The Woman Who Rides Like a Man Read Online Free Page A

as an alien magic flooded into her body. She knew without being told that Halef Seif was only a pathway for this sorcery, that its origins were as old as the Bazhir tribes.
    Their combined blood welled up, dripping onto the sand. The watching men set up a cheer. Touching the ember-stone, she watched as Gammal performed the ritual with Coram. The magic was glittering white; it filled the air around them all, flooding from every Bazhir present.
    She let Ishak bind up her arm, feeling a moment's sympathy for Coram. The ex-soldier was obviously unhappy that he had taken part in an exercise of sorcery (albeit a short one). Now they were truly members of the Bazhir, tied by blood and magic to the desertmen.
    The drinking started. Women brought out food as the men told stories, recounting their greatest legends for the two new members of the tribe. The sky was gray in the east when Alanna gave up and went to bed. Coram had been moved into bachelor quarters; evidently her new status did not excuse her from the proprieties. Amused, she fell onto her pillow and sank immediately into sleep.
    Sunlight in her eyes roused her. Her tent flap was open; from the sun's position she saw it was noon. Moaning and clutching her aching head, Alanna lurched to her feet.
    "We've been waiting forever," Kourrem announced.
    Alanna scowled at the two Bazhir girls who had welcomed her the previous day. "I didn't go to bed till dawn," she growled. She ducked behind a partition and changed her clothes, feeling very old and much the worse for a night of date wine.
    "They made you a warrior of the tribe." Kara's voice was filled with awe. "And you're a woman."
    Alanna pulled on the fresh tan burnoose she found with her clothes. If she was a Bazhir, she might as well dress like one. Emerging from behind the partition, she bathed her face in a basin of water.
    "Akhnan Ibn Nazzir says you're a demon," Kourrem told her. "He says you have destroyed the eternal balance. He wants us all to kill you."
    Alanna dried her face briskly and pulled a comb through her hair before answering. "Nonsense. If your eternal balance is destroyed, why did the sun rise? If I'm a demon, why do I have such a headache?" Using fresh water, she cleaned her teeth.
    "Are all the women in the north warriors?" Kourrem asked. Kara was setting out breakfast: fruit and chilled fruit juice, rolls and cheese. "Are you all sorcerers and she-demons?"
    Alanna rubbed her aching head. Was she supposed to eat all that? "Hardly," she replied to Kourrem. She sat awkwardly before the low table, crossing her legs before her. Inspired, she told the girls, "Why don't you join me? I'd welcome the company." It wasn't quite the truth, but chances were the girls would be far hungrier than she was at the moment.
    Kourrem needed no urging, but Kara hesitated. "It wouldn't be proper," she demurred, her eyes uncertain over her face veil.
    "Of course it's proper," Alanna said firmly. "I'm female, aren't I? At least, I was the last time I checked."
    Even Kara smiled at that. She and Kourrem slipped off their veils. Kara was older, fine-boned and dark-eyed, with two deep-set dimples framing her mouth. Kourrem had mischievous gray-brown eyes and a pointed little chin. Both were too thin, even for rapidly growing teenagers, and their clothes were of poor quality. If Alanna remembered Sir Myles's teaching correctly, both were old enough to be married; the desert people contracted alliances for their daughters when they first donned veils, at the age of twelve. Why were these two single?
    Alanna picked up a roll, and the girls eagerly helped themselves.
    "If the northern women aren't warriors," Kourrem went on, her mouth full, "how did you become a knight?"
    Alanna smiled reluctantly. "It wasn't easy," she admitted. Seeing that her audience was listening intently, she sighed. "I was ten. My mother died giving my twin brother and me birth, and our father was a scholar who cared more for his work than us. Coram raised us, and