Etruscans Read Online Free PDF

murmured. She attempted to kneel, but the old woman placed a restraining hand on her arm.
    â€œStand with me, daughter. Lend me your support while I examine the child.”

    In silence the two women gazed down upon the suffering girl. After her one scream Vesi had made no further sound. Tears seeped from beneath her closed eyelids however.
    â€œLeave us,” the old woman ordered the men. “We have no need of you now. I can do whatever needs to be done for this girl.”
    Without protest, the purtan and the Lord of the Rasne scrambled to their feet and left the house to join the crowd gathered outside. Not only the Rasne, but even the humblest of their slaves had been drawn by news of Vesi’s injury—and the more astonishing and unprecedented visit of the Uni Ati to a private residence.
    The Uni Ati, whose title meant First Mother, was the oldest of all the Silver People. She had been the senior elder of the Council for as long as anyone could remember. The most serious disputes of the Rasne were referred to her; her judgment was final and irrevocable. In addition, she was a skillful healer, and many who had been given up as hopeless by the purtani were taken to her and subsequently cured.
    It was claimed that she never changed the rags she wore nor left the hillside cave that was her only home. Yet she had come to Repana’s house this evening.
    â€œNo hia caused this,” the old woman repeated. Extending her left hand palm downward, she rotated it in a sunwise circle above Vesi’s torn body. Her knuckles and joints were so knotted with age as to resemble the mangled claws of birds. But when she moved her fingers through the air, the bones glowed through her skin with an eerie green light.
    Vesi convulsed.
    Repana tried to gather her daughter in her arms but the old woman blocked her with her own body. “No!” she cried, continuing to make gestures above the girl’s torso. “These are not fatal injuries,” she remarked after a time, “only very painful ones. But …” She drew a deep breath and moved her hand in a different pattern, allowing
it to rest for a moment above Vesi’s torn belly. Once she darted a glance at Repana and swiftly looked away. Moments later, she grunted as if confirming some suspicion.
    With a sigh, the Uni Ati folded her hands and withdrew them into the sleeves of her tattered robe. “Your daughter was attacked and violated by a siu ,” she told Repana. “That is demon’s stink on her flesh.” One hand reemerged from the sleeve of her robe holding a ceremonial knife with a curved bronze blade. “She would be better off dead”
    â€œNo!” Repana gasped. “No, First Mother, she is everything to me! I gave birth to four children: three boys and this girl. Over the years I have attended the dying not only of my husband but also my beloved sons. I am not ready to put my last child into her tomb. Can you understand? I want to enjoy her living. Please! Why do you want to do this?”
    Still holding the knife aloft, the old woman replied, “I tell you your daughter has been impregnated by a siu. Even now the demon’s seed swells within her; she will give birth to an abomination. Is that what you want for her? Do you wish her to be feared and loathed by the rest of the Rasne? Do you think they will even allow the two of you to remain in this spura? ”
    Pressing the knife into Repana’s numb hand, the Uni Ati closed the woman’s fingers around the handle. “It is up to you to sacrifice your daughter,” she said. “You must offer her to Veno and request that your ancestors be allowed to come for her. Assure her of a proper dying, and implore the Ais to destroy the siu spawn.”
    Repana was very pale. “What if I refuse?”
    â€œThen someone else will do the deed, for it must be done. But remember—only Vesi’s nearest kin can summon the hia of her