Read Online Dance of the Stones by Andrea Spalding - Free Book Online Page A

die.”
    â€œReveal and die,” the people promised.
    The tribes’ people held hands and made a circle, a human circle around the small stone circle.
    â€œLet the Circle keep its secret while stones stand and hawks fly,” everyone shouted, then chanted, “Ava, Ava, AVA, AVA.”
    Hewll pointed in amazement. He’d spotted two watching hawks.
    The largest bird spread her wings, left her stone and circled above them.
    â€œAVA! AVA! AVA! AVA!” the people roared as the hawk’s black shape appeared against the moon and circled above them before disappearing into the night.
    *   *   *
    Owen shifted uneasily in his hawk’s body. His concentration had broken when Ava left his side. He was tired and cold and could no longer see with Hewll’s eyes. He ruffled his feathers, moved his feet and wished that Ava would return.
    The cold seeped into his bones. Gradually Owen realized that this wasn’t just cold from the weather, but a deadly cold coming from the mist at the base of the next stone. He peered down.
    A wild boar had left the forest and was snuffling for mushrooms near the Circle. The wraith enfolded its mist around the boar and disappeared — absorbed into the boar’s body.
    Instantly, the boar’s eyes gleamed red. It snorted angrily.
    Owen watched in horror as the boar charged between the stones. With his last remnants of strength, he reached out to Hewll one more time.
    *   *   *
    A sense of foreboding filled Hewll. He stared around the Circle, but nothing seemed amiss. All was quiet for the final blessing.
    Then a terrible snorting erupted as a wild boar, tusks glinting wickedly in the firelight, entered the Circle. Its angry eyes searched for a victim.
    Children screamed and hid behind stones. Women gathered up infants and dragged back the elders.
    The chief shaman turned. Her glittering mask attracted the boar. It charged.
    A fleeing figure stumbled and fell. The boar gored her leg. Ulwin screamed and twisted to keep her belly from the pointed tusks.
    Hewll ran to the fire, pulled out a burning brand and thrust it into the boar’s face.
    â€œCrawl away,” he yelled to Ulwin.
    â€œI can’t,” she shrieked. “Its tusk is caught in my cloak.”
    Squealing with terror and anger the boar tried to retreat.
    Its cloven hooves trampled Ulwin. She screamed again.
    Hewll jammed the blazing brand into the boar’s eye and tugged at Ulwin’s cloak. The hunters were closing in to help, but no one wanted to loose a spear while the girl was entangled.
    â€œA knife,” called Hewll. A tusk grazed his arm. He thrust the burning brand forward again.
    The shaman threw her sickle and Hewll sawed at the twist of cloth. It parted and he staggered backward, pulling Ulwin with him.
    The hunters rushed forward. They skewered the boar in the neck and belly and yanked it up on its hind feet. The chief shaman retrieved her sickle and slashed the boar’s throat.
    Ulwin’s weak cry of triumph was echoed by the crowd.
    *   *   *
    Owen could stay inside Hewll no more. He huddled, retching, on the stone, and watched the faint wraith mist rise from the dead boar’s mouth.
    Unseen by the tribes’ people, the stone beside Owen quivered. The earth at its base yawned open. The stone spun quickly on its axis, creating a vortex, a whirlpool in the ground. With a silent cry of pain and defeat, the wraith was sucked beneath the earth. The hole closed. The wraith was banished.
    A shout drew Owen’s attention again to the Circle. The hunters had removed the boar’s head and were stripping meat from its bones.
    Children rushed forward and grabbed the head. They tossed it one to the other and paraded it around the Circle for all to see.
    â€œStuff its wicked mouth,” shouted Old One Eye. “Show it ain’t going to worrit and terrorize us no more.” He threw a dried apple to the