Read Online People of Babel (Ark Chronicles 3) by Vaughn Heppner - Free Book Online Page B

was yet pretty, even if rather innocent . He spoke with his thuggish cousins, Thebes and Olympus, muscular youths who bragged they were much better hunters than the Scouts were. When they sensed the drift of his thoughts, they, too, urged Minos to play a prank.
    “ It isn’t as if you’re hurting her,” Thebes said. “Not truly.”
    “ Yes, we don’t counsel you to anything as foolish as that,” Olympus said.
    “ Isn’t she asking for it by wearing that necklace? ‘Look at me,’ she says. And the way she entices us with her stride and those coy glances over her shoulder.” Thebes shook his head. “It simply demands a reaction.”
    “ Besides,” Olympus said. “What woman can resist you? You’ve told us yourself that you need merely crook your finger to make any woman come running. Hilda will count herself lucky to have even been noticed by you.”
    “ Yes,” Thebes said. “I, as well, recall that boast, about your crooked finger. It can’t possibly be true, of course.”
    “ Oh, it’s quite true,” Minos said. “Believe me.”
    “ You’re just bragging,” Thebes said.
    “ If I prove it, who will protect me from Beor’s wrath?” Minos asked.
    “ What will Beor have to be angry about?” Thebes asked. “In fact, after you’re done, he may give you the girl in marriage. Then you’ll own the necklace.”
    “ I don’t want to marry her,” Minos said.
    “ Why not?” Olympus asked. “If, later, another girl takes your fancy, marry her, too. I’ve never understood why we only marry one woman. Especially fellows like you…”
    “ That’s very strange,” Thebes told Olympus. “I was thinking the same thing.”
    Minos walked away deep in thought, to the soft chuckles of Thebes and Olympus.
    A week later, as the snow began to thaw and Beor went on an extended trip, Minos came to his cousins and said, “I’ve been accused too often of being a fool, of leaping before I think. This time and against Beor, I refuse to go. Unless…”
    “ Yes?” Thebes asked.
    “ Unless you two join me in the prank,” Minos said.
    “ Join you?” Thebes asked. “I’m not sure. Then Beor might have real cause for rage.”
    “ No,” Minos said. “I’ve thought this out carefully. If the three of us do this, the girl will surely be too ashamed to let anyone know what happened, least of all her father. The stigma of it will keep her silent.”
    Thebes and Olympus glanced at one another in surprise.
    “I believe the handsome devil is right,” Olympus said.
    “ It’s brilliant,” Thebes said. He clapped his cousin Minos on the back, staggering him. “To tell you the truth, I’ve had my fill of these haughty Scouts. Do you know that Beor had the gall to tell me the other day that I shouldn’t stagger about drunk in public? A Hamite trying to tell us about drunkenness. If he wasn’t such a mound of muscle—a freak, I tell you—I’d have knocked him to the ground.”
    “ This is your chance,” Minos said. “We can hurt him where it will hurt most and without having to worry about retaliation.”
    “ Yes,” Thebes said. “Count me in.”
    “ Me, too,” Olympus said.
     

19.
     
    The allure of the necklace kept drawing Hilda, that and how the village girls looked at her. They used to make fun of her, that she seemed more like a boy than a girl. They didn’t say that anymore.
    She donned the gown early one morning, slipping on the necklace and sauntering outside . Father practiced archery with the Scouts and wouldn’t be back until noon. So she didn’t need to fear his discovery.
    As she moved between houses , she lifted her chin and pretended not to notice as women stopped, stared and whispered among themselves. Minos, the lazy shepherd, whistled and when she looked, he waved to her.
    She giggled, waving back.
    “I’ll compose a song about you,” Minos shouted. “And about the necklace that brings out the luster in your hair.”
    Hilda blushed. Her father said she was too young for