Read Online The Blessing Stone by Barbara Wood - Free Book Online

down upon him, he tried frantically to understand what was happening. He fell to his knees and scrambled for the slings lying in the grass. He held them up, but Lion’s club slammed against his forearms. Thorn tried to do something funny, to make them laugh, but blood was streaming from his nose and scalp. As he fell to his knees, he held out his hands in a question: why? Lion swung his club hard to the side of Thorn’s head, creating a loud crack. As he curled up and tried to protect himself, Thorn cried out beneath the rain of blows and kicks. Just before he lost consciousness, his mind came alive with images: of the female who had birthed him, of the camp in the valley where he had grown up, of laughing with his siblings, of knowing the freedom of the savanna beneath the hot sun. And then pain swept over him like a black tide. His last thought before death was of Tall One.
    Having heard the cries, Tall One and the others came crashing through the brush, and when she saw Thorn’s savaged body, she shrieked up to the sky. She fell upon Thorn and bellowed her outrage. She pulled at his shoulders, trying to wake him up; she licked his wounds and tasted his blood. She took his battered face in her hands and let her tears fall upon the bruised flesh. But he remained still and unbreathing. The family watched in silence as Tall One continued to wail and beat the ground with her fists. And then she, too, fell deadly silent, and when at last she rose to her feet, everyone fell back.
    She was a vision of power—tall and pregnant with the blue water-stone flashing between her full breasts. She met the eyes of Thorn’s killers one by one, and all of them except Lion and Honey-Finder looked away in shame.
    Silence fell over the scene, broken only by the buzzing of insects and the distant sound of earth rumbling. The whole Family looked on, even the children held their tongues as Tall One challenged her adversaries with an unwavering glare.
    And then, all eyes following her, she bent slowly and retrieved from the grass one of Thorn’s slings and a stone. Lion drew himself up in preparation, fingers tightening around the grip of his club. But Tall One moved so swiftly and unexpectedly that she caught him off guard. In the wink of an eye, she had Thorn’s sling fitted with the sharp stone and with one arching sweep of her arm, brought it squarely against Honey-Finder’s skull.
    Startled, the older female staggered back. Before anyone could react, before Lion could raise his club even, Tall One swung the sling again, this time catching Honey-Finder between the eyes. With a cry she fell, and in the next instant Tall One was standing over her, swinging the sling downward with great force, again and again, until Honey-Finder’s face was bashed beyond recognition.
    When it was over Tall One turned to Lion and spat contemptuously at his feet.
    He did not move. With hot wind whipping volcanic ash and cinders about her, Tall One kept her eyes on Lion, fixed them on him, skewering him to the spot, even though he was bigger and stronger and carried spears and a club, and his back was armored with the rotten pelt of a lioness.
    As they challenged each other with locked gazes, mutual hatred filling the air like sparks from the volcano, and the Family looked on, breathlessly awaiting the next move, the earth suddenly shook, more violently than it had ever done, knocking people off their feet.
    Instinctively the Family ran for nearby trees, but Tall One did not move. Behind the forest rose the fiery mountain. Ash rained down, hot coals and incandescent debris. The top branches exploded with fire.
    And suddenly it all came clear to her, the nameless danger that had begun to stalk her months ago, her growing sense of dread, of knowing something was wrong. Now she made another leap: This place was not good. And although her species had lived and evolved here for millions of years, it was time to leave.
    She looked down at the water-stone hanging