The Unfinished Song: Taboo (36 page)

“You’re not going to kill me, Kavio.”

“Think again, you bastard.”

“Brena? Gwenika?
That buffoon with his pet rock on his back?
The pretty little serving maiden you can’t keep your eyes off of? Are those reasons? Come, Kavio, right now they will be honorably escorted out of Blue Waters territory, but if you kill me? And you can’t blame me. I didn’t ask you to bring them here.”

“You piece of snake-eaten carrion.” Kavio pressed his elbow into Zumo’s neck. Pressure in just the right spot would crush his windpipe and kill him.

“Back off,” wheezed Zumo. “
Now
.”

Kavio pulled his arm away with a curse.

Zumo drew his spear, but held it to the side, with a gesture to indicate this was just a precaution—but also that he wouldn’t allow Kavio so close again.

Kavio stepped back, crossed his arms and strove to conquer his rage.
There will be no deal
, his anger pleaded with him
.
Zumo is lying, as he has
lied
his whole life. If you don’t act now, you will throw away your last chance to take him into Death’s arms with you
.

Maddeningly, Zumo was also right that it was Kavio’s fault that Dindi and the others were here, in danger. He owed them any chance to save their lives he could find.

“Don’t look at me like that, Kavio.” Zumo poked the fire with his spear. “You would have done exactly the same thing as I. The only difference is, I did it first.”

“What, exactly, have you done?”

“You Imorvae will never forget what the Morvae did to your kind under the Bone Whistler,” said Zumo bitterly. “You Imorvae have been biding your time, waiting for revenge. Waiting to slaughter us as we slaughtered you. The Massacre of the Morvae, fitting revenge for the Massacre of the Imorvae a generation ago,
right
Kavio?”

“Zumo, you’re wrong. I had no intention of a massacre.”

“That would mean you’re a fool.
Because, sooner or later, the Morvae would be powerful enough to finish what they started.
You would
know
that. You’d know that the only way your kind could live safely would be to eliminate the Morvae before we could eliminate you. And you, Kavio, are no fool.”

“So… you are planning to massacre the Imorvae because you think we are trying to massacre you before you massacre us? Can’t you see how insane that is?”

“I see it as clearly as you do. But I can’t escape it, and neither can you.
Unless you take my bargain.
I tried to discuss it with you before, on the day of your exile, but you were too arrogant to listen to me, as usual. Now maybe you’ve learned enough humility you won’t turn your ears from my words.”

“Your schemes may be clever, but your negotiation skills stink. You committed treason, framed me for it, had me exiled, connived with an enemy to start a war and have me killed, and on top of all that made me crawl in the dirt like an animal. You’ve given me every reason to hate you and not a single reason to strike a bargain with you.”

“I’ve given you the best reason of all. You have no other choice.”

Kavio laughed darkly.

“You saw the Mervaedi tonight?” Zumo asked. “Well, you never saw her face, because that’s forbidden, but you saw the blue tent hiding her. They are the only tribe besides us to have a Vaedi. Did you know the Blue Waters tribesfolk choose a new Mervaedi every seven years, just as our people used to do? Except
their
Mervaedi is younger, because she is not a Zavaedi. I’m told she’s not even a Tavaedi. She’s Shunned.”

“What?”

“She has to be—because the other requirement for the Mervaedi is that she have six Chromas.”

“But then…”

“And then after her seven years, they sacrifice her. She’s both slave and ruler, Shunned and revered,
mariah
and Vaedi.”

“How long does this one have to live?”

“She’s sixteen, I think. She will be sacrificed when she’s twenty-one. On that day, her face will be unveiled to the tribe for the first time. Then they boil her alive like a lobster and everyone in the tribehold is supposed to eat a bite of her flesh.”

“What very special friends you’ve made, Zumo.”

Zumo blew a raspberry and steepled his hands while he paced the hut. “I realize the problem with my last offer was that it did not give you enough real power. Naturally, you must be subordinate to me, but that doesn’t mean you have to lack any position of importance. Therefore…”

“I wait with baited breath.”

“…I want you to marry my sister. In return, my sister will be named Vaedi, and I will be War Chief.”

“Your sister Amdra can’t be Vaedi, she has only one Chroma,” Kavio said flatly. 

“My point about the Mervaedi was that if the Blue Waters tribe can have an Imorvae Vaedi, why can’t we have a Morvae Vaedi?”

“It’s taboo.”

“Taboo is just a word for power. ”

“Taboos keep power in check. The Vaedi is called the Rainbow Dancer for a reason: she needs to dance the rainbow, she needs magic of her own, and she must wield real power on her own. It is her job to call upon the tribe’s greatest warrior to defend the tribe as War Chief, and to dismiss him if he becomes more of a danger to his own tribesfolk than outtribers. If she is nothing but a doll in the hands of the War Chief, then how would the Vaedi be different from the Mervaedi here, given the trappings and decorations of a ruler, but treated like a slave and sacrificial beast? You say you want to make your sister Vaedi, but you haven’t changed your tune at all. You still just want power for yourself, and only yourself, and you think you can hide this from me by using your sister as a puppet Vaedi. I will never agree.”

Zumo’s aura began to glow deep red. He spread his arms, fire boiling out of each fist. “You would rather die?”

“I would rather die than help you take power,” said Kavio, adding to
himself
.
And I won’t go to my death quietly
.

“Do you know
how
you will die, you idiot?” shouted Zumo, still blazing. “Nargano is not going to give you a clean death. He’s going to tie you to a stake in the tide pools and let giant crabs crawl over you, devouring you alive. You will writhe and scream in agony, you will piss yourself in fear,
you
will beg your mother and Nargano and Death herself for mercy before you die. It will be ugly, painful and humiliating. I’ve seen too many men killed that way in this wretched place; I can’t wipe their suffering from my mind. Is that how
you
want to die?”

“If that’s the only alternative to helping
you
, the one who started all this.”

Zumo drew in a shuddering breath. He sucked in the fire, and the red disappeared from his aura.

“Then I can’t help you,” said Zumo. “I once considered you a friend, Kavio, and I didn’t want it to come to this. But you’ve made your choice. Tomorrow at dawn, Nargano is going to kill you.”

He parted the leather hanging over the door and let the Blue Waters warriors outside know they could take Kavio away.

Two warriors took Dindi to a hut distinguished by a labyrinth patterned totem stick. Four other warriors already squatted in front, but just then the leather flap over the door opened and the warriors took Kavio from the hut.

Dindi felt relieved. She didn’t want him to see her.

“Zavaedi, here’s the girl,” her guard called into the hut.

Zumo leaned out, “What girl…?”

He froze when he saw her. The fire lit him from behind, making him look a grotesque shadow. She shivered. A hard, salted wind whipped her hair around her cheeks and her dress about her knees.

“She says you requested her presence,” said her guard.

By unhappy chance, Kavio glanced back over his shoulder. He exploded, “What do you want with her?”

Zumo smirked. “I think you should be asking, what does
she
want with
me
?”

He drew Dindi into the hut.

Outside, Kavio yelled,
Leave
her alone! Leave her
... his command broke off in a gasp of pain. She could hear a shuffle, cursing from Kavio, then several horrid fleshy smacks. She winced at each thump.

“He’ll be fine,” Zumo said. “Until tomorrow morning, when he dies screaming in agony. Have a seat. Are you hungry? I can offer fish, fish, or another kind of fish.”

“I dined at the banquet,” Dindi said. She sat down on a seal fur cushion.

Instead of seating himself across the hearth, he tossed a cushion next to hers and slung himself into it. Though he did not touch her, she felt his body heat electrify the air. When he smiled, it was predatory, not friendly.

“Since we both know I did not request your presence, though clearly that was an oversight, why don’t you tell me why you’re here.
”

“I needed to see you.”

“And normally, that would be all the reason I’d need from a pretty girl.” He tilted his head roguishly, except for the dark look that fleetingly traveled his face. “But I’ve had a long day, and I need a better reason tonight to dally with you.”

“I came to make a trade. I want you to spare Kavio’s life.”

“It’s out of my hands.”

“I don’t believe it is.”

“I offered him a deal and he refused to take it.”

“Then keep him alive as your slave.”

Zumo laughed. “Do you
know
him? You believe that would work?”

“You could make it work,” she said.
At least until he killed you.

He shrugged. “Let’s get to the interesting part of this conversation. You are trying to save my cousin’s life, but what is it you think you will give me in return?”

She unlaced the top of her blouse…

“Ah.” He cleared his throat. “You…”

…And pulled out the corncob doll. “I will give you what you claim was stolen from you.”

He leaned forward. “You have it? Here? With you?”

“Yes.”

“Give it to me.”

She held the doll in front of him, but he did not take it, or even look at it.

“Give it to me,” he repeated.

“Here is the doll.”

Finally, he took it, but only under a cloud of anger and bewilderment. “Doll? Doll? Is this a joke? Why are you giving me a doll? I want the Looking Bowl!”

“But I thought… you said… this was the source of the Visions I had. It is hexed…”

“A thousand things are hexed, you brainless nit!” he shouted. He jumped to his feet and hurled the doll back at her. “What do I care about some petty haunt? Do you know how many things are haunted by the actions of the living, or the dead? Everything you have ever touched in your life, every path you have walked, every place you’ve lived, retains a ghost of your presence. Do I care if some comb or moccasin of some unimportant person retains the Visions of that person? No, I’d rather not be ensnarled in someone else’s useless memories. Those kinds of Visions are untamed and utterly useless. The Looking Bowl is different.”

The Looking Bowl
.
The name hit her like a wave of ice water.