{"id":72,"date":"2013-09-11T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/2013\/09\/11\/11-the-witness\/"},"modified":"2013-09-11T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T14:00:00","slug":"11-the-witness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2013\/09\/11\/11-the-witness\/","title":{"rendered":"11. The Witness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Unfinished Song: Initiate<\/i><\/a>\"\"<\/i><\/div>\n
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(Start at the Beginning of the Novel<\/a>)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
“The Savage,” by\u00a0evilrandomguyblah<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Kavio<\/i><\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cZumo?\u201d Auntie Ugly asked her son.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More slowly than his mother, Zumo picked a stone. He threw it on the black mat. He had to walk by where Kavio knelt on the adobe floor to reach his seat again. Just as he passed, Kavio looked up and met his eyes.<\/div>\n
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\u201cIs that what you really think I deserve, cousin?\u201d Kavio asked in such a low voice that only Zumo heard him. \u201cFor what crime? The lies you told here or because I know the truth about you?\u201d<\/div>\n
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Zumo flushed, whether with guilt or anger, it was impossible to tell.<\/div>\n
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\u201cNo one will listen to anything you have to say now, Kavio,\u201d Zumo replied, also too quietly for anyone else to hear. \u201cThey\u2019ll know you\u2019re just clawing at worms to try to save your own hide.\u201d<\/div>\n
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He stomped back to his seat, where he replaced his mask.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Auntie Ugly had sentenced the son of her rival to death; all eyes now fell upon Father to see if he would defend his son.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Father\u2019s heavy shoulder blanket seemed to weigh him down as he walked to the jar to pick up a stone. He stood there a long while, turning the rock round and round in his hands.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI would like to speak,\u201d he said finally, looking straight at Kavio, \u201con behalf of the accusers.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Surprise stirred the onlookers. Kavio just smiled grimly. He wasn\u2019t surprised at all. He\u2019d known from the day his father had called for the trial that Father would put political need above family sentiment. Sure enough, Father gave a pretty little speech, distancing himself from his son. He locked his jaw when he finished and clutched his fist around his stone. \u201cI too must cast my stone with justice, even if it means the death of my own son, my only child.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He threw his rock on the black mat. He met Kavio\u2019s eyes without flinching, but when Mother gasped, Father would not look at her.<\/div>\n
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Mother stood up next and pleaded on Kavio\u2019s behalf. Even she would not declare him innocent. Instead, she simply begged for mercy\u2014exile instead of death. Mother picked a stone out of the jar and placed it on the orange mat between the white and the black.<\/div>\n
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Kavio felt his face burn with shame. He wouldn\u2019t beg for his life himself, and he didn\u2019t want her to crawl for him either. Besides, death would be easier than exile. He didn\u2019t think he could bear the humiliation of wearing ash. Exile meant fleeing his home like a vole from a prairie fire. Exile meant scorn would meet him wherever he went. Exile meant he would not have the opportunity to finish unraveling the puzzle he had discovered in the heart of the Labyrinth, the only magic he still cared about.<\/div>\n
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Far, far better to die.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
One by one the rest of the Zavaedis came to cast their stones for either exoneration, exile, or death. Some spoke to the assembly of their\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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TO BE CONTINUED<\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/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 paperback<\/a> <\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Author’s Comments<\/b><\/i><\/i><\/div>\n

\n<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n
Thank you, evilrandomguyblah<\/a>, for the art. The artist says of this is a,\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/i>“c<\/i><\/i><\/i>onceptual piece of Arthur as a savage, from one of the prologues to\u00a0Le Morte.”<\/i><\/i><\/i><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Unfinished Song: Initiate (Start at the Beginning of the Novel) “The Savage,” by\u00a0evilrandomguyblah Kavio \u201cZumo?\u201d Auntie Ugly asked her son. More slowly than his mother, Zumo picked a stone. He threw it on the black mat. He had to walk by where Kavio knelt on the adobe floor to reach his seat again. Just […]<\/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-72","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\/72","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=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}