Read Online The Making of the Lamb by Robert Bear - Free Book Online Page B

gets even cooler as we go further north,” said Daniel. “Even in summer the sun doesn’t beat down all the time like it does at home. You will see the land get more fertile up ahead. It’s like the Jezreel Valley across all the flat lands and hills in Gaul and Britain. No deserts anywhere.”
    “We will be passing some farms, when the land gets a bit more dry and firm,” said Nehemiah. “This swamp is known as the Camarque . Some of the farms graze cows and horses on this soggy part, but that’s about it.”
    The boys started pointing out the eagles, hawks, and harriers flying through the air. Here and there, they spotted muskrats swimming in the water or making their way across drier patches of earth. “I have never seen such creatures,” Jesus remarked.
    Farther along, the swampland turned drier, and farms with lush crops began dotting the landscape. Then the farm plots merged, separated by fences. The yellowish-gray color of the fences seemed unnatural against the fields. Jesus did not say anything about them at first. It must be a strange color of paint the Romans use in this climate. I never saw the Romans use anything like it back home.
    Off in the distance the boys spotted livestock grazing, and they picked out turtles and more creatures swimming and crawling close by. They approached a section of fence close to the waterway. “Whoa!” Jesus suddenly exclaimed. “Did you see that, Daniel? These fences are made of bones.” Jesus spotted a skull in the mud. “They are human bones!”
    “Those would be the Cymbri,” said Nehemiah. “They were Gauls slaughtered by the thousands when the Romans came to this province more than a hundred years ago. It was the handiwork of a general named Marius. He’s the same general who built this canal to bring supplies to his troops up in Arelate.”
    “Why make fences out of bones?” Jesus asked.
    “They had one hundred ninety thousand dead Gauls on their hands,” Nehemiah answered. “That’s just the soldiers killed in two battles. The rest, even the women and children, killed themselves rather than be taken as slaves. There were too many to bury, so the farmers used the bones to make fences.”
    “It’s like something out of Ezekiel,” said Jesus.
    “Are you going to prophesy to these bones?” Daniel asked. “I don’t know how dry these bones are; they probably stayed a little damp this close to the swamp, actually.”
    “Don’t be funny, Daniel. I don’t think these bones are from the Lost Tribes. It just seems so brutal the way the Romans killed so many people and then used the bodies. The lives of the slaughtered do not seem to matter to them. I think it’s important to know that while our people suffer under Roman oppression, we are not alone.”
    “That’s all very interesting, Jesus.” Joseph strode purposefully across the deck to join them. “However, I will thank you to keep such thoughts to yourself while we make our way across Gaul. We are crossing Roman lands ahead, and such words can put us in grave danger. We are only an hour or so away from Arelate, and I will have some business with the legate. He is a good and decent man, but never forget that he is first and foremost a Roman and proud of his country. I cannot afford to offend him.”
Joseph
    Joseph led Daniel and Jesus up the brick pathway that led to the home of his friend Septurius, the legate of Rome. A fine dommus, the home had iron bars on the windows. Joseph greeted the porter who guarded the vestibule, protecting against thieves, beggars, and any other urban horribles who might threaten or offend the tranquility of the interior.
    They were shown to the atrium. There, marble and bronze statues surrounded the impluvium at the atrium’s center. Out of the baking sun, the air felt cooler and fresher, almost as if a patch of pleasant countryside had been transported to town. As the Romans put it, rus in urbe.
    Daniel showed Jesus around among the statues, also pointing out the