The Shore of Women Read Online Free Page A

only of myself; I had not been called. I pushed that thought from my mind. Tal would be our Headman when he returned. I knew I should not be thinking of that, either, but only of the Lady.
    Tal was removing his circlet. I took mine off and said, “You were called.”
    He sat up slowly and rubbed his arms. “Yes.”
    “Your fourth time.”
    “I must go to the enclave.”
    “Take me with you.” The words were out before I could hold them back. I glanced toward the altar, afraid.
    “Arvil, were you called?”
    I shook my head.
    “I thought not. You cannot deceive the Lady. If you haven’t been called, you cannot enter the wall. I shall have to leave you behind.”
    “You’re going to make the Stalker my guardian again.”
    “He did well enough last time.”
    “He’ll try to beat me.”
    “If he does, then you will deserve it, although I think he would find it harder to beat you now.”
    “And Cor will beat me when the Stalker is out of sight.”
    Tal sighed. “Stop whining. If you cannot get along with that boy, then fight him. You ought to be able to beat him by now—you have grown taller than Cor.”
    “He’ll summon the Stalker then, and I cannot raise my hand to my guardian. Leave me with someone else.”
    “If you don’t stop this talk, Arvil, I’ll beat you myself. You are in a shrine. You are the height of a man, but you’re still a boy, and the Lady doesn’t take kindly to boys who disobey their guardians.” Tal stretched out again. “Now, I want you to take the rabbits outside, skin them, and cook our supper. We’ll eat what is left tomorrow.”
    “Aren’t we going back to the camp?”
    “We’ll go in the morning. The Lady has favored me. The Mother will not mind if we sleep here. Now go outside and gather some wood before it grows darker.”

    As we neared our camp, I worried again about what Geab might do when he learned about Tal’s fourth call. He might go to the shrine in the hope that the Lady would call him, too, but men his age were rarely called. He would have to hope that Tal did not return safely from the enclave. Perhaps Geab would even move our camp to make it harder for Tal to find us again.
    I had seen a Headman become an Elder once before, two winters after Tal had become my guardian. The Wolf had led us then. He had broken his leg badly in a fall and knew that it would not heal. He had declared himself an Elder, knowing it was for the good of the band; caring for an old and crippled man would have made life harder for all of us.
    The Wolf had gone on his last hunt, although others had to help him take his last hide. He had sewn his cloak and eaten his final meal, then given away his things. Geab, the new leader, had been given the Wolf’s precious knife, made with a sharp metal blade taken from a scavenger.
    Geab struck the first blow with that knife, cutting the Wolf’s throat. By the time the rest of us pricked the Wolf with our spears, he was already dead.
    The Wolf had met death willingly. Geab would not.
    I had dreamed of the white room during our night in the shrine, but the Lady did not speak to me. Tal, however, had communicated with Her again, mumbling as he slept. Like all men, I had a stain on my soul, yet prayed for purification and the Lady’s blessing. Tal was a good man and had been called, but it was the fate of all men forever to fall away from grace and be forced from the enclaves. Again, I wondered: Could a man become so holy that he could dwell within an enclave’s wall and never come out?
    As we came toward the hill leading to our camp, Tal suddenly grabbed me, startling me out of my daydreaming, and pointed at the ground. He had already loosed his spear from his back. The tracks of horses marked the snow and led up the hill toward our camp. I pulled at Tal’s arm, wanting to flee.
    At that moment, a horse carrying two riders came around the hill and trotted toward us. Tal lifted his spear.
    “Hold!” a familiar voice shouted. I recognized