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

my ear, it seemed that my brother pronounced the little trill in the middle of Saa'rii exactly as Inhejeriel had pronounced it. I thought he might have learned lasije better than he claimed. That would not surprise me at all. He had been very quick to learn darau—quicker than either I or our sisters.

Raga went on. “By their arts, these people weave great islands that float upon the waves. Upon these islands, they make their homes and build their cities. In past years, the Saa'arii seldom found reason to quarrel because the sea is wide. When these people found reason to quarrel, they could each sail away to a different part of the sunless sea. But in recent years a great king rose up among the Saa'arii, stronger than the rest, a great king whose sorcerous arts surpassed all others. This king defeated another, and then another, and another again, taking many islands for his own, taking all those people to rule. Those who would not be ruled fled, making their islands travel south, far from their enemies, south and farther south, until at last they came to the place where the light of the stars falls upon the waves from the starlit lands. Then they could go no farther, but the great king was still coming.”

Koro raised a hand to signal a pause. “How do those people see, those too far from the starlit lands to see by that light?” he asked my brother. “Are their eyes different from the eyes of other people so that they see when there is no light?”

Rago smiled, pleased at this question and eager to answer. “I, too, asked Kelhasian tal-Shalaseriad this question. She said it was a better question than I had understood. Those people make light from the plants and creatures of the sunless sea, and they also make light by sorcerous means. As they make their light themselves, they see no reason to offer deference or honor to the stars or the moon. They know nothing of the Sun, for they never see him. The Saa'arii believe their own power stands above all others. They believe that death is a gateway to endless darkness—but they do not fear that, for they believe that the strong carry their own light into this dark land, and rule there as they rule in the land of the living.”

Koro nodded thoughtfully. “These are important things to understand.”

“Yes, o king. No others among the Saa'arii could contend with the great king. As his power filled all the sea, those his power threatened decided they must once again sail to the south. By their arts, they brought their dark sea into the starlit country, drowning that country, forcing the stars themselves out of their places in the heavens. My eldest brother saw that dark sky when he went into the starlit lands.”

“We did not know what we saw,” Garoyo said. “But we knew we saw a disturbing emptiness in the heavens.”

Raga nodded. “This was the black tide of the Saa'arii. It is as well you turned back and did not go to see that place more closely, because that was a darkness that drowned all light. The true sea followed the black tide, bitter waters rising from the north to drown the starlit country, but the dark tide itself was the weapon that pushed away the stars and cleared the way for the sea to follow.” He paused, giving everyone time to think how this might have been.

Then he went on. “The Tarashana went in great numbers to face these enemies. That was when they disappeared from the lands near our border. But they did not yet understand the ways by which the Saa’arii could be defeated. The Saa'arii were too strong. They swept those Tarashana people who remained out of their way, drowning them with their black tide. This was the same that they later sent flooding through the pass to come upon our people. But they did not care for us. They sought Inhejeriel tal-Shalaseriad. By their arts, they had come to know she was their enemy, and they knew she had the means to defeat them.”

“Yes, I see,” Koro said thoughtfully. “Very well, young poet. I am glad to know all this. So these powerful Saa'arii brought their sorcery and their sea into the starlit lands, defeated the Tarashana, and thought they would have everything as they wished. Is this how it was?”

“Yes, o king,” Raga answered, bowing. “That is how the story was told to me. Even those Tarashana with arts of their own did not understand this black tide quickly enough to withstand their enemies. Later they understood better the nature of this sorcery, but it was too late. Too many of them had already been drowned—I think this was drowned by the sorcerous tide, not by the rising sea, but I am not certain. The lasije words for these things are difficult to understand, so I may not explain these things exactly as they happened.”

Koro nodded. “We understand this. You do well enough. Go on, young poet.”

My brother bowed. “Either way, those Tarashana who remained tried to delay the Saa'arii, but they could only delay them; they could not defeat their enemies. Our Tarashana, Inhejeriel tal-Shalaseriad, did not stay to aid in that effort. She took the names of all her people and fled. She knew tales that explained how to use those names to recall her people from the black tide, but this task was beyond her strength. She did not know how she might even attempt such a thing, but though she had no hope, she was determined to try. But then my eldest brother came into the starlit lands, and she saw him there and thought perhaps she might succeed after all.”

Koro nodded, considering this. Finally he said, “So. Now we understand something of how this trouble came about. Let someone now explain how