Read Online The Burning Shadow by Michelle Paver - Free Book Online Page B

warriors in the doorway.
    â€œKreon’s sick,” Hekabi said tersely. “He needs a wisewoman.” She hauled Pirra to her feet. “You’re coming too.”
    â€œWhat?”
    Hekabi leaned closer. “You speak Akean, I don’t. As far as the Crows are concerned, you’re my slave.”
    Pirra made to protest, but Hekabi clamped a hand over her mouth. “You will do as I say or I’ll tell them who you are. I’m sure Kreon would be delighted to learn that he has a high-born Keftian in his power. So. Will you come quietly?”

    â€œHe’ll find out you’re a fake,” muttered Pirra as they stumbled along in the moonlight.
    â€œNot so loud,” breathed Hekabi. A few paces behind, the warriors were dark shapes in the gloom.
    â€œWhat’s Kreon like?” whispered Pirra.
    Hekabi moved closer to her. “Greedy,” she said in an undertone. “Unpredictable. He’s the weakest of his father’s children, and he knows it. This makes him dangerous. He works his slaves to death in the mines.”
    Pirra frowned. “But your father said that you Islanders also had mines.”
    â€œYes, but
we
followed the teachings of the Lady. We never dug too deep and we always gave Her time to heal. Kreon doesn’t care about that. And he calls the island
his
. No one owns Thalakrea. It belongs to the Lady.” She clenched her fists. “He thinks he can do what he likes because he’s a Crow, and they can’t be beaten while they have the dagger.”
    The dagger
. Something must have shown in Pirra’s face, for Hekabi was instantly alert. “You know of it?” she said sharply.
    â€œOnly that while they’ve got it, they can’t be beaten.”
    But Pirra knew more than that. She knew that an Oracle had made a prophecy:
If an Outsider wields the blade, the House of Koronos burns . . .
And for a few days last summer, Hylas—an Outsider—
had
wielded it. Then the Crows had taken it back.
    That was her fault. Hylas had told her to keep it safe, and she’d failed.
    â€œWhat do you know about the dagger?” repeated Hekabi.
    â€œNothing,” lied Pirra.

    Clouds hid the Moon, and two warriors moved past them to take the lead. Pirra heard the creak of their rawhide armor, and caught an acrid taint that was horribly familiar. Last year, on a lonely hillside, a Crow Chieftain had attacked her. She remembered the ashy stench of his sweat.
    â€œ
Why
do they smear themselves with ash?” she whispered.
    Hekabi’s hand went to the little lump of sulfur on a thong at her breast. “They’re bodyguards of the House of Koronos,” she hissed. “They worship the nameless ones who haunt the dark.”
    Pirra caught her breath. “You mean the—the
Angry Ones
?”
    â€œSh!” warned Hekabi.
    Despite the heat of the night, Pirra went cold. The Angry Ones came from the very fires of Chaos. They were drawn to darkness and burned things, and they hunted those who’d murdered their kin. They were relentless. They didn’t care who got in their way. Once, Pirra nearly had, and now they haunted her nightmares. She remembered a shadowy gully and the leathery
thwap
of wings. A creeping horror in the dark . . .
    â€œThat’s why the Crows burn their sacrifices,” Hekabi said quietly. “That’s why they make arrowheads of obsidian: the burned blood of the Lady of Fire, perverted for their foul rites . . .”
    â€œBut to
worship
them—
why
?”
    â€œIf they could gain the favor of the Angry Ones,” said Hekabi, “think of the power . . .”

    At last the sky turned gray and they reached a trio of silent pools at the foot of a stark red hill. Pirra heard the din of hammers. She saw crows circling another rocky hill on a headland, from which a squat, uncouth stronghold glared down.
    The warriors halted near the