Where the Wind Takes Us
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Where the Wind Takes Us
Yurima covered her face with her hands and wept, shoulders shaking. Her words came out broken and interrupted as she sobbed, “Lady Oria! Lady Oria, forgive me. I cannot keep this secret any longer. And even if you were alive, it would come to the same thing.” She wiped her eyes on the backs of her hands and composed herself with great effort.
“Sari was attacked by assassins from the Magua clan,” Yurima said. “So was Eona. That was who attacked her today. You have every reason to doubt me; I have no real proof. But I do know Lady Oria’s secret. I always intended to take it to the grave.” Yurima’s eyes went distant, like she was looking at something far away, but there was nothing there. Eona sat up on her sickbed, alarmed at Yurima’s outburst, but she didn’t say anything.
“Lady Oria told me many times that I was never to tell any of the Aru clan’s Tahsa retainers about what happened that day at Larago’s grave. The earthquake was tragedy enough. Nothing so terrible had ever happened in the Valley of the Forest King. The valley is well-defended; only the leader of the Sadan Taram and the leader of the Aru clan can open a way for others to travel there. “
Yurima frowned deeply. “When Lady Oria heard that Larago’s grave was broken and in need of repair, she sent a message to her father, asking what she should do. His answer to her message troubled her. Before Sari and the other Sadan Taram arrived that year to travel to the valley, she called for me and ordered me to perform a secret task without an explanation. Shortly after, Sari arrived, and Lady Oria greeted her as usual.”
Yurima wiped new tears from her face. “Oh, if only that earthquake had never happened! What a terrible year that was! Sari and the Sadan Taram had been harried by attackers all the way to this estate. They’d sent for help, but because Lady Oria had collapsed from severe morning sickness, the estate was slow to respond.
“The task Lady Oria gave me was to lace the ceremonial wine the Sadan Taram use in their ceremony with a sleeping draught. She wanted Sari to open the way safely into the Valley of the Forest King so that there would be no danger of attack from the Forest King’s defenders. In addition to that, she wanted to complete her own task without being observed.
“I begged her not to travel into that terrifying valley herself. I feared for her safety and that of her unborn child. But Lady Oria would not be dissuaded.” Yurima’s eyes overflowed with tears. “She really was a wonderful person.”
“No she wasn’t,” Kumu barked in irritation. “She made you poison a bunch of people and sneaked into the Valley of the Forest King to desecrate my ancestor’s grave! Stop weeping and get to the point!”
Rumina put up a hand, requesting silence. “What was our mother planning to do in the Valley of the Forest King?”
“What her father told her to do,” Yurima said. “She was there to preserve the bond between the Magua clan and the Aru clan by killing the leader of the Sadan Taram--Sari.”
“What?” Kii rose to her feet. “What does your petty clan feud have to do with my people?”
“Quiet, Kii,” Sansa said, tugging at Kii’s sleeve.
“I’m not sure...” Kumu frowned. “Maybe it has to do with Larago himself. Everyone suspects he was poisoned, and most people think that it was by paja. Paja kills relatively slowly and mimics the symptoms of illness, so it’s difficult to identify until it’s too late. The custom of dining with one’s fellow clan lords at the start of every official visit originated because of the peculiar circumstances around Larago’s death. Breaking bread together is considered polite etiquette and is a precaution against being poisoned by an enemy.
“The poison is odorless and tasteless. However, people who have died of it have a speckled pattern on their bones that twists around them like snakes. Some other famous assassination victims in history have speckled bones that tell us what killed them. Because of this unique pattern, paja poison is sometimes called serpent venom. Even burning the bones doesn’t get rid of the pattern.”
“I still don’t understand,” Kii cut in.
“Every child of a Rotan clan knows about this poison. We’re cautioned about it when we first learn to practice weapons. But there’s no proof that Larago was killed by paja poison. His grave is in a remote location; not just anyone can go there. And until the year of the earthquake, his body was covered and enclosed. No one who entered would desecrate a corpse, even to expose a secret like that.
“But the earthquake took care of that. When my mother and Sari visited the Valley of the Forest King that year, what they saw was proof of Larago’s assassination by the Rotans--by the Magua clan, long ago. That’s the secret, isn’t it?”
Kumu looked at Yurima. He was no longer angry. He was simply saddened. He started to cry. “I hate them,” he said. “I hate the Magua clan! I hate that I’m related to them at all!”
Yurima stared at Kumu, her face set in grim lines. The room lapsed into choked silence.
“Well, that’s one theory,” Balsa muttered under her breath.
Kumu’s eyes fixed on her. “What?”
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