Free The Shore of Women by Pamela Sargent Page A

tongue.”
    “Where is your band?”
    “You see it here.” He waved a hand at Shadow. “We travel by ourselves.”
    “But that cannot be.”
    “We are here, are we not?” Wanderer reclined on one elbow. “I lost my band as a boy. Since then, I’ve been alone, but I have made peace with many groups. They find me useful because I know the speech and ways and lore of others and can be a messenger or go-between when there is ill feeling between bands. I have dwelled with and hunted with many groups of men, and I have traveled far and can entertain them with tales of my adventures. I have even aided some bands in treating with others so that they do not fight over a herd or a territory. But I have no band of my own.”
    “The Lady cannot approve.”
    “I am here, saying it before Her. I have been called three times to an enclave, and Shadow was given to me. The Goddess has not condemned me.”
    I shook my head, trying to accept this tale. “What do you want with me? Why did you follow me?”
    “Because I suspected that you were alone when I first saw you in the Witch’s shrine. I spoke to you in the northern tongue, and you understood and answered me in it. You had been called, and that means you must be especially loved of the Goddess, for one so young is rarely called. Then I wondered how you had come south, for I was certain you could not have made the journey by yourself. What could it be that brought your band south in winter? It could not be a hunt, for you would stay on familiar ground during this season with stored food, to save your strength, and move on in the spring.” He leaned forward. “I have guessed. Your band sought to join those behind the wall on the plateau.” He watched me calmly. “Am I right?”
    I refused to answer.
    “I saw the judgment from below. The fire blazed brightly. But you escaped somehow and then were called, so the Goddess has pardoned you. You should have nothing to fear from Her, and Shadow and I will do you no harm.”
    “But why did you follow me?”
    “I grow older,” Wanderer said. “I now need a band, for an old traveler will be of little use to strangers. And you are alone, so you need me. I think we should travel together.”
    “I must go to the enclave first and find Tal.” As I spoke his name, I felt again how much I missed him.
    “We can travel with you for part of the way. When you find your guardian and come outside, we can become a band if he wishes. If not, we still have our truce. But I think he will agree. After all, he has no band now.”
    “I must sleep,” I said, “and consider this.”
    “Very well.” He murmured a few words to Shadow, then stretched out, his back to me.
    I did not know what to think of his offer. A stranger was saying he would help me, yet my band had always distrusted strangers, and those strangers we had followed had led my band only to death. The Lady had decreed since the beginning of time that only the strong would live and the weak would die, yet here was a man ready to help someone weaker—for I was weaker, whatever blessings the Lady had bestowed on me.
    I would have to travel with Wanderer and Shadow. Tal could decide whether we would be a band later. I knew that without Wanderer’s help, I was unlikely to reach my guardian.

    The next morning, I accepted Wanderer’s offer, and we shared most of what was left of my meat. We said our prayers together and put on the circlets once more. The Lady said nothing to me or to Shadow, but Wanderer was given a visitation. As he thrashed about, I recalled my own visitation and longed for another. When Wanderer rose from the couch, he glanced at Shadow and shook his head. I knew by that gesture that he had not been called.
    We left the shrine and went north, then turned west, skirting the wood, until we were again following the route I had traveled with Bint. We turned north again and soon came upon a snare in which a rabbit was struggling.
    As I took out my metal knife,