Kate Elliott - Shadow Gate

'Let in the water! Let in the water!' a voice cried.

'Release the locks!'

'They've breached the gates!'

Like a storm, riot crashed down: the clatter of weapons, the dogs gone wild, and most of all the terror of thousands wailing and roaring until she thought her heart would burst from fear. Within the bodies pushing toward the single gate guarding the stairs, she had lost Pil.

'Nallo!'

She spotted his topknot, and she brought her baton into play, slapping and whacking. 'I'm a reeve! Let me through!'

They fought their way to the gate, where a dozen frightened militiamen held the entrance, wicker shields overlapping to make a tight wall over the gap.

'What's going on?' demanded one lad, his voice breaking.

'We need to get to our eagles! Let us through!'

A slim crack opened. She and Pil squeezed past, and the crowd surged forward as the poor guardsmen tried to close up. They kept

moving up. With night coming down it was hard to see, but with the rail under one hand they could guide themselves. A thousand steps were carved into the rock, wide enough that some might descend as others ascended, although today everyone struggled upward. Those who were slow hugged the rock face, and those who were stronger climbed along the outer rail, shouting at anyone who didn't get out of their way. Winded and sucking air, she and Pil reached Justice Square at the crest of the promontory only to stumble over folk collapsed on the ground right in their way.

Guardsmen carrying lit brands came running. 'Move out of the way! Let those behind keep climbing!'

Pil staggered to the wide balcony that overlooked the city. The din rising off the city was indescribable, floodwaters drowning everything in its path. Lamps and torches flickered in the streets below like will-o'-the-wisps, darting at random.

'The hells,' Nallo muttered. 'Best we get to Clan Hall'

Four complexes fenced Justice Square, all swarming with lamplight. The night fire burned at the tip of the promontory beside Law Rock. They cut left to the gate into Clan Hall, and were immediately stopped by the reeve standing watch.

'Any more with you?' he demanded. 'Ah, the hells, thank the gods it's you, Nallo. Heya, Pil! What is going on down there?'

'Peddo?' she said. 'I thought you'd know something.'

'The gates have been breached,' said Pil. 'The army has attacked. There's panic'

'How can the gates be breached? They're reinforced, doubled ranks of walls, a second ditch and entrenchment…'

'Sometimes,' said Pil in a calm voice that cut through Peddo's mounting hysteria, 'the Qin commanders bribe a local man who is discontented to open the gates. Maybe here, also? It is the easy way.'

'No, that's not possible. Why would anyone betray-'

'Heya! Is that you, Peddo?'

'It is. Volias?'

'The same. We need a count of reeves. How many were caught down in the city — Nallo! By the Witherer's mercy!' He caught her arm, hugged her, and let go to slap Pil on the shoulder. 'The hells!' His voice broke, he sucked in air. 'The hells! It's what I think, isn't it? They've breached the gates.'

'We think so,' said Nallo.

'Good time to attack,' said Pil. 'No moon.'

'No moon means the eagles won't fly until dawn,' agreed Volias. 'Peddo, why are you on gate duty?'

'Likard sent me. Commander was called away, over to Assizes Tower. Some kind of council meeting, I don't know. Her, and Ofri, and the legates, and-'

'Every senior reeve not off duty, twelve all told. I've been looking for them. Listen, I sent those two new fawkner's assistants over here to hold the gate, although I don't see them here, curse them. You grab every reeve you can find, and have them kit out. Ready to go. We'll need to release all the eagles.'

'They'll not fly at night,' said Peddo.

'Maybe not, but it's better if they're not trapped.'

'What do you think is happening, Volias?'

'I don't know. Pil, you have military experience. You and Nallo come with me.'

'Where are you going?' asked Peddo.

'To Assizes Tower. To find out what in the hells the council is doing over there. And why in the hells they didn't ask for oil of naya sooner. Eiya!'

Peddo laughed, tight and tense. 'Didn't know you had it in you to prance around giving orders, Volias. Thought all you did was snipe.'

'You and your grandmother.' Volias slapped him on the chest.

Peddo swung at him.

'Stop it!' Nallo cried, and they both looked at her, and she realized they weren't fighting, they were just tipping back the lid to let a trickle of steam escape.

'And while you're at it,' added Volias, still shouting to be heard above the onslaught of noise, 'send Kesta to find Captain Ressi. Someone's got to block those steps.'

Usually at night Justice Square lay in peaceful slumber, deserted except for the rounds made by the fire watch. Tonight, the three reeves pushed through a churning crowd, every person arguing and complaining, no one in charge.

'We had to leave everything.'

'My children are hungry.'

'My children are in the city! I have to go back down.'

'What's happening?'

'Those cursed reeves have done nothing. They let the refugees flood us. They let the army march without resistance. They padded their own nests while others work. The Commander says she's in charge, and yet see what has happened-'

'And what in the hells have you ever done?' snapped Nallo to the man, dressed in his expensive silks with his hair done up in a rich man's threefold loops. 'Let me see the calluses on your clean hands, eh?'

Volias took her arm. 'Nallo, come on.'

'You pissing coward,' she shouted for good measure as they trotted off. The man waved his hands as though berating her and was then lost in the milling crowd.

Volias said nothing, not to scold, not to praise. He was mumbling under his breath as he let go of her arm, but she was pretty sure it was nothing to do with her or that gods-rotted whining fool behind them. Toskala's Assizes Tower rose higher than any structure she had ever seen, with its thick stone base and wooden tiers floating above. They ascended the wide ramp, lit by lamps hanging from tripods. Militia guards huddled in groups, talking as they glanced nervously into the night.

'What's that?' said Pil, gaze lifting.

Lights dipped in the sky. Folk scattered, and with their shrieks ringing close beside and the steady rumbling clamor from below, Nallo could not hear the clap of horses' hooves when the animals dropped down out of the sky and trotted to the ramp. A light steadier than a burning oil lamp gleamed from the hand of each Guardian, two men and two women.

She couldn't move. She couldn't even breathe, but when the four riders hit the base of the ramp, she grabbed a stunned Volias and yanked him to one side as the winged horses paced up the stone walkway and the militiamen leaped out of their way.

Guardians!

Everyone knew the tales. She wept to see them, so bright and beautiful, come to save the city. Guardians of justice. The servants of the gods.

Men cowered, or dropped to their knees. Some wept, while others covered their faces.

A ghost rode in their midst.

'The demon,' said Pil, quite clearly, if not very loud.

A pallid face turned in their direction, and its gaze caught Nallo. Sheh! For shame! The rice she had stolen from a neighbor's storehouse before she was married, and how she let her cousin take the blame and the whipping. That time she had slapped Jerad until he cried, and then bullied him into keeping quiet about it. How much she had resented her husband, although he'd only ever been kind, smiling gently sometimes as if he knew what a bad bargain he'd gotten but was determined to accept his fate gracefully. That was the worst of it, hating yourself and never being brave enough to change.