Dream Snake by Vonda McIntyre

DELL SCIENCE FICTION SPECIALTHE HEALING POISONThey called thehealer Snake, and she bore the nameproudly, for the medicine she distilled from the venom of the viper she carried with her was a po- tent cure; and the soothing power of her other companion, the alien dreamsnake, banished fear. But the primitive ignorance of those she served killed her dreamsnake and wrecked her career- for dreamsnakes were dreadfully rare, and Center would not grant her another.Snake's only hope was to find a new dreamsnake - and on her quest, she was pursued by two im- placable followers, one driven by love, one by fear and need.DREAMSNAKEis a brilliantly entertaining book - as Joanna Russ puts it, "that rare thing, a tender and com- passionate adventure story."A portion of Dreamsnake originally published as the novelette, "Of Mist, Grass and Sand," won the coveted Nebula Award. Condition: acceptable