“And leave us in peace with the overwhelming task we already have!” added Arda, in case Joss hadn’t gotten the message.

Joss raised both hands. “Calm down. Don’t think I haven’t been considering this.”

“Heya! Heya!” Running footsteps crackled on gravel. “Marshal! Come quickly!”

Volias was already on his feet. The rest of the group crowded onto the porch as Siras sprinted up. Overhead, a thick spiral of eagles had massed.

Three Qin strode out of the alley that led between storehouses and lofts from the marshal’s garden to the parade ground. Joss pushed past the others, slipped on sandals, and jumped down the stairs to the path, then hurried over to greet the visitors beside the fountain.

“Captain Anji. Greetings of the afternoon.”

“Greetings of the afternoon, Marshal. If you will come with me, I need to show you something.”

As Joss walked beside the captain, the others maintained a gap between themselves and the pair of dour guards who attended the captain everywhere he went. They passed into the shadowed alley.

“You came sooner than I expected,” said Joss.

“I have my own difficulties.” Anji scanned the storehouse doors, all tightly shut against the rains, and the freshly painted braceworks. “The Olossi council is reluctant to grant me the resources I need to build an effective fighting force. Will you come to the council meeting on—” Joss could almost track the captain’s thoughts as he picked through unfamiliar words to pluck the right one. “Wakened Rat, the last day of the month. Ten days from today.”

“How can I help you?”

“I’ve scouted out lands in the Barrens, on the western shore of the Olo’o Sea. Good pastureland, sufficient water, and mostly uninhabited. Familiar territory for Qin seeking to make new homes for themselves.”

“Unaccountably close to sinks of oil of naya.”

Anji smiled. “So it is. We will put forward our claim to the land at the next council. Meanwhile, I tell them they must expand the militia to an army on a permanent footing, but they don’t want to hear. I refuse to waste my efforts on this—this—” He struggled for words. “Rags and scraps hastily tied together do not make a fine gown any more than rags and scraps hastily placed in marching order make an army. Here we are. Now you’ll see.”

They strode into the parade ground, where five horses were being held by two grooms in the shade. The perches were empty; all the eagles had flown, as they were likely to do when things got too exciting. Every person there meanwhile was crowding the landward ramparts and staring toward the fields. Without pushing or saying, indeed, a single word aloud, the two Qin soldiers opened a path for the captain and the marshal to a steep stair that led up to the rampart walk. Joss clambered with the ease of long practice, fawkners crowding up behind him. Everyone was talking, exclaiming, and a few of the newcomers, young men who’d come with the hope of jessing an eagle and gotten no satisfaction, were mumbling complaints.