Page 13 of Circle of Days

She walked away across the dewy grass. When she was fifty paces or so from her house, she sat on the ground and put on her shoes. They were made of cow hide, like her tunic, and had drawstrings that could be pulled tight.

She saw no one as she made her way to Vee’s house and sat on the ground nearby to wait.

She wondered whether Vee and Roni would appear.

Vee’s mother, Kae, might have guessed that something was up.

Joia liked Kae, but she was not a rule breaker and she would not allow her daughter to be one.

If she found out what the girls were planning to do today, she would put a stop to it without hesitation.

More likely, Vee might just get scared and stay in bed. Joia herself was having second thoughts, so Vee must be, too, and the same went for Roni.

Joia wondered what to do if neither of them showed up.

It would be dismal to return to the house and go back to sleep, like a hunter coming home with nothing in the basket.

If necessary she would go on her own to the Monument, she decided, and alone she would spy on the priestesses and learn their secrets.

She shivered. It would continue cold until the Sun God came to smile on the earth.

A ghostly figure materialized beside her, and after a startled moment she recognized Roni. Neither of them spoke. Roni sat down beside Joia, and Joia squeezed her arm by way of greeting, feeling a thrill of excitement. The adventure was on.

A few moments later Vee stepped silently out of her house. Joia and Roni got to their feet, and the three girls set off.

They soon left the village behind and took the well-worn track that led in a straight southwesterly line from Riverbend to the Monument. When they were safely distant from the houses, they all laughed with relief, then linked arms to walk side by side.

Dawn came up behind them, its faint glow spreading across the sky. The Great Plain became more clearly visible. Joia felt a shudder of fear as they passed a burial mound. Her ancestors were in there. What would they think if they knew what she was doing?

She looked away. As far as the eye could see, sheep and cattle bowed their heads to graze. The herds were guarded day and night, and a few herders saw the girls and gave friendly waves.

Joia was dismayed. She had not thought of the danger that they would be seen by herders. But she could not make out their faces in the faint light, and she hoped that meant they could not see hers. “Don’t act guilty,” she said, and waved back cheerily. Vee and Roni did the same.

Everyone worked with the herds, but about half the population also did special tasks, like tanning leather, which was Ani’s skill.

The main job of a herder was to make sure the beasts did not wander where they should not go—to the woods or swamps, or into houses.

Herders had bows and arrows to use against thieves, but theft was rare.

From time to time they would move part of the herd to fresh pasture.

Older and more experienced people might intervene when a cow was having difficulty calving, or when one was injured or sick.

Much of the time the work was not demanding.

People in the community worked for ten days and rested for two, making a twelve-day week, but herders staggered their rest days so that the beasts were never left untended.

The three girls came within sight of the high earth bank that surrounded the Monument. The path they were on led straight to the gap in the bank where there was a ceremonial entrance, so they veered away to approach indirectly, hoping they would not be seen.

Outside the circle and a little way to the north was the priestesses’ village, a handful of houses and two larger buildings.

Some priestesses lived in communal dormitories, and a few couples made their homes in regular houses.

Joia could see no activity there, but all the same she led the group on a wide detour that brought them to the Monument from the south.

She felt her heart beating hard as they bellied up the grassy bank and peeked over the edge.

Joia had seen other timber and stone circles—there were several on the Great Plain—and they all had a random look, as if no one had planned how many stones or posts there would be, or how they would relate to one another.

Now it struck her forcefully that there was nothing random about this circle.

Someone had wanted it exactly like this.

The design had a purpose, but what? The mystery intrigued and annoyed her.

The priestesses began to emerge from their houses. Joia tensed and lowered her head, pressing her chin into the earth, so that her mouth and nose were below the ridge, and only her eyes and forehead were above it. Her hair was dark. She felt sure she could not be seen at a distance.

Vee and Roni copied her.

The priestesses were naked. As they came through the entrance, they began to sing, dancing to the beat of a drum. They paused, waiting, then a woman with white hair appeared. That would be Soo, the High Priestess, Joia guessed.

Suddenly there was a whoop of triumph from right behind Joia. Shocked, she rolled over, wriggling down the slope, and was amazed to see her brother, Han, throw himself down beside her. “Caught you!” he said, and laughed.

Vee and Roni quickly slithered down from the ridge.

Joia pulled Han’s leg ungently to bring him down out of sight.

“You idiot!” she hissed. She was furious.

She could have killed him. “You followed us here!” she said in an outraged whisper.

“Now you’ve probably given us away!” She was tempted to hit him but that would make him yell again.

He looked pleased with himself. “I knew you were doing something bad—you sneaked away in the dark.”

Roni said: “We’d better leave.”

Joia hated the idea, but she thought Roni might be right.

However, the singing had not stopped.

Joia crawled back up the slope and peeped over the ridge again.

She was afraid she would see a group of priestesses running toward her, intent on grabbing hold of the spies who had defiled their holy Rite, and she was ready to run, with the others, away from the Monument as fast as they could.

But the priestesses were still dancing, none of them looking toward the place where she lay.

She studied the scene. They were concentrating on their ritual.

“I don’t think anyone heard my stupid little brother,” she said.

“Are you sure?” said Roni.

Joia shrugged. She was not sure. “They’re just carrying on.”

Vee and Roni joined Joia and looked over the ridge. Then Han did the same. Joia said to him: “Go away!”

“I want to watch.”

“You can’t.”

“If you don’t let me, I’ll tell Mamma what you’re doing.”

“And then I’ll take you to the river and hold your head under the water for a long, long time.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” He looked as if he was going to cry.

Joia gave in. “Go and find a branch or something to put over your head. Otherwise the priestesses might see your yellow hair.”

Han rolled down the bank and uprooted a small leafy bush. He returned to Joia’s side holding it on his head.

In the east, the edge of the sun appeared over the horizon.

The priestesses, led by Soo, were performing a complicated dance around the posts. Some of them carried pottery discs, about the size of Joia’s hand, which they ritually laid down and picked up in front of the timber posts.

It was clear to Joia that their movements had meaning.

She could make out some of the words of the song, which mentioned winter and summer, spring and autumn, and other seasonal events: the appearance of new grass, the migration of deer, the falling of leaves.

Somehow, Joia guessed, this dance was the way they always knew which day of the year it was, and how many days were left before the next quarterly event.

The priestesses moved out of the timber circle and danced across the grass to the bluestone circle at the edge, fortunately at a spot distant from where the spies lay.

They moved from one big standing stone to another purposefully, and once again they seemed to be counting. Joia’s curiosity intensified.

They returned to the timber circle and gathered in the inner oval. They all knelt down facing northeast, watching the sun rise. It was now more than three-quarters over the horizon. They began to hum softly, getting louder.

The Rite was coming to an end, Joia saw. She was half pleased, half frustrated. She had learned a lot, but much more remained mysterious.

The humming rose dramatically. As the disc of the rising sun detached itself from the edge of the world, the priestesses stopped humming and gave a climactic shout of triumph.

After a short silence, they got to their feet and began to walk, slowly and without speaking, back to their houses. The ceremony was over.

The four onlookers pushed themselves down the slope, out of sight. Joia turned over to get up, and was shocked to see three priestesses, all dressed in their long tunics, standing in the way, looking cross. Her heart seemed to falter.

The spies had been caught.

They all stood up. Joia recognized Ello, the Second High Priestess, Soo’s deputy. She was said to have a mean streak, and she had the face to match, with a nose like a flint knife and a thin-lipped mouth.

Han darted away, trying to escape, but Ello was quicker, and she grabbed his arm and jerked him back, making him stand at her side.

“You’re hurting my arm!” he wailed, but she took no notice.

She glared at him and said: “I suppose you’re the one who yelled and gave the game away.”

Han burst into tears.

Joia said: “Leave my brother alone!”

Ello nodded to the other two priestesses. Moving quickly, they seized Joia, each holding an arm. She was a prisoner.

Ello looked at Vee and Roni and said: “You two had better come with us, or you’ll be in even worse trouble.”