The Dark Glory War by Michael A. Stackpole Page A

certainly necessitated their spreading and flourishing.”
    “Everyone knows that, Leigh.” Nay folded his arms across his chest. “That’s where the wearing of masks originated, but after the revolt, they were done.”
    “Not exactly. Instead of vanishing, they spread, moving into nations that had never even been part of the Estine Empire. The societies are a means for people of differing nations to exchange ideas even though their nations might be hostile to each other. They serve as shadowy embassies that can circumvent official conflicts as needed.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “What do they want?”
    Leigh smiled. “Us, apparently.”
    The bird image took on a golden hue. A disembodied voice echoed distantly as if speaking to us from the bottom of a well. “You stand on the threshold of your future. Strip away your old selves and don these robes to become the men you are meant to be.”
    Leigh leaned back against a wall and began to tug off his boots. He looked up when he’d gotten the first one off, then tossed it aside. “Well, take off your clothes and put on the robe.”
    “Are you sure we want to do this, Leigh?” I nervously fingered the lacings on my shirt. “We don’t even know who they are.”
    “We don’t, Hawkins, but we know some of the people they must be.” He started on his other boot. “What have we done to attract this attention? We’ve been out on that hunt, killing temeryces—which is a wonderful word to rhyme, by the way—and vylaens and gibberkin. Everyone in Valsina probably has heard some variation of a rumor about what we’ve done, but these people wouldn’t invite us here based on rumor. We’re here because they know what we did.”
    I nodded and pulled the hem of my tunic from the top of my trousers. “Which means they spoke with someone who knew what we did, like your father or Heslin.”
    Nay smiled and sat down to kick his boots off. “And they took us from the temple. Only a few people knew we were going there and when.”
    “Exactly.” Leigh slipped off his pants, tugged off his tunic and peeled stockings from his raw feet. Standing naked except for his mask, he reached for a robe. “Two nights ago they watched us, last night they evaluated us, and tonight they want us. We’ve come far in just three days of a Moon Month, my friends. Just imagine where we will end up in a lifetime.”
    We stood before the glowing golden bird emblem, wearing only the robes we had been given and our moonmasks. I certainly had no idea what to do next, and the voice did not return to help us. I started to reach a hand toward the symbol, to see if I could feel heat from it, but Leigh moved quickly to preempt me. He touched the symbol, then withdrew his hand quickly, as if he’d stuck a finger on a needle.
    The stone panel slid slowly upward, revealing a small chamber that would only accept one of us. Nay and I took a step backward, inclining our heads toward Leigh. He stood stock still for a moment, then looked at us, blinking away surprise. His blue eyes became crescents, then he nodded and stepped into the chamber.
    The wall again descended.
    I heard no scream, no sounds of his struggling to get out, which did hearten me. It made no sense, after all, for our hosts to go to the lengths they did just to kill us when a dagger in the dark or poison in wine would have been less troublesome. Despite that line of logic, I couldn’t shake a flesh-puckering sense of foreboding.
    Nay waved me forward, but I shook my head. “You go before me.”
    “Not sure if they want someone of my low birth.”
    “If they didn’t want you, you’d not be here. The priest could have separated us easily enough, or they could have taken us at another time.” I smiled easily at him. “Besides, Naysmith comes before Tarrant in the alphabet, as does Carver before Hawkins. If you precede me, we make it easy on whoever keeps their records.”
    Nay frowned. “By that reckoning, Leigh should have been last. Then again, he is a Norrington.”
    “Just assume his first