{"id":53,"date":"2013-09-21T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/2013\/09\/21\/21-zumos-offer\/"},"modified":"2013-09-21T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-21T14:00:00","slug":"21-zumos-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2013\/09\/21\/21-zumos-offer\/","title":{"rendered":"21. Zumo’s Offer"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Unfinished Song: Initiate<\/i><\/a>\"\"<\/i><\/p>\n
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(Start at the Beginning of the Novel<\/a>)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
“Moon Dancer” by RoxRio<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Kavio<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2026took\u00a0Kavio several blinks to realize who had saved him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cZumo,\u201d he said hoarsely. His mouth tasted of blood and dust.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI\u2019ll escort you out of the tribehold, cousin,\u201d Zumo said evenly. He snapped his fingers. Several other Tavaedis, all Zumo\u2019s hangers- on, formed a defensive square around Kavio and Zumo.<\/div>\n
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The crowd jeered at Kavio as they passed, and a few of the braver ones hurled rocks or mud at him. He felt the shame of his nakedness strongly, not because of the attire itself, but because of the ashes smeared over his chest and thighs. He tried to hold his head up proudly rather than hunch over and shield himself from the taunting mob. He wondered which was worse, to need the protection of his enemy to walk the streets of the tribehold, or to wonder at its price.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI thought you cast your stone on the black mat. Why are you suddenly so eager to keep me alive now when you wanted me dead this afternoon?\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cAh, the stone. Mother suggested it would look more believable. But the fact is, I\u2019ve got what I wanted,\u201d Zumo said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Kavio pressed his lips together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t have to be forever, Kavio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

Zumo gestured to Kavio\u2019s bloody, ash-smeared body.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cThis. Your exile.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not the judgment I heard.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cThere is a way that an exile may be allowed to return\u2014if he is pardoned by a War Chief or a Vaedi. Your father can never pardon you, because his impartiality would be called into question. But I could.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYou?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cAfter your father steps down, a new War Chief will have to be appointed,\u201d Zumo went on. \u201cIt would have been you before. Now it will be me.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Kavio felt sick. \u201cCongratulations.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They had arrived at the large wooden gates at the entrance of the tribehold. There were too many warriors on guard at the gate for the mob to follow. Muttering, the crowd dispersed.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIf you would agree to serve me loyally, I would let you back into the Labyrinth as a Zavaedi again,\u201d Zumo said. He sounded as though he thought he was truly doing Kavio a favor. \u201cI mean it.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Kavio laughed. He looked his cousin up and down in contempt. \u201cNever forget, I know what you really are, Zumo.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Hatred boiled in Zumo\u2019s face. And fear. \u201cNo one would believe you.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry.\u201d Kavio\u2019s lips twitched in a self-mocking smile. \u201cI know that. That\u2019s not the point.\u00a0The point is, I know what you are. And I would rather live in exile the rest of my days than serve a man who lives a lie every day of his life.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cBe careful, Kavio. Death might still find you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt finds us all in the end, doesn\u2019t it? Goodbye Zumo.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Outside the Rainbow Labyrinth tribehold, no mobs harassed him and no enemies taunted him. Fields that smelled of sweet maize surrounded him. The tribehold stood on a mesa in a large box canyon cut by a river…<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/div>\n


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TO BE CONTINUED<\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Download the complete book for\u00a0FREE<\/a><\/b><\/u>\u00a0or buy it on Amazon as an\u00a0ebook<\/a>\"\"\u00a0or\u00a0trade paperback<\/a>\"\":
\n<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Author’s Note<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Art by<\/i><\/i> RoxRio.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Unfinished Song: Initiate (Start at the Beginning of the Novel)   “Moon Dancer” by RoxRio Kavio \u2026took\u00a0Kavio several blinks to realize who had saved him. \u201cZumo,\u201d he said hoarsely. His mouth tasted of blood and dust. \u201cI\u2019ll escort you out of the tribehold, cousin,\u201d Zumo said evenly. He snapped his fingers. Several other Tavaedis, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[259,286],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-initiate-excerpt","category-kavio"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}