Raven's Choice by Harper Swan Read Free Book Online Page A

the almost-empty vat. It felt gritty in her mouth, but she swallowed anyway and then spat out bits of rock, making sounds like a frightened lion cub.
    Maybe the family had gone to haul more water from the lake. Raven followed a trail to the water’s edge while chewing dried meat from her dwindling supply. The hard, slightly salty strips were mildly rancid. Her thirst came raging back, so she knelt on the lakeshore and lowered her head to the water.
    Willow and the children were nowhere to be seen—nor was anyone else, for that matter—so she stripped for a quick, cold dip. Afterward, she lingered near the forest edge and gathered herbs. A gentle breeze blew, whispering soothingly through the new spring leaves. Calmness settled over her, so she was caught off guard when her eyes momentarily overflowed like springs, dripping onto her cheeks.
    When Raven returned to the pen a short while later, the posts had been rewound with ropes, and gawkers surrounded it on all sides. The men were sizing him up, she thought, just as male animals did, seeing which one had the largest antlers or tusks. The women stood in small clusters, taking care not to stand too close to the pen. Perhaps, to them, he was only a curiosity like a white hyena. Raven herself wasn’t clear about how she viewed him. All the stories she’d heard as a girl and then from Reed still filled her head.
    Children ran in and out of the crowd, and several boys jabbed long sticks through the wound ropes. The captive grasped a stick poking him in his ribs and broke it in half, to their whooping delight.
    “Stop your torment,” Raven yelled at them. “The Longhead needs rest before he leaves. If he doesn’t get back soon enough, his brothers may come looking for him and find you instead.” The threat was a variation of what exasperated parents said to their children. I’ll leave you out on the steppe, and the Longheads will get you.
    The grownups and some of the children gave her hostile looks, but most of them left, as if her words or maybe her presence made them uncomfortable. “Unwind the ropes,” she told the guards. “I need to treat him.”
    His grassy eyes focused on her hands while she stirred the water and ground valerian. When she handed him the gourd, he gulped the mixture down, not wincing at the bitter taste, and then noisily sucked out the last drops. She passed him the last of her dried meat. He devoured it, barely pausing to chew.
    Raven realized, from the smell coming from a small dirt mound nearby, that he’d dug a hole with his hands to cover his wastes. With his lack of mobility, the area would soon become fouled. She couldn’t clean this up herself. The jokes made about that would last for many seasons—she would never gain any esteem with the band, and she had a feeling that Bear would be furious if she did such a thing.
    “His enclosure needs to be cleaned,” she said, filling her voice with authority. She turned to one of the guards. “Go fetch a slave—and he needs something more to eat and drink.” The guard pulled a sour face but left to do her bidding.
    A voice beside her said, “That is what they made me. A slave.”
    Raven hadn’t realized that one of the loiterers was Leaf. He stood with his head on his chest, his stance very unlike his usual scout’s alertness.
    “And you are no longer a slave,” she said gently. “It should never have happened to you, but there is no slavery in your blood.”
    His head swiveled, birdlike, and he gave her a long look from the corner of an eye. His lips parted, and she thought he would say something, but he smiled wanly and turned away.
    “What is their word for eat ?” she called after him.
    “ Aulehleh ,” she thought she heard him reply, the beginning sound lilting up slightly more than the rest.
    Sounds of children playing came from behind the double tent, and Willow was moving around the clearing when Raven checked to see if anyone had returned. Her sister had the appearance