A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

Author:Roseanne A. Brown [Brown, Roseanne A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9780062891518
Google: 3rCsDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0062891499
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: 2020-06-01T23:00:00+00:00

18

Karina

Karina didn’t see the rock that struck her in the head, but she felt it, the pain not dissimilar to one of her migraines. The last thing she remembered was searching frantically for the night-eyed boy, but he was gone, lost amid the angry crowd and the soldiers fighting their way to her side. The guards reached her in seconds, and as they gathered her into their arms and led her away, she threw a last glimpse at the people she had done her best to calm. Their faces were twisted in masks of fury, and nothing she or anyone else could have said would have sated their anger.

But even knowing this, Karina could not shake the feeling that this had been some kind of test of her worthiness to be sultana. And she had failed. This was the thought that echoed in her mind all the way back to Ksar Alahari.

Failure. Failure. Failure.

Karina wasn’t sure what hurt more: the rock she’d taken to the head or the fact that so many people believed she had killed her own mother.

Her reputation was less than stellar, but the common people thinking her irresponsible was a far cry from them thinking her capable of murder. The memory of the accusation burned within her, a potent mix of outrage and grief.

This was why Karina had revealed her identity the way she had, even knowing the risk. She couldn’t stand back and let this lie blaze out of control.

However, she truly hadn’t expected the rock. The last thing she remembered before the guards rescued her was the boy who had fixed her dress slipping away from the turmoil. She hoped he had made it home—wherever home was for him—safely.

A crack sharp as lightning tore Karina from her thoughts. In the center of the stadium, two wakama fighters crossed sticks, and fifty thousand people roared their approval. It was the morning of the third day of Solstasia, Wind Day, and Karina was seated in her private box watching the wakama tournament alongside the council. Though the Champions’ Challenge was the most famous event, Solstasia featured hundreds of competitions in every art and sport imaginable. Anyone could enter these lesser contests, which made them huge crowd-pleasers.

“Tuseshti! Wakama!” The crowd yelled the traditional chant that accompanied a wakama match, blowing on long ivory horns and shaking rattles of bamboo as they did. “Tuseshti, wakama, wakama! Tuseshti, wakama, wakama!”

Mwale Omar leaned toward Karina, his massive white beard twitching. “I’ve bet all my money on the Fire Champion, so let’s hope she wins.”

Karina forced her face into a smile. “It’s important to support one’s Alignment.”

The rules of wakama were deceptively simple: two people, two sticks, one chalk ring fifteen feet in diameter. With only stick-to-stick or stick-to-body contact allowed, the game ended when someone either surrendered or stepped out of the ring.

The current frontrunner was the Fire Champion, Dedele Botye. As she had signed up for the tournament before being named Champion, she had been allowed to compete even though the Second Challenge would begin immediately after the tournament’s end.

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