The Wrathful Mountains Read Online Free Page B

stones, the only permanent structure made by these nomadic
people. Annin’s body was set upon it, and the men backed away in silence.
Despite her growing dizziness, Tashi began the death chant, beginning with a
single mournful cry to the darkness. Two women joined at her side, bearing the
wooden masks of death. Together, the trio donned the masks, representing the
three judges one meets in the life to come. One face of sorrow, one of anger,
and one of joy. They danced among the villagers, crying to the night, their
voices shrieking.
    For nearly an hour,
the dance continued, all the while Tashi’s head continued throbbing. Her neck
was stiff, her skin too hot. The dance could not end soon enough. The dancers
dropped to the ground, landing on their knees and lowering their heads. The
villagers followed suit, kneeling before the mound.
    Removing her mask, Tashi
stood and offered one final prayer to the gods. Her voice cracked as she
uttered the words, her heart believing none of them. There would be no beauty
waiting for Tashi in death, but perhaps there was for her faithful sister.
Finishing the prayer, she approached the mound and laid a hand gently on her
sister’s head. “Goodbye, sweet sister,” she whispered. Tossing a handful of
powder over the blanket, she stepped away and looked up at the stars.
    The villagers
walked forward, each with a torch in hand. Offering the flames to the bundled
woman, they freed her from her worldly restraint. No longer would the shell
inhibit her spirit. She would rise again in a better world.
    Tashi stumbled
through the darkness, not bothering to carry a torch of her own. She had to get
away. There was no more to be done for Annin. Sobbing, she blindly found her
way back to her hut and collapsed onto her own mattress. Burying her face in
her pillow, she fell into a fitful sleep.
    Nightmares of
monsters, their dark forms dancing, invaded Tashi’s mind. They moved closer and
closer, approaching the flaming remains of the young mother, but Tashi did not
fear them. “You will not take her soul!” she shouted. To take her sister, they
would have to get through her first. She would fight them with her bare hands
if she had to. The shadows closed in on Tashi, forcing her to the ground, but
she refused to cry out. “Take me,” she hissed, “but you will never take her!”
    Tashi woke before
sunrise, the pain behind her eyes proof enough that she had barely slept. A
shadow moved across the central fire of her hut, but it disappeared before she
could identify it. The fire sizzled, but no vision appeared.
    “Stay away,
Mother,” Tashi said to the flames. She would not have her mother blaming her
for Annin’s death. “I did all I could,” she whispered.
    Another shadow
moved outside the flap, and Tashi rushed forward to catch it. Instead of a
monster, she found the huddled form of Koli, who had been Annin’s mate.
    “Priestess,” Koli
said. “What will you do to safeguard the life of Annin’s child? My child.”
    What could Tashi
do? She couldn’t save her sister, so how did she plan to save her niece? “I
don’t know,” she admitted. “The gods…” she started to say, but found no fitting
words to finish the thought.
    “There must be a
sacrifice,” he said. “Without it, the gods will do nothing.”
    For centuries the
Ulihi tribe had offered blood sacrifices to the gods in exchange for blessings.
There were tales of great successes in battle as well as the ending of droughts
thanks to the sacrifices made by the tribe. However, there had been many
sacrifices to save the children these past ten years, but nothing had removed
the curse from the tribe. No child had survived, and the sacrifices had been
wasted. The gods refused to act.
    “My sister has
already been sacrificed,” Tashi said. Her eyes stung from the tears that could
no longer run, and she rubbed her fists against the dryness.
    “We must be ready
by daybreak,” Koli insisted. “It will be done.”
    Tashi