Spirit Gate: Book One of Crossroads (83 page)

“In the testimony of the villagers, those who survived, they stated quite clearly that he was killed. That he died in the arms of a woman who’d given her apprenticeship to the Lady. She’d seen death before. The reeve who took her testimony felt she knew what she was talking about.”

“What happened to the body, then?”

“That’s the mystery. It vanished soon after. No one could say how.”

THE FLIGHTS FLEW
wide of the road, so as not to be spotted, but Joss sent Volias and Kesta to shadow West Track. He’d taken his chances yesterday flying over to observe the army. He didn’t want to be spotted, knowing it necessary that Argent Hall and their allies believe, for the time being, that he was dead. But yesterday he had needed to see, and today so did these two, so they could understand as well as he did what they were up against.

He had never in his life seen quite so many people on the move all at the same time. They marched in orderly groups, ranked by cohorts. Their weapons gleamed; blacksmiths had been working for years to produce that supply of swords, spears, halberds, axes, and arrows. Their wagons trundled along, pulled by draft animals. Behind them, villages lay emptied. The road stretched, deserted, before and behind the army’s killing path. He had glimpsed a handful of people in the woodland cover, scrambling to hide when they saw the eagle’s shadow: these might be outriders and foragers, or they might be innocent villagers trying to hide from the wolves. He had seen fresh mounds of dirt heaped over corpses, an act meant to demoralize and terrify the country folk, since it was truly an abomination to bury what should be left to the Lady’s acolytes to purify and the Four Mothers to gather into their wombs.

Worse even than all this was the knowledge that the horror was just beginning, if they could find no way to stop it. No adult in living memory had seen an army gathered, although armies were spoken of in the old tales of the civil wars that had almost torn apart the Hundred. To think there were two such armies made him want to scream.

Midday came a signal flashed through the flights by flags. Joss had told Volias what to look for, and they had found it. He shifted the flights northward to move out over the road and the river plain, while he flew in over West Track. There, on the road below, marched a band of some two hundred mounted soldiers, all in black.

The Qin soldiers moved at a speed Joss could hardly credit, but they switched off
between horses, and all of them—men and horses alike—had a stubborn toughness that was impressive and even disturbing. Joss took Volias and Kesta down with him and left the rest aloft, as it took less energy for the eagles to circle high overhead, rising on drafts and gliding back down to repeat the cycle, than for all to land and take off again. Anyway, they were safer in the air. The army was at least a day’s march behind them by now, but there would still be scouts and outriders ranging along the land and sneaking through the woods.

They landed a short ways out ahead of the Qin. Joss left Scar off the road and clambered up onto its surface. Where the Qin scouts hid he could not tell, but they got their message back to the company somehow, because a short while later Anji came galloping up in front of his troop with six companions, including Chief Tuvi and his usual dour guardsmen, Sengel and Toughid.

The captain dismounted and strode to Joss, then grasped his arm, hand to elbow, and grinned with genuine pleasure. “Well met. What news do you bring me?”

“These are Volias and Kesta, reeves out of Clan Hall. They’ve brought two flights, sixty in all. You can see some of them.”

Anji shaded his eyes with a hand and surveyed the sky.

Joss said, “The rest are spread out to oversee the land. What of your task?”

The captain dropped his hand. Dried blood spattered the back of his fingers. “The ambush succeeded. They were lax, and lazy, accustomed to easy pickings. I myself would always put my best soldiers in my strike force, and if that is so, then this army is strong only in numbers. However, I can’t be sure their generals act as I would.”

“So the strike force is wiped out.”

“Some escaped. That was to be expected. But as a unified force, they are broken. How far behind is the army? How large is it?”

“A day’s march behind. The Devouring woman had it right. About three thousand fighting men, formed into cohorts.”

Anji nodded at Volias and Kesta, to invite their attention and input. “So, it is as we discussed when the council got the news and came to us begging for our aid. We’ve accomplished the one commission, the one we agreed with the Greater Houses through Master lad.”

“What of the greater battle?” Joss asked.

“There are far too many of them for us to hope for a victory in the open field. With the strike force destroyed, we have three choices. We can retreat to Olossi, where the council should already be calling in the townsfolk and preparing for a siege. We can run entirely, and abandon both city and land to the invaders. We can stay outside the walls and harass the army when it invests Olossi with a siege, as we must expect it will do. If the latter course, then we would hope eventually to wear them down, starve them, deny them battle, and make it dangerous for them to move about the land to forage and raid in small bands. To carry out this plan, we must ourselves disperse into bands so we can supply ourselves and appear to be everywhere at once. They must never be able to find and pin us down. But for this choice to work, we must have the advantage of speed and sight. We must be able to cut off all messages running between the army and Argent Hall, and between the
army and whatever allies they hold in the north. Otherwise, we have nothing they do not already possess, and, as well, the reeves who cooperate with them can seek out and discover us as we move across the land.”

Kesta was devouring the captain with her gaze, listening as if each utterance was a jewel that must be caught. She seemed smitten.

Joss said, “I’ve seen no reeves besides our own today. How did the other part of the plan go? What happened to the reeve from Argent Hall?”

His words cut like an axe. There was a pause, as though he had said something shocking. A horse snorted. A hawk skimmed overhead and shied off, spotting the eagles.

Then all seven of the Qin—stolid, serious men—laughed until they wept.

When he was done, Anji wiped tears from his face. “Aui! That woman is dangerous. She knows more than one way to kill a man.”

“She murdered the reeve?”

“No. But he got all tied up in his honor.”

Chief Tuvi snorted, and they all chortled again.

Anji finally found his voice. “He wasn’t able to alert Argent Hall. But my own tailmen ran into a man who rode a horse that had wings, and could fly. This man they shot with many arrows, and a javelin, yet he did not fall. My tailmen do not exaggerate. What do you make of it?”

“There are no winged horses,” said Kesta. “It’s a tale for children.”

“What tale?” asked Anji. “For I can tell you, my men were shocked at the sight of a winged horse. Of a man who would not fall no matter how many arrows he had in him.”

Kesta said, “The tale is a simple one. The gods brought forth the Guardians to bring justice to the land. They gave them seven gifts, and departed. After that, the Guardians acted as judges at the assizes. But it’s only a story. There are no Guardians.”

“It’s not a story,” said Joss. “Many people’s grandparents remembered seeing a Guardian when they were children.”

“A little lad may see all manner of things in shadows and in wishful dreams,” retorted Kesta. “What do you think, Volias?”

Yet Volias, who never on any account liked to agree with Joss, remained thoughtful. “I think the testimony of this man’s soldiers must be taken into account. They aren’t the only rumors I’ve heard in recent months.”

“When folk are frightened, they’ll see and say anything,” objected Kesta. “Not that I blame them. But that doesn’t mean what they say and see are true things. Only that they’re frightened.”

Joss shook his head. “Zubaidit saw winged horses, too, when she was in the enemy’s camp. So she reported to me, when we met in Olossi. But she saw no Guardians.”

“Could you recognize a Guardian if you saw one?” Kesta asked with a sharp laugh.

“Excuse me, if you will.” Anji shifted to look down the road, back the way he had come. The front rank of his company rode into view. “We have little enough time.
What do I need to know about winged horses, and these creatures you call ‘guardians’?”

Joss nodded. “Kesta is right. According to our tales, the nine Guardians served as judges at the assizes for many generations. Then, they vanished. No one alive today has met a Guardian. We have good reason to believe they’re all dead. Remains have been found. Bones. I think they’re gone. But, according to the tale, among the gifts given them by the gods were winged horses, ‘formed out of the elements so that they could travel swiftly and across the rivers and mountains without obstacle.’ ”

“A useful skill,” said Anji, indicating the resting eagles. “As we have seen.”

“We’ve got a flag,” said Volias suddenly.

Joss looked over his shoulder to see all three eagles staring at the sky, but not at the two reeves circling overhead. After a moment, he saw a speck in the southern sky that quickly grew until he could make out an eagle and reeve moving in fast.

Joss turned to Anji. “Remember that no eagle can descend on you if you and your men and horses take cover in woods. And at night, eagles are blind.”

Pari and Killer landed at a prudent distance, and the reeve unhooked and ran over to them. He was panting as he came up.

“The eagles are flaring,” he said. “There’s at least two flights approaching out of the north. It must be Argent Hall.”

Joss looked at Volias, and Volias looked at Captain Anji. The Qin troop had halted on the road behind him. They waited in neat ranks, with their remounts and grooms in the center of the marching order.

“If we draw them off,” said Volias, “these have a hope of getting to Olossi before the army catches up. Or of scattering, without the Argent reeves marking their movement.”

“What will you do?” asked Joss. “What meeting place will we arrange?”

Anji looked toward Pari. “This man wears different markings than the others. What does that mean?”

Volias said, “Pari, back aloft. Alert Ulon that we’ll be drawing the Argent Hall reeves off toward the escarpment. We’ll meet up with you shortly.”

“Don’t you trust me?” demanded Pari. In the distance, Killer gave a twitter of anger, seeing a change in Pari’s stance. The feathers were rising on the back of Scar’s neck as he swiveled his head to stare at the smaller eagle.

“Best go,” said Joss. “I don’t want a confrontation between those two eagles.”

Pari gave way.

As the young reeve walked off, Anji, rather like the fierce-eyed eagles, watched him go. “Can you explain that?” he asked.

“He came to us from Argent Hall,” said Joss, “with troubling stories of their marshal and their activities. He claims to be on our side, and I believe him. But I think it best not to discuss our plans in front of him.”

Anji nodded. “Best move quickly, then. If you can, let Argent Hall’s reeves see us riding for Olossi. Afterward, draw them off and keep them busy. We’ll resupply in Olossi this afternoon and scatter at nightfall. By tomorrow, the army will come. It’s most likely they will trample the countryside and invest a siege. Were they hauling the makings of siegeworks?”

Joss shrugged. “How could I tell? There are accounts of sieges in the old tales, but I’ve never seen such a thing. They had wagons carting supplies.”

“If they believe the gates will be opened from within by their allies within the Greater Houses, they won’t be prepared for a drawn-out ordeal. That is what we must hope for.”

Kesta and Volias walked away toward their eagles, but Joss lingered. “What happened to Zubaidit? I don’t see her with you.”

“She took her brother and went her way at dawn. She said she had fulfilled her obligations, and meant to walk her own path.” Anji grinned at Chief Tuvi, and around the group of seven they shared smiles. “Nor did I think to stop her, fearing she might take her revenge on me someday when I least expect it.”

“If these eagles are come in their numbers from Argent Hall,” said Chief Tuvi, “then it seems she set free the pig and he went running to his mire!”

Their laughter annoyed Joss, and he did not even know why. As the other eagles took off, Scar called to him, an eager chirp. The raptor knew something was afoot. He didn’t want to miss the action. As Joss hustled back to the eagle and hooked in, he worked through what was bothering him so much: that Zubaidit had just run away like that, when he had some things left to say to her. Yet she was free to go and come as she wished. She had no bond to him, no obligation. He might wish otherwise, but he knew when to give up the dance.

There was more to his irritation, hard to point to, subtle but rankling.

The Qin were not demonstrative men. In truth, they had about them a fastidious air of superiority; it was well hidden for the most part, but so pervasive was this quality to the fabric of their personalities that it seemed woven into them. Their laughter had shown no scorn. By any measure, it was clear they admired the Devouring woman, as if they thought her worthy in a way no one else they had met in the Hundred was. Not even Joss.

The worst came just after dawn when he heard thrashing in the trees. By then, he could not feel either hands or feet. He could not protect himself. And he looked like such a damned fool idiot. Sometimes death was better than shame.

But, after all, the impulse to live was stronger.

A man beat a path through the woods. He had a knife out, and the remains of a soldier’s kit, leather scale coat, empty sword sheath, sturdy boots, baggy trousers sewn of stiff cloth, all torn and bloodied. Seeing Horas, he stopped dead, and like an eagle he gaped, showing his tongue.

“What are you?” he asked.

“A reeve from Argent Hall. Cut me loose.”

The man looked at the trussing, and the clothes, and he scratched his chin in a puzzled way, trying to work it out. He had worn a helm once; a leather strap, sliced clean, dangled where one end had gotten caught in the neck of his coat.