The Shore of Women by Pamela Sargent Read Free Book Online Page A

I cannot remember much of that life. This band was smaller then, but two bands have joined since—yours is the third. You will like it in our camp. You’ll learn how to grow some plants and grain, which is hard work, but when the ones below us are shivering through winter, you’ll be in a warm hut with plenty of food. But you will have to do as you’re told.”
    “Will Geab tell us what to do?”
    “The council will, and he will follow them. Work is given to you. If you disobey, there are punishments according to what you have done wrong. But you won’t be punished without a hearing—that means you get to tell your side of the story and can call witnesses. Of course, if you’ve done an evil deed, you might die for it, but you will have a hearing first. We practice justice.”
    It all sounded strange and wondrous. It came to me that, with a band as large as theirs, things were not so simple.
    “Don’t other bands try to take what you have?” I asked.
    Bint laughed. “Oh, they can try. They don’t if they are wise. We train to defend ourselves. Some are archers, others fight with spears, and some fight on horseback.”
    “We can each fight with spears, and knives, and arrows, as well as with slings.” I spoke with pride. “We do not fight in only one way.”
    “Our way is better,” Bint said. “We train each in what he is best at, and, when we fight, we work together, but with a plan. It is not just every man fighting for himself or his young charge. Maybe, if the other bands got together, they could give us a battle, but they never do. They fight each other while we grow stronger.”
    I thought of Tal often during the first days of our journey, squeezing my eyes shut at night before sleeping so that I would not cry. Soon, I no longer thought of him, and even came to think that he had been wrong not to promise to join us when he left the enclave. Bint was a good man. He prayed every night and told me he had been called to an enclave three times. I began to believe that Tal would come to see that he had made a mistake and would seek us out after all.

    We left wooded hills by the fourth day of our travels and then rode across a snowy plain. On the last day, we prayed at a shrine to the Witch before going on.
    Here, in this shrine, I was again uneasy. Hecate glowered at us as my band knelt before Her, and then I saw that Truthspeaker’s men did not kneel but gazed directly at Her image as they prayed. We lay on the Lady’s couches, wearing Her circlets, but She favored no one, and no one was called.
    The shrine was on the plain. Above it, to the south, was a high plateau. Bint gestured with one arm. “Up there,” he said. “Our settlement, Arvil. Our town.” I could dimly make out a barrier near the plateau’s edge.
    We rode to a path leading up to the camp. This passage wound among the rocks along the steep incline, as if a large hand had carved it out with a giant stone. We passed snow-covered boulders as the horses climbed with sure feet. I did not dare to look to my side or toward the land so far below. We came to a cave guarded by two men; one of them mounted his horse and rode ahead of us. We passed another cave where others guarded the way, and they shouted a welcome in the holy speech.
    As we climbed higher, I saw a long, low barrier made of wood and stones piled upon dirt. This was the wall my new band had built. Then huts seemed to rise from the ground above us, and I heard the sound of many voices. The band was singing, and their song was filled with a joy I had rarely heard.
    Boys ran toward us. They climbed over the wall and held out arms to the smaller ones. They were smiling, and their faces were round and full. As we dismounted, one boy ran to Bint, and he hugged the child with his big arms. At that moment, I longed for Tal.
    I could see this band’s wealth. Meat, enough for days, turned on spits in the center of the settlement. Logs of wood, enough for many fires, sat outside each of