He was a quiet lad, not at all belligerent, with a humble manner that Joss liked.

“How can I help you?”

Gani scratched his forehead, rubbed his chin, and looked back at his cadre, who were all watching him intently.

“Go on. I won’t tear your head off, whatever you might be thinking.”

“Is it true you’re the marshal at Argent Hall?”

Joss sighed, feeling the weight of responsibility settle back on his shoulders. “I’m Marshal Alyon’s successor.”

“There was another man serving as marshal before you.”

“He wasn’t a real reeve. He had no eagle that anyone ever saw. Anyway, he’s dead.”

“Ah. Eh. That’s it, you see. There came a pair of Devouring priests, a kalos and a hierodule, with a message from the Hieros of the temple in Olossi. It’s said there was a conclave of all those holy ones in charge of the temples in Olo’osson. They agreed that any of the men from the army that attacked Olossi and who are dead now are to be . . .” He stiffened.

“You haven’t been sergeant long, have you?”

“I am most senior of those left,” he admitted, but the comment gave him courage—or made him ashamed of his hesitation. “It’s like this. We’ve been told to dig ditches out of sight in the forest and to—to bury those dead men and cover them with dirt.” Having started, the rest poured out in a rising voice. “But if we do that, then they can’t rest. They can’t pass the Spirit Gate. What if they turn into demons? Or haunt us? Their ghosts will be angry, and trapped! I know it’s meant as a punishment for them, but what will happen to us who are assigned to complete such a task?”

“That’s not reeve territory, lad. I can’t help you.” Thank the gods! Still, it was shocking. A brutal, calculated impiety. “Yet the army that invaded us has done terrible things, rape and murder, desecrating temples, defiling corpses.”

The lad looked at his companions. They were silent and uncomfortable. They didn’t want to talk about it in front of him.

Such talk made Joss uncomfortable, too, and he let his gaze wander. Six children worked the slope leading down to the terraces, picking petals of the baby’s-delight that flowered with the first rains. The pale flowers brightened the slopes, which evidently had been recently cropped short by industrious sheep. He met the lad’s gaze with a stern one of his own.

“It’s an ugly thing to contemplate. But I saw the army marching Olossiward on West Track. I saw what they left behind. Maybe it’s best if their spirits are crushed beneath earth. They’re already corrupted. This is a pollution that must be buried before it consumes us. But that doesn’t mean you have to like it. That it bothers you means your heart and spirit are clean.”

“Very well, Marshal.” The lad nodded, so tense it made Joss sad to think of what he must have seen in the last two weeks to cause him to look angry and worn down. “We’ll do as we’ve been bid. Perhaps you’d come at dawn, to where we’ve been assigned to dig the ditches. By that stand of ironwood.” He pointed toward a dozen mature ironwood trees towering above the edge of dense scrub forest that flowed away over the nearby hills. “Just in case any folk see what we’re doing and make trouble. You could let them know the temples gave the order.”