Read Online Voyage of the Snake Lady by Theresa Tomlinson - Free Book Online

Moon Riders performed the horse dance about their fire. They pawed at the ground and stamped, tossing their heads this way and that, imitating the movements of trotting, cantering, and galloping. They remembered with great sadness and longing the steeds that had been so cruelly slaughtered by the Ant Men, but they also recalled the joyful swing of the hips that came to every rider as the horse got into its stride. They longed for the pleasant feeling of a cooling breeze swishing through their hair as the horse gathered speed. They yearned for the wonderful warm scent of horseflesh.
    Next morning they rose before dawn and danced enthusiastically to welcome the sun. Coronilla’s group set off first, for they had far to go, and they carried small bundles of food strapped to their backs. Akasya and her friend Nessa soon followed them, walking quietly through the woods. Leti and Fara also went, each in a different direction, Leti walking calmly away to the east and Fara to the west. All the women kept well out of hearing range or scent of the horses.
    Myrina waited with Tamsin and Phoebe—they were the last to leave the camp. Kora stayed behind to tend the sick and feed the fire, with a few good bow-women ready to defend the meager stock of food they possessed. Though Kora understood the delight that the Moon Riders felt at the discovery of the herd, she swore that she would never go near one of those dangerous beasts.
    Phoebe and Tamsin walked stealthily beside Myrina, moving like leopards. They approached the lookout spot and dropped to the ground without a word. Then they quietly set about making themselves comfortable on their bellies, keeping their heads low, for there would be a long wait ahead. They must be patient: their very lives might depend on the outcome of this venture.
    They lay watching the horses with greedy eyes. The sight of them was so exhilarating that for the moment they could be content just to look.
    “The golden mare with the sandy mane is mine,” Phoebe whispered fiercely. “Sandmane I name her.”
    Tamsin frowned. “You’re welcome. The black with white boots is mine!”
    “White boots?” Phoebe protested. “Where? Oh—I see her; I want her, too!”
    “Tough!” Tamsin grinned. “She is mine! I name her Snowboots. A horse once named is yours forever!”
    Phoebe sighed, but then she smiled again. “See how Sandmane tosses her head! I will stick by her. Which will you name, Snake Mother?”
    Myrina pressed her lips together in perplexity and shook her head. The delicate stepping, the rippling, muscular hides, many of them gleaming blue-black, made her heart bleed anew for Isatis. She was in no hurry to name another steed.
    The sun moved slowly across the sky and at last, as it hovered above them, Myrina got to her knees and nodded. “Stand up now,” she whispered.
    The Moon Riders in the far distance rose smoothly to their feet as soon as they saw Myrina move. They spread out in a long encircling line, in full view of the horses but still far away from them. They stood watching but keeping very still and quiet, while a few of the horses raised their heads, sniffed the air, flared their nostrils, and looked at them. The calm stillness of the women was so unthreatening that they soon dipped their heads again to the river-watered grass.
    “There.” Myrina spoke with satisfaction, nodding into the distance. They could see that Coronilla’s group had waded through the river out of sight of the herd and now emerged from behind some rocks on the far riverbank. Myrina turned her head to the east and saw with satisfaction that Nessa and her friends stood beneath a clump of trees. Then they looked westward and saw that Akasya had staked out a spot on the gentle slope of a grassy hillside.
    “Right!” Myrina gave the order in a low voice. “Six steps!”
    Phoebe and Tamsin took six steps forward with her, counting carefully under their breaths.
    Some of the horses looked up again, catching the