He paused to let these words sink in, but he did not cease thinking and communicating. He gave a signal to Chief Tuvi, who answered with a lift of a hand. He gestured to one of his guardsmen, who took a whispered message and strode out of the hall. He did not look at Mai.
"Master Feden. Master Calon. Mistress Ulara. See that competent people are assigned to oversee these tasks. Best you do so promptly. Get the work begun this night." As though stunned, they nodded. Anji beckoned to Joss. "What report do you bring us, Reeve Joss?"
Jonit looked up, hearing his name, and down again so swiftly that Joss winced. She was sorry to see him, with an expression on her sweet face that suggested there'd be no satisfaction to be found in that quarter. Aui! That was certainly a trivial matter best let fly to the winds!
He addressed the crowd. "A brief report. Reeve fought reeve this afternoon, a terrible thing brought about by the corruption that has eaten away at our land. Of that, I'll say no more except to tell you that it is one of the three pillars of the eagle halls that 'A reeve always comes to the aid of another reeve. To do otherwise is to cut away the heart of the halls.' If a reeve cannot trust another reeve, then how can any of us be trusted? So be it. The shadows have been creeping over the Hundred for a long time, and now it seems they mean to overwhelm us."
"And the battle?" asked Anji mildly.
The pain was of the kind that may bring a twisted smile to the lips. "Reeves do not train as soldiers. We were clumsy enough that we did ourselves little physical damage, thank the gods. But we did enough." He shook his head, shook it off. There wasn't time for this. As Marit had once told him: You think too much.
"Three flights out of Argent Hall rest in the Lending this night. Two flights out of Clan Hall remain near the Argent Hall flights, to watch them. Our intention is to stay away from the Argent Hall reeves at dawn, not to engage unless we have no choice. As for the next step, that is up to you."
Anji bit his lower lip, looking thoughtful.
Folk murmured, but no one spoke up. All deferred to the Qin commander.
"How many left, do you think, at Argent Hall?" he asked Joss.
"How many reeves and eagles?" Joss considered poor, dead Pari's report. He considered what he had himself observed. "Each hall is meant to house six hundred reeves. But there are never six hundred on any given night, or in any given month. Some are assigned to Clan Hall. Some range on sweep patrols. Some eagles have left for their nesting season. A few will have lost their reeves and gone to the mountains for whatever it is they do there to comfort themselves. Some reeves may be on leave to visit their families. Others will be in training. I happen to know that at least fifty reeves abandoned Argent Hall when the new marshal took over the cote. I happen to know that no reeveless eagle has chosen a new rider in many seasons. Some have transferred out to new halls. Three flights sit in the Lending, trapped by darkness."
"Why trapped?" Anji asked.
Joss shrugged, gesturing toward the lamps that lit the hall. "Eagles are blind at night. They are essentially helpless. They cannot fly, and it is impossible for them to strike what they cannot see. Their hearing is good, but they live by their eyes."
Anji nodded. "They cannot fly. But I can. How many blind eagles remain trapped by darkness at Argent Hall tonight?"
"No more than a hundred. Probably less."
"What will those three flights out of Argent Hall, the ones out on the Lending, do tomorrow?"
"Most likely a few will fly to the army, while the rest will return to their hall." Anji nodded. "Let none reach the army."
"To do that, I would have to kill those who try."
"They will kill you. Best you strike first."
"If there is war between the reeves, then justice may never again be served in this land. Even if Argent Hall is corrupt, and I believe it must be, we may do worse mischief in trying to cut out this corruption."
"No choice is not a choice," said Anji.
Joss saw that the decision was already made. To the Qin captain, the ancient traditions of the Hundred were merely words, no more meaningful than the babble of the arguing council. But then, after all, the man surprised him.
"I do not go against the customs of your land lightly, Joss. Do not think I demean them or think little of them. But if I were you, I would rather choose to live. It's time to attack Argent Hall."
Joss sighed. Among that crowd, many sighed, hearing that a decision had been made. It was easier that someone else had the courage, the boldness, to set foot on the path all others would avoid, fearing the consequences.
Yet one person was reckless enough to raise her voice, to speak against the captain.
"This will not do," said Mai, rising from her seat. "What use to me a husband who is dead? For what will you risk yourself? Why risk yourself and your men at all, when the Greater Houses brought this trouble on themselves? When they thought there was no risk for them, they imprisoned Reeve Joss and lied to all of us about his whereabouts. When they thought they had an alliance with these others, this army and its leaders, they refused our entreaty to grant us nothing more than a place to settle, somewhere out of the way. They exiled us! They only called us back when they were desperate, when they saw they had been betrayed! They did not themselves even release the reeve. A hierodule acting on behalf of the temple freed him, although then the council pretended they had done so to curry favor with us, as a sign of good faith. I don't consider lies to be a sign of good faith! You have done enough, Anji. You have purchased a day for them to prepare themselves. If they have not made use of that day, it is not your fault! I say we ride out with the coin we received from the Greater Houses for last night's commission."
Master Feden pushed forward. How different he seemed now, to Joss's eye! The big, bossy, imperious man might cow the council, but Joss could only see him as a ridiculous blusterer bound by rope to a chair with his mouth popping like that of a stranded fish. Gods, what he would not do for a glimpse of Zubaidit! But she was gone, utterly gone, and never coming back.
"You can't leave now!" Feden cried. "You made a bargain with us!"
"We agreed through Master Iad to fight one action only," said Mai. "The attack on the strike force, to buy the city time to gather its population inside the gates. That action was completed. Successfully, as we all know."
Folk murmured, shuffled feet. "Do something, Feden. Do something!"
"You got us into this!"
One merchant commanded a sizable contingent at his back, and a grim smile on his lips. He wore the badge on his silk jacket marking him as a merchant who trafficked in flesh. Feden, glancing that way, saw that smile and those supporters. He might have been a trapped rat, staring at the dog ready to chomp its neck.
He looked back at Mai. "But you must help us!"
"I see no reason to bargain with the Greater Houses at this juncture," Mai said, "considering all that has gone before. If we deal, we deal with the whole of Olossi's council, an open vote of all members with a right to sit in on council meetings."
Joss judged Feden's degree of shock by the heaving way the man panted, as if taking in her words as breath but finding that breath choked him. "That goes against all our traditions. That way, with so many voting, lies madness. Only the Greater Houses have the wisdom, the stake in security and peace, the many generations building Olossi's fortunes, to make proper decisions!"