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

Jumping to his feet, Yaro declared furiously, “The ban was always wrong! Quarrels between two tribes is a matter that should be left for the tribes to settle!”

“That decision may have been a good decision or a bad decision,” Koro answered. “But your behavior today was certainly disgraceful, unfitting for any warrior, far less the warleader of a tribe. Do you wish to explain your attack on Ryo inGara? Do you deny anything this young man says?”

“The son of the lord of the inGara had no right to take my son and deal with him in any way at all! He broke the ban first! The inGara broke the ban and you did nothing!”

On the hillside above, Tano stood up. He came down the slope, walked forward, knelt to our king, bowed, stood up again, and said, his voice steady, “I was trespassing on inGara land. That act alone merited my death. Ryo inGara did not do anything wrong when he punished me for that. He was extraordinarily generous to me.” Then he looked Yaro in the face and went on. “You wanted me to murder the son of the inGara lord by means of lies and deceit, as you would have done today. I think you intended to set your own act against a different tribe. Probably the inKera. I wonder whether you have hidden a dead warrior near here, whose body you could have flung down near Ryo’s body, to create doubt and cause bad feeling between the inGara and the inKera.”

A shocked silence fell at this appalling idea. Yaro stepped forward aggressively, declaring, “I have no need to set the act against anyone else! I would be glad if the lord of the inGara knew the name of the man who killed his son!”

Tano had taken a step back, but two inVotaro warriors had seized Yaro and held him. That gave Tano a chance to steady himself. He shook his head. “Probably you would have been glad of that, but it would please you more to cause trouble between friends. Soro inKera offended you last night. I think probably you intended the deceit as I explained it.”

Soro inKera had not waited to hear any argument. He was already on his feet, coming down the slope toward us. He was too proud to shout, so he came all the way. Then he said to Koro, “I wish to have all my people look to see if one of our warriors is missing. I think my warriors should search along the lakeshore here, and in all this rough ground.”

“A good place to hide a body would be there,” Aras said quietly. He pointed along the lake, to where great broken rocks and slabs of ice lay jumbled together a little farther to the north, half hidden within the freezing mist from the waterfalls. He said, “A man could put a body somewhere there, perhaps just past a place where tall boulders lean together, just above the ice of the lake. A man looking for danger might not find a dead man there, but if warriors searched for a man who had fled that way, they would find the body. They might think the man ran just so far before dying of his wounds.”

“Your people should stay where they are,” Koro said to the lord of the inKera. Then he said to Royova inVotaro, “Have your warriors go and look.”

Everyone obeyed him. In a very little time, the inVotaro warriors brought a dead man to us, a man killed with a cut across the belly. This was not a man I knew. One of the inVotaro said, “By all the signs, this man was wounded as we see, then fell and dragged himself to that place beyond the boulders. If another dead man had been found here, I might have believed they killed each other.”

Soro inKera had been studying the dead man’s face. Now, with no change to his expression, he said to our king, “I lay a charge of deceit and murder against the warleader of the inTasiyo.”

Koro nodded. “I will judge this matter now.” He asked Tano, “How did you know?”

Tano shook his head. “I did not know. I thought it was something the lord of the inTasiyo would do if he could. He has done such things before. He has often said that the best way to weaken an enemy is to make him quarrel with someone who should be a friend.”

“These are lies,” snapped Yaro, and began to say something else, but Koro signaled to Royova inVotaro, who in turn made a short gesture. The inVotaro warriors at once forced Yaro to his knees, bringing out thongs to bind his hands and feet, cutting a length of cloth with which to gag him.

Koro ignored this. He asked Aras, “How did you know?”

Aras sighed. “I did not know, o king, until Tano inGara spoke of it. In so large a gathering, I cannot see one man’s thoughts well unless I know him and have reason to look carefully. I am sorry for that. I would have prevented all these things from happening if I could. When Tano spoke, at once I saw in Yaro’s mind that this accusation was true. But I did not know anything about it until that moment.”

Koro nodded. He said, “I have heard enough. Everyone will kneel.” Everyone standing knelt, except for Royova and the inVotaro warriors. Koro waited. Finally, when everyone was quiet, he looked around at everyone and lifted his hands to show he was making an important decision and everyone should listen. He said, “The inTasiyo warleader has committed many disgraceful acts. The inTasiyo must be aware that their warleader is a dishonorable man. It is impossible that they have not been aware. They are a people who have thrown away their honor. This is my judgment.