A Warrior's Knowledge by Davis Ashura

Author:Davis Ashura [Ashura, Davis]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780991127641
Amazon: B00TCORO90
Publisher: DuSum Publishing, LLC
Published: 2015-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18: Reconciliation

Teach them to long for the vast and endless sea. Only then, while caught in the teeth of a storm, will a child remember humility.

-Humble Offerings by Suran, AF 205

Snow crunched as Jessira walked the steep incline of a mountain’s ridge. The sun burned harsh in the heights, and she squinted against the reflected glare. It had taken three days to reach the top of this final mountain pass, but afterward, the going should be easier, more downhill than up. Jessira paused a moment, panting as she gasped the thin air. Her breath steamed as she looked to see how much further she had to go.

Just another few hundred yards. First Mother be praised!

She pressed on, making her way past broken spires of gray rock, thrusting through the crust of snow and ice like the jagged remnants of ruined towers. She shivered as a knifing wind cut through her heavy garments before it moved on to moan restlessly through the ravines.

Rukh broke the trail ahead of her, leading a packhorse. His snowshoes crabbed forward in a regular cadence of lift and fall. Lift and fall. He, too, gasped the thin air. Jessira stared resentfully at his back. If he wasn’t so damn proud, they could be safe and warm back in Stronghold. A few days ago, Rukh had won the Trials of Hume, and despite the generous offer made by the Governor-General, he had still decided to leave her home behind. And Jessira had held firm to her commitment to go with him.

All because she had the misfortune of loving him. But it wasn’t like the ridiculous notions of young love in some Ashokan romance. What she felt for Rukh was something else: a bond of caring, friendship, and loyalty — and, yes, desire. Even more, though, there was also a debt owed and a pragmatism wherein she hoped to change his heart so the two of them could both shortly return to Stronghold. After all, most of her people had finally realized just how much Rukh could help them.

So, when Rukh had departed her home, Jessira had gone as well, and though she kept pace with him, to say they walked together would be a falsehood. His stiff-necked pride held them apart. He had yet to completely forgive her people — or her. Did he still think she had betrayed him when she’d let him cut her out of his life? She didn’t know, and Rukh wouldn’t talk to her about it. The situation had Jessira struggling to find her balance, and she didn’t know what to do or say to fix the dilemma in which she found herself.

What she did understand was that neither of them was happy, and neither of them knew how to move past it. Actually, that wasn’t true. Jessira knew, but Rukh would have to take the first step. He would have to accept her decision to accompany him. First Father, she was heartily tired of his stubbornness. She was here. It was time he accepted it.

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