Free Shadow of the Horsemen (Kalie's Journey) by Sandra Saidak

birds to return to the lake for the night. Many women watched with envy; others with bleak and hungry resignation.
    Savory blue smoke hung over the entire camp as meat roasted slowly in pit ovens, or turned on spits above fires. Then, above the noise of camp, came the honking of geese. Kalie had shed as much of her clothing as she thought she could get away with. Now she hitched up her skirts for greater freedom of movement. The nets were ready, and soon the sounds changed to squawks of anger and fear. Those not snared sought to flee. Kalie knew the geese that escaped would not soon return; this was her only chance.
    She flung her first stick into the midst of a confused gaggle of birds. As she watched in wonder, not one, but two birds fell into the shallows at the edge of the lake. She followed with the second, but it fell into the water without catching anything.
    “Hurry!” she cried to Varena. They raced to the spot. Varena, still dressed properly, was far behind Kalie, who was more interested in finding her weapons than retrieving the geese.
    “Here!” said Varena, spotting the stick and grabbing it.
    “Good work!” said Kalie. “Get the geese, while I try to get one more.” She knew she’d have only one more chance. The ragged remains of the flock were flying east, struggling to gain altitude. She cast her stick again, watching the tiny perfection of the disappearing birds; the deep blue of the evening sky. Then one figure fell from the flock, like a star from the skies. The rest disappeared into the darkening sky.
    Kalie pushed through the noisy crowd of women who were excitedly collecting the prizes of the hunt, avoiding sharp beaks as they wrung necks with quick efficiency. She had to travel beyond the edge of the lake to find the last goose. She found her stick as well.
    It was only when she had her prize safely in her arms, reciting the familiar words of thanks to the dead creature, and savoring the quiet solitude of the night that Kalie noticed Varena had not followed her. She was alone. How long had it been since she enjoyed the luxury of solitude among the fresh smells of summer, watching the stars slowly fill the sky? How long since she had felt the exultation of a successful hunter?
    But to leave Varena alone with valuable food was like tying a rock around her neck and telling her to go for a swim. Kalie headed back to the to the torch lit camp where a buzzing like angry bees was centered on the place she had just left.
    Varena was fighting to hold onto the two geese, stoically ignoring the blows to her body, as a shrieking, red-faced Leja demanded she release them. At least three other women—probably Leja’s slaves—sought to take them from her, but only succeeded in getting in each other’s way, and making it easier for Varena to hang on.
    Kalie flung herself between Leja and Varena in time to catch the next blow—on her chest, because of her height difference—and face the chief’s wife ready for battle. Every woman in the camp was looking on, delighted.
    “Why are you beating my daughter, Chief’s Wife?” she demanded.
    “Daughter?” sputtered Leja. “Her whore of a mother is long dead, as she will be soon, for trying to steal my birds!”
    “Those birds are mine,” said Kalie. “As is this one I’ve just retrieved.” She glanced at the pile of geese, jealously guarded by the other wives and their slaves. “But if all that is not enough for you, then take this!” She offered the goose in her hand. “If stealing from hungry slaves makes you feel more like a woman, by all means, do so!”
    There was a deadly silence. Even the fires seemed to stop crackling.
    Leja’s red face went white. “You will die for those words, slave! But first, amuse me by telling us all why you would send this girl to steal from me in plain sight—then call me a thief!”
    Kalie realized that Leja hadn’t been trying to take what wasn’t hers; she had simply been too busy with her nets to see that