I lowered my eyes, embarrassed, but my mother smiled. “You are right. That is true. That is my son’s nature. Did he know then that you are a sorcerer?”
“No. He was very upset when he learned that. I was careless to let him realize, but it is hard for me to guard myself against a man whom I know is honest and trustworthy.”
My mother smiled again. “What is your name and your tribe—your house?”
“My name is Aras Eren Samaura. I am lord of Gaur—a county a little to the east, not so very far south of the borderlands. I am a scepter-holder for my king, who is my uncle, my mother’s brother. In some matters, I think you would say I am the arm of my king.”
“You are a powerful man.”
“In the summer country, when I am not so careless as to be taken in an ambush by my enemies, yes. Here, I am completely dependent on the generosity of your people.”
My mother nodded. “Here, Ryo inGara is a son of the lord of the inGara, which is a powerful tribe: not the first nor the second nor the third, but perhaps the fourth and not less than the fifth. Many tribes are our allies. Some are our dependents. Our enemies respect us. Any of our enemies would have put my son to death and been satisfied. No one would have thought the sacrifice was not enough. You took him alive instead, and took him into the summer country. There, he was completely dependent on your generosity. When that was so, what did you put into his hands?”
Aras hesitated.
I said, “He gave me his hospitality: he made me a guest of his house. He gave me his trust: he put his own knife into my hands. He gave me his friendship: he told me private things of his life in return for the private things he saw of mine.”
My mother nodded thoughtfully. “When you brought him into the winter country, my son, what did you give him in return?”
“Blows and bitterness.”
“Ryo,” Aras said.
I bowed to acknowledge the reproof. Straightening, I said, “I protected him from myself as well as I could. I guarded him against the cold and the dangers of the winter country. I persuaded my father to spare his life, even though he is a sorcerer. I brought him to the tent of my mother.”
“A sound beginning,” my mother said, without the least hint of a smile. “But not enough.” At last addressing my father, she said gravely, “My husband, if my guest asks anything of the inGara, it is the wish of your wife that you hear him, if your judgment allows.”
My father nodded. He said to Aras, “If you would ask anything of the inGara, I will hear your request.”
Aras straightened his back, drawing a slow breath and letting it out. “I am an enemy of Serat Aneka Tasaras. He is lord of a county called Lorellan, south and west of mine. He intends to seize power in the summer country, casting down my king.” He turned to Royova inVotaro. “He intends to use the people of the winter country to do this. He has already begun. You said that the war goes both too badly and too well in the east?”
Royova tilted his head. “Do you not see in my mind what has happened there?”
“Anything you explain out loud is clearer to me, lord.”
“Do not address him that way,” I said quickly in darau. “He is not a lord. Say ‘warleader’ or call him by name.”
Aras nodded. “Thank you, Ryo. Should I apologize for my mistake?”
“You should always apologize for a mistake.”
His mouth relaxed in genuine humor. “Of course I should.” He turned to Royova and said in taksu, “I apologize for addressing you incorrectly, warleader of the inVotaro. I did not intend offense. I will take your blow for it if you wish.”
Royova had an ironic look in his eyes; I was more and more certain he must speak at least some darau. He said gravely, “The mistake was too small to offend.” Then he glanced at Darra and his tone hardened. “But this is not so for all the faults we may reasonably set against your people. Let us first consider how the complications began. Darra inKarano, daughter of our king, will explain how that happened.”
Darra bowed her head politely. She was a young woman, having one winter less than I, but already a singer and respected by everyone. I had been among the Lau so long I looked at her now with a new appreciation. Her beauty was very different from the beauty of a young Lau woman: she was softly rounded everywhere, cheeks and breasts and hips. She was everything a man would want in a woman. But there was a shadow in her eyes, in her face, in the set of her mouth, that had not been there when last I had met her. Her quiet now was not like the serene quiet of the Moon. It was like the stillness of the lioness who waits for the deer to walk below her tree. Beneath Darra’s calm ran a new anger, deeper than the river.
She said in taksu, “I went to the borderlands, to the town called Erem Sen, because the wife of the lord there, a woman called Lady Marotau, sent to the inKarano. She asked for someone to come and discuss whether the problems with trade might be examined.” Her voice was quiet, pitched low for a woman. I knew that among the singers, she sang the lower harmonies. She spoke with her eyes modestly lowered because she was so much younger than my mother. But modesty was not Darra’s true nature. I had seen her at every convocation since we were children, and I knew how forceful she was beneath her demure air. Whatever offense had been given her, I thought her nature had not changed. I hoped her nature had not changed, despite the bitterness that lay barely concealed beneath her calm manner.
She went on steadily, not looking up. “This woman sent one letter and then another and then a third. She said to the inKarano that men of both our peoples might be pleased to raid and fight and burn homes laboriously raised up, but she thought the war had lasted long enough and perhaps women might settle matters more sensibly. I said to my aunt that I should go there, and then I said so to my father, and finally they agreed. So I went there, with an escort of inKarano women and inVotaro warriors. All seemed well. Lady Marotau received me graciously.” Darra paused. Raising her gaze, she looked at me. Then she looked at Aras. When she went on, her voice had hardened. “But when I went aside with this lady to discuss all these matters, the lord of that county, her husband, met us and sent his wife away, saying that he would speak to me himself, that his wife had no more understanding of matters of trade than his dog. Speaking of any woman so slightingly was an insult and an offense to me, but I would have permitted it to pass. But Lord Marotau offered greater insult. I will not repeat his words or refer to his actions. Nothing of that is fit for male ears.”
I did not like to imagine the kind of insult it might have been. And this to a daughter of Koro inKarano himself. I saw by Royova’s still face and hooded gaze how angry he still was at all that had happened there.
“I came away,” continued Darra. “I told Royova inVotaro, who had escorted me to that place, the part that was fit to tell. I told him this Lau lord wanted the war to become bitter and we should give him what he wished. I did not know then that a sorcerer might also want that. Since that time—”
“If I may,” Aras interrupted her. Royova raised his eyebrows, frowning. Aras bowed his head and said, “I beg your pardon. I did not mean to be discourteous. I have something important to say. Darra inKarano, no such insult was given. The offensive actions you remember did not occur. That whole memory is false.”
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I had seen how his hands tensed and relaxed before he began to speak, and I think I had guessed from that what he would say before he spoke. But I was still surprised. I would never grow accustomed to suspecting such a thing might have happened. Royova inKarano set a hand on the hilt of his sword, though his expression did not change.
Darra inKarano frowned as well, her attention turning inward. “I remember it clearly.”
“That is how it is,” I told her.
She transferred the frown to me. Then she lifted her chin slightly. “False memories should fade.”
“They should, and do,” Aras agreed. “But our enemy is very powerful, and he has a way of linking his lies to compulsions that makes those lies hard to reje
ct. Also, because you hate the memory, you will not let yourself look at it. Thus the false memory remains tightly woven into your mind. I need to lift the compulsion and show you the falsity.”
Darra looked at once to Royova, saying forcefully, “I do not want any sorcerer to touch my mind!”
Royova tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, studying Aras. My father set a hand to his sword, though he did not look directly at anyone. I rocked forward, ready to come to my feet.
In the midst of all this sudden tension, Aras bowed his head. He said softly, “It is very important to see the truth. Perhaps your real memory will tell us nothing useful, but perhaps it will tell us something important. I must lift this false memory whether you give me permission or not, but I would prefer—”
I was already moving, putting myself between Aras and Royova inVotaro. My brother was almost as fast. Garoyo did not draw his sword, but he seized Royova’s arms, preventing him from drawing his own. They braced like that, strength against strength. For a heartbeat, anything might have happened.
Then my mother said, her words measured, “Certainly my guest will not set any kind of sorcery upon any person here without permission. My guest, please agree.”
“I agree. I will not do such a thing,” Aras said at once. His eyes were wide. We had all surprised him. I thought emotions must have been running too high for him to understand what would happen when he said that. My mother’s words had shown him the problem when I had not realized I should explain.
“Then surely none of my guests will break the peace of my tent,” my mother said firmly.
Another heartbeat passed. Then Royova said quietly, “I will step back.”
Garoyo answered immediately, “I will as well.” Both of them did so, easing away from each other.
My mother said, “All my guests should sit down. Let us pause. For forty breaths, let no one speak.”
Everyone sat down again. My father moved his hand from the hilt of his sword. Etta rose and added honey to the tisane, to sweeten the moment and soften hard tempers.
After the pause, Royova sighed. He said to my father, “I should not have attempted to draw against your wife’s guest in her tent, no matter the provocation. I apologize. I will take your blow for it if you wish.”
My father stood up, crossed the width of the tent, and hit Royova across the face, hard enough to snap his head to the side. He said grimly, “I forgive the insult. I do not forget it. There will not be any repetition.”
Royova straightened, blinking. “There will not,” he agreed. He looked at my brother. “Warleader of the inGara, I apologize to you as well, and ask you to forgive my discourtesy. I do not consider there is any reason for a quarrel.”
“I forgive it, and I agree,” Garoyo said.
I thought none of that was important. I said urgently, “I ask the singer of the inKarano to permit this sorcerer to lift the false memory. It would be better if she agrees.”
Darra glared at me. “And if you are mistaken regarding the nature of your sorcerer?” she demanded. Her voice was tight and angry. “I notice that you have been in his company for many days. I mean no offense when I wonder whether your opinions may be reliable!”
I nodded. “At first all those doubts were also mine. But these doubts were answered by this sorcerer’s actions over many days. Darra, please agree. This would be better for you as well as for everyone.”
Darra drew a sharp breath to answer me. But Aras said softly, “Singer of the inKarano, beneath the false memory, you know what is true. I mean no offense when I say you are too angry and too afraid. If you consider, you will realize the force of those emotions in your mind is not natural. Those feelings have been made into a compulsion. I ask you to consider whether my words are true.”
Darra inKarano sat back, surprised and thoughtful as well as angry. She began to take the deep, slow breaths singers use to settle their minds and steady their voices. After some time, she said, “That may be true. Perhaps it is so.” She drew one more long breath and let it out. Finally she said, “I think that is so.” She turned to me. “You have no doubts?”
“Many,” I told her. “But not of this sorcerer’s generous nature. The lies our enemy put into your mind hurt you. You should permit Aras to lift away those lies and show you what is true.”
Darra looked at me for another long moment. Finally she braced herself like a warrior expecting a blow, turned to Aras, and said, “Very well. You may do this.”
Aras nodded. He looked at her steadily.
Darra jumped to her feet. I began to stand, but Royova was already up, gripping her arms, holding her firmly. I sat down. Darra did not cry out, but she blinked, and blinked again. She frowned. She drew a long breath, raised a hand to her forehead, and lowered it again. “That is very strange,” she commented. Her tone was calm, but her voice shook a little.
“Yes,” I agreed, heartfelt.
She looked at me. “Yes,” she said. “So. You may let me go, Royova.” When he did, slowly, cautious, she sat down again and said to me, not looking at the inVotaro warleader, “You were right to insist, Ryo. No one should set any fault against your sorcerer for demanding this.” She paused. Then she bowed her head. “Everything was different. The insult I remembered was never given.” Then she turned to Royova and said, “The first part was almost as I remembered: Lady Marotau came and showed me a place apart, but then she went away. Lord Marotau came instead, and also another man. This man I did not remember at all until now. Everything else was the same to the time when Lord Marotau said his wife knew less than his dog about trade.”
“After that, it is different?” said Royova.
“It is very different. Lord Marotau did not insult me as I remembered. He said, ‘You might as well try to negotiate with wild animals. You might as well say wolves and bears own land as say Ugaro own it.’” Her lip curled. “He thought himself brave to say such a thing, but he was not speaking to me when he said it. He was speaking to this other man. The other man said, ‘A short, victorious war often brings great things for the man who wins it.’ Lord Marotau laughed and said, ‘You are ambitious to think we can eradicate the barbarians, but push them back into the steppe and claim the forests, why not? Anyone who can do that deserves great things. But the Ugaro are dangerous.’ The other man said, ‘Not to me, and you don’t mind dying in a great cause, do you, Marotau?’ Lord Marotau laughed and said not at all, he looked forward to it. I thought he was joking.” She looked inward for a long moment at that memory. Then she said to Aras, “He was not joking. He was a slave of the sorcerer. I did not understand until the sorcerer began to change my memory. Then I knew. But it was too late.”
“Yes,” Aras said. “You understand, our enemy deliberately arranged matters so that an important woman would come there. He must have been very pleased that a daughter of Koro inKarano came. He altered your memory so that you would be angry not at him, but at Lord Marotau and at the people of Erem Sen. Then he built your anger into a compulsion so that you would demand bitterness against those people. You would not rest until Lord Marotau was dead and the town burned to the ground, all its people dead. He wanted to push the war to a much more bitter level.”
“Yes,” Darra agreed, frowning darkly. “I see that now.”
Aras nodded. “Once he had put that false memory and the compulsion into your mind, he could turn his attention to me. He must have been very pleased you came to him just when you did. The timing of events favored him from that moment on. He hardly had to bait me at all to push me into doing as he wished.”
“A clever man,” Royova commented. “More clever than you?”
“Perhaps. He certainly took the initiative, and kept it, until Ryo inGara broke it. He may have been too clever. If he had simply killed me himself rather than setting compulsions on Ryo to do it, I would be dead and he would be rid of his most dangerous enemy.”
Royova raised his eyebrows. “Why would he do such a thing? For the pleasure of it?�
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“He might have found that enough reason,” Aras said wryly. But then he said, “No, warleader, he meant for my own people to find my body. He wanted them to see all the marks of a terrible death, and he wanted them to set the fault against Ryo and all Ugaro. Their rage would have made them less mindful and thus more vulnerable to his power, when ordinarily they would be difficult for him to influence.”
“Difficult for him because they belong to you.”
Royova spoke without emphasis, and no one flinched that I saw, but Aras glanced at me, aware of my alarm. Turning back to Royova, he said, “They are my people because I am their lord. They belong to me in the way that the inGara people belong to the lord of the inGara, not in any other way. Of course I protect them as well as I can, with all the abilities I possess.”
The inVotaro warleader could not object to that. He nodded thoughtfully.
“It was not really over-clever. It ought to have worked. Ryo resisted everything Lorellan did to him far better than either of us suspected he could. It was a lesson to me regarding the limits of sorcery. It may have been a lesson to Lorellan as well, but I hope he is too arrogant to have learned it.” Aras picked up his bowl, but then he only held it, thinking. Finally he said to Royova, “Some things are clear to me now. Lorellan needs a series of atrocities to engage the attention of my people to the south, who are not ordinarily very concerned with matters having to do with the borderlands. To achieve that, he needed to bring many Ugaro warriors to him, out of the high north, to the southern forests where he could get at them. He will enthrall as many as he can and kill the rest.”
“Can he enslave many Ugaro at once?” Royova asked, frowning.
“I believe he can, especially as he gains a better feel for your people. He is a much more powerful sorcerer than I am, warleader.”
“That is very unfortunate.”
“Yes, I could not agree more, especially given that the warriors of at least three tribes have put themselves into his hands.”
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