The Brightest Shadow, page 82
"Is something wrong?"
"The masters have asked us to increase security." The young man shook his head and eyed the horizon. "There have been reports of several people - possibly Deathspawn - attempting to infiltrate the Nelee. They are too fast to be simple thieves. Be cautious on your way in."
"Thank you for your warning."
"Stay alert once you arrive at the village as well. We do not know what they might want."
With that, the scouts left them and continued on their patrol. Tani was tense for the remaining portion of the journey, half-expecting to see an attacker in every shadow, but the remainder of the trip was calm. They were welcomed, her master approved of the new weapon, and all seemed to go well.
Yet she felt a sense of distance that prevented her from engaging with the others. She had several chances to share a night with someone and didn't take them, without being entirely sure why. Tani did spend time thinking about Narenel, but it wasn't as if she owed him anything. Her desires hadn't disappeared, but they felt crowded out by all the events swarming around her.
Most of the Nelee hadn't changed, but Tani noticed a difference in her master. She was tense and spent more time in the central lodge with the other masters than normal - that is to say, any time at all. When Tani asked her, Master Yanumi would only say that she had a gut feeling about the rumors, but not enough information to act on.
Though uncomfortable with that, all Tani could do was train without exhausting herself, ready for something to happen at any moment. Rumors mounted that Deathspawn had been seen near the village, so she kept her knives close to hand every day.
Unfortunately, it began at night.
Screams woke her from her slumber, knife already in hand. She could hear a few more, faint enough that some of the others sleeping in the same house remained asleep. A few stumbled to their feet, while Tani kicked away her blanket and ran for the door.
Outside, she could see only fleeting movements in the shadows. Tani again wished she had trained her senses more, but there was no time for that. Torches blazed in three locations, one near the central lodge and two near the perimeter. She looked away from their blinding light, trying to see by starlight alone and determine if they were under attack.
Every form she saw appeared Rhen, many of them moving in confusion just as she was. Tani discerned that the center of it seemed to be the lodge, so she headed in that direction. She kept her knives directed downward so that she wouldn't accidentally stab someone, but ready to raise if she wanted to stab anyone.
Just as she neared the lodge, a group of warriors burst out, rushing toward the perimeter as if in pursuit. Tani would have followed them, except she caught a glimpse of the interior. She saw a great deal of blood... and her master.
She rushed inside and found her master limping forward, clutching her stomach. It was difficult to tell the severity of the wound through her robes, but blood soaked the cloth and fell to the floor. Tani's panicked mind wanted to rush up to help, but she managed to force herself to analyze the situation more clearly. Bodies lay throughout the room, mostly mansthein but including two Nelee. Judging from the movement of the other warriors, the mansthein had struck and then fled.
"Idiot children!" Her master muttered under her breath when Tani got close. "No one listens... you have to tell them... before they rush off..."
Master Yanumi cut off, coughing violently and shedding more blood to the floor. Tani caught her around the shoulders and helped her into a sitting position. It was a mark of her master's weakened state that she allowed it. "They have already run off, master. Do not force yourself too much, just tell me what is wrong."
"They will be looking for Deathspawn. The real attacker was Rhen."
Tani's blood went cold and for a moment she forgot about her master's injury. "What?"
"Clever bastard had his allies creep around, let everyone see them and expect a Deathspawn threat. But their attack was a distraction while he struck from behind. Now he can slip away in the shadows." Her master coughed violently and spat blood to the floor. "Would have gotten him too, if he had not poisoned us first. I did not expect forbidden Lanoo poisons..."
"The attacker... was he a particularly tall man? Did he look Telnaa?"
Her master scowled at her. "You cannot judge that in the dark, if at all. But yes, he was tall. Pretty good with that spear, too, for a youth. If not for the poison..."
As she crouched there beside her master, Tani considered the situation and made her choice. It seemed very likely that the attacker was Subenor and that he had been after the Nelee texts, but she judged she had little chance of stopping him or retrieving the texts. In the shadows he would look close enough to Nelee that no one would give him a second glance and soon he would be gone.
What mattered more was her master's life, apparently poisoned on top of the injuries. Tani rose to her feet to get help and at that moment several more people burst into the lodge. Janemi and a few other warriors, led by Master Karikor.
"Just what is going on here?" Master Karikor demanded. "What did the Deathspawn do?"
Master Yanumi rolled her eyes and slumped against the wall pretending to be unconscious. Tani swallowed her panic and turned to face him.
"Master Karikor, the attacker was a Telnaa ally of the Deathspawn. I believe he has stolen our texts and already fled."
"What?" Master Karikor rushed past her into the central chamber, so Tani had to set him aside. Instead she turned to Janemi.
"Please, my master... we need to get the healers!"
"They have already been called. It will be okay." Janemi touched her arm lightly and then moved with the others to light more torches and set up a defensive perimeter.
As she had promised, healers soon appeared, mostly Nelee but including a half-asleep Laeri. When they saw all the bodies they began looking for survivors with concern, so Tani moved to intercept them.
"Please, you must help Master Yanumi. She said that she was poisoned, and she has taken great wounds..."
Thankfully they listened to Tani and came to her master, Laeri first of all. Tani helped the healers ease her master down onto a cot and then pulled back while they surrounded her. She knew little of the sein techniques they used, but the grim expressions on their faces boded ill. One of the older healers shook her head and turned away. Tani stepped into her path.
"It cannot be too late. My master is strong, she can survive this."
"I am sorry, girl." The healer lowered her gaze and tried to move away, but Tani grasped her jacket and held her fast. "We would need to heal too much, too quickly. It is not possible."
"Wait!" Tani rushed to Laeri, who sat beside her master looking nervous. "Laeri, I've seen you heal wounds worse than this. Surely you can do something."
Laeri shifted her hands nervously on her staff and looked away. "The wounds, yes. But I don't know very much about poison, and this is some sort of special Rhen poison, refined through sein... I'm sorry, Tani, but I don't think I can..."
"Then can't you work together?" Tani moved back to grab the older healer and force her to help, but to her surprise the other woman had a strange expression on her face.
"You could flood enough sein to heal the wounds?" she asked Laeri. The Estronese woman looked uncomfortable to have all the healers staring at her, but nodded. "Then we have to try. We'll guide you with the poison, but you will need to lead with the injuries. You there, help with the blood loss. And you, bring bandages."
Tani stepped back as the healers began to work, pacing nervously around the cot and trying not to interfere. She saw that Master Karikor had emerged from the central chamber. He held an empty case in his hands, his eyes equally empty. Though part of her thought she should speak with him, she remained focused on her master.
After a time, Laeri looked up at her. "Tani, I... I can try, but you should know something. Trying to heal this quickly, I can't be careful. It will definitely cause, uh... a sort of flesh knot. It will do no harm now, but in time it will definitely kill her..."
"She'll die now if you do nothing!" Tani grabbed Laeri by the shoulders and barely resisted shaking her. "Please, Laeri, you need to work with everyone else to save her!"
"I... I will. Just give me some time." Laeri turned back to Master Yanumi and Tani pulled away, letting the healers work. A few others joined them after confirming the bodies in the room. It seemed as though everyone else was dead except one warrior, either from the poison or the following attack.
Not familiar with their sein and unable to feel her master's flow, Tani could only pace nearby and smell the burning mint. She couldn't feel any relief until she saw some of the healers begin to let out sighs and pull back. Laeri and the older healer remained working and one of the others began to bind some of her master's wounds with bandages. They looked worse than Tani had thought and would no doubt need more treatment, but they were prioritizing her life now.
Tani stayed close and remained prepared for another attack, but none came. More of the Nelee had woken now, bringing torches and many more warriors. Eventually Tani managed to let some of her tension go as she realized that her master would live and that Subenor wouldn't attack again.
Once she could relax slightly, she had enough presence of mind to be concerned about the others. She saw deep hatred in their eyes as they stared over the mansthein bodies and some began to wail in grief over the Nelee who had fallen. Judging from the whispers, few had been in the lodge that night, and combined with her master's efforts, the casualties were not as high as they might have been. That didn't lessen the gravity of the attack.
Eventually Master Karikor composed himself. When some of the others began to speak of forming a raiding group and striking out against the Deathspawn, he slammed the empty case closed with a clap that drew everyone's attention.
"It is too soon to act. The attack may have come from the Deathspawn, but the true source was another tribe. They knew what poisons we would expect, knew where our texts would be kept. And they stole all of them."
"All the sacred texts?" someone else asked.
Master Karikor slid off the lid to gasps of horror. "We need to act, but rushing out now would only make us more vulnerable. We must accept that we fell for the enemy's trick."
Something surged in Tani's heart and she experienced a moment of surreal certainty. If she spoke up now and told them that Subenor was working with the Deathspawn, they would follow her. She would lead them back to Ith Ire and they would join with the Hero in the assault. Perhaps that was why she was here.
Tani clawed herself away from the thought, restoring her mental exercises desperately. No, she could not. Whatever happened on that path, she was sure that many would die. She would not allow her people to be consumed by the Legend as so many others had. Yet it was true that Subenor had stolen all of their texts, so she did not know how she could stop them.
While she struggled, the room fell into disagreement. All of it faded away when Tani saw that her master was struggling to sit up. She leapt to her side and took hold of her hand. At that moment, her master's hand felt very thin and bony, but it gripped her tightly.
"Master, are you o-"
"Make all these fools shut up about the texts." Her master's voice was weak, yet it held a familiar acid. Tani knew that she was going to be okay and blinked tears from her eyes.
"But Master, Subenor really did steal everything."
"Everything that was in the sacred box, yes." Her master attempted to reach into her cloak and fell back with a wince. "You'll have to do it, girl. Check for the secret pouch in the back..."
While the healers stabilized Master Yanumi, Tani gently pulled her cloak out from under her. It felt too heavy, and she quickly discovered that there was indeed a pouch. It would have been cleverly concealed normally, but currently bulged with its contents. When Tani reached into it, she felt old leather and her eyes widened.
"What is it, girl?" Master Karikor loomed beside her, eyes blazing. It seemed he had been able to listen to their words despite being across the room. Tani hesitantly pulled the thick stack of leather out of the pouch and handed it to him. She saw what he realized a moment later. "These are our texts... then what was stolen?"
"Copies." Master Yanumi lay back with a satisfied smirk. It only seemed to grow when every warrior nearby turned to look at her in horror.
"You stole our texts first? And you made copies?"
"Bad copies. They will not be much use." She coughed blood into one hand, quite pleased with herself. Master Karikor looked like he couldn't decide between shouting at her or embracing her. While he moved away to secure the texts in their case, Master Yanumi looked up to Tani and smiled. "I listened to your story, girl. When we started noticing Deathspawn, something seemed wrong to me. Glad the hunch paid off."
Tani let out a heavy breath and sank down beside her master again. "Then this is... not as we feared. Unless you think he will notice the fakes and return?"
"I doubt it. He fought like he knew a forbidden art or two, but not like he had been mastering everything he stole."
"Then why is he stealing so many?"
"My theory is that he wants to choose among every Rhen art and fashion himself into an unrivaled warrior. As he is now, he is nowhere near the equal of the Four Winds. But if he were able to bring together every Rhen skill..." Her master chuckled darkly. "Well, he won't be doing it with Nelee techniques."
The healers urged her not to speak and her master finally complied, settling back and closing her eyes. Laeri gave Tani a relieved nod, so she let herself be pushed away so they could work. Warriors were still rushing about, though the events had passed.
Tani settled back against a wall and took some time to breathe deeply. The moment where she might have led the Nelee toward battle was over, she knew that much. While they would no doubt hate Deathspawn in the future and send some scouts out in pursuit, she doubted anything would come of it. Subenor would be long gone by now.
Most likely returning to Aryabaus, if he still had mansthein warriors working for him. As Tani stared into the torches burning around her, she realized that she couldn't stay. The Nelee might be where she belonged, but they would not remain untouched by the outside world.
She couldn't leave it unfinished. Her Farwalk had ended, but she still had work to do.
~ ~ ~
Several days later, Tani waited in the central chamber with the texts her master had protected. A final chance to meditate before she stood in front of the masters to make her request and be tested. She wore a ceremonial leather robe, easy to move in but providing little protection. According to tradition she should have given up her weapons, but she had refused.
That would not help her cause, nor would the fact that Master Yanumi was not held in the best regard by many other masters. Some seemed to consider her actions heroic while others blamed her for profaning their traditional texts even though she had saved them. Absolutely no one seemed surprised that Master Yanumi's student would also make an unusual request.
She understood that they would prepare a difficult challenge for her, though she did not know the exact nature. The challenge would be possible, but one that many hoped she would fail. If she did, then she would have a much more difficult choice ahead of her.
Better not to fail.
"Are you done thinking, girl?"
Tani glanced over to find that her master had entered the chamber without her being aware of it. The old woman still looked a little pale, but she had recovered quickly thanks to her life-long practice of sein. Though Tani had much to say to her, she settled for nodding.
"Good. This will be your only chance, so use it well." After speaking, Master Yanumi extended a hand, holding a sickle knife by the blade. Exactly like her own, but carved from a single piece of wood. Tani took it carefully and looked up at her.
"Is this...?"
"Go out and make your request, girl. You will see."
Accepting her master's words, Tani emerged into the central chamber. Normally the lodge was filled with all the detritus of life, but it had been cleared for that day. A large circle lay bare in the center of the floor, all blood from the battle scrubbed away. Only the Nelee masters and a small group of other warriors sat around the circle.
Tani walked to the center of the circle and knelt down facing the masters. "Masters of the Nelee, I come today bearing a request."
"Speak, child of the Nelee." It was Master Karikor who addressed her, staring without giving any hint of what he thought. Tani forced herself to stop looking and focused on speaking clearly.
"I humbly request to be granted complete freedom of travel as a hand of the Nelee, in order to seek out the truth of the conflict between the Deathspawn and our people. For an unspecified period of time and without formally leaving the Nelee." They all knew this, of course, but she still needed to state her position honorably. What she requested was not completely unprecedented and it cost them nothing, but she knew many would not approve.
"You are a child who has barely completed her Farwalk." An old woman on the far end of the line of masters stared at her scornfully. "Why should you be allowed the privilege of movement that is only permitted to full warriors of the Nelee?"
"I would never claim to be a master and I have much to learn." Tani swept her gaze over all the eyes watching her, refusing to look down. "But I believe that I am a warrior and have the right to make this request."
"You are of age and have the right to ask." Master Karikor observed her with his flat gaze, revealing nothing. "The question is if you possess the ability, as we have had little opportunity to observe you due to the length of your Farwalk. To that end, you must prove yourself. Janemi?"
Tani turned in surprise as Janemi entered the chamber alongside her name. The other young woman knelt down at the edge of the circle, a confident smile on her face.
