Dhira seemed to take this as a matter of course. She was a tall, muscular girl, with short-cropped gray hair and the humble bearing that all Forge servants affected in the presence of centarchs. Like Varo, she glided through the woods with an effortless grace, while behind her Maya fought down spikes of pain in her thighs and Tanax stumbled through the underbrush, face sheathed in sweat.

“You really have no idea why the Council pulled us out?” he said between labored breaths. He’d been harping on that theme since they’d departed. “It doesn’t make sense. Surely you could deliver the letter to the dux as well as we can.”

“I’m afraid I only have my instructions. The letter is ciphered, and only for the eyes of Dux Raskos himself. After delivering it, you’re to assist the dux and await further word from the Council. Beyond that, you know as much as I do.”

“We could just return to the Forge and ask,” Maya said. “It wouldn’t delay us long.”

“No,” Tanax said, apparently coming to a decision. “If those are our orders, we will obey them. I’m sure the Council has its reasons, as always.”

“Reminds me of a friend of mine,” Varo said from ahead of them. “He and I were out on the road, and we got a message to head back to base by the following evening or there’d be plague for everybody. We rode all night, nearly killed ourselves doing it, and when we got there it turned out the messenger had got the wrong patrol. So we got chewed out, even though we’d only obeyed orders, and had wall duty for a month.”

There was a pause.

“That’s it?” Maya said. “What happened to your friend?”

“Eaten by a pack of rabid thickheads,” Varo said promptly. “But that wasn’t until later.”

Maya grinned, and then grinned wider at Dhira’s perplexed look. Behind her, a crash indicated that Tanax had had yet another encounter with a thornbush.

They reached the Gate early on the second day, after Varo and Dhira persuaded Tanax that “as soon as possible” didn’t mean they should try for an all-night march. Grumbling, Tanax had insisted that they at least keep their rest to a minimum, so they’d set out as soon as the sun peeked hesitantly through the interlocking branches overhead.

Maya was once again glad to have Varo in the lead, because without him she’d never have spotted the entrance to the Gate. There was no secret door here, just camouflage hiding a narrow cleft in a rocky hillside, which had been carved into a niche just wide enough to accommodate the delicate twisted arch.

“Do you have any message for the Council?” Dhira said, standing in front of the Gate.

“Just that we’re proceeding according to instructions,” Tanax said. “I will deliver the letter to the dux personally.”