Voices (Annals of the Western Shore Book 2) by Le Guin Ursula K

Author:Le Guin, Ursula K.
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2008-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

10

When Desac came the next day, I wasn't with the Waylord, I was helping Ista with the wash. She and Bomi and I had the boilers going soon after dawn, set up the cranked wringer, strung the wash lines, and by noon had filled the kitchen courtyard with clean sheets and table linens blinding white and snapping in the windy, hot sunlight.

In the afternoon, walking in the old park with Shetar, Gry told me what had occurred in the morning.

The Waylord had come to the Master's room to say that Desac wished to speak with Orrec. Orrec asked Gry to come with him. "I left Shetar behind," Gry said, "since she seems to dislike Desac." They went down to the gallery, and there Desac again tried to make Orrec promise to go out and speak to the people of the city, rousing them to drive out the Alds, when the moment came.

Desac was eloquent and urgent, and Orrec was distressed, divided in mind, feeling that this was not his battle, and yet that any battle for freedom must be his. If Ansul rose up against tyranny, how could he stand aside? But he was given no choice in time or place, and also no real knowledge of how this rebellion was to be made. Desac was clearly wise to say so little about it, since its success depended on its being a surprise; yet, as Orrec told her, he didn't like being used, he'd rather be included.

I asked what the Waylord had said, and Gry said, "Almost nothing. Last night, you know, when Sulter said he'd 'ask,' and Desac jumped at it?—Well, nothing at all was said about that. They'd said it before we came down, no doubt."

I hated not to be able to tell her anything about the oracle; I didn't want to keep anything from Gry. But I knew it was not mine to speak of, or not yet.

She went on. " I think Sulter is worried about numbers. More than two thousand Ald soldiers, he said. Most of them near the Palace and the barracks. At least a third armed and on duty, and the others close to their weapons. How can Desac move a large enough force against them without alerting the guards? Even at night? The night guards are mounted. Asudar horses are like dogs, you know, they're trained to give a signal if they sense anything amiss. I hope that old soldier knows what he's doing! Because I think he's going to do it pretty soon."

My mind moved swiftly, thinking of fighting in the streets. How can we be free of the Aids? With sword, knife, club, stone. With fist, with force, with our rage unleashed at last. We would break them, break their power, their heads, their backs, their bodies ... Broken mend broken.

I was standing on a path among great bushes. The sun was hot on my head. My hands were dry, swollen, and sore from hot water and handling linens all the morning.

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