced some brave clan folk within Toskala to get me up here. I've a message from them. But truly, I come from the south, from Olo'osson, at the behest of the Olossi council and their allies. I have news to pass back to Olossi, if you reeves will carry it.'

'Do you know about this, Joss?' Peddonon asked.

'Surely not Marshal Joss of Argent Hall?'

'The same,' Joss said, surprised at how smoothly his voice came out, not much of a croak at all. 'Well met, Zubaidit. What of the other scouts?'

'I'd be happy to give my report. But must I stand here in these wet clothes, with the wind chilling me?' she asked, the curl of her voice such a blatant tease that his ears burned. 'Or is there somewhere I can take them off?'

Cursed if every gods-rotted reeve standing there didn't start snickering, trying to hide the sound beneath hands clapped over mouths.

Smothering his own laughter, Peddonon said, 'It seems you two know each other. But if you don't mind, can we get off this cursed ledge before one of us falls to his death? I mean, the one who hasn't already taken the plunge.'

Snorting and chortling, the other reeves hurried away through the arch and down the corridor, leaving Joss to follow Peddonon and Zubaidit. The glow of the steward's lamp illuminated the assassin as she looked over her shoulder at him.

It wasn't that he'd seen her so cursed many times in his life, since that first day less than a year ago when she had flirted with him and afterward tried to kill him. It was just that he remembered so well every curve, the way her hips tilted as she walked, the lift of her chin. The way you knew she knew how to use her body, trained in Ushara's temple as the most deadly of assassins. Her vest and kilt were soaked, the cloth clinging to her like a second skin. Whew!

She grinned.

He was like a man staggering after a blow to the head.

'You're the messenger?' asked the steward, drawing her attention.

'I am.'

'You fell in the river?' Neffi asked with an appreciative grin. 'I did that once, climbing the same route.'

'Does every local in this city know it?'

'We here in the reeve halls do, obviously. We try to keep quiet about it.' He winked past her, at Joss. 'Some managed better than others.'

The reeves clambering up the ladder were laughing, bolder now inside, where there was no chance they'd be spotted by the

enemy. 'Trust Joss to know every adventuresome female…' one was saying as his voice broke into guffaws.

'Let's get on with this,' said Joss curtly. 'Neffi, can you get her dry clothes?'

'I was joking about the clothes.' The jesting tease molted right out of her tone. Her brows drew down as Neffi, frowning in confusion, lowered the lamp. 'Best I deliver my report right here and then you lot lower me back down to my contact so I can return to the city before daybreak.'.

Peddonon called to the reeves. 'Heya, boys. Go get Odash and the other seniors. Then get back here yourselves, or get fresh muscle. Move!'

'We can fly you back to Olossi,' said Joss.

She shook her head. 'I haven't completed my mission.'

He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look nonchalant. 'Go on. What of the other scouts?'

'What other scouts?' Peddonon asked.

'Seven scouts walked out of Olo'osson. We were delayed by lendings for a few days and lost our horses to them, but carried on, on foot. One of your reeves spotted us outside Horn and flew down to deliver a message to Shai. Now I don't know if it was him coming down with that cursed eagle, or if we had already been seen anyway, but a cadre of outlaws attacked our encampment on his heels. They killed Edard and captured Shai.'

'Edard was the censor.'

'That's right. One of Kotaru's Thunderers. Pretty cursed useless, if you ask me, but Tohon and I managed despite his clumsy attempts at leadership. Anyway, our lad Shai was captured and we had to follow that cadre lest they hand him over to one of those cloaks. As it turned out, we weren't the ones who rescued him. The outlander demon the reeve came to warn us about, an ugly pale girl with demon-blue eyes, she killed the whole cursed cadre with her magic and left us with Shai and the children the cadre had taken as slaves.'

Peddonon whistled, and the steward shook his head.

'Those children were badly misused.' Her expression darkened until she looked as if she'd have been happy to cut the throats of every one of those outlaws. Which, no doubt, she'd have done, given the opportunity. 'I'll cut the rest of that tale short. Eridit, the two militiamen, and Tohon went south with the children to Nessumara, which we thought would be safe.'

'They were spotted, safe on the river.'

She smiled, then lifted her gaze as her smile faded. 'As you know, I was given another mission.'

'A mission that will almost certainly lead to your death. Why go on?'

'Because I'll die anyway, whether today, or tomorrow, or when I've reached the venerable age of eighty-four, having seen seven rounds of the year cycle. It's necessary to take the risk to achieve the ends. Things are worse than you know. The news I bring from Toskala tonight is that the army is marching south on Nessumara.'

'The hells!' exclaimed Peddonon and Neffi in unison.

'They're driving out all the refugees from Toskala. They've ruthlessly cut loose all the camp followers who marched with them from Walshow and sent them away. They intend to take hostages from every clan and family and guild compound in Toskala. Those hostages will serve the army on the march through Istria. The hostages also will stand as surety for the good behavior of the Toskalans. The army will leave a garrison behind, but the threat to the hostages will be what keeps the population in order. I hope to go with the army as a hostage. Once with the army, I'll keep my eyes open, and strike when opportunity arises.'

'A dangerous venture,' said Peddonon with an admiring whistle.

'What do you think, Marshal?' Her gaze challenged him.

He wasn't about to show how much it bothered him to think of her risking herself like that. 'What about the seventh scout? What did you say his name is?'

'Shai?'

'Isn't he the uncle of the captain's wife? He's an outlander, but not Qin.'

Her lips quirked. 'Those outlanders all look alike to me, Marshal.' But she didn't mean it; she was just goading him, because sometimes a person took you that way, that you had to constantly be poking at them to get a reaction. It was not quite, and not only, lust, and it wasn't truly love; sometimes two bodies just fell out that way, impossible to explain why.

They'd had no chance to act.

Maybe they never would.

'It's gotten cursed hot in here,' muttered Peddonon.

Neffi said, without anger, 'Oh, shut up, Peddo. This is cursed serious, you idiot.'

Joss pushed away from the wall as he heard voices. Odash, Kesta, a fawkner, and another senior reeve climbed down the ladder. A flurry of questions filled the dark chamber. Zubaidit restated her news about Toskala. He could not look away from her as she talked in that forceful, silky voice.