Free The Tower of Il Serrohe by RJ Mirabal Page B

Nohwood—Netheraire, my companion since childhood.
    “‘ Netheraire, your incense precedes you, preparing my eyes for a change of scenery—’
    “‘ Oh hush, silly! You’re an awful mess. You’re almost indecent.’ She giggled musically, but I could see sadness in her eyes. Where are those days when we played in the trees and suffered a thousand mock deaths, painless in the morning sun?
    “‘ I got knocked into a thorny bush, and it ripped me to shreds.’
    “‘ Well, we can worry about your suit later but those cuts!’
    “‘ Nothing a little rose can’t cure with her touch.’
    “‘ It’s a good thing you can’t see anything clearly more than five paces away because your “little rose” is a frightful mess.’
    “ She carried a stone bowl of spicy liquid cloudy with the wounds of warriors she had already tended. As she knelt down, I could see her face in the sharp reality of matted hair, dirt, and the dried blood on her fingers from patching cuts and gashes.
    “‘ Are there any among the missing, Netheraire?’
    “‘ By the Nohwood’s grace, no one is dead though Nothead is near death. His family will suffer much in the coming winter if he passes on.’
    “‘ By the Wood, he’s got nine children! Why does Narknose allow a family man to—’
    “‘ Allow? Surely you joke. This is not a matter for only lifelong warriors. That tower,’ she gestured to the projectile in the distant east, ‘has brought a curse on us. Do they see everything we do here with the eyes of a hawk?’
    “‘ That’s not possible! I couldn’t imagine such eyesight.’
    “ She went on, ‘Across the emptiness of the Il Serrohe it takes a sharp eye to survive. Perhaps all they need is elevation to see into the Nohwood and watch us.’
    “‘ The cliffs of Il Serrohe are enough—that tower is only a vain symbol—y’ow! Your medicine burns!’
    “‘ It’s supposed to, silly. Wouldn’t do any good if it didn’t.’
    “ I heard a muffled laugh escape Niddle-ai. He sat up gazing to the east. ‘Huh, I can see a figure pacing along the top of that damned tower. Must be checking on the Soreye warriors as they approach.’
    “‘ You can see the warriors we fought this morning?’ I asked incredulously.
    “‘ Ah, yes, a rather scattered bunch they are. We didn’t let them off lightly. Ah, but look at the haughtiness of their canter!’
    “ I always marveled at how Niddle-ai could see such far away things in the perpetual haze that enveloped me only a few paces off. Truly his eyes were sharp as needles surpassing even the hawk and the owl.
    “ Netheraire swabbed Niddle-ai gently, said good bye, and the wild rose scent left slowly, absorbed into the air around us.”
     
     
    nineteen
     
     
    “ The waning orange light of the setting sun cast flecks of amber on the floor of the forest. Branches that arched above and interlaced in a hopeless tangle provided an almost solid roof against the sky.
    “ The tabletop plateau of heavy, imposing cottonwoods, pines, and piñons made a comfortable site for the hundreds of root houses of the Nohmin. Place of Homes. Such a comfort to walk the well-worn paths, listening to the sounds of people living. The approach of evening and the smell of cooking—wood, hot sunflower oil, fried okra, and boiling posole well laced with red chile.
    “ But the security that such scents usually conjured was denied by the aching bones of defeat and frustration. What good was a Place of Homes if Nohwood was slowly hacked away from around us?
    “ Will we be pushed onto the slopes, forced to claw our way up the cliffs of Tohmay Steeples that cradled the entire southwest corner of Nohwood Mesa, only to live brutally among the flighty Linksmin?
    “ They’re cunning but reclusive hunters, keeping to themselves except when trading furs for our chile. But what if we are driven to their Steeples? Would we be able to live in peace in their territory; would our children be safe?
    “ My hole,