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

He answered quietly, “I’ll accept your apology if you wish, but I don’t agree you have anything to apologize for, Ryo. You weren’t actually wrong. Sometimes there’s nothing right to do.”

“My problem is not as difficult as yours.”

“No, it’s not. But it’s difficult enough.”

I nodded. Then I stood up and said in taksu to Tano inTasiyo, “Come here.”

He stood up at once, came to where I waited, and knelt again, bowing to the ground.

“What is your name?” I asked him. “Who are your people? How many winters do you have? Why are you here, trespassing upon inGara lands? You must know this is a very, very serious matter.”

He knelt back on his heels, keeping his head bowed. “My name is Tano inTasiyo. My father’s name is Yaro inTasiyo. I have sixteen winters. I did not mean to trespass on inGara lands. I meant to raid the inSorako. But they almost caught me. They pressed me east. I could not turn back to the west; whatever I tried, I was forced farther and farther to the east. I came into inGara lands to escape them. But I did not mean to raid here. I knew I had come too far. I knew I had broken the ban. I meant to slip very softly through your lands and away again without drawing notice.”

I asked, “Is that the truth?”

He flinched at that. He said, his tone low and hopeless, “I am very sorry I lied to you, warrior. I beg your pardon. I deserve whatever punishment you will give me for it.” He did not make the gesture that asks for mercy. Nor did he ask me to return his head to his father.

I said, “I understand why you lied to me about your name. That was completely disgraceful, but I understand it. Lying about your age was worse. That was an act of complete cowardice. There can be no possible excuse for such a thing.”

He bowed to the ground, pressing his face to the earth.

“For the cowardice you showed in lying to me regarding your age, you should be beaten severely, if I do not cut out the tongue that spoke such lies. The feet of an inTasiyo that have touched inGara soil should be cut off. The hands of an inTasiyo that have touched any inGara possession should be struck off. The eyes of an inTasiyo that have looked upon inGara people should be put out. That is the punishment you deserve for trespassing here. For denying your people, after your death, your head should left to the ravens and the foxes.”

He did not move. He knew all this.

I looked down at him for some time. I did not look at Aras, but finally I went on. “I have recently suggested to someone else that he show generosity to an enemy beyond what any custom permits. I consider it fitting that I do the same now, to set the example I have asked this other person to follow. Therefore, this one time, I will merely beat an inTasiyo who has committed all these offenses. Twice forty.” For any ordinary offense, this would be extraordinarily severe, especially for so young a warrior. For the offenses this young man had committed, it was not by any possible measure severe enough. I did not know how I would explain to my father that I had set so light a penalty. But I had said what I would do. I could not change my mind now or that would be worse still.

I did not look to see what the inGeiro thought of my decision. I looked only at the young inTasiyo. I said, “I will do it in the morning, when the light is better.”

He whispered, his voice muffled against the earth, “I thank you for your extraordinary generosity, warrior.”

I nodded, though he was not looking up and did not see me. He should be grateful. Any man in his position should be very, very grateful merely to be beaten for all these offenses.

I could hardly see how a young man like this, who had been eating little for a long time and who would be in pain from a severe beating, could possibly make it all the way back to the territory of his people without being caught again by one of the tribes that lay between our lands. If he were caught by another tribe, he would probably lie again, as he lied to me. A young man will recover from a beating, however severe, but I did not know how he would recover from the cowardice that had led him to lie. A man who goes to the land of the shades with lies on his tongue cannot expect mercy from the gods.

Of course, the fate of a cowardly and dishonorable inTasiyo warrior was not properly my concern.

I said, “I will not bind you tonight. You will swear to me you will stay here and not try to run away. Swear that now.”

A very slight pause. Then he answered, “I swear it before the gods. I will do as you say, warrior.”

“Is that a lie?”

He flinched.

“You see how it is when you tell one lie. Who can trust anything you say after that? Look at me, Tano inTasiyo, and tell me again you will obey me.”

That took a moment. I knew for myself that it takes courage to face a man who has corrected you for some shameful mistake, and I thought it must be worse when the correction comes from an enemy. But he pushed himself up and sat back again on his heels. The firelight showed me again how thin his face was, how prominent his cheekbones. I could not remember ever seeing an Ugaro man of sixteen winters as thin as this. He kept his gaze respectfully