Corridor of Storms by William Sarabande

Author:William Sarabande [Sarabande, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller
ISBN: 9780553271591
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1988-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

The old woman was trying to embarrass Torka, but he was not a man to be embarrassed easily, and he was not embarrassed now. He was annoyed. The old woman's words had sent Lonit hurrying back to their shared fire circle. He was irritated over the fact that his woman would have to dance before another man and actually grew angry when he thought of her lying with anyone else but him. He had bad memories of the last plaku he had been forced to attend, and if there was a way of avoiding this one without offending the elders of the encampment, he would do so. He had said as much to Lorak, but the supreme elder had pointed a horny finger at him and made it quite clear that he must participate or take his women and children and leave the encampment. With the time of long dark coming on, he had no choice but to stay and join in the cursed ceremonies. Surely Lonit must know that he wanted no part of them--not for himself and most certainly not for her.

His eyes followed her as she disappeared between several pit huts en route to their own shelter. How tall and graceful and beautiful she was! Sondahr might match her, but only that, no more; it was the magic woman's arrogant, almost masculine bearing that drew the eyes of all men to her--to the strong, confident line of her shoulders, to the careless way she walked and stood so that her breasts seemed always to be moving restlessly beneath her downy tunic.

Most of the men within the encampment resented the way she intruded into the council of elders at will, as though she were not a female at all but a man deserving of every privilege and courtesy accorded to their superior gender. A member of no band but welcomed by all who knew of her powers, it was said that she moved at whim from tribe to tribe, teaching and healing. Her presence was tolerated with a combination of awe and distress, for although she blithely ignored every rule that applied to others of her sex, her well-proven gifts of Seeing and healing were too valuable to disdain. Truly, it was said, Sondahr was a magic woman of great power. It was wise to fear her. And both men and women did; but Torka knew that there was probably not a man in the encampment who would not have liked to put her in her place, to take her down and ride her to submission.

He drew a breath. He had to admit that that would be an interesting endeavor; yet when she had called him to walk with her onto the Hill of Dreams, when he had seen her with Aliga, he had seen another side of the woman--a gentleness a sadness ... a loneliness--and he knew that if the choice were hers, she would relinquish her, powers for what seemed a gift to others was a

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