Free PROLOGUE by l lp

I know, Mother Orla," admitted Adica.
    "Nay, nay," retorted Agda.” None who have glimpsed the Other Side can speak in the tongue of living people anymore. Everyone knows that! Is he to be your husband, Adica?" She hesitated before going on.” Will he follow you where your fate leads?"
    "That is what the Holy One promised me."
    "Perhaps," said Orla, consideringly, "a person who can see and capture wandering spirits, like that of this child, ought to stay in the village during this time of trouble. Then he can see any evil spirits coming, and chase them away. Then they won't be able to afflict us."
    "What are you saying, Mother?" Agda glanced toward Alain suspiciously.
    "I will speak to the elders."
    "Let me take him outside," said Adica quickly.” Then I will purify the birthing house so that Weiwara can stay here for her moon's rest." The new mother's bed lay ready, situated along one wall: a wooden pallet padded with rushes, a sheepskin, and the special wool padding bound with sprigs of rowan that brought a new mother ease and protection. Cautiously, Adica touched Alain on the elbow. His gaze, still fixed on the newborn in Weiwara's arms, darted to her.
    "Come." She indicated the door.
    Obediently, he followed her outside. It seemed in that short space of time that the whole village had heard of the adult male who had walked into the birthing house. Now every person in the village crowded outside the fence, waiting to see what would happen.
    Beor shouldered his way to the front. He took the ax from Weiwara's husband and fingered the ax head threateningly as he
    watched them emerge. Like bulls and rams, men always recognized a rival by means not given to women to understand.
    "I will take care of this intruder," said Beor roughly as Adica approached the gate.
    "He is under my protection." The dogs pushed through the crowd toward their master. Their size and fearsome aspect made people step away quickly.” And under the protection of spirit guides as well, it seems."
    One of the big dogs, the male, nudged Beor's thigh and growled softly: a threat, but not an attack. Alain spoke sharply to the dog, and it sat down, stubbornly sticking to its place, while Alain waited on the other side of the fence, measuring Beor's broad shoulders and the heft of the ax. Under the sunlight, the rose blemish that had flared so starkly on the tumulus and inside the birthing house faded to a mere spot of red on his cheek, nothing out of the ordinary.
    Urtan hurried up and spoke in an undertone to Beor, urging him to step aside. Beor hesitated. Adica could see the war waged within him: his jealousy, his sharp temper, his pride and self-satisfaction battling with the basic decency common to the White Deer people, who knew that in living together one had to cooperate to survive.
    "No use causing trouble," said Urtan in a louder voice.
    "I'm not the one causing trouble," said Beor with a bitter look for Adica.” Who is this stranger, dressed like a Cursed One? He's brought trouble to the village already!"
    "Go aside, Beor!" Mother Orla emerged from the birthing house.” Let there be no fighting on a day when living twins were given to this village out of the bounty of the Fat One."
    Not even Beor was pigheaded enough to go against Mother Orla's command or to draw blood on a day favored by the Fat One. Still gripping the ax as if he wished to split Alain's head open, Beor retreated with his brother and cousins while the villagers murmured together, staring at the foreign man who had come into their midst.
    Alain swung a leg over the fence and in this way crossed out of forbidden ground so casually that it was obvious that he did not understand there was any distinction. He could not feel it down to his bones the way Adica could, the way she knew whether any hand's span of earth was gods-touched, or hallowed, or forbidden, or merely common and ordinary, a place in which life bloomed and death ate. The crowd stepped aside nervously to make a