Kate Elliott - Shadow Gate

The old man walked forward accompanied by a middle-aged woman in a good quality silk taloos and a younger man carrying a spear. Joss heard his flanking eagles land.

'If you've come for one of us, we'll not allow your depredations,' said the old man. 'Not unless you present proof beyond doubt of guilt.'

Maybe shock showed on Joss's face, because folk pointed at him. 'Have reeves come here and demanded you give up individuals into their custody?'

'Last year it did happen. Said they hailed from Horn Hall. They took five young people. Into custody, so they said.'

'Horn Hall!'

'Know you of Horn Hall?'

'The hells! Last year I had reason to visit Horn Hall, and found it abandoned.' He wanted to slap himself until he woke up. Another mystery, and one he had no time to solve.

'Folk can say anything they want,' agreed the elder. 'There are plenty of rogues abroad these days. I'm called Menard. What's your business with us, and why have you brought so many eagles?' He gestured skyward.

'Rogues are my business,' said Joss, wishing he had a drink. 'I don't know if you've had the news, but at the end of the Fox year an army out of the north attacked Olossi.'

'Might have heard a rumor of it. Might have had some trouble ourselves recently. Might have. I'm not saying we did.'

'A coalition of reeves, Olossi militia, and outlanders come to make their fortune in the Hundred banded together to defeat this

army. Most of the defeated survivors fled north over months ago, but some hid out on the Olo Plain. This group have finally made their move to get home.'

'What's that to do with us?'

'They're marching up the Rice Walk. They'll hit this ferry and want to cross. They're being led by a man who pretends to be a Guardian.'

The elder whispered for a bit to his fellows, then turned back. 'The Guardians are long vanished from the Hundred. Everyone knows that.'

'Maybe so, but I'm not the only one who has seen abroad creatures who in all parts resemble Guardians except that they rule not in favor of justice but against it.'

'Sounds like demons to me. What's it to us?'

'You don't dispute my tale. Or ask to hear more particulars?'

'I don't.'

'Then you've heard rumors, or have seen what I speak of. As for Westcott, the companies that now march up Rice Walk will not show your town any mercy, once they cross the river.'

'You wish us to hold the ferry and defend the shore. This we can do easily enough. We've pulled the ferry to our side. We control its movements from the winch. Anyway, the river is swift this time of year. They'll not cross without our permission. They'll have two day's rugged march north to Hammering Ford, which is no easy crossing. There's neither ford or ferry south of here until Storos-on-the-water. That's a long way.'

'I'm glad to hear you have your territory so well scanned, Menard. So tell me. What defense have you against demons?'

'Why, the same as you reeves. Or are you here to tell me you have a plan in mind and wish our help?'

Joss grinned. 'That's exactly what I'm here to tell you. We haven't long, for we're not that far ahead. We've plans to make and snares to set. As for your people, those who have heart and strength to fight are welcome to join us. All others should flee to refuge.'

'I low many march in this army?' asked Menard grimly.

'Three hundred or so.'

They dropped back to confer with the villagers, but the conference

was a short one. Soon the trio returned. 'What do you want us to do?'

Joss beckoned, and Anji walked up, surveying the assembly as they stared and muttered. 'This is Captain Anji, commander of the Olossi militia by request and consent of the Olossi council.'

'He's an outlander.'

'So he is. Olossi would be a ruin today if not for him.'

By their expressions, they weren't convinced.

'If you'll hear me out,' said Anji, facing their skepticism without any sign of discomfort, 'I'll tell you that I consider myself a Hundred man now. I have an estate in the Barrens. I have a pregnant wife.'

'A cursed beautiful one,' said Joss in the tone of a jealous man, which got a laugh.

'Go on,' said Menard, who with the others had relaxed a bit at the mention of a child. If a man had children, and land, then he had something to defend.

Anji indicated Joss. 'The marshal here will be sending four reeves, in pairs, to fly north and south to patrol the river and give us warning should the enemy decide to attempt a river crossing elsewhere. I'll need you to detail twenty or thirty men, if you have them, who can march at speed to any point of contact, should it be necessary.'

'What about the village?' asked the woman.

'We've brought a cadre of trained militiamen from Olossi to aid with the defense here. Ver, I'll need three of your largest and sturdiest fishing nets and your heaviest stone weights. We will require all of the arrows, javelins, slings and stones you have in case they try to force their way across the river. Move the livestock out of the village and conceal it. We'll need, in addition, brave souls to remain in the village, working as if nothing is amiss, to lure in the demon. They'll be armed, ready to fight if we're forced to engage.'

They listened eagerly. They'd been expecting this, Joss saw. They'd had trouble, and scant hope of defeating new trouble should it come. Because in times like these, trouble would come. Scar spread his wings, to catch the sun, and the villagers took a nervous step back.

Grinning, Anji examined the crowd, nodding at folk to acknowledge them. Young men, especially, moved toward him, despite the

big eagle. 'Know your vulnerabilities and defend them. Think how, if you were your enemy, they might overcome you. Prepare for the unexpected. As for the demon, I intend to confront him myself.'

'Bold words,' said Joss after the villagers had hurried away to make ready and the militia men carried by eagles from Olossi had received their instructions. 'Chief Tuvi could not face the one that entered your house.'

'Mai faced the creature. How am I to do less? It must be done, to understand what we battle. These Guardians of yours, upholders of justice, are nothing but tales. This is not a Guardian.'

'Maybe not. Maybe it is. Either way, I agree we must confront it.'

'You mean to stay here?'

'I do. The rest of the flight will move out of sight to the northeast.'

A pair of older woman walked out from the village and, politely but without smiling, offered them cordial. He knocked back two cups, feeling the buzz of a headache recede. Anji thanked them, and the women walked over to offer drink to the pair of reeves who, waiting on Joss's orders, had volunteered for the hardest task of the day.

'I note,' said Joss once he was sure the women were out of earshot, 'that you didn't tell them about the strike force that's riding up from behind.'

'What none know, no traitor can reveal.'

'You think there's a traitor in this village?'

'Three hundred men hid out on the Olo Plain for almost five months, and only now make their break north? I choose not to take the chance.'

By early afternoon the eagles were flown, the village emptied, militia concealed, and volunteers loitering in places visible on the far shore where the road ended at river's edge. Menard had stayed, but every other elder, all the children, and most of the women had left. The sun swung over the arc of the sky. As the afternoon grew late, its rays glinted off the water as if to blind the town to the coming threat. Forested slopes covered much of the land on the far side, although trees had been cut back on either side of the road by

folk gathering fuel or supplying logs to villages downstream. It was a peaceful enough scene. Yet Joss, standing beside Anji in the town's watchtower with a good view, felt uneasy, as at the approach of an ill wind.