Chapter 6: Proposition

Jathi rested on a large, winding branch that ran parallel to the ground. She dangled one leg off the side, with one hand as a pillow behind her head and the other over her eyes to shield from the stray ray of light that would manage to find its way through the canopy. There wasn’t much to do until Majad arrived from his reconnaissance. Until then, she’d just speculate on how to correct the disturbance that has entered her rainforest.

“I hope you’re coming to realise we have to kill them,” she said to Adilash. “There aren’t many options. If they come to the conclusion that a pass through the rainforest is reasonable, we’ll be crawling with traders from both the Vanderik and the Rukara,” the final word she spat with venom. “Kill them now, maintain the air of mystery and danger, and Hashai remains sovereign.” She lowered an elbow and turned her head to Adilash, relaxing as well but on a fallen log. Jathi sat above her husband, but the short man was used to looking up at her. He looked pensive and uncomfortable, and she knew that was the face of disagreement. “Go ahead. Tell me your alternative. You can’t hide from me, I know you have one.”

Adilash smiled. “You know me too well.” He brought his hands to his chin. “I almost have it. I believe another drop or two of clarity may push me enough.” Jathi reached into a pocket deep in the folds of her robe and pulled out a small leather pouch and tossed it to her husband. He fumbled with it and dropped it on the ground.

“Yes, that will do!” he said, opening the container and having just the smallest taste, no more than a single drop. “Clarity indeed! I’m seeing it now, I’m seeing it… a plan coming to fruition. But first, my worry. Let’s say we… dispose… of the intruders. Even that big one. Majad would have his work cut out for him with that fellow!” Jathi chuckled and agreed. “What is to happen then? A complete disappearance could be viewed as hostile. The Vanderik may say it’s an act of war. Especially if one of the missing is royalty! If they go, I fear we’ll have a fight we cannot win on our hands. They’ll burn our rainforest to the ground just to clear a path, and our actions will give them justification.”

“And so you propose…” Jathi prompted.

“We offer them some of our wares, and it works regardless of outcome. We test them. You are forgetting that these may be better, more civilised people than you give them credit for. Hashai needs allies.” Jathi looked doubtful. “There will be two distinct possibilities. First, if they are capable of showing restraint, the Vanderik may become friends of our people. Second possibility; we test them and they fail. They abuse our services. They overindulge, and die. Hashai stays the same, and there is no blood on our hands.”

“And if all of them die? We can’t simply walk into Vanda and explain.”

“Well, I’m afraid we’ll have to deal with that as it happens. But surely, there must be one among them that can show some degree of self-control, no? Then let the last return to Vanda, tell the tales of danger and death in the rainforest - but notably not at the hands of the inhabitants, who were nothing but respectful, gracious hosts. They’ll have no need to return to such a land of chaos and pain. We maintain our territory not by the tip of a spear, but through ways that are more known to us. Bloodless and intelligent.” He shook the flask. “If we are dealing with a people of covetous, greedy hands, grasping and clawing at anything they can find, the problem will more or less take care of itself. But it would be good of us to at least try.”

Jathi twisted onto her stomach and leaned forward on the branch, propping herself up on her elbows. “That’s brilliant.”

“I do hope they can indeed withhold their desires and show restraint.” Adilash snorted. “Of course I cannot see that as likely! The one with the wild clothing - for one of their grand missions! Can you believe such a thing!” When Jathi didn’t laugh, he looked to her to see her eyes moving just beyond him. He turned to see Majad had returned. Even to them, the man was undeniably strange and discomforting.

“I’ve done as you asked,” he said, his white eyes vigilant.

“Excellent,” Jathi said, having raised and crossed her leg from the branch and looking far more regal and dignified, similar to how she had presented herself to the newcomers. “I trust you have knowledge to share with us.” Even her voice had dropped lower, more severe. Majad was of a type that could make one feel as if they were a stranger in their own home.

“I do,” Majad replied. His voice sounded terribly harsh, like every word was painful to say. Indeed it may have been; a gash in his throat, a wound from his youth that he barely survived, had altered his voice permanently. The mask that he wore up to just below his eyes was a courtesy to anyone who spoke with him, saving them from the sight of the grizzly wound. “I have followed them closely. I believe now I have an understanding of the inner-workings of their party.”

Jathi nodded. “Good, good. We’ve been discussing the means in which to deal with the intruders. Our best course of action seems to be to offer our goods and test their resolve.” She briefly feared Majad’s reaction to an offer that was certainly strange to their people; giving their gifts to an outsider was exceedingly rare. When he didn’t so much as shift, she took this as tacit agreement at their chosen direction. “I don’t believe we should offer these all at once. They do not yet trust us. Instead, play off their fears and trepidations about the rainforest, and offer according to their needs.” Adilash winced at her choice of language, but he knew that was indeed the correct way forward. “Their shaman… the little one. She seemed enraged just at the presence of their captain. I am assuming that would be the place to start?”

“It would be. She despises him, but for what reason I do not know. She…” Majad paused and cleared this throat, as every word was a struggle. “She could not so much as listen to his orders upon entering Hashai.”

“She desires to be left alone,” Adilash suggested, rubbing his chin.

“No,” Majad rebuked. “She desires leadership. I believe she thinks the captain is incompetent, and her role is disrespected.”

“Ahh… She wishes to be heard, to be listened to.”

“She has no tongue,” Majad said flatly.

“Then that’s a struggle, isn’t it!” Adilash joked, although neither laughed in response. Jathi would normally have joined him, but not with Majad present. “I believe I know what may tempt her.” He reached behind the log in which he was sitting and struggled to drag a pouch that lay behind it into view. It wasn’t large, but he was so very small. He began fumbling inside of it, pushing aside flasks similar to the one Jathi had tossed to him to give him his ‘clarity’. He sighed, and stopped for a moment, letting his hands drop into the pouch. “Before I continue, I want to stress that what we do is strictly for the safety and protection of Hashai. I take no joy in this.” He pulled out a pouch. “Tell her this will bring all the world to her feet to hear her tales - even without the tongue.”

Majad nodded. Jathi only smiled slightly. While he looked frail - and surely he was - Adilash was the most skilled, powerful shaman the Hashadi people had ever known. While the Vanderik had their powers over the metal and stone of the earth, the Khorsuli with their control of the animal kingdom, and the Rukara with the elemental strength of fire, the Hashadi prayed to the god of the rainforest. There is no soul better skilled at the mixing of strange reagents and concoctions that the harsh flora and fauna of the land provide. What he created would almost certainly do the deed. He pushed himself to his feet and handed Majad a leatherbound pouch, marked by a number of small red scratches to signify its contents.

“Do not make her drink it,” Adilash instructed. “Instruct her to have just a few drops. Tell her just the slightest taste will be more than enough. If she can manage to withhold her desires and keep herself in check, then she is worthy of passing through Hashai.” He stepped close to Majad, and if his dead eyes inspired fear in the tiny old man then he showed none of it. “That is a demand. Instruct her, and give her the opportunity. Test her honestly, as you will the others.”

Majad nodded slowly, solemnly. Taking the flask, he returned the way he came, back to the Vanderik camp. If his footsteps did indeed make even the slightest sound, Jathi and Adilash could not hear it.

“I pray their tiny shaman listens,” Adilash said to Jathi. “I do not wish for death to come to these lands. If she can manage to not drink the potion to excess, then perhaps the others will follow, and there will be hope for peace.” He leaned back, letting loose a chorus of snaps and pops. “My heart is heavy with this, Jathi.”

It was her turn to joke. “It’s the only thing of you that weighs much of anything at all.”

Adilash smiled, but this time only as a courtesy.