Feather Read Online Free PDF Page A

of their knowledge of the outside world. “They took Feather, but they did not search about to find where she came from. They have probably rejoined the band we saw and will move on.”
    Rand shook his head. “No doubt they told their fellows where they snatched her. The whole pack of Blens could come looking for her tribe together. They could invade this valley any time.”
    Weave shivered, and Jem pulled his eight-year-old son, Bente, close to his side.
    “If they had looked around, they would have found me.” Karsh realized he had spoken out loud. He clamped his lips together. It wasn’t polite for a child to speak in the council, although they were allowed to sit and listen.
    But Alomar smiled at him kindly. “You had a terrible experience today, boy. I say for all of us, we are sorry that Feather was taken, and it was not your fault.”
    “She’s my sister!” Karsh tried to hold back the sob that waited in his throat. He would not cry like a baby. “Please, please, won’t you help me find her and bring her back?”
    Hunter, who sat beside him, put his arm around Karsh’s shoulders. “They are many, and they are merciless warriors. Karsh, we wish we could get her back, but at what cost?”
    Karsh shivered. What if it were me? he wondered, but he already knew the answer. They wouldn’t come after me either.
    “This tribe is already too small, and growing smaller.” Rand’s voice was hard. “We lost six in the hard winter, and another was killed in a fall last year. Now this girl was careless enough to be taken. We cannot go on losing our people. We ought to retreat until things are more settled.”
    Karsh jumped to his feet. “She is my sister!”
    Hunter pulled him back down. “Hush, boy. Be silent. We know your grief.”
    “We don’t know that she is your sister,” Rand said, and his words were like icy water.
    Karsh looked helplessly at Hunter, then at Alomar. “Of course she is my sister.”
    “You don’t know that for certain.”
    “Of course I do!” Karsh’s anger boiled up inside him. How could Rand say such a hurtful thing?
    “Oh, be silent, you little wolf’s pup. Just because we found the two of you ragged urchins sniveling together in the forest doesn’t mean you’re brother and sister. You might just as well be brother to the lizard you caught yesterday.”
    “Rand!” Alomar spoke with authority, and Rand sank back onto his mat. “You are too harsh with the boy,” Alomar said. “We will speak of this later, you and I.”
    Karsh swallowed hard. It was true he and Feather were orphans, and the Woban people had found them and taken them in. But they had been with the tribe many years now, since Feather was about five years old and Karsh four. The Woban people loved them and had been a family to them. The adults treated them and the other orphans of the tribe as they would their own offspring. Rand was always a bit stricter and less loving with the children, but he had never spoken to Karsh in such a mean, frightening way before.
    Hunter squeezed his shoulder. “Keep your tongue. It’s all right. Do not be afraid.”
    Alomar looked around at them all. It was dark now, but the moon had risen, and Karsh could see each face in the circle plainly.
    “We need to have all our elders here,” Alomar said. “Hardy, I know you stood the last watch, but if you would be so good as to relieve Shea, I need his voice on this matter.”
    Hardy jumped up without comment and hurried from the camp.
    “Now,” Alomar said, smiling patiently. “We all want to go on living in this peaceful valley. Rand is an elder, and he has seen much hardship, more than many of you younger ones. He knows how precarious our existence is. He sees a different way to keep the people safe. Not all agree, and that is all right. It is allowed for our men and women to speak their minds and to disagree.”
    Karsh listened carefully as the old man spoke because he knew he had much to learn, and the future of the