The Archer's Heart Part II-2 PDF
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The Archer’s heart Book Two of Three Astrid Amara the A H rcher’s eart the A H rcher’s eart by A A strid mara BLIND EYE BOOKS Blind Eye Books blindeyebooks.com The Archer’s Heart by Astrid Amara Published by: Blind Eye Books 1141 Grant Street Bellingham, Washington 98225 blindeyebooks.com All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews. Edited by Nicole Kimberling Cover art, illustrations. and maps by Dawn Kimberling Proofreading by Tenea D. Johnson This book is a work of fiction and as such all characters and situations are fictional. Any resemblances to actual people, places or events are coincidental. First edition September 2008 Copright © 2008 Astrid Amara Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-9789861-3-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008922267 This book is dedicated to Angus. Marhavad Adri Mountain Bandari Penemar Pagdesh r e v Ri u r Jezza Ya Karuna Dragewan Marshav Jagu Mali Prasta River atari Terashu Field P Afadi Tiwari Chandamar Taharo Bay N W E S Contents Map....................................................6 Text..................................................9 Characters & Terms..............208 AcknowledgMENTS................211 The ARCHER’S HEART Chapter 19 Yudar, alone, shouldered the burden of finding their home. He believed he should be the one to suffer for their embarrassing exile. Jandu followed, asking no questions, offer- ing no opinions. He was still too angry to speak to Yudar, too shocked by the turn of events. Every step they took from Prasta further solidified the precariousness of their situation. In the back of Jandu’s mind, the true gravity of their situation still hadn’t set in. But as they hid from travelers and plunged deeper into the untamed countryside, the stark realties of exile became more and more apparent. Yudar chose a spot far removed from civilization, in the foothills of the great northern Ekavi mountain range. Jandu, Baram and Suraya followed him up a trail tangled with vines past a small village. The trail was mostly used by pilgrims and ascetics to visit a remote holy retreat on the side of Mount Adri. The pilgrim’s trail wound uphill for a day and a half before it reached the retreat and a large, placid lake that was frequented by cranes. On the opposite end of the lake, they found a small, flat clearing in the thick of the forest, where ripe and bursting foli- age drooped, thick-bowed and full of fruit, over the banks of the water. On one side of their new home, Jandu could see the smooth lake surface and the mountains beyond. On the other side was a steep drop down into a gorge cloaked by verdant palms. Trees clung to the cliffs with roots stretched across the rocks like talons. Merely looking down into the valley gave Jandu vertigo. 8 Astrid Amara High above them in the dense canopy of trees, there came a constant rustle of monkeys, showing off daring feats of acrobatics. With the monsoon hot and heavy upon them, their need for permanent shelter was dire. Their clothes and the few pos- sessions they brought immediately began to mold. Even the leather of their shoes and belts turned green and stank with the moisture of the jungle. Yudar took the task of building their house upon himself, speaking infrequently, working all day until his arms shook with exhaustion. “I won’t beg your forgiveness,” he said, almost proudly, “because there can be none for the sin I have committed.” He was in a mode of extreme self-flagellation, a look of serenity on his face as he tortured his body with the kind of hard labor a king was not raised to endure. But Jandu and Baram did help him, because they were drowning in the monsoon. Their pitiful first attempts at shelters did little to keep them dry. None of them knew how to build so much as a hut, nor which materials held up best against the sultry, powerful winds. Their walls blew away or caved in during downpours, or rotted before their very eyes. It took months to finally construct two huts from bamboo and sandalwood that could bear the brunt of the oppressive, temperamental climate. They laid a roof with wood and thatched over this with wide leaves. They built the main hut large enough for two of them to sleep on the earth floor. An enclosed area to the side of the main hut formed their open-roofed kitchen. They crafted rough wooden boards into benches for sitting, and cleared an area against the back of the hut where they could view the calm waters of the lake while they ate. The other hut was for the couple. It was smaller, just room enough for a bed and a small table constructed of sandalwood, and their small traveling chests. Baram and Suraya slept in there, while Jandu roughed it on the main hut’s floor with Yudar. 9
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