The Horsemasters by Joan Wolf Read Free Book Online Page A

on the ground.
    The man who was bending over Erek looked up. “He is badly hurt, but he lives. We must carry him home so the Old Woman can see to him.”
    Silence fell. Everyone was looking at Ronan.
    “Go ahead, lad,” Neihle said into his ear. “You are the slayer. It is for you to make the apology, for you to chant the sacred song.”
    Ronan swallowed hard, forcibly controlled his breathing, and moved forward until he was standing over the bear. Even fallen, it was a fearsome sight. Ronan stared as if mesmerized at the large barrel-like body, the big head with its prominently domed forehead, the enormous feet, the claws…
    “Elder Brother,” Ronan said, and was thankful to hear that his voice was clear and steady, “I am sorry to have slain you, but I need your skin for my coat and your flesh for my food. Elder Brother, the Tribe of the Red Deer loves you. Do not be angry that we have slain you out of our great need.”
    A sigh ran around the listening men. The apology had been made; the spirit of the bear would be appeased.
    Next Ronan raised his voice in the sacred chant:
    XXX
O most splendid of animals
Man among beasts.
Now my Elder Brother
You lie dead.May your plight make the other animals
Be like women when I hunt them!May they follow your wayAnd Fall to meEasy prey!
    It was vital to inject real emotion into the voice when making the sacred chant for the death of the bear, and Ronan did that. It was not difficult; all he had to do was to allow a small amount of what he was really feeling to creep into his voice. When he had finished, he was amazed to see that many of the men behind him were weeping.
    “Well done, sister’s son,” said Neihle. “Very well done.” He turned to the other men. “Now we must bring Elder Brother home.”
     

Chapter Four
     
    Arika was furious when she heard that Ronan had been the one to slay the bear. “What were the men thinking of,” she fumed to Pier, the hunter who had brought her the news, “to allow a boy not yet one full year initiated to be the Bear Slayer?”
    “Perhaps you did not hear me, Mistress,” Pier answered patiently. “The bear had knocked Erek’s spear away and was mauling him to death. Erek would be dead now if it were not for Ronan. Give the boy his due, Mistress. He was the only one of us willing to grapple with that bear.” Pier’s nostrils flared. “Wait until you see it! Never have I seen a cave bear so large.”
    Arika made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a hiss.
    Pier looked faintly disapproving. “Erek is sore wounded. The Old Woman is seeing to him now.”
    “Erek should have killed the bear,” Arika said. “If a boy like Ronan could kill him, there is no excuse for Erek’s failing.”
    Pier said slowly, “Ronan made the prettiest slaying I have ever seen, Mistress, and I have seen many. Do not belittle his accomplishment. All the men who were there know what it was that he did.”
    Arika turned her face away. “Very well,” she said abruptly. “You may go now, Pier.”
    “I will go to see how Erek is faring,” the man said, with the faintest of emphasis on the word I, and he turned toward the hut door.
    As soon as the hides had swung shut behind him, Arika began to pace restlessly up and down the small section of floor space that was not cluttered with her belongings. She was still pacing when the Old Woman appeared.
    “I have tended to Erek,” Fali said. “If the wounds do not become poisoned, he will live.”
    “Good,” Arika snapped. Erek had been her lover for the past two years, but she had no sympathy to waste upon him now. He had failed her.
    Fali said into the silence, “The men can talk of nothing but Ronan.”
    Arika swung around and glared.
    Fali did not flinch, “He is like you, Mistress,” she said. “Fearless. And he is also a leader.”
    Something besides anger flickered in Arika’s face. She raised her hand, as if to rub it away. “Sa,” she said then, very low. She dropped to sit on one