Eliar’s smug smile infuriated Kesh. The gods-rotted Silver was still admiring the carving on the archway. Threats flowed right off him. “It doesn’t matter what they do or do not do. I am a faithful son of the Hidden One. That is all that matters. Look there!”

Kesh looked up, half standing, and their guards came alert at once, then relaxed, tossing remarks to each other as he sank back down on the bench. Eliar had just been pointing to a different section of the arch.

“There, the different officers of the court come to pay homage and kneel before the emperor’s throne.”

“There’s no one sitting in it.”

“He is holy, like the god, not to be pictured.”

“How do you know?”

“I read it! I know most of you in the Hundred don’t read—”

“ ‘You in the Hundred’! I thought you Silvers keep claiming you are simply humble Hundred folk just like the rest of us.”

“That’s not what I meant—”

The edge in his tone reminded Kesh that he had to be nice to Eliar. “Neh, never mind it. Why do you think your books tell the true story, anyway? Isn’t there a statue of the emperor in the marketplace?”

“That’s not the emperor. It’s a statue of a male figure representing Commerce, richly clad and adorned with gilt paint to remind all those in the marketplace that through trade the empire becomes wealthy.”

There was silence for a moment as Kesh stared at the archway, puzzling over that vacant throne. Sure enough, there were the officers of the court, each carefully depicted and each attended by an array of half-sized men, meant perhaps to represent their underlings, and certain animals that evidently had some significance to each officer’s mandate. At the height of the arch, above sun and moon and stars, was carved an elaborate crown ornamented by wavy lines most likely representing fire.

One of the guards coughed. A group of mounted soldiers clattered in and passed directly through the open gates. Their garments were splashed with blood, and they looked grim.

The enthralling first book in an epic fantasy by the bestselling author of the Crown of Stars series

Spirit
GATE

BOOK ONE of CROSSROADS

KATE
ELLIOTT

There is a dark shadow across the land that not even the reeves can stop. No one knows who leads the fanatics intent on destroying the Hundred; all that is certain is that they seem inhumanly cruel and powerful. And they must be stopped. Mai and Anji, riding with a company of dedicated warriors, must try or the world will he lost to carnage.

“This promises to he a truly epic fantasy,”

—Publishers Weekly

“Elliott’s skill at building worlds and peopling them with colorful characters and vibrant societies makes this novel an excellent choice for most fantasy collections,”

—library journal

“Elliott enjoys telling big stories. She likes lingering over scenes and milking them for all the emotional resonance”This promises to he they’re worth. . . . In short, SPRIRT GATE is vintage Elliott.”