Kate Elliott - Shadow Gate

'Impossible. A message rider would take four days to cover that distance. Regular traffic, ten or more.'

'For a fixed distance, along a good road? If we changeover to remounts at Storos?' He was well started now, a wolf already begun its race after a herd of scattering red deer. 'We've got militiamen in training who need experience fighting. Such a strike would build cohesion, and give them a sense of triumph.'

'If we win.'

'Against three hundred of the same rabble who besieged Olossi? If we remain steady, and allow for the troubles that invariably beset orderly plans, it could prove a small but significant victory.' He

stood, grabbing his sword belt and riding whip. 'Especially if we capture a Guardian.'

'The ghost-girl killed three of your men.'

'She caught them by surprise. What if we can trap this one where it can't see us?'

His determination caught in Joss, tumbling his thoughts through possibilities. 'A barrier to delay them.' He grinned.

'What are you thinking?' asked Anji.

Joss told him,

Zubaidit was sharpening her knives.

Shai glanced toward the awning strung low between trees. Their little cadre had set up camp off the path in a narrow clearing, not much more than an arm's reach of open ground where a pair of massive old trees had fallen, taking down smaller trees. The children huddled beneath the canvas, settling down for the night after a scant meal of rice and nai paste. He saw their forms as darkness churning, but maybe that was only the fear in his heart. Weren't they all captives, in a way, of Zubaidit's insane plan to join up with the northern army posing as merchants with slaves to sell?

'You're crazy,' he said.

'Every dawn I tell those who wish to stay behind that they are free to go,' said Bai without looking up. Eihi! How the whetstone grated his nerves! 'Every day, they stay with us.'

'You can strand a man in an oasis in the middle of the desert. You can tell him he is free to walk in whatever direction he wishes. But he knows he will die of thirst before he reaches the next water hole. Anyone can choose to die instead of live as a slave. That's not the same as freedom.'

Veras, oiling harness, looked up. 'Shut up, Shai. Bai knows best.'

She smiled, stroking a blade. 'Neh, let him talk. You're grown voluble, little brother. I like that. But remember. If we succeed, then even if we die our lives are an insignificant sacrifice compared to those who will suffer if we don't fight. Maybe brave children are clear-sighted enough to know what crucial part they can play'

'Think of what a tale it will make!' said Eridit, from her seat on a log.

Shai turned away in disgust. He would have taken the children and walked away, but he had no idea how to get back to Olossi, and he had no idea how to feed them. He was just afraid to take charge. It was easier to let Zubaidit and Tohon make the decisions.

He covered his eyes with a hand. What was he, after all? Just the useless unlucky seventh son, accustomed to taking orders from his elders.

'Hsst!'

Bai leaped to her feet, a knife in either hand. Veras dropped the harness and drew his sword. Eridit took in a sharp breath.

Ladon rattled out of the trees. 'Patrol coming.'

Bai nodded coolly. 'Take positions.'

Eridit ducked under the awning, crouching at the front. Pulse galloping, Shai grabbed a spear and stood, as if guarding prisoners.

Veras and Ladon took cover along the fallen trunks, one on each side. Ladon had his bow ready; Veras propped his supply of javelins beside him. Bai tied a belt of knives around her middle, checking each sheath. Tohon remained hidden.

Bodies pushed through undergrowth. A pair of men appeared at the edge of the clearing.

'Who're you?' one demanded.

'The hells!' Bai answered. 'Who are you?'

'Just passing through. Where you headed?'

'I've no pressing need to tell you where I'm headed.' The cheap tin medallion worn around her neck caught the firelight and winked.

'Heya! You headed to Walshow, maybe?'

'Come out of the shadows and I might be willing to talk.'

'Sheh! You cursed lackwit.' This compliment, delivered by a second voice, was directed at his comrade. 'I only see two.'

'And an awning that might be concealing more, and logs for cover. When did you get to be such a fool?' The first man whistled. Branches snapped and vegetation rustled as an unknown number of confederates approached. 'We can make it a fight, or we can join forces. Up to you.'

'Depends on who you are,' Bai said. 'I might be going to Walshow, or I might not.'

'We might just escort you there.' A dozen soldiers filed out to

take up positions around the clearing's edge. Veras, flushed out, rose slowly with a javelin in hand. Men stiffened. Hands gripped weapons. Shoulders grew taut. Every man wore a tin medallion around his neck, just like the ones they'd taken from the corpses of their former captors.

'I'm willing to travel with you,' said Bai, 'but I have a few conditions.'

'Not sure you're in a position to give conditions, verea,' said their leader mockingly. He was a burly man with a scarred forehead and hair cropped against the skull.

'That's because you're thinking you know all my resources, but you don't.'

The men looked nervously around at the trees.

'Told you not to rush in like a cursed bull,' muttered the second.

'Shut up.'

'I got no quarrel with you lot,' added Bai in a reasonable tone. 'I'm taking cargo to Walshow. I don't want any trouble.'

'What manner of cargo?'

'Slaves. Children mostly. From the Olo Plain.'

'Olo? How were you down there?'

'How do you think I was down there? Marched with the cursed army, didn't I? Got our asses kicked, didn't we? Cursed bad fortune, wasn't it? Captain Mani is dead, gods rot him, and the rest with him. That left me in charge of these dregs. Here, Ladon, you pissing dog. Stand up.' The youth stood, startling one of the soldiers so badly that the man yelped and thrust with his spear, but the jab wobbled and went far wide as Ladon jumped back into a rattle of branches.

'Settle!' barked the leader. 'I heard of Captain Mani.'

'Sheh! Let me not speak ill of the dead, though I'd like to. What a tight ass he had, eh?' Some man among the company snorted, as in agreement, but Shai couldn't tell which one it was. 'We fled with the clothes on our backs, these horses, and our weapons.'

'And slaves.' He nodded toward the awning.

'We were told we'd get the pick of loot in Olossi, so we took what we could.'

'I'd like to see your catch.'

'Sure you would. Wait 'til dawn.'

'I surely would wait, if I didn't suppose you might have a cadre of soldiers hidden under that awning like to murder us in our sleep.'

Aui! They were two wolves facing off.

Bai bared her teeth. 'Listen, ver, I'm happy to give you a look, but a look is all. I'm not one of those gods-rotted temples where anyone can go in as long as they show a little respect. I'm aiming to collect coin for leasing the older ones and to sell the younger.' She spat. 'You give me trouble, you've got a fight. And believe me, you'll go down first. You and your brother, there.'

The leader glanced at his second, but the other man looked unsure as the fire played light over his face. Some people, Shai realized, simply were in charge and, being so confident, cowed others. Captain Anji was that kind of person. So was Zubaidit.

'Give me a cut of the action?' ventured the leader.

Zubaidit heaved her shoulders in a big sigh. 'And then won't every cursed lout be wanting a cut, eh? Still. Keep your end of the bargain, and I'll consider your offer.'

Even knowing what to expect, having heard Bai explain how she intended to con her way into camp, Shai shook with an anger he could not express. Yet when the children were called out, they kept heads bent obediently and shuffled into a tight huddle, youngest in the center. Yudit was trembling, arms crossed in front of her scrawny body, but she said nothing, did not bolt, did not cry. Vali clutched her arm.