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

“It is frequently disconcerting,” I agreed.

Far away, wolves sang. We were both silent, listening. Once silence came again, Lalani looked around uneasily. “I would be terrified of them if you weren’t with me, Ryo, but I have to admit, that was very helpful ... oh, there’s another wolf!”

I was fairly certain this was the same wolf, the male, but he came from a different direction—out of the air, I would have said, except I saw the world shift beneath and behind that wolf. I did not exactly see this happen. It was as though I saw it and did not see it at the same time. I thought I saw great trees rising up all around, as though we stood in the midst of the great forest. But I did not see that, or at the same time I saw the stark mountains, pale stone streaked with ice that burned with the light of uncountable stars.

Then the wolf trotted toward us down the ridge of stone, as though he had never been anywhere else. Walking with him, following him—

“Tano!” I said. “I am very glad to see you! I feared the shiral had flung you somewhere very far away, but if it did, I see our cousin led you back.”

“Ryo?” he said. “I think I was somewhere very different.” His tone was uncertain, but he came forward a step, past the wolf, to whom he gave a respectful nod. “Thank you,” he said to the beast. “Thank you, cousin!”

The wolf panted at him, laughing as a wolf laughs. Then it turned and trotted away as it had come, and vanished.

For another moment, Tano stared at the place the wolf had stood. Then he turned to me, breathing deeply, setting himself as a man will when he braces himself to take a blow. “This is the land of the shades,” he said.

I was glad he knew that. The sky was not the ordinary sky and everything else was different; of course he knew it. “Yes,” I agreed.

He nodded, subdued. “I am glad to find you again. If this is the place of the taiGara and not the taiTasiyo, I am glad of that. But I thought it would be different. I thought I would feel different.”

Now I was embarrassed because I had not realized he had had no way to understand anything that had happened. I had explained everything to Lalani, but no one had explained anything to Tano.

I held out my hand to him. He came, still hesitant, and began to kneel to greet me as a young man should greet his eldest brother and his warleader. I touched his arm to stop him and tried to explain properly. “You are not a shade, Tano. Nor am I. You and Lalani are here because you came through the shadow cast by the Saa’arii tide. Aras and I and the others came through the highest inGara tomb because we decided that the enemies of the Tarashana people are also our enemies. Inhejeriel says she can defeat them. We thought it good to help her try.” A new fear came to me. I asked, “Have you eaten anything, have you tasted any water, since you came to this place?”

He took a breath. “No, but ... I ... I ate a little snow.”

I looked at him carefully. He had heft and solidity under my hand. He looked like a living man to me. I tried to believe that a little snow would not matter. I said, “We decided we should help Inhejeriel do this great sorcery she knows, in order to return her people to the land of the living. We hope perhaps this sorcery might return our people as well, those who have been lost. But it would perhaps be best to eat no more snow. We have water.” Stepping back, I swung the pack down and took out a waterskin. “Drink some water now and carry this with you. You are probably hungry.” I gave him a travel stick.

Tano listened to me attentively, and took the stick and the waterskin, but I could see his muscles were tight. He was still braced as though for a blow. He slung the thong of the waterskin over his shoulder, but he did not drink, though he must be thirsty. Anyone might be tense and upset because we were obviously surrounded by peril. Yet I did not think that Tano’s tension came from that. I did not know what the problem was. I thought perhaps it might be better if I pretended not to notice, so I glanced the way we had been going and asked, “You feel the pull?”

“Yes. Not like last time. This is much better.” He managed a smile.

“I am certain this is so,” I agreed, and turned to lift the pack.

“Ryo!” Lalani said sternly. “You are wounded. Let Tano carry that. Take a waterskin first!”

I was embarrassed, but she was right. Both things she said were right. I took a waterskin from the pack, slung it over my shoulder, and stepped back. “The wounds are nothing,” I told Tano. “But, yes, you should carry that for now. Later, when I take the pack, you should have my sword. Whichever of us is less encumbered should carry that.”

“Yes,” agreed Tano, but he looked at Lalani. “Are those wounds nothing?”

“Only a stubborn young man would say so!” she told him. “Three cuts across the belly, each as long as your hand, the deepest into the muscle. Three twenties of stitches, and three more.”

“The wounds have been properly closed. They are not dangerous.” The cuts hurt more when someone made me think of them. I set the pain at a distance and walked away, following the ridge. The pull of the tie was steady, telling me this way, this way.