Ashes of the Earth Read Online Free PDF Page A

mounted the bike, ducking as
the policeman recovered enough to swing his truncheon at him. "He'll
know which books are the most important to save! He has places there
where he stores colony treasures!"
    Weaving
through the crowd of frightened onlookers, he cycled past the fire
brigade frantically trying to lay hoses from the nearest cistern. As
he threw the bike down and darted into the burning library, men and
women were beginning to empty buckets of water on the flames, while
others were carrying out books and furnishings from the lower floor.
Holes licked by flame were already appearing in the cedar shake roof
as Hadrian bounded up the stairs toward the workshop. As he reached
the chamber, he froze, a desolate groan escaping his lips as he
collapsed onto his knees. Hadrian had found the colony's most
important treasure.
    Above
his burning worktable, Jonah's body swung from a rafter.

CHAPTER
Two

    Hadrian
was not aware
of moving, only of realizing suddenly that he had grabbed the bucket
from the stunned policeman who appeared at his side. He tossed the
water on the table, dousing its flames, grabbed the knife that lay
there, leapt onto the table, and cut the rope on the rafter.
    He
was on the floor beside Jonah an instant later, cradling him, pulling
off the noose. The old man seemed to gasp and, with frantic hope,
Hadrian laid him flat and pushed his abdomen before realizing it was
just the dead air escaping his lungs. Through the tears that filled
his eyes he saw men and women streaming into the room, emptying more
buckets of water.
    "Hadrian,"
a woman in a long white apron called in an anguished voice, "let
me help you take him outside."
    But
Boone lashed out, shoving her away, raising his fist to warn off
others. He lifted Jonah in his arms, cradling the grey-whiskered head
to his shoulder as he carried him out. Collapsing onto the grass, he
took one of the ink-stained hands in both of his as a long sob
wracked his body. The end of the world had come again.
    Through
his fog of pain he became gradually aware of a company of prisoners
being marched double time onto the grounds, of a fire hose sputtering
then filling with water to spray the building, of Lucas Buchanan
shouting orders then gasping as he saw Jonah. He watched, numbed, as
prisoners hauled armfuls of books out of the building, then he
struggled to his feet and joined the effort.
    An
hour later, his arms and face blackened with soot, he stood and
watched the smoke rise from the smoldering library. Half the roof was
gone but the rest of the building had been saved. Police whistles
trilled as more onlookers arrived, clogging the street. Sergeant
Kenton shoved Hadrian toward the rank of prisoners being formed for
the march back to the prison. He resisted for a moment as Kenton put
manacles on his wrists, then saw that Jonah's body was gone and, as
if in a terrible dream, let himself be led away.

    Half
the individual cells
in the long two-story stone building housing Carthage's prisoners
were usually empty. Most of the inmates, convicted of mere
misdemeanors, were kept in shared barrack cells where they could
easily be checked by guards between card games. A few of the youngest
now hooted as Hadrian was shoved into their midst. He was something
of a hero to them, not just for being the oldest of the repeat
offenders, but also for his well-known feud with Kenton. The
remaining prisoners stared coolly at him. They were old enough to
remember he'd held office in the government of Lucas Buchanan.
    A
young prisoner tossed a tattered, soot-stained towel to Hadrian and
stepped back from a basin of grey water. Hadrian was the last to wash
up. Over a dozen men had already used the water to clean themselves
after the fire.
    "They'll
get the roof back up in a week, Mr. Boone." Nash was a habitual
burglar from one of the outlying farms, who had been a pupil at the
school when Hadrian still ran it.
    Hadrian
covered his face in the filthy towel for a moment. Jonah's