Tarashana by Rachel Neumeier (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

to one of the steep cliffs that rose up from the earth to the sky. I had eyeing the stone, looking for any kind of path that might lead upward. But now I paused, and at first did not know why.

Then I knew. I had to stand perfectly still and listen past the sound of the breeze. When I listened that way, I could hear someone else, a person, a Lau, a woman. She was speaking in a low voice, barely a murmur. I could hardly hear her at all, but I was certain I heard this voice.

I moved forward, quickly now. The frustration in that woman’s voice came more clearly as I approached. I came to the cliff and followed the line of it toward the voice. Many great boulders lay scattered at the base of the cliff, broken from the cliffs above. The cliff itself was seamed with crevices and broken places. The climb might not be as difficult as I had feared. Though long, for the cliff reared up high above, and farther above that other cliffs led up and up and up again, until the highest peak of this mountain brushed the sky. This mountain above me might even be Talal Sabero. I could not tell. But Aras felt very far away. I thought more likely this was a different mountain.

But I came around one last long boulder, as large as a Lau house, and there was Lalani, leaning on another boulder, gazing up at the sheer cliffs of gray stone, slowly and emphatically repeating all the most vile curses I had ever heard from irritated soldiers.

“Lalani!” I said, and she jumped up and whirled around.

“Ryo!” she said, hurrying to take my hands. “I thank the gods!”

I laughed at her. “You were not thanking them a moment ago!”

She tossed her head. “I was angry. No one told me it would be like this, you know! Come on, Lalani, you’ll enjoy it! It’s summer! It’ll be fun! We’ll visit Ryo’s family! Think of the stories you’ll be able to tell when you get back! You know you want to come.”

Her mimicry was wickedly accurate. I could almost hear Suyet say all those things. Then she remembered he was dead and her expression changed completely.

Wrapping an arm around her, I guided her to sit down at the base of the boulder. She was still taller than I was, but she sat on the ground, and I knelt up on my heels, so she could lean against me and hide her face against my shoulder. She did not weep, or very little, though her slender shoulders trembled.

“I know,” I said, holding her tightly. “I am sad too.”

“Soldiers die,” she said, muffled.

“Yes.”

“I was going to marry him. You knew that?”

“Geras said you might. He approved of that.” I paused. “I am sorry if I am the first to tell you ...”

She did not look up, but she stiffened against me. “Not Geras too. Please, Ryo.”

“I am sorry,” I repeated. “He died bravely.” I hesitated, but she was due the same hope I held, even if that hope failed. “Aras believes, if Inhejeriel comes to the place where she can sing, perhaps she may help the world remember our people, even those who have died here in the land of the shades.” I had to add, “This may not be possible. Perhaps Geras fell away from this place into the place proper for your people, and Suyet the same. But perhaps, if they fell into the shadow of the black tide, if the gods are kind, Inhejeriel might—”

Lalani had pushed away from me, her hands on my shoulders, looking into my face. Now she shook me a little. “Ryo, what are you talking about?”

“Ah.” I had forgotten she would not know. She had only just come out of the shadow tide herself, and at once all these other things had happened. No wonder she had clung to me. I told her everything that had happened, as briefly as I could.

“The land of the shades,” she said when I had finished. Her tone was thoughtful, not disbelieving. “That explains the sky. I’ve never seen the Moon so close to the earth! And those stars! But I wish the Sun would rise too. I mean, I know he will. But I would feel better.”

She had sat back now, recovering herself, and she turned to look around at the valley and the high mountains that surrounded us on all sides. “If this is the land of the shades, Ryo, then we better not drink out of that stream over there.”

“No,” I agreed. “We brought water. But I have none with me. I should have carried a waterskin and kept it close every moment. Everyone should have done this, but I did not think of it. I apologize for my carelessness, Lalani. I fear we will both grow thirsty.” Then I looked at her in sudden dread. “You have not gone to that stream?”

“No, no. Almost, because who wouldn’t prefer fresh water to musty? But I would have had to walk all the way over there, and unlike certain careless Ugaro warriors, I actually do have a waterskin. More than one. Come see.” She rose to her feet with all her characteristic grace, taking my hands to pull me up after her.

In the shadow of the boulder, not far from where we had been sitting, rested the larger of the two packs we had still possessed after the tiger’s attack.

“Lalani, you are a treasure among women,” I said fervently. “How did you manage this?”

She laughed, her tone wry. “It was complete luck, Ryo. I threw myself down when the shiral hit—I had half a second to see what was coming—and the pack was right there, so I wrapped myself around it, hoping to hold myself down. That didn’t work, of