A Hollow Mountain (The Brightest Shadow Book 2), page 33
As she walked back to join the others, she was surprised by how frequently she didn't understand the words around her. Some traded in Coran, and she'd had no difficulty with her questions, but most often she heard a language that sounded rough and guttural to her. She assumed it must be Reili and wished that she had time to learn it. No one spoke Nelhae, of course.
Though lacking the comfort of familiarity, Tani found the unfamiliar words strangely relaxing. No part of her mind attempted to understand them, rendering them a babble of humanity that left her free to focus on her surroundings. Not that she felt insecure. The heavily armored warriors had left her uncertain at first, yet they kept order in the camp and she never saw them abusing their authority.
When she eventually found Cabari, she discovered the young woman sitting down on a crate and clutching a single wool cloth. For a moment Tani thought that she had been robbed, yet the two Steelbone raiders beside her stood unperturbed. Tani distractedly noted that they had changed their cloths to different patterns, avoiding any identification as raiders. Mohuno might not have fully invested in her idea, but he did conduct his business carefully.
"Is everything alright?" Tani asked. Cabari looked up at her blankly.
"There's just one left." She numbly held up the last cloth as if to demonstrate. "Lots of merchants wanted to buy them. I've never seen so many people... or spent so long arguing... I, um, I have money now..."
Cabari fumbled with a sack and nearly spilled it across the ground. Tani snapped out a hand and caught the fabric before it could spill, pulling the sack upright. The sack felt heavy, though not as heavy as she had expected. When Tani reached in to examine the money, she was surprised to find that the coins appeared to be made from a heavy, dark wood. She experimentally scratched one with the edge of a throwing knife and found that it made no mark until she began to use her sein.
She wished that she could have purchased one of the cloaks herself. The cold in the mountains had not been as fierce as she'd feared, but the raiders implied that the current season was warm and would soon turn to one of greater cold. If they had the same strange phases in the north, she was concerned that she might freeze.
"The poor girl isn't used to bargaining." The new voice came from a middle aged woman who approached them, bearing a steaming cup. "Why don't you drink this, dear?"
Still a bit shocked, Cabari accepted the cup and drank without any apparent awareness. Tani reflected that it was almost a bit like seinshock, though hopefully merchantshock would quickly resolve itself. The woman rubbed Cabari's back a few times, then turned back to Tani.
"Are you one of the girl's guards?"
"Something like that," Tani said. "So the ombo wool was popular here?"
"Oh, it's always been valued. Years ago I bought a cage of the beasts and tried to raise them in Portant, since I would have made a killing in winter. But the poor ombos suffer down here, especially in the summer. Their hair becomes thin and stringy, and the cloth you make from it..." She clucked her tongue and swung her head back and forth as if it shouldn't be mentioned.
Though Tani wasn't clear on the details, she understood the general idea. She was glad that her plan seemed to have been successful - part of her had feared that the north would be filled with the furry creatures, and the ombo wool worthless. In that case... "Would more people want them, if they could create more?"
"They'd be worth a tidy sum, but enough to justify hiring errants? I think not. And unless you have strong errants, or a Steeljudge, then there's too great a risk of losing everything in the Sotunns. If I could somehow get pure ombo wool, sew it into quality garments, and get it safely into Portant... well, I wouldn't need to be here today, let me tell you!"
"Thank you for helping me." Cabari had finished the drink and handed the cup to the woman with a smile, seeming to have returned to herself. "I am... from a very small village. This was too much for me."
"Don't you worry about a thing, dear." The woman patted her on the cheek before taking her cup back. "You clearly have fine animals back home, and well cared for. Next time you'll be able to drive an even harder bargain!"
The two of them spoke with the woman for a while longer, and soon enough a man came to purchase the last cloth. Business finished, they said their farewells and left the trading camp. As they did so, Cabari moved closer to her and spoke in a low voice.
"I couldn't have done this without you. Would you... would you like some of the money? To help you go north?"
"Keep it." Tani smiled at the other woman and closed her hands over the sack. "Use it to help rebuild, or to make more wool to sell. The people I'm going to meet... they tend not to care about money."
"I hope I can." Cabari made the sack vanish between the layers of cloth around her. "You don't think Mohuno will take it from me?"
"I won't let him. He had nothing to do with this."
"If... even if that's true, he won't let me go again. He doesn't think trading is worth it."
Tani made her smile more encouraging. "He might change his mind. He's open to new ideas, after all."
When they returned to the Steelbone circle outside camp, however, Tani realized that something else was wrong. All the raiders had changed their cloths, not to the drab combinations that the guards wore, but an organized green color scheme. Fearing that she might understand exactly what was afoot, Tani sought out Mohuno.
"Just what is all this?"
"The Steelbones are going to journey back home." Mohuno spread his arms to either side to raise his garments dramatically. "But it seems another clan is going to raid into errant territory! They might be a bit surprised when the errants come after them, but by then the mysterious raiders will be long gone."
Of course. Tani realized that she was scowling and didn't care. She had been lying to herself about who Mohuno was: a raider. And she was a fool for thinking that her words could have any impact on him at all. As she stormed away, she heard Mohuno call after her, not fully comprehending her rage, but she didn't care.
Instead she merely said farewell to Cabari and left the raiders, instead returning to the trading camp. As she did so, the overwhelming bitterness gave way to the realization that she might have left too soon. Part of her wanted to warn the errants of the coming raid, but even if she was believed, she lacked precise information about where the Steelbones intended to strike. Even then, sending the northern warriors could lead them to harm Cabari.
No, she would simply turn her back and hope that her actions could justify the failing. She reminded herself that Melal could cause even greater suffering in the north, if no one held him in check. Though she hoped that Slaten remained at his side, she doubted that anyone could stand up to the Hero alone. Resist, perhaps, but to face him down would require some kind of monster.
Tani walked through the trading camp to the edge of the river, which was small compared to those she knew but large enough to hold several different boats. She stood for a time, trying to decide which to approach. Some were filled with goods under heavy guard. A group of armored errants sat on the deck of another, playing some manner of game. Finally her gaze came to rest on a ship of middling size that held more passengers than goods.
When she approached the board that led up to the deck, a man stepped in her way. He spoke first in Reili, then in Coran. "What do you want?"
"Does this ship take passengers?" Tani asked. "I need to journey north."
"Aye, we take passengers. But our decks are nearly full and the price will be high."
"I have money." Tani scooped a handful of coins into one hand, deciding that catching up to the others was more important than conserving her funds. Most likely Melal would make those irrelevant soon enough anyway, since money never seemed to matter to him.
"What is this, silver alloy? You don't have any wood?" As the man frowned down at the coins in her hand, Tani felt her first stab of real worry. He peered at most of her coins as if they meant nothing to him, selecting a few that were unfamiliar to her but apparently used in the north. The rest he treated as worthless.
"I can afford to take a lesser value for these. Surely the metal is worth something?"
"You haven't been here for long, have you?" The man shook his head and tossed the few coins he accepted back to her. "You can't afford a place on this ship and you've done nothing but waste my time."
"Wait." Tani swallowed her shame and quickly looked over the vessel. "The merchant ships have many guards, but it doesn't seem you do. Are you prepared for whatever dangers you'll face going down the river? There are so many guards, it mus-"
"What's your point?"
"I am a sein-trained warrior. Could I pay my way by offering my blade for the journey?"
Though the man scowled, he seemed to consider her offer, then folded his arms across his chest. "What rank are you?"
"Rank?"
Immediately he sneered. "What barbarian land did you wander from? If you have no honored rank, how am I to know that you have any sein training worth the name? A girl with a bit of strength or speed is worth nothing further downriver."
Again, Tani found herself frustratingly ignorant of the customs in these lands. She had asked the Steelbone raiders about some of the oddities she had noticed, but they knew only that the errants of all three northern nations had some sort of strict hierarchy of power. Apparently that hierarchy stretched out to entangle everyone.
Clearly, she could never negotiate past her ignorance. Instead, Tani took several steps back, gathered her sein, and leapt across the river.
When she landed on the other side, she heard a few shouts, some of surprise but more of annoyance. Tani turned around to face the man on the opposite side of the river, and from a distance it required focus to see that he still frowned. She considered jumping directly onto his boat to prove a point, but decided it would be wiser simply to leap back.
"So you have some training." He seemed to consider, then shook his head. "But leaping about will do you little good. Without knowing your standing in the Maenhu, it is impossible to know if your blade is worth a place on this ship. The answer is no."
Just as Tani began to protest, a suit of armor slammed to the ground beside them.
She looked in surprise at the figure encased in red cloth and steel. The tight helm gave no hint of who it might be, but she could trace his path. Behind him, she saw the boat bearing the errants rocking as if from his leap. If he had jumped so far in such heavy armor, that was impressive, but his companions only watched with mild interest. They must have noticed her leaps across the river.
"You're light on your feet." The man's voice echoed in his armor until he pulled the plate up, revealing a weathered face with a full blond beard. "Are you traveling north?"
"Ironlord, please pay her no mind." The owner of the ship changed completely, cringing before the armored warrior. "She did not mean to disturb you, and I was just about to send her on her way."
The errant ignored him, dark brown eyes focused on her. "Do you travel to Espal or Portant?"
Tani realized that he must hail from one of the two nations, but she lacked the ability to tell them apart. Though it might harm her, she felt a strange kinship with him based on his ability to leap and decided to answer honestly. "Neither. I travel north solely to follow my companions, and I do not know if they intend to go east or west."
"Hah. An honest answer, at least." Ignoring the ship owner, the errant turned aside and gestured over his shoulder. "Come with me and perhaps you can earn your passage with us."
Only slightly bending his legs, the man launched himself into the air. She thought, with the weight of his armor and the strength of his leap, that he would smash directly through the wooden vessel. Somehow he landed lightly, leaving her with a strange, twisted scent of mint.
It combined with the spices in her mouth, as if she had been offered an unfamiliar yet intriguing feast of conflicting flavors. Tani quickly leapt after him, landing on the warriors' vessel.
As soon as she did, she realized that not all of them appeared as friendly. Some ignored her, some stared skeptically, and a middle-aged woman outright glared. She could not have been more different from the pleasant merchant who had given Cabari a drink: this woman was a warrior, lean even with her armor, hair iron gray, eyes like blades.
Currently, the errant who had invited Tani was speaking to the older woman in a low voice. "She's some sort of barbarian girl attempting to make her way north with raw skill. What kind of errants would we be if we did not assist?"
"This is foolishness. How do you know she is not working with desert raiders?"
"If she was, surely she wouldn't draw our attention this way. What possible harm could come of it?"
Though he spoke in her favor, Tani still bristled at the way he referred to her. She tried to sort through her feelings and speak with the voice of reason. "Excuse me."
Both of them turned, the woman's eyes stabbing into her. They didn't speak, however, so she plunged forward.
"I am not a barbarian, I am of the Nelee Rhen. My name is Tani, and I have journeyed from the Chorhan Expanse south of the Sotunn Mountains. Though I do not think my strength could aid warriors such as yourselves, I would offer my blade if you could help me travel north."
As she had hoped, her speech made many of those watching draw up short. They had assumed she was a refugee from the raiding clans, but clearly the Chorhan Expanse was as alien to them as the northern nations were to her. Her declaration placed her in unknown territory.
"The nation of Espal grants passage to errants on such journeys." The woman wielded a finger like a sword, pinning her with a gesture. "Errants of sufficient strength, not warriors who do not understand their own sein. What is your rank in your home lands?"
"I..." Tani took a deep breath and clung to honesty again. "No such ranks exist among my people."
That got a chorus of mild surprise, some of the warriors curious and others dismissive. The leader was absolutely impossible to read, while the man who had invited her stepped closer with a curious expression. "Truly? You simply have no idea of anyone's strength?"
"Of course not! Novices remain in training, full warriors are granted combat rights, and masters take leadership positions within the tribe."
"Ah. A simple system, but I am sure it works well enough." The man's condescension seemed to be entirely without malice, as he smiled broadly at her the next moment. "My name is Hamoit, and this is our leader, Steeljudge Worise. I put forward, on my rank as a Peak Ironlord, that we allow her to travel north with us."
"Only if she is worthy of her place." Worise continued to impale her with that stare, then shifted to gesture to one of the others. "Bring the Wooden Judge. We shall see the girl's capabilities in the one power that is universal: sein."
Though Tani had no idea what a "Wooden Judge" was, she felt a flicker of hope. She might not be as strong as most of the errants around her, but she trusted in the sein that she had earned throughout her life. Whatever standard these Espalese warriors used, surely she could measure up to it.
Soon enough one of the others brought forth an iron chest. From within, the errant pulled what appeared to be a short wooden branch. The warrior had their helm closed and Tani realized that it was impossible to determine whether it was a man or a woman. Though such things mattered little in Nelee villages, the absence of any indication left the armored warriors strangely inhuman to her eye.
Then Worise extended the branch to her and Tani focused on it. Though it appeared to be a short length of gnarled wood, now she saw that five dark spheres had been embedded in it, the bark growing partially around them. They reminded her of the sein spheres the Coran resistance had used, but she had no idea what it meant. Fortunately, Worise seemed to expect her uncertainty.
"You may not have developed the Wooden Judge in your benighted lands, but the sein it measures is the same the world over. Let your sein flow through this branch as if it is part of you. It will show all of us, with absolute certainty, your true capacity and thus your rank."
Tani frowned at the assumptions, but couldn't object. Since they had treated the branch so reverently, she accepted it with both hands. She had expected it to feel like some mystical artifact, but her fingers brushed over mere wood. Since everyone was watching her, Tani did as she had been instructed and let her sein flow through the branch.
Slowly, three of the five spheres glowed a soft blue. It meant nothing to her, but prompted a few murmurs from the watching warriors.
"Not bad!" Hamoit took the branch from her and raised it up so everyone could see the fading lights. "It seems our new friend is a Greater Ironlord."
"I don't know what that means," Tani said. If they already thought her ignorant, at least they could give her answers.
"It is not a bad rank for a young warrior. You are stronger than a Lesser Ironlord."
"That part... I think I could have guessed."
"Not enough." Worise ground a mailed fist together. "Everyone in our company is at least a Peak Ironlord, and several are Steeljudges. Tell me, what is your awareness of sein?"
Though Tani could only guess at what she meant, she knew that her passage north hung in the balance. "I smelled my own sein first, then tasted it. Recently I have come to feel it as well, and I am trying t-"
"You will not master hearing or sight in a day, and few attain the next rank even in a year. This is insufficient to join us."
"That's all you judge?" Tani found herself completely taken aback by how stark their view of the world was. Yes, her mastery of herself could be judged by the senses she used to touch her own sein, but how could that be everything to her? What of all her physical training, her mental exercises, or her master's more abstract techniques?
