Traitors' Gate by Kate Elliott Page A

heir’s son, sees benefit in contracting a foreign alliance. When the gold, or the land, or the horses, are too tempting to refuse. Then your words will change and your hearts will turn, and some poor young woman will be ripped from her family’s hearth and thrust into a cage, as I was.”
    Eliar gasped, as if the words had been aimed at him.
    The prince rose, his eyes so tightened at the corners that Kesh supposed him to be very angry. But he spoke in the blandest of voices, addressing Kesh and Eliar. “This woman carries our offer to Anjihosh. You will escort her and those attendants she brings with her. Be assured that agents of my choosing will ride with you over the Kandaran Pass. If you do not deliver her safely, they will kill you.”
    Kesh looked at Eliar; the young Silver was his only ally. “Yes, Your Excellency. Can you tell me who we have the honor of escorting?”
    â€œAnd idiots, too, in the bargain,” she said. She walked to the door, rapped on it with the iron knob of the stick, and, as soon as it was opened, vanished within.
    â€œYou claim to be a believer,” said the prince, “because of which I will offer you a piece of advice. That woman is a serpent, with a poisoned tongue and a barbarian’s lack of honor. Do not trust her.”
    â€œThat’s Captain Anji’s mother, isn’t it?” As soon as Eliar spoke the words, Keshad realized she could be no one else.
    â€œThe palace is rid of her at last,” said the prince. “As for you two, should either of you set foot in the empire again, you’ll find your lives swiftly forfeit.” He clapped his hands thrice.
    The door opened, and the captain strode swiftly out, posture erect and shoulders squared, like a man about to take his place in the talking line and perform one of the tales, a martial story told with defiance and bold gestures. These people knew what they were doing, entirely unlike Kesh and Eliar, their expedition begun as a toss of the sticks and exposed so easilyKesh felt the shame of it. Now they were delegated to be mere escorts to a bellicose woman being returned in disgrace to her son.
    The prince sat in his chair as the captain led them away. Yet as they walked the length of the underground corridor with its hunting stories faded in the dim light, Kesh considered the last time he had brought a woman north over the Kandaran Pass into the Hundred. He’d believed one thing about her, but he’d been entirely wrong; Cornflower had turned out to be quite different from what he originally thought she was, not a helpless mute slave at all but rather a terrible demon bent on vengeance. Aui! There was really no telling what would happen when Captain Anji’s mother arrived in the Hundred, was there?

PART TWO: ENCOUNTERS
In the Year of the Red Goat

3
    D ON’T OPEN THE GATE .
    Those were the last words Nekkar had said to the apprentices before he had slipped out of the temple to get a look at the army that had occupied Toskala eight days ago. Reflecting back on their frightened faces and anxious tears, he knew that leaving them had been a gods-rotted foolish thing to do. He should have stayed in the temple grounds to keep some order in the place. Make sure none of the young ones panicked.
    Aui! Too late now to fret over what he couldn’t change.
    He had reached the front of the line.
    A sergeant caressing a long knife finished his interrogation of a thin man, a farmer by the look of his humble knee-length linen jacket and bare legs. “So you admit you are a refugee, come to Toskala from the country in the last six months?”
    â€œWe had to flee our village because of the trouble—”
    â€œNo refugees allowed in Toskala. You’ll be marched to the gates and released. Return to your village.”
    A bored soldier beckoned to Nekkar, a gesture meaning
You next
.
    The farmer didn’t budge. “I’ve children waiting in the alleys. I