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The words took Leesil by surprise. He spun about, wondering who in this faraway place knew his companions that well. Neither of the two men was familiar to him.
"But will it spread, Colonel?" the younger man asked the elder.
Both were dressed as Stravinan border guards in crestless white tabards over padded armor. They wore fur-lined capes, vambraces, and metal-scaled gloves, as well as plain polished armor for their shoulders and lower legs. Thin prongs of gold sprouted a finger's length above the noseguards of their fur-trimmed helmets-one for the younger and three for the colonel. The only other distinguishing mark was the elder's blue sash ru
"Unlikely," replied the colonel. "They've been in civil unrest for a century or more. They're no threat to any beyond their borders, unless they cease squabbling and unify… and that's unlikely."
"If war spreads from there," said the younger, with a disgusted shake of his head, "someone else can attend it. Stravina has stood long enough against the Warlands' disorder. Let Belaski face the south, as we've borne enough vigilance for them up here."
"This is what I tried to tell you when I arrived," Wy
Leesil turned back to her, at a loss to understand the conversation between the two officers.
"War," Wy
Magiere's expression flattened.
She turned south, as if her gaze could cut through the city and reach all the way to a small village left far behind.
"Aunt Bieja…" Magiere whispered. "Leesil, I know I promised you, but we have to get to my aunt-"
"We ca
The sages words faded at Magiere's hardened expression. Leesil slipped one shoulder into Magiere's way.
"What's happened?" he asked.
Wy
Leesil didn't see how their own actions or stealthy flight co
"I have to go back," she insisted.
"Wy
Magiere's puzzlement was matched by Wy
"The morning we left Chemestuk, I gave Bieja a letter of introduction to Karlin and Caleb back in Muska, with enough coin to get her there. I told her there's a home for her at the Sea Lion tavern with us, though right off she took it as an insult and-"
"Why haven't you told me… in all this time?" Magiere asked, and her tone was disturbingly quiet.
Leesil barely turned his cringe into a shrug, wishing her ire were still aimed at Wy
"He is correct, Magiere," Wy
"And what if they go looking for her," Magiere replied, "as a way to find me? Ubad was there at my birth, and if he-"
Chap rumbled so deeply that they all turned their attention downward. His gaze locked only upon Magiere, and she froze for a moment, then flinched. Leesil suppressed an urge to swipe at the dog.
"You stay out of her head as well!"
"No, it's all right." Magiere shivered briefly and swallowed hard. "He's reminding me… of the clearing near Apudalsat. Ubad probably had my village watched for years and gave up on it long ago. When he learned that I was heading toward him, it's unlikely he'd have told anyone to watch the village again… before he died."
She'd told Leesil what happened in the clearing, from Chap's frenzied slaughter of the necromancer to the massive specter of black coils circling in the forest. In Leesil's own imagining, it was disturbing in many ways how vicious and terrified that apparition had made Chap. In turn, fear for Magiere had ridden Leesil ever since.
Magiere shot him a narrow side glance, and Leesil cringed again.
"I'd appreciate it," she began softly, tone sharpening with each word, "if you would stop keeping these little arrangements to yourself!"
Before Leesil fumbled out another excuse, a bellowing tone carried through the air from behind him. A border guard atop the stone wall to the gate's east side blew two more times upon a curved ashen horn. Beside the man stood several comrades and two figures in pale blue tabards over dark wool robes with full cowls. One cowled figure pointed over the wall to the north.
People nearby drifted toward the gate, and several guards politely urged them to stay back. Leesil pressed forward, his companions close behind him. He saw nothing but the still landscape across the border stream.
"What's happening?" he called to the two Stravinan officers.
The elder colonel ignored him, eyes fixed upon the distant tree line as he uttered low commands to his men. The younger officer looked Leesil over, perhaps appraising him as a stranger. Leesil knew his tan skin and amber eyes were out of place, though his raised hood hid his oblong ears and most of his hair.
"More refugees on their way," the young captain replied. "The Sluzhobnek Sutzits brought word last evening."
Wy
Belaskian was the most common language, even in Stravina, where its own tongue was used only in remote backlands or by old-blood nobles who thought such things mattered. As much as Wy
"Not menials," Magiere muttered. "Sutzit-minister or servant."
"The Servants of Compassion," Leesil added with disdain. "Priests."
To Leesil, religion was somewhere between a
A figure surged across the flat grass field-it was a woman in drab peasant garb. Two smaller forms followed. Judging by their height and the way they shadowed the woman, they were children in her charge. A pair of medium-size figures came next, a boy and girl, who rushed ahead of the others.
The younger officer took a step toward the gate's opening. His colonel clamped a hand on the man's shoulder and pulled him back.