Free The Ships of Earth: Homecoming: Volume 3 by Orson Scott Card

between Hushidh and Nafai, with their dangerous, infuriating talk, they had managed to make Elemak so angry that the Oversoul had more power to confuse him. Indeed, there must be others who could see that Nafai was not firmly tied, though fortunately those in the best position to see were also those least likely to point it out—Lady Rasa, Hushidh, and Shedemei. As for the others, with the Oversoul’s help they no doubt saw what they expected to see, what Elemak and Mebbekew had led them to
expect
to see.
    “Yes,” said Lady Rasa. “Let’s go to the camels.” She strode boldly toward the waiting animals. Luet and Hushidh followed her. The others also turned and moved.
    All except Eiadh. She stood motionless, looking at Nafai. The others, standing beside their kneeling camels, could not help but turn and watch as Elemak walked up to her, put his hand on her back. “I know this hurts your tender heart, Edhya,” said Elemak. “But a leader must sometimes act harshly, for the good of all.”
    She did not even glance at him. “I never thought a man could face death with such perfect calm,” she said.
    Wonderful, Luet said silently to the Oversoul. You’re making her love Nafai all the more? How helpful of you, to guarantee that we’ll never have peace, even if Nafai gets out of this alive.
    〈Have a little trust, will you? I can’t do everything at once. Which would you rather have, Eiadh out of love with your husband, or your husband alive and the caravan headed toward Volemak?〉
    I trust you. I just wish you wouldn’t cut it so close.
    “Hear me!” cried Nafai.
    “Pleading will get you nowhere now,” said Elemak. “Or do you want to make one last speech of mutiny?”
    “He wasn’t speaking to us,” said Eiadh. “He was speaking to her. To the Oversoul.”
    “Oversoul, because I have put my trust in you, deliver me from the murdering hands of my brothers! Give me the strength to burst these cords that bind my hands!”
    How did it look to the others? Luet could only guess. What
she
saw was Nafai easily pulling one hand, then the other out of the cords, then clambering without much grace to his feet. But the others surely saw what they feared most—Nafai tearing the cords apart with his hands, then springing to his feet with majesty and danger gathering about him. No doubt the Oversoul was focusing all her influence on the others, sparing none for those who already accepted her purpose. Luet, Hushidh, and Lady Rasa were seeing the facts of what happened. The others were no doubt seeing something, not factual, but filled with truth: that Nafai had the power of the Oversoul with him, that he was the chosen one, the true leader.
    “You will not turn those camels toward any city known to humankind!” cried Nafai. His voice was tense and harsh-sounding as he strained to be heard across the broad expanse between him and the farthest camels, where Vas had been helping Sevet to mount. “This mutiny of yours against the Oversoul has ended, Elemak. Only the Oversoul is more merciful than you. The Oversoul will let you live—but only as long as you vow never again to lay one hand upon me. Only as long as you promise to fulfill the journey we began—to join with Father, and then to voyage onward to the world that the Oversoul has prepared for us!”
    “What kind of trick is this?” cried Elemak.
    “The only trick is the one you used to fool yourself,” said Nafai. “You thought that by binding me with cords you could also bind the Oversoul, but you were wrong. You could have led this expedition if you had been obedient and wise, but you were filled with your own lust for power and your own envy, and so you have nothing left now but to obey the Oversoul or die.”
    “Don’t threaten me!” cried Elemak. “I have the pulse, you fool, and I’ve passed a sentence of death on you!”
    “Kill him!” shouted Mebbekew. “Kill him now, or you’ll regret it forever!”
    “So brave of you!” said Hushidh,