Guardian of the God - Return from the Hard Journey - Part 3 Chapter 5 - A Nation's Honor

 Guardian of the God

-

Return from the Hard Journey

(Book 6 of the Guardian of the Spirit Series)

Author: Uehashi Nahoko

Translator: Ainikki the Archivist

 

 Part 3 - Sada Talhamaya

Chapter 5 - A Nation's Honor

 It was the twenty-second day of Shasam. A bit of snow fell before daybreak, but the sun rose clear and bright, banishing all of the clouds in the sky. The nation’s founding ceremony took place at noon, but Balsa and Tanda left the inn they were staying at before mid-morning. They dressed like Rotan merchants and wore full face coverings to conceal themselves from spying eyes.

    The crowd surrounding the Ritual Hall was even thicker than it had been the day before. Balsa and Tanda gave up on pushing through the crowd and climbed over the low wall between the Ritual Hall and the Field of Freedom. From the top of the wall, Balsa saw people walking toward the Ritual Hall from the direction of the Shan forest.

    Balsa didn’t have a plan, but she knew she had to be at the Ritual Hall for the ceremony. She had the feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Balsa pointed to the people coming from the forest. She and Tanda jumped down from the wall and backtracked toward the Shan forest to investigate.

    The camp just inside the forest had five tents, but no people were present. The fires had been banked.

    “Asra and the others must be gone,” Balsa whispered.

    “Yeah. I don’t see any of the Tal people or the Kashal, either," Tanda whispered back.

    Balsa saw the shadows of people moving deeper inside the forest. They were gathered outside the main camp, using the trees for cover.

    “We can’t get any closer or they’ll see us,” Balsa whispered. “They can see everything from there because they’re higher up.”

    Tanda craned his neck and looked back at the Ritual Hall. He saw red and gold flags marking the areas that had been set up to mark the assigned places of the most distinguished guests at today’s ceremony. There was a raised platform that faced the forest where Prince Ihan and his family would sit.

    “A good archer might be able to hit someone from here,” he said.

    Balsa shook her head. “Look there, and there.” She pointed to the towers of the two gates that led into the Ritual Hall. Tanda squinted and could just barely make out longbowmen manning the gates from above.

    “Hm. It’s good to see they’re prepared.”

    The sound of a hunting horn echoed behind them. The bells hanging above each of the gates started ringing. The people surrounding the Ritual Hall fell silent and waited for the inner doors to open.

    A warrior carrying the flag of the royal family of Rota emerged from the Ritual Hall ahead of Prince Ihan. When people caught sight of him, they cheered. Prince Ihan waved at the onlookers and calmly took his seat on the raised platform facing the Shan forest. His wife, son and daughter sat close to him on the same platform. Fireworks boomed high in the sky, signaling the start of the ceremony.

    People from all over Rota had come to witness the nation’s founding ceremony. Artists and performers dedicated works and put on shows in honor of the event. Singers sang songs for the ceremony, accompanied by instruments and dancers. All of these performances and works praised king Kiran for slaying Sada Talhamaya and saving Rota from her barbarism. Balsa and Tanda quickly grew bored from the theme’s repetition.

    “I don’t see any Tal people at the ceremony,” Tanda said.

    Balsa barely glanced at the stage where the performances were taking place. She focused on the guards carrying spears and bows that were scattered through the crowd. She scanned the assembled people over and over again, but she saw no sign of Asra anywhere.

 

 

    “What do you mean, Shihana’s not here?” Sufar asked. This news reached him as the last of the performances onstage was wrapping up. “Find her! Track her and Asra from the Tal camp inside the forest.”

    But when Sufar and his Kashal allies went to the tents where Shihana and Asra had last been seen, there was no sign of them anywhere. Sufar discovered several Kashal and guards that had been knocked out; they’d been concealed along the rear wall of the Ritual Hall. As he examined them more closely, he realized they’d been put to sleep by a magic weaver.

    Sufar froze to the spot. “Find Shihana, now!” he called out. “I’ll search from the sky. All of you, keep tracking her from here.”

    He created a soul connection with his hawk, Shau, and flew high above the Ritual Hall. There weren’t enough Kashal here to discreetly search the crowd without disrupting the ceremony. Shihana knew too many secret ways that connected the Ritual Hall to the castle or the forest. Sufar’s urgency and impatience spurred him on as he surveyed the scene below him.

 

 

    Asra and Chikisa were in a low tunnel near the Ritual Hall. Neither Sufar nor Balsa had any hope of finding them there.

    “These seats are special,” Shihana said. “No one can see you from here.” Her voice echoed in the narrow tunnel. This tunnel had been built inside the gap between the interior and exterior walls surrounding the Ritual Hall. There were small holes for ventilation; Shihana, Chikisa and Asra could clearly see the stage in front of the Ritual Hall through the holes.

    “Prince Ihan wanted you to be able to watch the ceremony, but he didn’t want you to be seen,” Shihana said. “That’s why I brought you here.”

    There were a lot of tunnels and passages like this that were known to only a handful of the Kashal. Shihana had explained a bit about them as she’d led Asra and Chikisa underground.

    Asra and Chikisa gathered around the tiny holes and watched the performances on the stage. They could clearly hear the music and the words of each of the dramatic performances. At first, Asra and Chikisa were fascinated by the spectacle; they’d never seen anything like it. But as time passed, they understood what the ceremony was actually about and looked at one another with grim frowns. All those people out there were celebrating the oppression of the Tal people. 

    Asra’s face felt hot. “They’re so mean!”

    Chikisa nodded. “I didn’t know that Rota’s founding ceremony was like this.”

    Shihana put her hand on Chikisa’s shoulder and whispered, “It’s like this every year. That’s why the Rotans are so full of themselves and why they hate Sada Talhamaya so much. It’s also why they’re happy to let the Tal people suffer. They don’t think of you as people at all. They don’t realize that any of this is cruel or ugly. But looking at it from the outside, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

    The performance on the stage ended. A hush fell over the courtyard. Asra and Chikisa flinched when they heard someone scream.

    “It’s all right,” Shihana said. “That’s a pig, not a person. A lot of pigs and sheep are sacrificed during this ceremony. Can you see them being led up to the stage?”

    Prince Ihan addressed the assembled guests and offered them generic words of thanks. Then he picked up a sharp sword and walked to the middle of the stage. He stopped directly in front of a snow-white sheep and said, “Goddess Afal! Mother of everything that lives! We humbly ask for your continued blessings. As gratitude for your beneficence, we offer up these animals.” 

    Prince Ihan’s sword flashed and sliced down. Asra shut her eyes so that she wouldn’t have to watch what happened next. The sheep made no sound as it died.

    The crowd applauded Prince Ihan. A young servant led another sheep to the stage to be sacrificed; this one was a large brown shahan sheep.

    “Goddess Afal!” Prince Ihan called out. “Gods of Noyuk! We offer reverence to you. Long ago, the evil child of the goddess crossed into our world. To ensure that never happens again, we ask that you--”

    “Talhamaya isn’t evil!” a woman shouted.

    Ihan started in surprise at the interruption and turned around. His eyes scanned the crowd, searching for who had spoken. He pointed to a Tal woman in a hood.

    “Ianu!” Asra gasped. She put her hands over her mouth.

    There was a fierce light in Ianu’s eyes. She squared her shoulders and stood up straight; she was ready to fight. “Talhamaya is a great and powerful god,” Ianu said. “The sacred river flows into our world and bestows the blessings of the other gods upon us only because of her. All of Rota should know of her benevolence! All of your fields and forests are enriched because of Talhamaya!

    “And that’s not all,” Ianu went on. “A Tal person has appeared who can invite the god back into our world. She will become Sada Talhamaya reborn and guide this nation in the right direction!”

    Ianu looked directly at Asra as if she knew exactly where she was. Her words pierced Asra’s heart.

    “Sada Talhamaya! Free us! We’ve suffered for so long! I beg you, punish the Rotan people for keeping us in the shadows and trampling on our rights! Punish them as you did the men and women at Shintadan!”

    Ianu extended both hands to the sky. Other Tal people in the crowd began chanting, “Sada Talhamaya! Sada Talhamaya! Free us! Free us!”

    Asra shook from head to toe. Ianu’s eyes were like her mother’s.

    The courtyard erupted into chaos like a hive of bees bursting open. Guards and soldiers came running and seized Ianu’s arms. Asra saw one of the guards strike the side of her head. Ianu collapsed, unconscious, to the ground.

    Asra screamed.

    Prince Ihan called for order. “Silence!” He crashed his sword against the shield of one of his guards. The people in the courtyard quieted down. Prince Ihan ordered his guards to take Ianu to prison.

    One of the men in the crowd shouted loudly, “Is that all you intend to do with her, Your Majesty? She called for Rota’s destruction! She worships Talhamaya! You must kill her to protect us all!”

    It was only one man, but others called out their agreement with him. The southern clan lords stood up from their seats. “He’s right, Your Majesty,” lord Aman said. “You must consider that woman’s punishment very carefully. And not just her--the Tal people in the crowd supported her as well. How do you intend to judge them all?” 

    Aman rubbed his hand against his fat cheek. “They’ve brought a curse upon us and ruined the ceremony. You must purify this place immediately, Prince Ihan!”

    Other lords lifted up their voices to agree with lord Aman. “It is the role of Rota’s royal family to protect Rota’s citizens from the threat of Sada Talhamaya,” lord Suan said. “You must slay that woman in that sheep’s place in order to purify the Ritual Hall.”

    Asra wrung her hands. They wanted to kill Ianu!

    “Wait, lord Aman,” Prince Ihan said in a voice that carried. “Are you suggesting that I should execute this woman without a trial? The gods would be ashamed at such brutality. The Rotan people are not murderers.”

    “We all know that you have your own special reasons for protecting the Tal people, Your Majesty,” lord Aman said in a mocking tone.

    Ihan’s face went beet red. “Lord Aman, you insult me!”

    “Not at all, Your Majesty. I’m only saying what everyone knows to be the truth. You know it yourself. Didn’t you dig up the body of a Tal woman who was executed at Shintadan because you couldn’t bear to give her up?”

    There were shouts of consternation from the crowd.

    “That woman desires to bring the bloodthirsty god Talhamaya into our world. Does she have some connection to the woman you removed from her grave? Maybe they’re the same woman, and she’s been animated by an evil spirit or god?”

    The voices of the people in the courtyard crashed over Prince Ihan like a wave.

    Most of the northern clan lords stood up. “It’s a trick, Your Majesty,” lord Rahan shouted. “This is just a trap that the southern clan lords have devised. They must have planted that woman and those other Tal people in the crowd. Don’t believe it!”

    The guards standing around the northern clan lords readied their weapons. The bodyguards of the southern clan lords prepared to fight them.

    “Peace!” Prince Ihan shouted. “Warriors of Rota, peace! Do you intend to spill blood at such a sacred ceremony?”

    The warriors on the northern and southern sides of the conflict glared at one another, but made no move to attack.

    Lord Rahan addressed Prince Ihan. “Your Majesty, you must execute that Tal woman. Please! Show us all that your personal feelings will not interfere with maintaining peace in Rota. Demonstrate your wisdom and put an end to all this mess!”

    Asra’s eyes locked on Prince Ihan’s face. He was frowning deeply. A chill went up her spine. He’s not telling them “no.” Ianu will be killed.

    As her eyes rested on the man who had first called for Ianu’s death, Asra’s fear turned to rage. She spun away from her brother and broke into a run.

 

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