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

lowered. He said, “I swear before the gods that I will stay where you tell me and not try to slip away in the night.”

I looked at him for a long time. Long enough for him to see that I did not know whether I should accept his word. That is what lies do. The color came into his face suddenly, and I nodded. Then I said, “You may go to the stream for water if you wish. Drink downstream of us. You may lie down anywhere you wish within this glade. If, despite your promise, you slip away and run, I will track you down tomorrow and put you to death in the way prescribed by the ban. Crossing into the summer country will not protect you from me. Nothing will protect you from me.”

He bowed once more, then got up and backed away. He did not forget to collect the bread and meat he had not yet eaten before he retreated very quietly to the edge of the firelight. He did not eat anything more, not yet. He sat down there at the foot of a big fir where the lowest branches almost hid him from sight, wrapped his arms around his knees, and tried to be so still everyone would forget he was there.

I went to the fire, sat down, and looked into the flames. At first no one else said anything. Then Suyet said to me in darau, “I’ve made a careful note never, ever to lie to an Ugaro, no matter what. If you ask me if I’m cold, I won’t politely say no.”

Some of the tension eased out of my shoulders and back, and I managed to smile. “That kind of politeness does not offend, but yes, we think it is important to be honest. You knew that already.”

“Not as well as I know it now,” he assured me earnestly. He explained to Geras, “Lying about his age might’ve got that boy’s tongue cut out. Ryo’s going to beat him. Same penalty as breaking out of your line, and I don’t mean in drill, I mean in battle.”

Geras whistled. “That’s ...”

“Very generous, in this particular case,” Aras cut in. “Amazingly generous.”

“Is that what it is?” Geras leaned back against the fallen tree. “Never mind, then.”

“I admit I don’t entirely understand why,” Aras said to me. “I gather the bad feeling between your people and his goes well beyond the usual.”

I looked around at all the Lau, as familiar to me as the people of my mother’s camp, but foreign to the winter country and to Ugaro customs. I said, “I do not know the exact nature of the problem that began the enmity. It happened a long time ago, and the older people of the tribe do not like to speak of it. The inTasiyo insulted us in some very serious manner. We and our allies nearly began a war with the inTasiyo and their allies. The problem became so serious that the king at that time forbade any contact at all between our people. For breaking this ban, the young man should be put to a hard death. The matter is complicated, because if I do not put this young man to the death prescribed, then his own lord must do it, or the inGara may bring a very serious charge against the inTasiyo.”

“But you aren’t going to,” said Suyet.

“No. If I punish him in some lesser way and declare before the gods that inGara honor has been satisfied, then, as I am the son of the lord of the inGara, that is a decision that will hold. My father will not bring that kind of charge against the inTasiyo. This may prevent the lord of the inTasiyo from putting this young man to death, or it may not. That will be his decision.”

“I see.” Aras was silent for a moment. Then he said, “I’m glad you don’t find it a casual matter to put a young man to death, Ryo, even when you think your honor as your father’s son means that you ought to. I’m not in any way offended by being asked to take your example. I don’t think it’s very likely I’ll find a way to follow it, but I hope I will.” His expression was hard to make out in the shadows of the trees.

Rakasa and Bara had gone back into the forest a little distance, probably so they could speak freely about my decision without the risk of offending me. Now they returned. Rakasa carried our camp hatchet in one hand and Bara carried a birch sapling longer than his own height in the other, which he tossed to me. I caught it. He sat down a little distance away, and Rakasa sat down between us. “So,” he said. “I have no opinion on any matter concerning inGara honor, but if I may ask, Ryo, what explanation do you intend to give your father?”

I took out my knife and began to peel the thin bark off the sapling. A proper whip is made of stiff leather, but we had nothing like that here. A sapling like this, with leather braided into the tip, would do. I said, “I will say I acted as seemed right to me.”

Rakasa made a derisive sound. “I would not want to be in your place when you meet him.” Then he added seriously, “But I will say I was with you and I did not disagree. I do not look forward to being in my own place either, when I say that.”

I looked at him.

He shrugged. “Perhaps, as you do not intend to kill this young fool, he might live long enough to learn better. If he were a young inGeiro warrior, not that any inGeiro could behave in so shameful a manner, but if that should happen, I would be grateful if an