Traitors' Gate

 

The Point of No Return . . .

Anji's bandaged hands and blistered face spoke the words Joss could not say out loud. The outlander had taken a sword to the gift the gods had granted the Hundred.

“Male or female?” Joss cried suddenly. “What cloak? I must see it!”

“The cloth was more brown than orange, something of the color of clay soil. The demon appeared in the guise of a very old woman.”

It was not Marit!

Yet that wasn't what should matter. They had broken the boundaries. Now they would be punished. Yet a dawn wind rose on the curve of the sun as it did every morning. Light spilled in the usual way over the rolling river, catching in the streaming waves, dazzling Joss's eyes until he realized those were tears. The world had not ended. The gods had not howled down and obliterated them.

“So it is done,” he murmured. “We can never go back.”

“We can never go back,” echoed Anji.

 

PRAISE FOR CROSSROADS

“Kate Elliott's Crossroads series has the feel and color of a John Ford Western. The characters are both believable and larger-than-life, and there's plenty of action.”

—David Drake, bestselling author of the
Lord of the Isles series

 

Traitors' Gate

“
Traitors' Gate
is the best episode yet in a superb series that is far from over.”

—
BookLoons

 

“The Crossroads series is on the short end of the definition of ‘epic' as page counts go, but each book is filled with intrigue and excitement and romance. I expect great characters from Elliott, and this series has them. Even the point-of-view characters who pop up for a few minutes are fully realized.”

—
Sequential Tart

 

Shadow Gate

“Crossroads is shaping up to be Kate Elliott's best work and is highly recommended to both fans of the author and any readers who appreciate fantasy in the vein of Robin Hobb, Jacqueline Carey, and J. V. Jones.”

—
Fantasy Book Critic

 

“This is every bit as full of texture and flavor as
Spirit Gate,
sure to leave you begging for more.”

—
SFX

 

“[Elliott] brings her characters fully alive with stringent detail and attentive world-building. Fans of Elliott and new readers alike will find this novel satisfying.”

—
RT Book Reviews

 

“Human dilemmas grip the reader right through to the abrupt final cliff-hanger.”

—
Publishers Weekly

 

“Classic fantasy with magical beings, dastardly plots, feisty heroines, and stoic heroes.

—
The Cairns Post

 

Spirit Gate

“
Spirit Gate
makes an exciting start to a new series, rich in varied characters, intriguing cultures, and subtle conflicts.”

—
BookLoons

 

“Elliott crafts complex if not wholly original characters, including strong women who persevere in repressive, nonegalitarian societies. She is equally adept at outlining intricate religions and myths. This promises to be a truly epic fantasy.”

—
Publishers Weekly

 

“
Spirit Gate
has kept me up late at night for too many nights in a row. It's a big, complex, absorbing book.”

—Laura Resnick, award-winning
author of
In Legend Born

 

 

Books by Kate Elliott

 

CROSSROADS

*Book I:
Spirit Gate

*Book II:
Shadow Gate

*Book III:
Traitors' Gate

*Book IV:
Crossroads
(forthcoming)

 

THE NOVELS OF THE JARAN

Jaran

An Earthly Crown

His Conquering Sword

The Law of Becoming

 

CROWN OF STARS SERIES

King's Dragon

Prince of Dogs

The Burning Stone

Child of Flame

The Gathering Storm

 

The Golden Key
(with Melanie Rawn and Jennifer Roberson)

 

Writing as Alis A. Rasmussen

 

The Labyrinth Gate

 

THE HIGHROAD TRILOGY

I:
A Passage of Stars

II:
Revolution's Shore

III:
The Price of Ransom

 

* A Tor Book

BOOK THREE OF CROSSROADS

 

 

K
ATE
E
LLIOTT

 

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK

 

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

 

TRAITORS' GATE: BOOK THREE OF CROSSROADS

 

Copyright © 2009 by Katrina Elliott

 

All rights reserved.

 

Map by Elizabeth Danforth

 

A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

 

www.tor-forge.com

 

Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

 

ISBN 978-0-7653-4932-3

 

First Edition: August 2009
First Mass Market Edition: March 2010

 

Printed in the United States of America

 

0  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

This novel is affectionately dedicated to
Ruth Perzley Silverstein,
surely the world's most generous and loving mother-in-law.

F
IRST, I MUST
particularly thank my son Alexander, who dutifully read early sections and offered useful feedback and who also helped me strategize.

Second, a special shout-out to William-James McEnerney, LT, USN, who, in the course of spending a couple of hours talking with me one evening, made me rethink certain aspects of the story; I'm sure it's his fault the book is so long.

Third, to my LiveJournal communitarians: Thanks! They came up with the title for the book; it was a subtle but meaningful change from my working title of
Traitor's Gate
to the final title of
Traitors' Gate
.

Finally, thanks to the usual suspects: Constance Ash, Katharine Kerr, Sherwood Smith, and Michelle Sagara West, who answered when I called; James Frenkel, my exceedingly patient editor, and his minions, especially his assistant in Madison, Alan Rubsam; Flatiron people Liz Gorinsky and Steven Padnick, and intern Emily Attwood; copy editor extraordinaire Terry McGarry; the supportive Orbit crew; Paul Emanovsky, for forensic advice (mostly for
Shadow Gate
, but I forgot to thank him then); Russ Galen, as always; and my other two children and long-suffering spouse, who put up with me.

I
N THE HUNDRED
, any and every set and sequence of patterns is seen as having cosmological significance. Every number has multiple associations. For instance, the number 3 is associated with the Three Noble Towers present in every major town or city (Watch Tower, Assizes Tower, and Sorrowing [or Silence] Tower); with the Three States of Mind (Resting, Wakened, and Transcendent); with the Three Languages; and with the Three-Part Anatomy of every person's soul (Mind, Hands, and Heart). The number 7 is associated with the Seven Gods, the Seven Gems, the Seven Directions, and the Seven Treasures.

Folk in the Hundred measure the passing of time not via year dates set from a year zero, but rather through the cyclical passage of time. The standard repeating twelve-year cycle is named after animals, in the following order: Eagle, Deer, Crane, Ox, Snake, Lion, Ibex, Fox, Goat, Horse, Wolf, Rat. However, this year cycle is meshed with the properties of the Nine Colors to create a larger cycle of one hundred and eight years. A clerk of Sapanasu, or anyone else who can do this kind of accounting, could thereby identify how long ago an event happened, or how old a person is, depending on the color of animal year in which he or she was born.