Kate Elliott - Spirit Gate

Here-thank Ilu! — the Qin company waited in tidy ranks while clots of Olossi guardsmen kept their distance. The Qin had their horses with them. It seemed they had just ridden in. The square was slightly sloped, and backed by steeper roads leading down to the gates, with the tower built to overlook that open space and beyond it over the walls to the roofs and fields of the lower city. It was not as good a vantage place as Fortune Square, from which you could see in all directions, but Assizes Tower faced the busy gates through which flowed and ebbed the lifeblood of the town. Although he could see little in this gloom, he felt the presence of many hundreds of people pressed into the streets and avenues branching off Assizes Square. They were crammed shoulder-to-shoulder, held out of the square by the presence of militia, yet all desperate for news.

Joss hooded Scar swiftly and sprang up the steps to the porch that wrapped Assizes Hall. Behind, the old stone tower blocked part of the night sky.

The doors were already open, revealing the timber hall whose far end abutted the old tower. An argument raged in the crowd of council members, guild members, and other notables.

"You got us into this! What promises did you make them?"

"We did nothing except for the good of the city!"

"Liars! Fools!"

"You Lesser Houses stymied us at every turn! You forced us into a desperate bargain!"

"It was your greed that led you on! Now you would abandon the outer city! And I'm sure that is because your goods have all been moved into your compounds up here. What of those of us who have no place within the inner walls to save our goods and livestock?"

"Yes, what of us?"

"All must be saved! Everything!"

A long table stood to the right, under five arched windows. At one end of the table was placed a single chair on which sat the beautiful Ox girl, Mai. She had an almost heavenly shine, a "moonlit calm" that drew the gaze. Captain Anji was bent over, speaking softly in her ear; when he paused, she replied, lips barely moving.

Midway down the table sat the clerk Joss had flirted with mere days ago, although it seemed like years. Jonit. Chief Tuvi and the scout, Tohon, flanked her, and she marked with charcoal on rice paper according to their direction. A young Silver man with hair hidden beneath a fine silk turban and silver bracelets halfway up both forearms stood a few paces away, beneath the middle window. An older Silver man with a full set of bracelets glowered beside the younger, arms crossed as he studied by turns the yammering crowd and the bare-faced women.

Anji straightened, and stepped away from Mai. He held a quirt in his left hand. He marked Joss, nodded, then raised the quirt and brought it down on the table so hard that the slap of its impact made everyone jump. And stop speaking.

"Enough!" He fixed one last chatterer with a stare that shut the man up between one word and the next that never came. "Enough of this. What happened in the past, or even yesterday, does not matter today. How you sort out your grievances is your own business, to be argued over later. If you are alive to argue. I guarantee that if you continue to accuse each other now instead of making ready, then you will fall, and this city will fall, and your grievances will be dust and your children will be slaves."

Fear settled them. His voice held them.

"Against an army, we cannot protect the outer city. Once we defeat them, you can rebuild, but you cannot rebuild if you are dead. And lest you think that we are outnumbered, then wonder no longer. It is true. This reeve will tell you what he saw, as he told us earlier."

Joss nodded, but Anji did not wait for him to speak.

"Stout walls give us an advantage, if we can hold them. Captain Waras, what is your report? You already received tasks, which we discussed yesterday. Have they been carried out?"

Waras stepped forward, his color high and his face bruised as from a hard blow to the side of the head. His lower lip was split and still oozing blood. "I passed out the word that all able bodied folk were to be divided between those who will labor to strengthen the walls and those who can bear arms and fight. But then the council began squabbling this morning about what that meant, and which men would not sully their hands with digging and who did not want their sons risking their lives with swords and spears. That quarreling has gone on all day."

"If none risk their lives, then I guarantee all will be dead, and my men and I long gone, safely escaped."

None spoke to answer him. They were already cowed by their fear and their helplessness. So many faces stared at the captain, their expressions as stark as those of a dreamer woken from nightmare to discover it was not after all a dream.

"We haven't much time. Therefore, all who can labor must labor to strengthen the walls. Runners must race this night to the villages too far to hear the bell. The watch fire must be lit, if it has not been already. If you have a watch fire, as all wise folk should. Every person, male or female, who is able to bear arms will muster at dawn. Those who can reach the walls will shelter within, in every courtyard and house and alley. Those who cannot reach the walls must hide themselves as they are able in their own village and fields."

He paused to let these words sink in, but he did not cease thinking and communicating. He gave a signal to Chief Tuvi, who answered with a lift of a hand. He gestured to one of his guardsmen, who took a whispered message and strode out of the hall. He did not look at Mai.

"Master Feden. Master Calon. Mistress Ulara. See that competent people are assigned to oversee these tasks. Best you do so promptly. Get the work begun this night." As though stunned, they nodded. Anji beckoned to Joss. "What report do you bring us, Reeve Joss?"

Jonit looked up, hearing his name, and down again so swiftly that Joss winced. She was sorry to see him, with an expression on her sweet face that suggested there'd be no satisfaction to be found in that quarter. Aui! That was certainly a trivial matter best let fly to the winds!

He addressed the crowd. "A brief report. Reeve fought reeve this afternoon, a terrible thing brought about by the corruption that has eaten away at our land. Of that, I'll say no more except to tell you that it is one of the three pillars of the eagle halls that 'A reeve always comes to the aid of another reeve. To do otherwise is to cut away the heart of the halls.' If a reeve cannot trust another reeve, then how can any of us be trusted? So be it. The shadows have been creeping over the Hundred for a long time, and now it seems they mean to overwhelm us."

"And the battle?" asked Anji mildly.

The pain was of the kind that may bring a twisted smile to the lips. "Reeves do not train as soldiers. We were clumsy enough that we did ourselves little physical damage, thank the gods. But we did enough." He shook his head, shook it off. There wasn't time for this. As Marit had once told him: You think too much.

"Three flights out of Argent Hall rest in the Lending this night. Two flights out of Clan Hall remain near the Argent Hall flights, to watch them. Our intention is to stay away from the Argent Hall reeves at dawn, not to engage unless we have no choice. As for the next step, that is up to you."

Anji bit his lower lip, looking thoughtful.

Folk murmured, but no one spoke up. All deferred to the Qin commander.

"How many left, do you think, at Argent Hall?" he asked Joss.

"How many reeves and eagles?" Joss considered poor, dead Pari's report. He considered what he had himself observed. "Each hall is meant to house six hundred reeves. But there are never six hundred on any given night, or in any given month. Some are assigned to Clan Hall. Some range on sweep patrols. Some eagles have left for their nesting season. A few will have lost their reeves and gone to the mountains for whatever it is they do there to comfort themselves. Some reeves may be on leave to visit their families. Others will be in training. I happen to know that at least fifty reeves abandoned Argent Hall when the new marshal took over the cote. I happen to know that no reeveless eagle has chosen a new rider in many seasons. Some have transferred out to new halls. Three flights sit in the Lending, trapped by darkness."