The Bones of the Earth (The Dark Age) Read Online Free PDF Page A

head. She pointed toward a clearing. When they reached it, the girls would go no closer. Leaving Hrech with the girls and holding his dagger in front of him, Javor stepped into the clearing.
    It was hard to make out at first what he saw in the moonlight, but when his foot struck something that rolled, understanding hit him like a cold wave. It was a severed head; the Avar helmet rolled off it and continued a short distance before it fell over in the grass.
    Javor was surrounded by the dismembered bodies of the whole troop. Ten heavily armoured men had been literally torn apart— maybe more. They may have had friends. Everywhere he looked there were legs, arms, torso, heads. A shadowy heap turned out to be a horse, its throat torn open. Javor turned and turned, his head swimming. What could have done this?
    Trembling, he returned to Hrech and the girls. He could only shake his head when Hrech asked, “What is it? What’s there? What is scaring you all so?” They found the path and went the opposite way they had come, hoping it would lead home. In the next clearing they came to, they found two of the soldiers’ horses, grazing, wearing their saddles and bridles. The boys took the reins. No one thought of riding the horses—no one in their village had a horse and no one knew how to get on, let alone hold on and ride.
    Finding their way home was easy—they just followed the same path that had brought them to the raiders’ camp. Hrech and Javor fell behind the girls and whispered. “What was in that clearing?” Hrech demanded.
    “ The soldiers. They’d been torn apart.”
    “ What do you mean?”
    “ What I said. Arms and legs and heads ripped apart.”
    “ More soldiers? Greeks?”
    “ No. That wasn’t done by swords. It was like—like when you eat a chicken and pull the meat off the bones. It was ... I don’t know. Unbelievable.”
    They drank at a stream. Hrech made a fire while Elli and Grat washed. They had nothing to dry themselves with and shivered, even though the night was warm. Grat didn’t say anything, only sobbed continually. Finally, they huddled together for warmth. Again, Hrech fell asleep. Javor felt weary, too, but could not sleep. If he closed his eyes, he saw the dead, mutilated raiders in the field. It’s no more than they deserved, he thought. But still—what had done that?
    Elli was awake, too. Grat was crying, but she seemed half asleep. “Did they hurt you, Elli?” Javor asked.
    She shook her head. She answered haltingly, pausing and shuddering. “Nothing serious. They hit us to make us stop crying when we set out. We kept slipping off the horses, and they would get mad and slap us when we fell off.” She absently rubbed her face, remembering pain. Javor could see tears glistening on her face in the sinking moonlight.
    “ Did they touch you?” Javor asked. He hesitated. “Did they…did they rape you?”
    Elli shook her head. “Not yet. They were going to. I knew it.” Her voice started to tremble. “They  actually gave us some food. They made a camp where you found us and ate the food that Roslaw gave them, and gave us a little. And they started to drink some strong wine. They made us drink, too. Grat got sick ...”
    “ What happened to them?”
    Elli looked down. “I don’t know,” she said in a shaking whisper. “At sunset, they tied us to a tree. I thought they would rape us then—they were all gathered around. But their horses started to make a lot of noise and they ran to see why. One stayed to guard us. Then there was a horrible noise, a roar like a bear, only worse, louder ... then the men were screaming. Our guard ran to his friends and then he screamed. Then he … he stopped.” Elli bit her lip. Javor could see her hands shaking as she pulled her tunic closer to her body.
    “ Did you see anything?”
    Elli shook her head. She stared at Javor, trying to tell him something with her eyes, but no words would come. Javor put his arms around her and pulled her