Free The Horsemasters by Joan Wolf Page A

beguiling grin.
    “I promise you I am not a fool, Uncle,” he said, “I know how to bide my time. But do not ask me again to seek a wife from another tribe.”
    Morna stood in the arch of the lower cave and watched Ronan cross the valley floor, his deerskin shirt slung over his shoulder. She watched as Iva came out from under a tree to join him, watched as the girl slid her arms around the young man’s waist and leaned her breasts against his bare chest. His dark head bent. He seemed to be saying something into her ear. Then he separated himself from her and went to rinse his hands in the river. When he came back to Iva, he draped an arm around her shoulders and, thus linked, the two of them began to walk together up the river.
     

Chapter Six
     
    After a full summer of watching Ronan, Morna had decided that she wanted to lie with him. She wanted to find out for herself if what all the other girls said about him was true.
    There could be no harm in it, she told herself. He had never been as a brother to her. They would simply keep it to themselves, and no one would ever know.
    It never once occurred to her that Ronan might not be as eager for her embraces as she was for his.
    She watched for an opportunity to be alone with him, but the tribe lived too close to each other at summer camp and no opportunity presented itself. She decided she would have to wait until they returned to their home caves.
    The first snow fell in the upper pastures, and the deer began their migration back to lower altitudes. The hunters of the Tribe of the Red Deer followed.
    Buffalo Moon was almost at its end when Pier spotted a buffalo bull in the forest along one of the tribe’s hunting runs. Buffalo were most often found running in great herds on the grass plains to the north of the mountains, but there were a small number of woodland buffalo in the low hills of the Pyrenees, and occasionally they strayed into the territory of the Tribe of the Red Deer. Morna proposed that the initiated boys and girls of the tribe go together the following day to hunt for buffalo.
    The opportunity to take a buffalo hide was too good for the tribe to miss, but the Mistress was not pleased with the idea of sending only the youngsters.
    “Buffalo are dangerous to hunt,” she said to Morna with a frown. “It will be better to send some of the more experienced hunters after them.”
    “We have spent the entire summer weather hunting, Mother,” Morna pointed out. “We are experienced hunters too.”
    “Buffalo are dangerous,” the Mistress repeated.
    “Sa.” Morna smiled. “That is the fun.”
    She meant it, Arika saw. Morna, in fact, was an excellent hunter—the best among the girls, as good as most of the boys. She was fearless and swift and strong. Upon their return from summer camp, several of the men had praised her ability to Arika.
    It was important for the tribe to see Morna at her best.
    “All right,” Arika finally agreed. “The young people may hunt the buffalo.”
    The bull Pier had seen had been in rut, and rutting bulls were easy to locate because of their bellowing, so it was with high hopes of success that the hunting party of twelve young people set off from the Greatfish River in the direction of the Volp. The day was very warm for the season, and the sky was hazy with the unusual heat. The hunters wore their buckskin clothing without the reindeer fur vests that were the usual gear for this time of year.
    “Buffalo meat is delicious in the autumn,” Tosa said, as she walked behind Morna along the reindeer track that wound up and down the wooded hills. “There is usually lots of fat.” Tosa made a slurping noise, indicating her anticipation of this treat.
    Morna, who was greedy for many things but not usually for food, wrinkled her small, perfect nose.
    When they reached the area where the bull had been sighted, Morna suggested that the hunters split up.
    The others stared at her in surprise.
    “Na,” Ronan said. “That would