“Every senior reeve not off duty, twelve all told. I’ve been looking for them. Listen, I sent those two new fawkner’s assistants over here to hold the gate, although I don’t see them here, curse them. You grab every reeve you can find, and have them kit out. Ready to go. We’ll need to release all the eagles.”

“They’ll not fly at night,” said Peddo.

“Maybe not, but it’s better if they’re not trapped.”

“What do you think is happening, Volias?”

“I don’t know. Pil, you have military experience. You and Nallo come with me.”

“Where are you going?” asked Peddo.

“To Assizes Tower. To find out what in the hells the council is doing over there. And why in the hells they didn’t ask for oil of naya sooner. Eiya!”

Peddo laughed, tight and tense. “Didn’t know you had it in you to prance around giving orders, Volias. Thought all you did was snipe.”

“You and your grandmother.” Volias slapped him on the chest.

Peddo swung at him.

“Stop it!” Nallo cried, and they both looked at her, and she realized they weren’t fighting, they were just tipping back the lid to let a trickle of steam escape.

“And while you’re at it,” added Volias, still shouting to be heard above the onslaught of noise, “send Kesta to find Captain Ressi. Someone’s got to block those steps.”

Usually at night Justice Square lay in peaceful slumber, deserted except for the rounds made by the fire watch. Tonight, the three reeves pushed through a churning crowd, every person arguing and complaining, no one in charge.

“We had to leave everything.”

“My children are hungry.”

“My children are in the city! I have to go back down.”

“What’s happening?”

“Those cursed reeves have done nothing. They let the refugees flood us. They let the army march without resistance. They padded their own nests while others work. The Commander says she’s in charge, and yet see what has happened—”

“And what in the hells have you ever done?” snapped Nallo to the man, dressed in his expensive silks with his hair done up in a rich man’s threefold loops. “Let me see the calluses on your clean hands, eh?”

Volias took her arm. “Nallo, come on.”

“You pissing coward,” she shouted for good measure as they trotted off. The man waved his hands as though berating her and was then lost in the milling crowd.

Volias said nothing, not to scold, not to praise. He was mumbling under his breath as he let go of her arm, but she was pretty sure it was nothing to do with her or that gods-rotted whining fool behind them. Toskala’s Assizes Tower rose higher than any structure she had ever seen, with its thick stone base and wooden tiers floating above. They ascended the wide ramp, lit by lamps hanging from tripods. Militia guards huddled in groups, talking as they glanced nervously into the night.

“What’s that?” said Pil, gaze lifting.

Lights dipped in the sky. Folk scattered, and with their shrieks ringing close beside and the steady rumbling clamor from below, Nallo could not hear the clap of horses’ hooves when the animals dropped down out of the sky and trotted to the ramp. A light steadier than a burning oil lamp gleamed from the hand of each Guardian, two men and two women.