Tarashana Rachel Neumeier (top 10 motivational books TXT) 📖

else would they trouble themselves? That seems reassuring, in a way. Can they attack you directly?”

They can die, whispered Inhejeriel. They can die, the warriors of the Saa'arii, and send their shades through the shadow of the dark tide. They will hunt me ... and they know where I must go. They know I must go to Sabahaje. They will put themselves between me and the high place if they can.

Geras said in darau, “Sure looks like they've done that already. Looks to me like we won’t have much choice but to go right into that gods-hated shadow, if we're heading for that mountain up there.”

“Perhaps the gods will be so generous as to rearrange our path,” Aras suggested. “I know, Geras, you aren’t particularly pleased to hazard everything on the generosity of the gods. That’s not my first choice either, I agree.”

Geras answered him, but I did not hear what he said. Inhejeriel was speaking, her voice coming differently, very clearly. We will go on. We will find a way. You will help me, you will all help me, you must bend all your strength to help me, because if I am defeated, your people will also be defeated. The Saa’arii will make the border shift.

I saw in my mind the mountains that lay between the winter country and the starlit lands tearing their roots from the earth. Sometimes the border between two lands will change; the pressure of war can force that kind of change as the people of one country take land in another, or it can happen in other ways. That had happened sometimes between the winter country and the summer country. But a river is only a river, even if it sometimes flows in odd directions, over hilltops or across cliffs that would constrain a normal river. Great mountains are something else. I had never imagined the mountains shifting their place. Now I saw how that would be: the earth shattering, cracking open in great rents all the way down to the land of the shades.

Iro said, horror in his voice, “The tombs of our people would be destroyed.”

He had spoken that thought a heartbeat before I could. That idea was terrible enough, but even worse than that might happen if the mountains tore themselves free of the earth. All the protected valleys that lay between the roots of the mountains, so important for our herds, would be destroyed. Should the mountains tear free of the earth and walk, the steppe itself must surely be torn asunder for a long distance to the south. How many of our people and our herds would be caught in such a cataclysm?

I felt as though I could not breathe for the terror of what might happen if we failed to stop the Saa’arii—if Inhejeriel failed to stop them—I knew very strongly and clearly that we had to help her, we could not fail her—

Then Aras said, very sharply, for him, “Tal-Inhejeriel! Cease at once! Everyone is already trying to help you. If you have never learned a decent restraint before, I can hardly think well of your teachers, but I trust you will take instruction on this point now.”

The terrible images of broken mountains and rending earth lifted, and with those images, much of the horror that had struck into my heart. I understood—I had not understood it before—that Inhejeriel had turned her sorcery upon us, and Aras had stopped her.

I set my hand on the hilt of my knife.

“Easy,” Geras ordered, grabbing my arm. He shook his head at Iro, who had also set a hand to his knife. “You youngsters get a grip—you young men,” he corrected himself, switching from darau to taksu. “Both of you, wait. The woman is very afraid.” He shook his head, frustrated, asking me in darau, “What is the phrase, Ryo? Oh, right.” He went on in taksu again. “I do not set any fault, much fault, against her, with all this here and her people under that shadow there. We need her to defeat our enemies, you know that! And we need her to go back!” He finished in darau, firmly. “Of course she shouldn’t have tried anything like that, but what do you expect? She’s a sorcerer. You youngsters just settle down and let Lord Gaur handle her.”

The problem had ended. Aras had ended it. Geras was not wrong, though I could hardly believe even a Lau would feel such tolerance for what Inhejeriel had tried to do. I reluctantly took my hand from my knife. Iro did not like to follow my example, anyone could see that, but Etta nudged him and after a moment he did the same, folding his arms over his chest and scowling.

Aras was ignoring us all. He was saying to Inhejeriel, “You do not have to make the Ugaro more afraid so that they will fight for the victory. You may be certain they will not tamely sit down and accept defeat. None of us came here only to flinch from the first sight of our enemy, as you should realize. An apology would be in order.”

I am sorry—I am sorry, Inhejeriel said, to Aras first, but then she turned to the rest of us. She looked earnestly at Iro, perhaps because she knew by means of her sorcery that he was the most deeply offended. I am sorry, I beg your forgiveness, please do not be angry. I am so frightened—no, do not be angry, it is true, it is only true. The images were of things that might happen, everything might happen that way, but I should not have tried to frighten you by that means. Please, I will not do it again, I will try not to give offense. Please, please do not be angry.

Iro and I exchanged a glance. Then Iro said to Inhejeriel, “You have lived near Ugaro long enough to know