chapter one Garreth walked into the command tent and immediately dropped his burden on one of the cross-legged tables within. He wore full armor, so every time he moved the sound of metal striking metal was made. It was a sound he had grown to love over his lifetime. The sound of a man ready for whatever battles might come his way. A sound he once thought he would never hear again. "Well, little brother, how goes things with the troops?" Garreth turned to face Dethan. "Well, elder brother," he said with a tight-lipped smile, "they are bored out of their skulls." "I thought you were sending out hunting parties.
" "I did. And we''ve game aplenty now. But these men have come for a fight and they are itching to do battle. I cannot say I blame them. The summer wears on, and soon you will be returning to your wife and child, taking half our forces back with you to winter. They want to see at least one more glorious battle before they go." "Outside this tent and a few strides away is that glorious battle to come." Dethan moved to the front of the tent, looking out the opening and toward the city they had chosen to sack in Weysa''s name.
That was their part of the bargain, the deal that had freed the two brothers from their torments after they had drunk from the fountain. Dethan, Garreth had learned, had been thrust down into the darkest, hottest pit of the eight hells, cursed to burn to the bone over and over again, just as Garreth had been cursed to freeze. But almost a full turning of the seasons ago, the goddess had freed Dethan. Weysa needed warriors to fight in her name. She and the other gods had grown weak as the people turned away from their faith and belief in them, for they needed the love and devotion of the people in order to gain power. And now that the twelve gods were at war, split into two factions of six, they desired power more than ever. Weysa''s faction consisted of Hella, the goddess of fate and fortuâ Meru, the goddess of hearth, home, and harvest; her brother Mordu, the god of hope, love, and dreams; Lothas, the god of day and night; and Framun, the god of peace and tranquility. They warred with the opposing faction of Xaxis, the god of the eight hells; Grimu, the god of the eight heavens; Diathus, the goddess of the land and oceans; Kitari, the goddess of life and death; Jikaro, the god of anger, deception, and storms; and Sabo, the god of pain and suffering.
However, Kitari, the queen of the gods, was being held by Xaxis''s faction against her will, a fact they had discovered only last winter, when Dethan had traded away his immortality in order to discover her true intent. It had been a risky proposition, one that could easily have backfired and meant a permanent end to Dethan, but instead it had freed him fully from his curse, made him mortal, and allowed Garreth to be freed from his icy hell as well. Somewhat. For every night, between dusk and the juquil''s hour, Garreth was cursed to freeze again. A reminder, he thought grimly, of what he had done and of the gods'' discontent with him. Weysa had only freed him to fight; she had not been willing to release him entirely from his curse. But that did not matter. All that mattered was that they and their army perform well.
They had Hexis, the city where Dethan''s wife ruled with Dethan, and they had conquered one other city already, this past spring, erecting temples to Weysa within its walls and filling their army with more soldiers from that city. Now it was coming on the end of summer and out there, only a short distance away, was the next city. The city they had conquered in the spring had been easy. Almost too easy. Dissatisfyingly easy. Garreth had wanted a pitched battle, a fight to vent his anger and frustrations on. Both of which were great and many. But more than that, he wanted to please the goddess.
Not from fear of her, although that was most certainly present, but in the hopes that she would see what powerful warriors the brothers were, what great assets they were . and maybe it would compel her to find and release the remaining two brothers from their torments. Garreth and Dethan fought and conquered just the same, in the hopes that one day their brothers would be free. Yes, most of all, that was what they both fervently prayed for. Just then a courier ran up to the tent. He handed a pair of dispatches to Dethan. "Ah! A letter from Selinda!" Dethan said eagerly, moving back into the tent and handing the second dispatch to Garreth, unread. Dethan clearly did not care what was in the other message.
The letter from his wife meant more to him than anything else. Rescuing their brothers was a very close second to that. "Look! Look how he''s grown!" Dethan showed a paper to Garreth excitedly. It was a very skillfully rendered and life-like miniature sketch of Dethan''s infant son. The child was nearly five wanings old, and Dethan had been campaigning for three of those wanings. Garreth and the army had conquered their city in the spring alone before Dethan had joined them at the turn of summer, as was agreed by Weysa. Dethan''s summers were hers, when he would fight, and the remaining wanings he belonged to his beloved wife, Selinda. These wanings had been difficult on Dethan, Garreth knew.
He had wanted to be with his wife and child, and the separation had often taken its toll on his mood. But Garreth had easily forgiven Dethan his surly moments. He would have felt the same had he a wife like Selinda and a child like Dethan''s fine son, Xand. "She writes that they are both healthy and well. That--" Dethan broke off. "Yes?" Garreth prompted. "Well, I cannot repeat this part," Dethan said with a wolfish grin, his eyes bright with delight as he looked up at his brother. "She would never forgive me.
" "Say no more, brother," Garreth said, amused by the besotted man. He was amused, but he did not smile. He had thought he would never live to see the day his brother was in love. Of all of them, Dethan had never professed to love a woman--even in his youth, when boys tend to be reckless with giving away their hearts. But he was completely around the bend over Selinda, his devotion to her intense. Garreth envied him that. He envied the warm home and squirming child that awaited his brother once the cold of fall came calling. Garreth would continue the campaign against the new city until it was defeated, however long that took, but Dethan would leave him to it the moment the weather turned cold.
Garreth left his brother to his letter and turned his eyes to the missive in his own hands. The paper was folded neatly and sealed with wax, which had been stamped with the intricate image of a dragon of some sort, its wings broad within the circle of the stamp. The letter was addressed: To the Beasts at the Gate Intrigued, Garreth broke the seal and opened the letter. You come upon our small city with aggression and numbers. We do not ask for war, and yet you bring it. We will not stand idly by while you rape our home of its innocence and peace. Consider yourself warned. End your folly against us now and we will let you leave unharmed.
The City of Kith "Brother, I do believe we have been threatened," Garreth said with thoughtful amusement. Again, without a smile. Dethan looked up questioningly as Garreth handed him the missive. He read it quickly and promptly burst out in a rich, raucous laugh. "Such posturing. They are weak and they know it. Once we lay siege and they begin to starve for lack of fresh game and supplies, they will be welcoming us with open arms. As it is, their mill and butchery are outside the city walls.
We have already seized control of them, as well as the farmland and crops, which right now are ripe with growing grain and thick with orchards. They know they are doomed to fall to us. This is mere posturing." "It has spine, you have to admit." "It shows fear." Dethan scoffed. "I think it''s just the opposite," Garreth said thoughtfully. "They sound very certain that they are not the ones in danger.
Perhaps the more important question is, how did this missive reach us? The city has been locked down against us since we arrived, no one in and no one out." "There is always a way in or out, whatever the circumstance. There are always some enterprising sorts willing to risk running a blockade. For profit." "Yes, but the Kithians are violet skinned. Surely we would have noticed one of them in our camp who was not under guard." There were Kithians in camp, all of them prisoners of the army. Mostly farmers and others who had been caught outside the walls of the city.
But as Garreth had said, they were all under guard. "That is a puzzle, it is true," Dethan said, a frown marring his features. He walked to the tent opening and yelled out, "You! Page! Where did you get this letter?" The courier who had dropped off the missives stepped into the opening of the tent, leaving the conversation he''d been having with one of the command tent guards. "A mess.