Read Online Jovah's Angel by Sharon Shinn - Free Book Online

the highest point of the river, just south of the Plain of Sharon, and the merchants’ boats would meet us there. But now—the land along that portion of the river is no longer available for open commerce. We have had to reroute our wagons fifty miles farther south, causing delays and some accidents as the drivers try to find the best passageway—costing money, angela, costing money.”
    â€œThe northern portion of the river is no longer open for commerce…” Alleya repeated slowly. She chose to let Aaron complete the sentence.
    â€œBecause it has become a protected area for Edori,” he burst out.
    Alleya looked at him thoughtfully. “It was my understanding,” she said slowly, “that it had been agreed upon by a council of angels, merchants, Edori and other citizens that it was in the best interests of all the people of Samaria to create sanctuaries for the Edori. Were you not consulted? Did you not agree?”
    It was the most inflammatory issue that Samaria had dealt with in half a century, and had been painfully settled only last year; and literally no one wanted to see the arguments reopened. The nomadic Edori tribes, who had for centuries wandered where they would, had found, with the growth of urban areas and the shrinking of the open land, fewer and fewer parts of Samaria available to them. In the past twenty years, the number of Edori had dwindled alarmingly—with many moving to the cities and even to the farmlands, it was true, but many more just dying off from inability to sustain their traditional life. In a bitter and passionate series of conferences last year, a delegation of statesmen from all classes of Samaria had agreed that the only way to save the Edori was to grant them possession of a few wild tracts of land. Getting the council to agree to such a step had been hard enough; choosing the sites had been nearly impossible.
    â€œAbsolutely—the only thing to be done—everyone knows that,” Aaron said hastily. “We want sanctuaries as much as the next man does. But not quite there, do you see? Fifteen miles down the river—or even on the Jordana side of the Galilee—”
    â€œBut all these sites were carefully chosen by the same council, if I recall correctly…” Alleya said, again slowly, again as if uncertain of her facts. Which she was not. She may not have been involved in this particular affair, but she was a voracious reader and she remembered everything; it was her one real skill. “Everyone agreed to them. Even the Manadavvi.”
    â€œThat was before we realized quite how it would affect the shipping patterns—”
    â€œBut you must have studied the proposals—”
    â€œAngela. We did not,” Emmanuel put in. He was very fond of taking control, cutting right to the heart. “As Aaron says, we have no interest in seeing the Edori dispossessed. Far from it. But moved, perhaps. Downriver? Across the bank? I believe Edori can live anywhere. What difference would a few miles make to them?”
    â€œThe east side of the Galilee River floods ten times more oftenthan the west side,” Alleya said, softly and immediately. “Fifteen miles farther down the river—even twenty miles—the land is so rocky that you could not pitch two tents side by side. Hardly ideal living conditions.”
    â€œHardly ideal traveling conditions,” Emmanuel retorted. “Those rocky ways make it difficult for wagons to pass, and we have lost more than one shipment as drivers tried to negotiate unfriendly pathways.”
    â€œThat is a hazard,” Alleya said sympathetically. “But if these are pathways you will be using for years to come, it might be worth the investment to build roads that your wagons can more easily traverse. So you have less risk of loss and injury.”
    A brief expression of hatred tightened Emmanuel’s lean features. “The cost,” he said gently.