Shadow Gate

43

Do you hear that voice?' whispered Eliar.

'No.'

'It's mumbling on and on. "Mist flees", and "a night spanned with stars cloaks all". I can't sleep.'

Keshad rolled over in his blankets. Even that effort made him pant in the thin air of the Kandaran Pass. 'The only cursed voice

mumbling on and on is yours. Any chance you're likely to leave me alone so I can sleep?'

In the crumbling sod shack they were, of necessity, pressed close together under what remained of the turf roof. The rest of the party had refused to sleep in a place rumored to be haunted and instead huddled beneath canvas in the freezing night outdoors among rocks and snow. Now Kesh wished he had joined them, even though he had observed that the whole cursed place looked likely to slide away. But night had caught them on the road, and the rocks and shack seemed stable enough.

Eliar coughed hoarsely, as they all did up on the heights. 'Did you know you are one of the most unpleasant men I have ever been forced to associate with?' j

'I wasn't aware anyone forced you to come on this expedition. Are you done?'

'People like me, you know. Everyone likes me.'

'Of course they do. You're young and rich and handsome, even if you are a hells-cursed Silver. Now can I sleep?'

'I wish you would stop using that word. I am Ri Amarah.'

'Aui!' The exclamation caught in his weary lungs, and he coughed, once started unable to suck in enough air to stop.

Eliar plucked at his sleeve. 'Hsst! Do you hear that?'

This time he did hear something. He covered his mouth and listened. It sounded like the jangling of harness. As with one thought, he and Eliar crawled to the remains of the door. Dawn would come soon, and as he peered into the gloom he was able to distinguish the road as a stripe below. Mercifully, the rest of their party were well hidden at the edge of the rocks.

The sound echoed off the high mountain escarpments, amplified by the predawn quiet and the eerie lack of wind. Men trotted into view, carrying lamps extended on poles. After them marched a force of soldiers, the men walking on the steep upgrade but each one lead-ing a string of four horses, one saddled, one packing, and the other two as remounts. They wore swords slung at their hips and javelins or bow quivers across their backs; spears and bundles of javelins and arrows laded the pack horses. At speed, they passed quickly, moving north and vanishing from sight before the first birds woke to sing awake the dawn.

'Is that a trading company?' Eliar whispered. 'Trying to get across before the snows close the pass?'

'Are you as stupid as you sound? Those are soldiers. Several hundred, I'd estimate.'

'Eiya! Whose soldiers?'

'Sirniakan, by the look of them.'

'But what if-?'

'I'm not listening. It's none of my business. I don't care. Let's roust the men and make an early start. I want to get down off the heights before more snow falls. Aui! I hate the cold!'

Eliar shut his mouth, but as they raised the grumbling company and set off in marching order while dawn lightened the cloudy sky, he loosed dark, brooding glances toward Keshad that were, Kesh supposed, meant to disturb Kesh into troubling himself over the matter.

None of the drovers had noticed anything, so their company of ten hirelings and ten doughty guards – in truth nothing more than reckless young men hankering for an adventure and, perhaps, a chance to slip chains binding them in Olossi – set off downroad, traveling south.

Keshad scanned the slopes, not that there was a cursed thing they could do about it if they were attacked by a numerically superior force of bandits. But as the morning unfolded and their knees ached from the jarring descent, they met no one walking north.

'I thought we'd see more people on the roads,' said Eliar, who had moved up alongside Keshad at the front.

'Not this time of year. The big snows could come any day and block the pass. We'll be trapped in the empire for months.'

'What will we see in the empire? I've read accounts, and talked to merchants, but-'

'We'll see no women, that's one thing. I suppose you'll like that.'

is there some hidden meaning in your rude words?'

'Do you think there is? You Silvers keep your women hidden away. You wouldn't like your sister out walking around, would you?'

'I've already told you I don't talk about my female relatives with people who aren't kin.'

'1 might like you better if you did.'

'It was a shameful thing that happened to my sister.'

'It wasn't her fault.'

'You know nothing of the matter. You know nothing.'

Kesh knew that Eliar could not forgive him because he had glimpsed his sister's face that night in Olossi. Bai would urge him to befriend the man as an act of kindness, or maybe simply because it was the smart thing to do, but that gate was already closed, and it wasn't Kesh who had closed it. He'd have loved nothing more than to hear the other man talk on and on and on all he wanted if only the subject was his glorious sister.

'Heya, ver,' called one of the guards. 'Here comes someone.'

Kesh whistled, and they tightened up their formation, guards slipping wicker shields off their backs. Kesh had a sword, but he left it sheathed. Surely bandits would ambush them, not march up in the open.

A trio of peddlers walked into view, each man leading a string of laden horses. They wore red caps and the distinctive tiered robes common among Sirniakan merchants. The guards relaxed.

Keshad acknowledged them with the believer's salute, speaking in the believer's language. 'Peace to you, in the Name of the Exalted One, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Shining One Who Rules Alone.'

'Peace to you,' they replied, and there was an awkward moment while both parties slowed so as not to ram into each other. Kesh pulled his mount aside, and his company followed suit, but instead of simply passing upward the men halted. They stared pointedly at Eliar and the turban that wrapped his head.

Kesh approached them. He didn't like the way their gazes sucked him in, like they were spooling for secrets.

'A cold day higher up,' he said with a smile, switching back to the modified Hundred speech that could be understood in every trading town he'd ever walked. 'You'll be wanting more of a wrap, if you've got one. More snow ahead of you, but the road's open yet all the way across. What news from the empire?'

Sour men offer sour smiles, and one refused to smile, still squinting at Eliar.

'All praise to Beltak, King of Kings and Lord of Lords,' said the eldest, and he also changed to the trade speech. 'Sarida's markets are open to foreign men. Believers such as you will be charged a lower

toll. As for ourselves, we hope for good trade in the Hundred, despite the cold weather. How are the markets?'

'They are open!' he said, wondering what kind of an idiot they took him for. 'Silk is always welcome in the Hundred. No silk rivals Sirniakan silk, heh?' His chuckle did not elicit agreement, even though his statement was not flattery but truth.

'Seen you much traffic on the road?' asked the eldest with a sly glance toward the guards and drovers.

Eliar looked away.

Keshad lifted his chin, the Sirniakan way of motioning no. 'No one in the last three days. Should we fear bandits on the pass?'

'The priests make all roads in the empire safe,' said the eldest, as if Kesh had insulted them. 'But we hear stories in Sarida, maybe there is trouble in the Hundred, maybe some fighting with out-landers? You know anything of that?'

'There's trouble in the north, but not in Olossi, where we come from.'

'Are there many outlanders in Olossi? Like us?'

'Not like you.' He wondered now why they wore red caps and not some other color. 'We hope for a rich market in Sarida, eh?'

Another glanced at Eliar. 'If you worship at the temple.'

'I will worship at the temple.'

They nodded, made their parting gestures, and took their leave.

Keshad got the men moving. Eliar waited perhaps four breaths before he began poking.

'What was that all about? What temple? Why do you think they were asking about outlanders in Olossi? Do you think we should return to Olossi to warn the captain?'

'Now, there's a fruitful idea. Naturally we can easily outpace trained soldiers racing at night out of the empire armed with numerous weapons and a string of remounts. Who may perhaps be on their way into the Hundred to assassinate Captain Anji. So when they catch us hounding their trail, they won't just kill us outright, do you think? I don't either.'

lWhy do you dislike me? What have I ever done to you?'

'Nothing.' And then, because he couldn't speak the truth, he ate his anger and went on in a tight voice. 'I apologize for my bad temper. This expedition means everything to me.'

Everything.

Eliar's gaze drifted to sharp peaks so majestic that one might believe gods dwelt there, if one believed in gods. What Eliar saw in the crags and white-cloaked spires, Kesh could not guess, but when the young Silver frowned and looked back, his shoulders were taut and his expression scarred with something akin to grudging respect and a kind of weary pain. 'Aui! How Miravia would love this! It's noble of you to risk everything to aid your sister.'

'Yes, it is.'

Flakes of snow spun past, and the rest of the company plodded steadily behind as they pushed down into the empire, where fortunes might be lost or won.

A fortune he would win, to use for unselfish reasons, not selfish ones. Unlike Eliar, he would risk everything to save a sister. His own. And now Eliar's. He would save her even if she never thanked him for it, even if that brief look they had shared in the inner court had meant nothing to her. Let others ride into Olossi on the trail of Captain Anji, if that's what those men were: spies, Red Hounds, assassins. Let others argue for prominence in the city council, guide the temples, or stand in authority over the reeve halls. Kesh had his eyes set on a far more precious prize, the one Eliar had already selfishly traded away.

Miravia.