Darra had risen to her feet when everyone came in. Every younger woman stood moved aside to give the foremost places to those older. Darra indicated with a polite gesture that my mother should take the place before all the other women. When Dara sat down again, I noticed she sat beside a man I did not know. This man was older than I. His bones were strong, his eyes wide-set in a broad face. He had braided his hair in a complicated way that was not exactly the way most men braided theirs. His hair was not the raven black of every other Ugaro person, but had a faint reddish cast to the color. I knew who that must be, and looked at him carefully.
I thought I would go sit beside Darra, on her other side. But Koro came in just then. He sat down near his daughter, looked around, and ordered, “Everyone who went into the land of the shades by any means, sit there,” pointing to the part of the tent exactly opposite his own place.
I went to sit down where he commanded. Hokino sat down beside me on one side and Aras on the other. Everyone else moved as well. Raga and Arayo came to sit behind me. Tano hesitated for half a heartbeat, but Arayo glanced at him and jerked his head in invitation. Tano went to sit with them, drawing his younger brother down beside him. No other children that age had come into the tent. This was not a time for children. Everyone pretended not to notice the boy.
Etta sat beside Iro, and Lalani on her other side. Before everyone had settled, Garoyo came in. He spoke quietly to our father first. Our father listened, then gave a curt nod. Garoyo crossed the tent and sat down beside Hokino.
My father took the place beside Koro, his back straight, his hands on his knees. Yavorda inGeiro sat down beside him, and then Soro inKera. Royova inVotaro sat down to the king’s other side. Everyone else took places, with less regard than usual for precedence. Most of the women sat to one side and most of the men to the other, but even that with less regard for custom than usual. The tent was too crowded with important people for everyone to know exactly where to sit, and no one wanted to quarrel. Everyone wanted to hear what had happened.
Koro said, “We will hear this story. Anyone may speak. No one needs to stand up to speak. Whoever was present for any part of the story may tell that part. I would like someone to begin by explaining why the people of the sunless sea became the enemies of the Tarashana people, if anyone here knows anything of those reasons.”
Everyone looked at Aras. He glanced up, but only said quietly, “While we dwelled in the starlit lands, Raga inGara spoke more to the Tarashana than anyone else here. I think he knows something of those reasons. He should answer.”
Raga had straightened in surprise. Now he bowed, politely deferential, but anyone could see how pleased he was to be asked. Moving so that he faced Koro directly, he said, “I learned only a little of the Tarashana tongue. But it is true I spoke to some of those people, a little in their language and more in taksu. It is true I asked a woman named Kelhasian tal-Shalaseriad to explain these things to me. This is a woman who was as a sister to our Tarashana, because she learned from the same teacher. Among her kind, this is important. I do not know with certainty how everything happened, but I will tell you the story as this woman explained it to me.” He hesitated for a beat, not uncertain, but pausing as a poet will to gather everyone's attention.
Then he said, “These people of the sunless sea, these people of the starless sky, these people called the Saa'arii have long been powerful. But some years ago, it came to pass that some among them learned different arts. These Saa'arii learned arts of sorcery and other kinds of magic. They became powerful. Then they became arrogant.”
To my ear, it seemed that my brother pronounced the little trill in the middle of Saa'rii exactly as Inhejeriel had pronounced it. I thought he might have learned lasije better than he claimed. That would not surprise me at all. He had been very quick to learn darau—quicker than either I or our sisters.
Raga went on. “By their arts, these people weave great islands that float upon the waves. Upon these islands, they make their homes and build their cities. In past years, the Saa'arii seldom found reason to quarrel because the sea is wide. When these people found reason to quarrel, they could each sail away to a different part of the sunless sea. But in recent years a great king rose up among the Saa'arii, stronger than the rest, a great king whose sorcerous arts surpassed all others. This king defeated another, and then another, and another again, taking many islands for his own, taking all those people to rule. Those who would not be ruled fled, making their islands travel south, far from their enemies, south and farther south, until at last they came to the place where the light of the stars falls upon the waves from the starlit lands. Then they could go no farther, but the great king was still coming.”
Koro raised a hand to signal a pause. “How do those people see, those too far from the starlit lands to see by that light?” he asked my brother. “Are their eyes different from the eyes of other people so that they see when there is no light?”
Rago smiled, pleased at this question and eager to answer. “I, too, asked Kelhasian tal-Shalaseriad this question. She said it was a better question than I had understood. Those people make light from the plants and creatures of the sunless sea, and they also make light by sorcerous means. As they make their light themselves, they see no reason to offer deference or honor to the stars or the moon. They know nothing of the Sun, for they never see him. The Saa'arii believe their own power stands above all others. They believe that death is a gateway to endless darkness—but they do not fear that, for they believe that the strong carry their own light into this dark land, and rule there as they rule in the land of the living.”
Koro nodded thoughtfully. “These are important things to understand.”
“Yes, o king. No others among the Saa'arii could contend with the great king. As his power filled all the sea, those his power threatened decided they must once again sail to the south. By their arts, they brought their dark sea into the starlit country, drowning that country, forcing the stars themselves out of their places in the heavens. My eldest brother saw that dark sky when he went into the starlit lands.”
“We did not know what we saw,” Garoyo said. “But we knew we saw a disturbing emptiness in the heavens.”
Raga nodded. “This was the black tide of the Saa'arii. It is as well you turned back and did not go to see that place more closely, because that was a darkness that drowned all light. The true sea followed the black tide, bitter waters rising from the north to drown the starlit country, but the dark tide itself was the weapon that pushed away the stars and cleared the way for the sea to follow.” He paused, giving everyone time to think how this might have been.
Then he went on. “The Tarashana went in great numbers to face these enemies. That was when they disappeared from the lands near our border. But they did not yet understand the ways by which the Saa’arii could be defeated. The Saa'arii were too strong. They swept those Tarashana people who remained out of their way, drowning them with their black tide. This was the same that they later sent flooding through the pass to come upon our people. But they did not care for us. They sought Inhejeriel tal-Shalaseriad. By their arts, they had come to know she was their enemy, and they knew she had the means to defeat them.”
“Yes, I see,” Koro said thoughtfully. “Very well, young poet. I am glad to know all this. So these powerful Saa'arii brought their sorcery and their sea into the starlit lands, defeated the Tarashana, and thought they would have everything as they wished. Is this how it was?”
“Yes, o king,” Raga answered, bowing. “That is how the story was told to me. Even those Tarashana with arts of their own did not understand this black tide quickly enough to withstand their enemies. Later they understood better the nature of this sorcery, but it was too late. Too many of them had already been drowned—I think this was drowned by the sorcerous tide, not by the rising sea, but I am not certain. The lasije words for these things are difficult to understand, so I may not explain these things exactly as they happened.”
; Koro nodded. “We understand this. You do well enough. Go on, young poet.”
My brother bowed. “Either way, those Tarashana who remained tried to delay the Saa'arii, but they could only delay them; they could not defeat their enemies. Our Tarashana, Inhejeriel tal-Shalaseriad, did not stay to aid in that effort. She took the names of all her people and fled. She knew tales that explained how to use those names to recall her people from the black tide, but this task was beyond her strength. She did not know how she might even attempt such a thing, but though she had no hope, she was determined to try. But then my eldest brother came into the starlit lands, and she saw him there and thought perhaps she might succeed after all.”
Koro nodded, considering this. Finally he said, “So. Now we understand something of how this trouble came about. Let someone now explain how everything happened at the time the enemies of the Tarashana became our enemies.”
Garoyo and Hokino glanced at each other. Hokino conceded precedence with a gesture. Garoyo said, “I will tell that part. There is not much to tell. We had stayed in that camp with the Tarashana sorcerer when the others of our people traveled along the lake, south. We did not believe enemies would come. She had lived there so many days and nothing had happened. We set a watch, but we did not expect to need to fight. Then our enemies sent their sorcery against us, aware by their arts that our singers had withdrawn—we did not understand that then.”
“Yes,” said Koro. “Go on, warleader.”
Garoyo bowed slightly. “Yes. This dark tide came out of the pass and flooded over our camp. It was not exactly darkness. It was like water, like mist, like the shadow of a cloud, but not like any of those things. It came very quickly, much more quickly than a man could run. We took up weapons, but there was nothing to fight. We stood together to meet this darkness, except for the Tarashana sorcerer, who hid herself by means of sorcery. We did not understand that then. I stood with Hokino, in front of the others, but when the black tide fell across me, I found myself alone, in an empty place. I could not see anything. I could not hear anything. I could not feel the wind against my face. I felt enemies were around me. I could not see anyone or hear anyone or smell anyone, but the feeling stayed with me. For some time, I do not know how long, nothing changed. I tried to walk, I tried to run, but I do not know whether I went from one place to another. Every place in that darkness seemed the same to me. Then, suddenly, I knew where Aras stood. He was calling me by means of sorcery.” He paused, glancing sideways toward Aras, who was sitting on my other side, his head bowed.
“I was very glad to hear him,” Garoyo said. “But this was much later, though I did not know that then. To have the tale in order, someone else should explain what happened between the time the black tide came over us and the time Aras called me out of the shadow of that tide.”
Koro nodded. “The black tide took the warleader of the inGara and the warleader of the inKera and some other people. This tide took forty and thirty and one of the inGara people. Everyone here who was taken by our enemy at that time, stand up.”
Raga and Arayo and Tano stood up, and Suyet and Lalani, and two inGara people—two of my cousins, a woman and a man, both older than I was and well regarded by everyone. I had not known they had been taken and then redeemed, except that they were sitting with us. The inVotaro warrior, Seroyo inVotaro, stood up as well.
“Was this the same for everyone?” Koro asked them.
Everyone said it had been the same. Seroyo and my cousins said they had never heard Aras call them. Aras, not looking up, said quietly, “I had never met them. I found my own people first, and then the Ugaro to whom I had a tie, and then the people I had met. I could not find anyone else.”
“You went into the land of the shades,” Koro said to Aras. “You went there at the request of the Tarashana sorcerer, to help her strike a great blow against her enemies and our enemies.”
“Yes, o king, that is how it happened,” Aras agreed.
“Everyone who went into the land of the shades by means of the paths of the dead through the high tombs, stand up.”
I got to my feet, with all those of us who had made that journey.
“You may all sit down,” Koro said, once everyone had had a chance to see us. “Someone may tell us how this part happened.”
I looked at Iro. He conceded precedence to me, so I took up the tale. When I came to the part where the shade of the tiger had come against us, Koro held up his hand. He said, “The man who died, stand up.”
Geras glanced at Aras. Then he got to his feet. Everyone looked at him. He was plainly not dead. There was nothing to show he had ever been torn down by the tiger.
Koro said, “I ask you to explain to us how that happened.”
Geras shrugged, pretending he was not uncomfortable. “I think maybe the tiger back up. I hope he back up. But we could not fight that beast. If he would not back up, then someone must give him a different reason to leave. This is ...” he searched for the words he wanted and then shrugged. “It was best if I do it. Ryo would do it, but he is too important. He knows the place much better than I do. I jump at the tiger. Then I fall.” He hesitated.
“Into what place? Are there words?” Koro asked him.
Geras answered slowly. “This is hard to say. I fall through light. It is ... I think it is moonlight, then I think sunlight. I fall a long way. Then I stand in a place that is not the Ugaro place. I think it is the place for Lau. The sky is different, the place ... it is a little the same, but everything is different.” He stopped, spreading his hands, shrugging again.
I had not heard this before. Geras had not told this story this before, or not to me. I wanted to ask him to tell the tale again in darau, but this was not the time. Our king gestured for Geras to continue.
He said, “Then I see, I turn and look, everywhere is ... is the shadow. It is like a shadow, but not like a shadow. I think maybe a voice. Not a voice, but like a voice. I do not remember what this voice say, but I think I remember ... I think I can go ... one way or another way. I go into the ... into the shadow. That is my choice, but ...” He stopped again, swallowing. Finally he finished, in a low voice, “I am somewhere else, in the dark. I am lonely—”
“Alone,” I suggested.
“Right, thanks,” Geras said in darau. “I’m probably embarrassing myself here.”
“You speak well enough. Everyone understands you. You chose to go into the shadow tide?”
He gave me a wry look. “I don't exactly remember, Ryo, but I guess so. I think so. A good thing, too, since here I am. Pretty sure it wouldn't've happened that way if I'd made a different choice. I think that could've been the idea, but I wouldn't lay coin on anything about it.” Then he went on, in taksu again. “I am alone. It is as Garoyo say, that place. I look for Aras. I think I hear him. Maybe. I am not certain. Then I hear Etta call my name, and then someone else, not Etta. This other voice call me again and again. I am somewhere else, walking somewhere else. Light is everywhere. There is no darkness, only light. Not sunlight, or only little sunlight, mostly starlight. This is very close to the end. Many things happen everywhere else before that time. Someone else should tell about those things.” He looked at me uncertainly. “That’s all. Should I sit down, Ryo?”
I nodded. “You do not remember dying?”
“No, I don’t, for which I thank the gods.”
“The gods were generous,” I agreed. Geras sat down, and I went on with my part of the tale, explaining how Aras called Suyet and Lalani out of the tide, and then Tano, but then the Saa’arii warriors found us.
Suyet, ashamed of his actions then and of his quick death, did not want to say anything of that. He said only, “I died almost at once. There is nothing to say. I died, and then it happened for me just as Geras described.”
Tano said, very softly, “Suyet did better than I did. I disobeyed Ryo and—”
“No, Tano, you did much better than I—” Suyet interrupted him.
“Everyone was courageous
and tried to do his best,” Aras said firmly. “Everyone should stop trying to explain this tale in any other way. Etta asked for the gods to send the shiral wind. This part of the story is hers.”
Etta took up the story. “I asked the gods to strike with their whip, the shiral winds,” she explained. “Many Saa'arii killed themselves so they could come through the black tide into the land of the shades as shadow warriors. Inhejeriel explained that later, how the ka’a, the proudest warriors of the Saa'arii, did this so that they could find her and kill her. There were so many! I thought the storm would drive them back, drive back their tide. This happened as I hoped, except that my brother and everyone else, they did not see the shiral coming, so they were all scattered. Only Inhejeriel and I were protected enough by the cliffs. I thought we would both die anyway, because I thought everyone else had been flung from the heights and killed. I thought the ka’a warriors would surely find us and kill us. Inhejeriel knew the way we should go, but she was not strong enough to climb all that way and I was not strong enough to help her. I prayed for help, but I thought our enemies would have everything as they wished.”
I wanted to put my arm around her, but Iro was already beside her, so I stayed where I was. Etta leaned against Iro and went on. “Aras found us before any of our enemies. After that, I had more hope. Together, he and I could help Inhejeriel enough. Aras said he was calling everyone else. He said everyone had been thrown far into the sky and scattered, but the gods had softened the blow of their whip as much as they could, so no one was badly hurt. Aras said he thought he might be able to call Garoyo and Hokino out of the shadow of the black tide. He said he would try to find Raga and Arayo and I should think of them as clearly as I could, so I tried to do that. We climbed and climbed. We had to go to the highest peak of the sacred mountain, where a person can walk up into the sky. It was a long way, and by then, the shadow of the Saa’arii tide was coming back.” Stopping, she looked at Iro.
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