The Water Road (25 page)

Ushan sat while Goshen translated
and then said nothing for what seemed like several minutes. Antrey’s answer had
either truly given her something to think about or had been so poor that she
did not know how to deal with it.

Goshen broke into the silence,
saying something to Ushan. He was quickly cut off, however. Antrey did not need
to know precisely what Ushan said to know that she did not approve. “What did
you say to her?” she asked him.

“I told her that the Maker of
Worlds had sent you to us,” Goshen said.

“She didn’t agree,” Antrey said.

Goshen looked ashamed. “She said
she was in no mood for my heresy and that it had no place in this discussion.”

Antrey felt bad for Goshen, seeing
him cut down that briskly. He had stuck his neck out for her. It was her turn
to try and return the favor. “Great Mother,” she said in the Dost tongue,
getting Ushan’s attention, before turning to Goshen to translate. “While I do
not completely understand or even believe what Goshen says about the Maker of
Worlds,” she said, giving Goshen a look that apologized for that concession, “I
think there is some truth in his thinking.”

Ushan shook her head and said
something. “I admit that I do not see it,” Goshen said for her.

“The weapon that the Triumvirate
has wielded against the Neldathi since the Rising was put down has been the
gods,” Antrey explained. “The gods no longer have a place in the daily life of
most Altrerians. They no longer believe. What rituals remain are done more out
of tradition and nostalgia. Nothing more. I saw that with my own eyes.”

Ushan objected again, more
forcefully this time. “I grow weary of this blasphemous talk,” Goshen said for
her.

Antrey shook her head. “I am only
telling the Great Mother what I know about the Altrerians,” she said. “That is
how the gods are treated north of the Water Road. Because the gods no longer
mean anything to them, it became easy to use them against you.” Antrey paused
for a moment and decided to ask a question. “Great Mother, how much do you know
about how the Neldathi honored the gods prior to the Rising?”

“I have listened to the Speakers of
Time tell tales of the gods,” Ushan said via Goshen. “You would do well to listen
to some of them, as well.”

Antrey continued, undaunted, “I
shall, Great Mother. But I am not talking simply about stories. What I want to
know is if the Speakers of Time tell stories of how the clans behaved towards
the gods and towards each other before the Rising.”

Ushan shook her head. “Great Mother
does not know,” Goshen said.

“I can tell her what I know,”
Antrey said. She waited for Goshen to translate the request, to which Ushan
nodded in agreement. “According to the debate of the Grand Council, as recorded
in the book I found, before the Rising each clan had its protector god or
goddess, with whom each had a special relationship,” she said. “But, in
addition to that, all the clans venerated all of the gods. The Triumvirate
deliberately changed that. They took the gods associated with each clan and
tied them, through stories both false and true, to long-held grievances and
feuds between the clans. The Triumvirate took what had been petty squabbles and
changed them into holy wars.”

When Antrey was finished, Ushan
listened to Goshen’s translation, nodding all the way. “I understand the truth
of what you say,” Goshen said for her.

Feeling like she was close to a
breakthrough, Antrey pushed on, “Great Mother, what all that means is that how
the clans behave towards one another had very little to do with how they behave
towards the gods. You do not have to cast aside Var and his protection in order
to work in common cause with, for example, the Akan, simply because their
protector is Otven. All the Neldathi clans share common ground with one
another. The barriers that stand between them are a creation of the
Triumvirate. I think that is where Goshen’s beliefs play a role and where they
might speak to this situation.” She paused while Goshen translated and then
said to him, quietly, “I could be wrong about that.”

“No, child,” he said softly out of
the corner of his mouth, “that was very well spoken.”

While Ushan sat and thought about
what Antrey had said, Kajtan leaned forward and asked something in quick annoyed
tones. “All of this philosophizing, talk of the gods and of deceit, makes me
weary. What is it that you think we should do?” Goshen asked on his behalf.

Antrey and Goshen had talked
briefly about the result of this audience and concluded that two things had to
happen. The first felt tantalizingly within their grasp. Antrey looked at
Goshen with a questioning look. He nodded, as if to give her permission to
respond. “The Neldathi clans, or at least as many of them as can be convinced,
should come together. They should unite with one another. Then, once there is
unity among the people, they should strike back against the Triumvirate. There
needs to be a second Neldathi Uprising, War Leader.”

Once Goshen had done translating,
Kajtan chuckled for a moment and smiled. “You are a bold one, halfbreed,” he
said via Goshen. “And who, exactly, is to lead this uprising? Who will be the
one to bring the clans together?”

This time, it was Goshen who looked
at Antrey for the sign to go forward. She gave it and he said to Kajtan and
Ushan words that he and Antrey had carefully chosen. “If I may, War Leader and
Great Mother, I think there is only one person who can do that. One person who
is uniquely suited to the task, given all that has happened to this point. It
must be Antrey,” he said in the local tongue, gesturing towards Antrey as he
finished.

Goshen’s answer jolted Ushan from
her thoughts. She lit up and spoke in quick, harsh, high tones that conveyed
their dismay. “This girl?” Goshen asked for her. “She knows nothing of battle.
Of leadership. Of courage. She knows little of our ways.”

“But, Great Mother, that is why she
can be such an effective leader of this cause,” Goshen said, first to Antrey
and then to Ushan. “No thek could be the one who brings the clans to a single
purpose. Others would talk about favoritism or his or her own selfish ambition.
Because Antrey is an outsider, part of no clan, she can avoid those problems
and bring the people together.”

Surprisingly, the next words came
from Kajtan. When he finished, Goshen turned to Antrey and smiled. “The holy
man makes a good point, Mother,” he said. Kajtan continued, with Goshen
translating, “The other theks will not let one of their own gain a superior
position. Someone from the outside, yet who is still passionately devoted to
our people, is needed.”

Ushan shrugged. “I concede that you
are correct,” Goshen said for her, “but what of the other things I mention? She
knows nothing of battle. How can she lead an army? What of courage?”

Antrey did not have good answers to
those questions. She had asked them of herself over and over since she made the
decision to try and unify the clans. She was relieved when Goshen broke in to
answer.

“If I may, Great Mother,” he said, then
paused for permission. When it was given, he continued, “While Antrey has never
commanded an army, she has a great knowledge of military history that she took
from Alban’s library. She knows more about our foe, the Triumvirate, than any
Neldathi alive.”

Before either Ushan or Kajtan could
take issue with that, Antrey jumped in. “Great Mother, I have no delusions
about my skills or my abilities. I would rely very heavily on wise leaders such
as yourself, as well as those from other clans, to help guide my actions.”

Goshen nodded and took up the
argument. “As to courage, Great Mother, has Antrey not demonstrated that
quality already? She struck the first blow of this uprising on our behalf while
within the heart of the Triumvirate. She braved the wilderness, the frozen
mountains, and the Water Road itself without help from anyone else. That shows
the courage within her.”

There was another pause, during
which all seemed to be waiting for Ushan to say something. Antrey thought about
what Goshen said and hoped it was true. The only part that bothered her was the
reference to striking the first blow of the uprising. In her heart, she knew it
was a cowardly and spiteful act, not something done out of righteousness. True
righteousness requires the correct selection of a target for one’s rage, she
thought, at the least.

Finally, Ushan spoke, returning to
the calm lilting tones with which she began the conversation. “In spite of your
blasphemy, Goshen, there is wisdom in your words,” Goshen said for her. She
turned to Antrey. “I am the leader of my people, Antrey, but I do not make
momentous decisions about their fate by myself. I will need to consult with the
elders of our clan before deciding what to do. I hope you understand.”

“Yes, Great Mother,” Antrey said in
the Dost language, bowing slightly.

“Then leave us, child, if you
will,” Goshen said for Ushan. “We will meet again at sunset tomorrow in the
meeting hall.” She stood, as did Kajtan, Antrey, and Goshen. Hirrek, who had
been standing behind Antrey and Goshen, was furious, the rage evident on his
face. Antrey smiled at him as they left the tent.

~~~~~

That day and the next passed slowly
for Antrey as she wondered what Ushan would do with her radical proposal. Goshen
showed a great deal of confidence after the audience, certain that this was
only the beginning of a great journey for both of them. He was too confident,
in Antrey’s mind. She thought the others in the clan would react to it as
Hirrek had, with rage and confusion.

This outsider was asking the
smallest of the Neldathi clans to leave the only life it had ever known and be
the foundation for this new coalition. If all went according to plan, the Dost
would be swallowed up by the others, a footnote in any history written of what
might come next. Nevertheless, the territory their circuit covered was the
closest to Tolenor and would be valuable in what lay ahead. It would also be an
easy place to access for the Triumvirate reprisals that would surely follow.

Antrey and Goshen arrived at the
meeting tent just before the sun sunk over the western skyline. When they
entered, they were greeted by a crowd full of unfamiliar faces. Goshen took her
hand and led Antrey through the throng, individuals moving out of his way like
obedient cattle. Ushan sat in her chair, next to Kajtan, with her full
complement of advisors arrayed behind her. There was no mat this time, no place
for either of them to sit. Antrey and Goshen each bowed before Ushan and stood
silent, ready to hear her judgment.

Ushan began to speak, and it was
clear to Antrey that she was speaking more to the crowd behind them than to
Goshen and herself. Goshen leaned in and whispered a translation in her ear.
“Twenty-one circuits have come and gone since I became thek,” Ushan started.
“In that time I have tried to do what is right and just for our people. I have
tried to do so with the support of all assembled here and those outside, for a
leader without the support of her people is, in fact, the leader of nothing.”

Ushan turned and sharpened her gaze
on Antrey, but the tone of her voice continued as an oration, not a
conversation. “In all of those years, I have never met anyone like you, Antrey,
originally of the Kohar,” Goshen whispered in Antrey’s ear. “I have never met a
person who came to this clan as an outsider, as one who is not part of us, and
yet asked so much of us as a people. If one of the Speakers had told me a tale
of such a person, I would not have believed them.”

Her focus shifted back to the crowd.
“But neither have I, in all the years as your thek, met someone who knows what
this woman knows. Has seen what this woman has seen. She has learned about the
evil that has been done to our people,” Goshen said, until she paused for a
moment, “done to all of our people,” he said, somewhat bewildered by the
universal tone, then continued. “She feels rage for us, even though she is not
one of us. She wishes for justice for us, even thought she is not one of us.”

Ushan shifted in her seat, then
stood, and walked to Antrey and stood face to face with her, looking down with
her wizened eyes. “For two days I have thought about your request,” Goshen said
for her. “I have sought the counsel of my warriors, of my Speakers, even the
wisdom of Var himself. There are a great many among us who think you to be
nothing more than a troublemaker. They would have me banish you from the clan,
along with your blasphemous companion.” At that Goshen swallowed hard.

Antrey stood stock-still, close
enough to this powerful woman to feel the exhalation of her breath on her
forehead. Her heart raced.

“However, there are others who know
the truth of what you have told us,” Goshen continued. “They know what you say
about the Triumvirate is correct. And they know what must be done about it. I
believe they have the better argument.”

Antrey’s instinct was to relax when
she heard those words, but her body would not comply. She stood, rigid and
nearly shaking, waiting for Ushan to finish.

Ushan smiled, ever so slightly, at
Antrey. “We are with you,” she said through Goshen. “The Dost will be the
foundation upon which your just cause may rest. And when the Speakers of Time
from all the clans tell the stories of what is to come, let them all know that
it was we who first gave shelter to the jeyn. To the leader of the Second
Rising.”