“I’ll need a Quorum.”
“You may take two Codexia of your choice.”
“Qinsei and Phang, then, if the choice is mine,” Soen nodded as he thought. “And the four Assesia?”
“I should think that Yarou, Shonoc and Wreth would be honored by the task. Perhaps you could also take young Jukung as your fourth?”
Soen smiled once more. He knew Jukung was a spy for Ch’drei. This assignment was important enough that the Keeper wanted a second set of eyes to report to her.
Who trusts anyone anymore. .
“So the Myrdin-dai provide the transport and means to allow us to solve a mystery for their rivals, the Occuran,” Soen chuckled. “We garner favor with both and neither is the wiser.”
“Everyone profits,” Ch’drei smiled. “Especially us.”
“Thank you, Keeper.” Soen bowed. “I am honored to serve with such a Quorum. . and may I add my personal thanks as it will be good to serve under an open sky again.”
“Do not thank me so quickly,” Ch’drei returned. “You do not know what awaits you in the Western Provinces-and many a truth has left its Inquisitor buried beneath that same open sky.”
CHAPTER 18
The evening had deepened into a purple twilight around the horizon by the time Assesia Jukung joined the rest of the Quorum in the courtyard of the Keep. The globe-torches mounted on the inner walls of the Keep had just flickered to life in the gathering night, illuminating the ancient flagstones beneath their feet. Above the walls to the east, the towering subatria of the Imperial City shone in the night with a soft incandescence, the Cloud Palace itself shining above them all.
Soen saw none of its beauty; his eyes were focused on the Quorum that had formed before him. Each of them was clothed in much the same manner as himself, in a dull reddish-brown hooded robe with a black sash closure at the waist. They also, he was pleased to note, appeared prepared for an extended absence as all were shouldering backpacks bulging with their field goods.
Each also held the unique staff of their Order-the Matei-which was simultaneously the tool of their protection, the symbol of their office, and the means by which they measured out their often final, deadly judgments regarding the lives of those whom fate caused to cross their path. Just over six feet in length, the smooth wood of the staff had a polished steel cap with a diamond-edged spike at one end. The upper third of the staff was carved with intricate patterns and ended with an ornate headpiece representing the Eye of Qin-symbol of the god worshiped by their Order-fitted with a large crystal. Soen noted with satisfaction that within each one the power of the Aether shone; their staffs were fully charged for the journey ahead.
“I am Soen Tjen-rei,” he said to the assembly without preamble. “We serve the Will of the Emperor tonight by journeying to the Icaran Frontier. It will be a long road but one that you are well prepared to face. We travel the folds of the Myrdin-dai with their blessing and should, with the favor of the gods, arrive at our area of need quickly. Where we are needed, we do not yet know, but when we arrive, it will be with death staring into our faces. Be prepared to stare back and spit in its eye.”
Dark chuckles rolled among the members of the Quorum.
“Qinsei, you will be my first. . Phang, my second,” Soen nodded to each of them. It was necessary to make clear the order of command in case Soen somehow got himself in over his head. His death was unimportant; continuing the mission was. Qinsei was female and Phang was male. It made some difference in terms of their abilities, but generally he liked the idea of the balance it represented. “Watch each other. Trust in the Order-trust no one else. We are the Iblisi. . and we serve the Imperial Will!”
“We serve the Imperial Will,” they answered back in unison.
“We are one!” Soen shouted.
“We are one!” the Quorum shouted in reply.
Soen turned and pulled the deep hood up over his head until its forward edge hung low over his sloping forehead. He shifted his own Matei into his right hand and took his first step on a journey whose end he did not yet see.
“Where are we?” Wreth asked quietly.
“An Iblisi always knows where he is,” Phang replied in the same voice. “Even when he’s lost. Did they teach you nothing in the Lyceum?”
Soen allowed himself a rueful smile, then said in a voice that carried throughout the Quorum, “How many folds is that, Qinsei?”
“Eleven, Master Inquisitor,” she replied.
“Three more, then, and we should be within the borders of Ibania,” Soen said.
Soen stepped off the fold platform. The Myrdin-dai priest who was managing the portal was watching them closely but always glanced away whenever Soen turned in his direction. It was the expected reaction. The Iblisi were, by Imperial decree, their own justice.
Soen gazed out over the assembly area. This one was in a hollow rimmed with tree-covered hills. It was the same sort of undulating geography that typified much of the lands northwest of Rhonas proper. The last four folds had been into similar terrain.
And each was similarly boring, Soen thought.
The weary slave armies of the Empire were being herded home once more. Most of these were from the Army of the Emperor’s Blade heading back in the direction from which Soen’s Quorum had just come. The Impress Warriors of the various Legions, Centurais, Cohorts and Octia were emptying into the holding pen of the surrounding totems from the fold at the far side of the hollow. They wandered about listlessly until their group was sorted out by the Myrdin-dai and their various Tribunes and then meekly filed through their respective folds on their own journeys homeward. He had seen it all before; these weary slaves with different faces had been shuffling out of every fold portal he and his Quorum had entered since the central junction in the subatria of the Myrdin-dai temple in the Imperial City. If there were a problem here, Soen had not yet found its edges and did not expect to do so for another six folds. It was a long way to the frontier, and even utilizing the folds it had taken them four hours to get this far.
“Phang, you know what to do,” Soen said, tugging at his gloves.
“Find the Field Marshal, show him the baton, secure our passage, and report.” Phang’s words reflected Soen’s own boredom. “Aye, Master Inquisitor.”
The Codexia turned to make his way around the hollow. but Qinsei, standing behind Soen, called out. “One moment more, Phang.”
Soen turned a curious eye on his First. “Yes, Codexia Qinsei?”
“The road is long before us,” Qinsei said, her voice smooth and unusually deep, “and it is late. Our problems lie ahead of us, and wisdom might be found in resting mind and body to prepare for them when they are discovered. Might the Inquisitor consider camping here for the night?”
Soen considered for a moment. “You make an entire argument in a single breath, Codexia Qinsei.”
The Codexia only smiled back and bowed slightly.
“Still, few words often carry the greatest merit,” Soen continued. They had been traveling against the tide of warriors flowing through the gates since they left the capital. He was beginning to feel the weariness of the journey as well. “The question in my mind is whether to camp here or continue a few folds farther on. . wait!”
A scream cut once more across the herd from the fold portal on the far side of the hollow. A chimerian stood on the platform before the shimmering fold and howled such a terrible sound that the Myrdin-dai and others on the platform scattered at once, stumbling over each other as they tried to get as far away from the mad creature as possible.