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

was not enough. I knew our enemies would kill me soon and then they would kill Inhejeriel and Etta and Lalani, and the great working would be ruined before it could be finished, all their courage made nothing.” He stopped, looking at me.

Bracing myself, I said to Aras, “Tell the story as it happened.” If we had been speaking only to young men close to my own age, I would have looked around proudly and added, I will not permit anyone to say anything regarding the events that will be described. In this company, I could not say anything of the kind. Instead, I said, not looking at anyone, keeping my tone flat, “I would very strongly prefer that no one express any opinion regarding these events. Any offense that occurred lies between Aras and me, no one else. Everyone who hears this tale should remember that all these matters have already been settled.” Then I looked at Aras.

“All right,” he said softly in darau. Shifting back to taksu, he went on, looking steadily at Koro inKarano and at my father. “Ryo knew I needed him, but he thought he could not come. If he turned and made the last part of that climb, only Raga and Arayo would be left to hold back our enemies. Two young men would not hold them long. They would both die quickly, for very little gain. If Ryo stood with them, they might hold a long time. He chose to stand with them. I decided his choice was wrong. I used the sorcerous tie I hold to him to take his will. I made him order his younger brother and Arayo to hold, and I made him turn and come to me. He did as I made him do and came up the last small distance, leaving the young men to die so that he could fight for me instead.”

I did not wait to see how anyone would react to this. I knew very well how everyone would react. Before anyone could respond, I said, speaking forcefully, “The strategy was sound. The warleader of the inGara and the warleader of the inKera agree that the decision Aras made was the right decision for that battle.” I paused to let everyone understand this. Some of the people who had begun to speak settled back, listening. I went on. “I agree with this as well. The victory came to us, when otherwise our enemies would have won.” I told them all how it had happened, saying at last, “At the end, the eagle drove back our enemies for one moment and another moment and a third moment, until at last we held long enough. Inhejeriel completed her task. The bridge she made rose through the earth and into the sky.” I sketched the rising spiral with my hand and finished, “Thus very many of those lost were brought back into the lands of the living, into the starlit lands. This was how it happened.”

Before anyone else could respond to any of this, Koro ordered, “For forty breaths, no one will speak.”

In all that crowded tent, no one made a sound. As the pause came to an end, some of the people in the tent looked at Koro inKarano to see what he thought. Some looked at my mother, or at me. But by far the greatest number of people had turned their attention to my father. My father was gazing at Aras, utterly expressionless. Aras had lowered his eyes to his hands, which were folded together. There was no obvious tension in his pose, but he was sitting very still.

When the pause ended, Koro said, “Sinowa inGara, these events concern inGara most nearly. If you wish to express an opinion, I will hear you.”

My father did not answer at once. Finally, after a time long enough for the silence to become tight and impatient, he spoke. “I have two questions I wish to ask. Here is the first: Aras Eren Samaura, did you know everyone who died in the land of the shades would be returned to the land of the living by the sorcery of the Tarashana woman?”

“No,” Aras answered, not raising his gaze. “I hoped it might be so, but I thought it unlikely. If the Saa'arii shadow tide had not taken all those people up, I am almost certain they would have died, because no sorcery could have drawn them out of the land of the shades, only out of the shadow tide. I think now the gods tilted the terrible thing the Saa'arii made and put it to a better use so that those lost might be redeemed. But I did not know that was happening.”

My father nodded. He turned to me. “My son, have you forgiven this offense? Have you accepted any apology for anything that occurred?”

Ah. I should have thought to answer those questions before they were asked. I answered them now. “I forgave the act because it was the right decision for that moment, but I have not forgiven the offense. Perhaps I may forgive it before I die, or perhaps not. I have not accepted any apology. Perhaps I may accept an apology at a later time, or perhaps not.”

My father nodded again. He glanced around, making certain he held everyone’s attention, as he assuredly did. Then he turned to Koro. “When a battle is close and the outcome uncertain, sometimes a warleader must make a difficult choice. I respect the opinion of my warleader and of the inKera warleader regarding the strategy that governed the events we have heard described. I was not present, so I have no opinion regarding that matter myself.” He paused.

Then, indicating Aras with a small movement of his hand, he said, “This man confesses that he has broken an important oath, but he is not inGara. If he sets his honor at hazard or shatters it entirely, that is