Tarashana Rachel Neumeier (top 10 motivational books TXT) 📖

tight-drawn over her face; her cheekbones sharper than they had been, her eyes larger, with fine lines at the corners that had not been there before. She shivered slightly and constantly. But she stood straight, pretending that she was not cold or tired or afraid. This is a kind of courage the Lau sometimes show, the best of them: a courage that endures every hardship without complaint. I thought she was even more beautiful than she had been before anything had happened.

I did not say anything more, but turned and led the way upward.

 -23-

We climbed steadily for some measureless time. I put away the uneasiness about this endless day, as I put away pain and weariness, so that I could pay attention to the land and the air.

I could not put aside my awareness that Aras still needed me, needed us. The sense that he was in great danger, the urgency to come to him, had begun increasing in intensity once more. I wished he would speak to me in some manner so that I might know exactly what danger he faced. I did not like him to set a false memory into my mind even for such a purpose, but I wished he would do it now. I thought as clearly as I could that I wanted him to do that. But nothing of the kind occurred. I thought perhaps he could not spare the concentration to work that kind of sorcery. That was not a good thought either. None of my thoughts were good now.

I froze in my tracks, putting up a hand to halt Lalani. Someone was before us on the trail. I heard almost nothing; the person or people were quiet; but someone was there. I signed to Lalani to wait and to watch behind us. Then, drawing my sword, I slipped ahead, moving as quietly as I could. I pretended I was one of the silent leopards of the mountains. Quieter even than that: a soft breath of wind. A drift of mist.

Then, not far before me, a foot scuffed against stone, and a pebble rattled loose down the slope, bouncing past me, and a low voice muttered a curse.

For a heartbeat, I stood perfectly still. Then I sheathed my sword, straightened, strode forward around the curve of the path, and said, “Raga! That is hardly fit language for a man who has come into the land of the shades and may soon face the gods.”

My brother wheeled around, astonished. Arayo inKera, a short distance above him, pivoted as fast, his sword half-drawn, but he had already recognized my voice and slid his weapon back into its sheath as he turned.

Raga laughed. “Ryo!” he said. “I thank the gods!” He ran to meet me, slipping a little on the steep path in his haste.

I caught him in a brief, hard embrace, set him back to a small distance, and said sternly, “How fortunate that the son of the inKera warleader is here to watch for enemies, as my younger brother is so careless as to dislodge pebbles and then curse aloud. Who knows who else might have heard you?” I grinned at Arayo over Raga’s shoulder. He had turned to the side so that he could keep an eye both on the path above us and the path below. That was well done, and I nodded to him to show I recognized his good sense. “I am very glad to find you both,” I told them fervently. “But how did you come here? Aras found you?”

“Yes, your sorcerer found us, Ryo,” my brother agreed, his words tumbling over one another in his eagerness to speak. “There was only darkness, except not really darkness, it was nothing at all, except I felt enemies surrounded me, but I could not see them, I could not see anything.”

“But Aras found you.” I was deeply, unutterably grateful, even though we were still in so much danger. I shoved my brother lightly to tell him to go on.

“Yes!” he said, speaking now over his shoulder. “I was alone, I was alone for a long time, but then suddenly Aras was there with me, almost as close to me as you are now.” Then Raga faced forward, climbing fast, but continued to speak. “He gripped my arms, looked into my face, and said, ‘Here you are at last! Come as fast as you can, but take care, our enemies are closing in.’ Then he vanished and I was alone in the empty darkness again. But something had changed, because after that I knew where he was. I hurried to find him and came out of the darkness, and found Arayo, and he knew where to go too; everything happened the same way for him as for me. We have been trying to hurry, but we have been trying to be careful, too, Ryo. I am sorry I kicked that rock loose, but I stumbled.”

“So, so, you stumbled?” I chided him. “I am sure an enemy would forgive your clumsiness. You must take more care.”

“I know!” he answered, laughing again. “I do know. We have seen enemies.” He hesitated, turning again to face me. “These are not living men, but they do not seem to be ordinary shades. Do you know what they are?”

Lalani answered before I could. “The shadows of Saa'arii warriors—Inhejeriel's enemies. They kill themselves so that they can come through the dark tide into the shadow it casts. They are fearless because they are already dead, and their whole purpose is to kill Inhejeriel before she can work her great sorcery.”

All of us stared at her, even I. Though I had heard Inhejeriel speak of her enemies, though she had explained that the dark tide here was the shadow cast by the Saa'arii tide above the world, I had not put all these things together so clearly. But when