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

name, if I had ever known it, and I had not realized that either until this moment. The territory of the inTasiyo did not lie close to inGara territory, but I knew the names of all the lords of all the tribes between us. Now it seemed remarkable to me that I did not know this man’s name.

Fixed by Koro’s steady attention, this man opened his mouth. Then he looked at Yaro and said, not loudly, “I have no reason to consider that my warleader acted dishonorably in anything. The young man should have said he was inGara.”

“Everyone knows the young man should have said so,” Koro agreed, his tone utterly level. “Are you certain you have nothing else to say regarding this matter, Duryo inTasiyo?”

Duryo. That was his name. I remembered now that I had heard it, but so seldom and with so little emphasis that I had forgotten it again.

“I have nothing else to say,” the man declared, his voice a little stronger this time.

Koro nodded again. He said, “The decision of what man should be lord and what man should be warleader are matters for the tribe and not the concern of the king. I have no opinion regarding such matters among the inTasiyo or any tribe. I will rule on one last detail regarding this problem before I consider any other charge that has been set against any other tribe. Although no law has been broken, a wrong was done to the inGara by the inTasiyo. My decision is that the inGara are owed some recompense for this wrong. Tano inGara may claim a forfeit from the inTasiyo.” He looked down at Tano, who still knelt before my father. “Claim your forfeit now,” he ordered.

Tano hesitated, but not for longer than a heartbeat. Then he stood up. He had had time to recover his balance, and showed no sign of pain or unsteadiness when he moved, so that was not badly done. He turned to consider the camp of the inTasiyo and all the people gathered there. His jaw was set, his mouth hard, his gaze steady. He did not look at Yaro. But he paused no longer than another heartbeat before walking into the camp.

He did not go far. He went to where some people, inTasiyo, watched everything. He seized a boy by the hair—a boy of eight winters, ten perhaps—and dragged this boy out of the group, ignoring the murmur from the gathering. The boy pulled away, reaching to grip Tano’s wrist, gasping something. Tano said something to this boy, his words too quiet for anyone to overhear, and the boy stopped resisting his hold. Then Tano turned, pulling the boy after him, still by the hair, which is a way a man may handle a boy who has behaved very disgracefully. Yaro did not try to stop him, though his jaw was set with fury. No one tried to stop him. Tano brought this boy to my father and pushed him down, all the way down, so the boy lay on the ground.

Tano knelt, his hand resting on the back of the boy’s head, gently now. He said, “Lord, please accept this boy into the inGara. He is utterly without worth, a boy with nothing to recommend him. He has been taught nothing the inGara would want a boy to know. He is not brave. He knows nothing of honorable behavior. He may never be any use to the inGara. But it is better for a boy to be counted worthless among the inGara than for that boy to be the son of the inTasiyo warleader, so I ask that you accept him.”

I had not expected him to say anything like that. But at once I saw that I should have. I had already known that Tano made important decisions very fast. And I had known he was very intelligent. He had wanted to bring this boy, obviously his brother, out of the inTasiyo—but that was not all he wanted. He could have done that without saying the words he had chosen to say.

Yaro’s eyes were dark and hooded with restrained fury at the insult. He and my father were looking directly at one another. Neither man moved or looked away.

My father said, still looking at Yaro, “This boy is inGara now.” Then he looked down at the boy. He said, “Whether he is entirely worthless, the years will show. But we inGara are unaccustomed to teaching our boys so poorly that they fail in everything.” He paused. Then he turned his head, looking slowly and thoughtfully around at all the inTasiyo. He said, every word flat with disdain, “When people choose to follow men who lack strength or honor, they do not deserve to be led by anyone better.”

No one among the inTasiyo moved. I had despised them already. Now I was hard put to say nothing. But it was not my place to speak. And I did not know what else I might say that would do more than what Tano had done or what my father had said.

Koro said, “Very well. This matter is settled. I will now consider—”

Unexpectedly, Soro inKera spoke, interrupting the king. His unemphatic tone was exactly as always. He said, “The inKera have no interest in taking in any honorless person, but I hope no one would say that we are unable to teach our children how to behave properly. If someone presented a child to us, we might take that child.” He added to Koro, “I ask your pardon for speaking over your words, o king. I apologize. I will take your blow for it, if you wish.”

Koro made a gesture that dismissed the discourtesy. He said, “We will pause for forty breaths. Then I will consider the charge the inTasiyo have made against the inGara.”

For forty breaths, everyone waited, not speaking. None of the inTasiyo moved, though some