branch long split from the Green Sun, call ourselves Tumble Sun, if you must know.â
The sergeant blinked, as if the names meant something to him.
Dread opened its maw and swallowed Nekkar in one gulp. He had the horrible feeling he had just betrayed his entire clan, who had never done one wrong thing to him even for all he had been thrilled to leave the quiet hills for the glories of the finest city in all the Hundred.
The sergeant pointed to the white trim on his cloak. âYouâre wearing an ostiaryâs stripes.â
âYes, Iâm ostiary over the temple of Ilu thatâs located here in Stone Quarter. Weâre well known as the most minor of the five temples dedicated to Ilu in Toskala.â
âAn ambitious person raised to a high position might feel slighted to be called âminor.â Maybe you were hoping for a better place.â
He was very irritating, and Nekkar was anxious about his charges and sick of seeing unoffending refugees cut like debt slaves and dragged away. Standing in line half the day with hands and ankle throbbing and without food or drink had made him light-headed enough to kick him into incautious speech, that sarcastic way he had of lecturing youth when they were being idiots. âIâm perfectly happy with an orderly, unambitious existence. Keeping to my place and serving the gods as I am sworn, and leaving others to go about their lawful business. In peace.â
The soldierâs hand flicked up. A gasp voiced behind was his only warning. A blow cracked him across the shoulders and he dropped to his knees, too stunned to cry out. His gaze hazed; lights danced. He sobbed, then caught a tangle of prayer and chanted under his breath to take his mind off the pain blossoming across his back and the fear sparking in his mind.
âHold him for questioning.â The sergeantâs voice faded.
They dragged him out to the back and dumped him on the ground. Pain paralyzed him. He tried to imagine what Vassa might be cooking for dinner tonight, but his parched mouth tasted only of sand. It was easier to let go and close his eyes.
Â
H E CAME TO with a start, his back throbbing as if a herd of dray beasts had stampeded over his body. Voices staggered back and forth, fading, growing louder, and fading in a slide that made him dizzy although he was flat on his stomach and sucking in dust with each nauseated breath.
âJust these two outlanders in the last eight days?â a woman asked. âThatâs all youâve rounded up, Sergeant Tomash?â
âMy apologies, Holy One. I have been searching according to the orders given out by the Lord Commander Radas and Commander Hetti, Holy One. Every household and guild is required to open their compound to my soldiers and present a census of their household members and their wealth. These two slaves are the only outlanders Iâve found in Stone Quarter.â
Someone was weeping, desperate and afraid.
âRelease them, or kill them, as you wish. They are useless to me.â
âMy apologies, Holy One.â The sergeant, whose contemptuous tone inside the inn had made folk cringe, sounded as near to tears as a whining boy dumped by uncaring relatives on the auction block. âIâve been diligent. I am interviewing compound by compound throughout this quarter, just as I was ordered. Anyone unlawfully on the streets is brought before me. These folk I had dragged out here all need further examination, Holy One.â
âLook at me!â
The sergeant whimpered.
Nekkar opened the eye that wasnât jammed up against the ground. At first he thought his vision was ruined; his open eye scratched as if scoured by sand, and when he blinked, it hurt to open and close. Then he realized that actually it was dusk, and also that a few paces from his head floated a cloak of rippling fabric like the night sky speckled by stars.
A person in travel-worn sandals wrapped over dusty feet was
The sergeant blinked, as if the names meant something to him.
Dread opened its maw and swallowed Nekkar in one gulp. He had the horrible feeling he had just betrayed his entire clan, who had never done one wrong thing to him even for all he had been thrilled to leave the quiet hills for the glories of the finest city in all the Hundred.
The sergeant pointed to the white trim on his cloak. âYouâre wearing an ostiaryâs stripes.â
âYes, Iâm ostiary over the temple of Ilu thatâs located here in Stone Quarter. Weâre well known as the most minor of the five temples dedicated to Ilu in Toskala.â
âAn ambitious person raised to a high position might feel slighted to be called âminor.â Maybe you were hoping for a better place.â
He was very irritating, and Nekkar was anxious about his charges and sick of seeing unoffending refugees cut like debt slaves and dragged away. Standing in line half the day with hands and ankle throbbing and without food or drink had made him light-headed enough to kick him into incautious speech, that sarcastic way he had of lecturing youth when they were being idiots. âIâm perfectly happy with an orderly, unambitious existence. Keeping to my place and serving the gods as I am sworn, and leaving others to go about their lawful business. In peace.â
The soldierâs hand flicked up. A gasp voiced behind was his only warning. A blow cracked him across the shoulders and he dropped to his knees, too stunned to cry out. His gaze hazed; lights danced. He sobbed, then caught a tangle of prayer and chanted under his breath to take his mind off the pain blossoming across his back and the fear sparking in his mind.
âHold him for questioning.â The sergeantâs voice faded.
They dragged him out to the back and dumped him on the ground. Pain paralyzed him. He tried to imagine what Vassa might be cooking for dinner tonight, but his parched mouth tasted only of sand. It was easier to let go and close his eyes.
Â
H E CAME TO with a start, his back throbbing as if a herd of dray beasts had stampeded over his body. Voices staggered back and forth, fading, growing louder, and fading in a slide that made him dizzy although he was flat on his stomach and sucking in dust with each nauseated breath.
âJust these two outlanders in the last eight days?â a woman asked. âThatâs all youâve rounded up, Sergeant Tomash?â
âMy apologies, Holy One. I have been searching according to the orders given out by the Lord Commander Radas and Commander Hetti, Holy One. Every household and guild is required to open their compound to my soldiers and present a census of their household members and their wealth. These two slaves are the only outlanders Iâve found in Stone Quarter.â
Someone was weeping, desperate and afraid.
âRelease them, or kill them, as you wish. They are useless to me.â
âMy apologies, Holy One.â The sergeant, whose contemptuous tone inside the inn had made folk cringe, sounded as near to tears as a whining boy dumped by uncaring relatives on the auction block. âIâve been diligent. I am interviewing compound by compound throughout this quarter, just as I was ordered. Anyone unlawfully on the streets is brought before me. These folk I had dragged out here all need further examination, Holy One.â
âLook at me!â
The sergeant whimpered.
Nekkar opened the eye that wasnât jammed up against the ground. At first he thought his vision was ruined; his open eye scratched as if scoured by sand, and when he blinked, it hurt to open and close. Then he realized that actually it was dusk, and also that a few paces from his head floated a cloak of rippling fabric like the night sky speckled by stars.
A person in travel-worn sandals wrapped over dusty feet was