Feather Read Online Free

bowl and scrape out the few bites of stew left in the bottom.
    Rose was cutting up long green bean pods for the evening meal. In summer, she and the other women cooked outside. In bad weather, they used the fire pit inside the big log shelter.
    Rose stopped cutting the beans and stood up, looking toward the path that led around the lake.
    “The men are back.”
    They all looked, and Karsh could see half a dozen men walking swiftly toward them up the valley. Jem, who had been on sentry duty, slipped down to join them, and Hardy, the youngest man in the group of hunters, took his place on the ridge above. This was the custom, so that all who had remained in camp could hear the tales of those returning.
    Alomar stood up and waited with the rest of them until the men were close, then he called out, “You return early.”
    Hunter stepped toward him unslinging his bow. He dropped it and his quiver gently to the grass. “We saw a Blen camp two hours’ walk from here, and we decided we had better stay close to the village.”
    Karsh wanted to run to Hunter and tell him what had happened, but he knew that was the elders’ right, so he waited. Hunter was a leader, although he was younger than the elders. He was strong, and he knew things. Surely he would organize a party to go after Feather at once. Karsh couldn’t help clenching his fists as Alomar told the tale.
    “Our little Feather has been taken,” the white-haired man said.
    “Taken?” Hunter asked. The other men expressed their alarm, then they quieted to listen.
    “She and the boy were picking berries, and two strangers snatched Feather,” Alomar told them. “The boy was hidden. He waited until they left, then came back here toting the dog they had beaten.”
    Jem, Hunter, and the other men examined Snap’s wounds. Then Hunter came and stood before Karsh. Standing tall, Karsh blinked back the tears that tried to fill his eyes.
    “I’m sorry,” Karsh said.
    “It’s not your fault,” Hunter said gently.
    “I should have helped her, but I was down in a hole. I didn’t know what happened at first, but then . . . then I heard them, and I saw them taking her away. I was afraid.”
    “Of course you were.” Hunter touched his shoulder. “You did right not to show yourself.”
    “Did they have weapons?” Neal asked.
    “Yes, bows anyhow. Knives too, I expect. And Tansy says they hit Snap over the head with something.”
    “A war club most likely, if they were Blens,” the herb woman put in.
    Karsh gritted his teeth, remembering. “One man had a stick.”
    “Did they hurt Feather?” Jem asked.
    “I . . . I don’t think so, but they tied her hands, and one of them carried her.”
    Hunter sniffed and looked around at the other men. None of them would meet his eyes, and they stood in silence.
    “Will we go after her?” Karsh dared to ask at last.
    “There are invaders over the next ridge, boy,” Hunter said quietly. “They are more than we, and we think they are Blens. We didn’t get close enough to be certain, but we can’t attack them. We’ve lost Feather, but if we go against them, we will lose many more of our people.”
    “But you can’t leave her with them!” Karsh stared at Hunter, unable to believe he would let Feather go so easily. “You can’t!”
    “How many of our tribe should be killed in trying to rescue her?” Rand asked.
    “But there were only two of them,” Karsh insisted. He turned back to Hunter, the man he felt closest to, the man who had taught him to shoot his bow and build a fire. “Maybe they weren’t part of the camp you saw. If there are two traveling alone, we could overtake them and bring Feather back.”
    Shea shook his head. He was an elder, with Rand and Alomar. He stood before Karsh and looked into his eyes. “What you say is not sensible. Blens do not travel in twos. They rely on the strength of numbers. They have camped by the river, and it’s likely they sent out small foraging parties to scrounge up