"That's treason right there," said Talen.

"Is it?" asked Da. "A weave bestowed by some Koramite Divine to her family a century ago?"

"It is if she didn't bring it forth."

"But that's different from slethwork, isn't it? It's a legitimate weave, outlawed, not because it's evil, but because it might pose a threat to the Mokaddian lords."

Talen sighed. Da never had anything good to say about Divines. Talen remembered when he was a child and had learned "The Six Paths" from a friend's mother. The poem described the different orders of Divines. He came home excited to perform and began to recite the poem with the appropriate actions.

The Fire Wizards harvest.

The Kains forge and store.

The Skir Masters ride the powers with traps and ancient lore.

At this point in the poem, Da's face began to sour, but Talen had thought it was because he'd done something wrong. He'd continued, trying his best to remember the hand movements.

The Guardians live like dragons.

The Green Ones heal the dead.

And the Glories rule o'r them all with centuries in their heads.

Da had clapped in a perfunctory way. "You're a sharp one, for sure," he'd said. "And such a sharp mind needs to be kept that way." Then he'd made Talen learn a poem he'd never heard before. It was long and started with a traveler visiting a tavern.

The Host spreads his table then calls with honeyed charm: A steaming loaf of Ignorance to keep your belly warm, An unending keg of Fear to turn your wit to froth, And tender cuts of poisoned Pride to turn your gentle heart.

The poem continued, describing two companions, one who takes the host's offer and another who refuses. The first one is treated with firmness but kindness and put out, like a steer to pasture, to enjoy the gardens, orchards, and plenitudes of the vale. The second faces privation and a mult.i.tude of dangers trying to get his friend to leave. In the end, he fails, and the first one, the one who trusted the smiling host, is brought forth for butchering. The second makes a brave attempt to rescue him from his captors, but fails, barely escaping with his life. Powerless, he watches from afar as the mighty inhabitants of that awful vale kill, roast, and then serve his friend up on platters for a community feast.

It was a long poem, but the story was so fascinating Talen memorized it in less than a day. At first, Talen thought Da made him memorize it because he'd wanted to challenge, and thereby increase, Talen's mental skills. But after he'd learned it, he began to consider the story and see it was a moral tale, teaching how a man could be self-reliant and wise. For a long time he thought that was Da's purpose in making him memorize it.

But as he grew older, Talen began to suspect Da had planted that poem in him for another reason altogether. There were six families in that vale that seemed to correspond to the six paths of the Divine. The butchering was performed during the annual Festival of Gifts, which is when the Divines asked for the annual sacrifices. The name of the host meant the same thing as the name of the first Glory of ancient times. As he grew, Talen found many more connections between the inhabitants of that vale and the six paths.

It was as if Da had planted that poem in him so that it might bring forth, in its due time, a suspicion of all things Divine. But why?

He'd once asked Da what it all meant, but Da only shrugged and said it was only an old poem he'd learned as a child. Talen tried to detect prevarication in Da's answer, but found none. Nevertheless, he knew Da was hiding something.

Talen had known two Divines in his life. Lumen and the Green Beggar. Lumen looked down upon the Koramites. But the Green Beggar went around healing people and teaching them the paths to joy. He refused all authority. Refused pomp, choosing instead to live in a log hut he made himself. He leased land to farm, established a following, and had done nothing but bless goats and vegetable gardens. Three years ago he'd sailed away, waving good-bye to the throngs of his "fellows" standing on the docks. Many still wore the green shoulder patch that marked his followers.

"What about the Green Beggar?" asked Talen. "He would have spoken out against the sleth woman's use of the weave."

"What about him?" asked Ke. "The Goat King, the Witch of Cath, the Scarlet Tiger, they were all once Glories of great nations. Benefactors who had preyed upon their own people. Who can say what the Green Beggar's real purpose was?"

Talen knew all the stories about those Glories who had gone mad and eaten the souls of those they ruled.

"Let us not forget that every Divine was once a man," Da said.

"Yes," Talen said. "Men that were raised to wield the powers of life and become almost immortal. The stories of Divines who turned on the Six are few and far between."

"What if Lumen himself ate souls?" asked Da. "Who would have known it? n.o.body. Isn't that a greater horror than some farmer's wife who uses a little weave to bless her and her family?"

"But the power doesn't come from the same source," said Talen. "It's like comparing an ale brewed using pure water with another made using swamp sc.u.m. They may look the same from a distance, but in the mouth they're night and day."

"I'll tell you what I think," said Da. "I don't think this has anything to do with magicks. I think this is nothing more than a bunch of cowards worried about their cattle and land."

"You don't believe the reports?"

"I believe that men see what they want to see. And what they saw was a Koramite smith who was richer than any seven of them combined."

Talen had seen his father's judgment blinded before by his pride and anger. And even though it grated, the Mokaddians weren't always in the wrong. "Maybe all you choose to see is the wrongs done to our people. To admit that one of us was evil would spoil your arguments. Wouldn't it be better to cut out the corrupted part than let it ruin the rest of us?"

"This is why we need a Divine protecting our sh.o.r.es," said Nettle.

They all looked at him.

Nettle had brought his bowl outside. He stuffed a large spoonful of porridge in his mouth. "A mere human cannot hope to unravel such mysteries."

"That's true," said Ke. "But you don't need one to know there's no greater risk now than there was before. Let's say Talen is right. It is no more dangerous to walk about now than it was yesterday or the day before. If there are sleth lurking about, they were there before."

"What kind of logic is that?" asked Talen. "If you find out there are wildcats in the woods, then you take precautions. You don't a.s.sume they pose no danger."

"Ah," said Ke, "but if the wildcats always kept to themselves, are they really a danger now? Perhaps a hunt will only corner them and make them fight."

"Yes," said Talen. "But wildcats don't murder whole families and devour their souls."

"Maybe Talen's right," said Da. "We should take precautions. But this all leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The Fir-Noy had no authority to organize a hunt in the village of Plum. That band of armsmen today had no authority to hunt here either. So even if there are sleth, there are far more Fir-Noy eager to run a Koramite through."

"We need to post a watch," said Talen.

"Aye," said Da. "I suspect there's more than one group of idiots in the woods."

There were more than idiots in the woods, and Talen knew it. He was going to catch whoever had been lurking about. Normally, you only masked your scent when trapping animals, but it was possible that the hatchlings had eaten the souls of some beast in an attempt to obtain its finer sense of smell. He did not have days to let the snare weather, nor did he have any urine or gall from the last deer he'd killed to mask his and Nettle's scent, so after Da and Ke lost interest in the prints, Talen led Nettle into the fading light, down to a swampy bend in the river. He found a spot where there was plenty of rotting vegetation and dug out a pail full of mud.

By the time they hiked back up the bank and to the run between the barn and the garden, it was dark. Da had shuttered up the windows against the evening insects, and so they only had starlight and a half moon to guide them. Talen had wanted to wait until dark so the hatchlings wouldn't be able to see much of what they were doing. Now he wondered if he had enough light to set the snare properly.

First, they pushed the wheelbarrow and eight empty barley sacks out to the cross-post fence that enclosed the mule pasture. A long mound of stones, taken from the field, stretched along the base of the fence. They doubled the sacks and then filled them with enough stones to equal the weight of a large man. Then they pushed the sacks back and into the barn underneath the pulley that allowed them to lift loads up to the barn loft and bound all four sacks together.

Next, they pushed the empty wheelbarrow out to the run between the garden and the barn. They set it next to the side of the barn and angled it out into the path in such a way that it would direct someone walking here to step right into the trap.

They dug some beets and carrots, complaining loudly about having to work in the dark as punishment for fighting earlier with Ke and River. Then Talen announced that he would leave the vegetables just inside the garden gate and finish in the morning. Anyone listening in the woods would have heard and known a meal was waiting in the garden.

Then he and Nettle coated their hands, the noose, and trigger pegs with the mud.

Nettle disappeared into the barn. A few moments later, he opened the loft doors. Talen threw him the end of his rope and waited until Nettle had fed it through the outside pulley to the one that hung above the stones.

When Talen heard Nettle's soft whistle, he knew Nettle had fastened the end to the sack of stones, and he began to pull. Both he and Nettle had to work to lift the stones aloft. When they'd finally lifted them to the pulley crane inside the barn, Talen began his work. He set the noose, trigger line, and pegs.

Talen had caught deer with counterweight snares before. It was possible that the noose would grab a leg, but it also might tighten up around the neck. If all worked well, they'd have a hatchling before dawn. Of course, a real deer might trip it as well. But Talen didn't think so. The dogs were usually very good at chasing most things off.

And that reminded him: the dogs would have to come in. This trap could very easily choke and kill one of them. He went to where Blue lay then picked him up and carried him back to the house.

A soft light from one lamp spilled from River's room. In the main room, a double spout lamp burned on the table. Da held the waste basket to the edge of the table and brushed wood shavings into it. He'd been working on a rose carved in cherry wood. Ke sat at the other end of the table rubbing sheep's tallow into his boots.

Queen went to Da silently, wagging her tail and asking for attention.

Da looked up. "I don't want the dogs in here."

"I'll keep them in the loft with me," said Talen. "Blue needs to be close."

Da grunted. "So what were the two of you doing out there?"

"Nothing," said Talen.

"You were doing something."

Talen glanced at Nettle and back at Da. Talen knew he'd make them take down the snare. "We were just talking."

Da grunted again and then went back to his work.

"What are we going to do about the watch?" Talen asked.

Da motioned at a harness of parade bells. "Ke's going to take first watch. He's going to string a line around the property. That line will be rigged to these bells. Anyone trips that line and we'll hear it."

"And then what?"

"Then we see what tripped the bells," Ke said.

That didn't sound like much of a plan, but Talen didn't argue. He took Blue upstairs. Nettle and Queen followed behind.

When they reached the loft, Nettle said, "If something comes, we won't have time to be looking for our bowstrings in the dark. We'd best get them ready now."

It wasn't good to leave a bow strung, but in this case Nettle was right. So they strung their bows and leaned them and their quivers against the wall, and then they lay down in their narrow beds. Queen came over and licked Talen's face until he told her to settle down.

The light coming up the stairs diminished. Someone sc.r.a.ped open River's tin candlesave and closed it. She loved the smell of beeswax and herbs, even if it did cost more than oil or tallow. But the mice loved beeswax so the candles had to be put beyond their nibbling. Soon the light from downstairs disappeared altogether.

Talen heard Da go outside and draw up water from the well then come back in and retire to his room. The house quieted. An owl hooted outside.

He lay on his bed unable to sleep. He waited for what seemed a long time, staring at the ceiling.

A jingle sounded from below.

"Nettle," Talen said.

"I heard it," said Nettle.

Another small jingle, then one big one.

Talen and Nettle jumped out of bed, startling Queen, grabbed their bows and quivers, and dashed down the stairs in the dark. Nettle slipped on the narrow steps at the bottom and crashed into Talen. They would have both sprawled out onto the floor, but Talen held onto the railing and swung into the wall instead.

"Ho!" said Talen. "The alarm!"

There was laughter in the darkness, and then Da lifted on side of a lantern to illuminate himself and River. Da was shaking so hard with laughter he almost knocked the lamp over. River sat next to him holding her sides. Ke stood across the way in the doorway of his room grinning like an idiot.

Da grabbed the alarm line, gave it a good shake. "Just testing your speed, son. Just testing your speed."

Da! He was worse than River. "Very funny," said Talen.

That only set all three of them to laughing again.

"Come on," Talen said to Nettle and marched back upstairs.

They had both just lain down when the bell jingled again.

"I'm busting my sides with laughter," Talen called down.

Da laughed again. But he was going to find crickets in his boots this week. And next week, he'd sink to the ground while sleeping with loose bed ropes. And then it would be Talen's turn to laugh.

He heard three more jingles and laughter, and then Da called up a good night.

After everything that had happened today, Da was joking. It was ridiculous. It was- Talen stopped mid-thought. He suddenly knew why Da was making light of it. He was trying to relax them, just as he did his bowmen when they went into battle, which meant that Da was taking this very seriously indeed. Maybe Da was concerned about sleth after all. Maybe all of his arguing against the Fir-Noy was just a way to help them keep cool heads. This comforted Talen, and he suddenly found he could close his eyes.

14.

Fugitives SHOUTS JOLTED TALEN out of bed.

"Hold," Ke said from below. "Identify yourself." There was no joking in his voice now.

Talen grabbed his bow in the darkness. This time when he and Nettle reached the bottom of the stairs, the door stood open and Ke had his own bow drawn, pointing it out in the moonlit yard.

"Zu," the soldier said. "We are part of the barbican watch. I bring Captain Argoth's summons."

The moon had risen and Talen could see one man wearing a helm and a chain mail shirt standing out in the yard. Men and horses stood behind him.

Talen's first thought was of the armsmen they'd beaten earlier. But there were no Fir-Noy markings on the soldiers he could see. Only Shoka. Furthermore, this soldier's wrist also bore the tattoo weave of Shoka bull horns. But, then, it had been Shoka that had beaten him at the village. Talen nocked an arrow and silently moved closer to the hearth in order to get a clear shot at the man outside the door and those beyond.

"What's this about?" asked Da.

"You know the sleth woman?" the soldier asked.

"You're referring to Purity, the smith's wife?"