Page 158 of Circle of Days

Lali looked embarrassed. It had been her tribe that did the damage. She translated, then asked: “Why do you want such a big stone?”

Joia thought for a minute, then said: “To please the gods, and to make the people gasp with wonder.”

The tribespeople made noises of assent. They understood.

They drifted away, all talking animatedly about what they had learned.

Seft started flattening the other side of the stone. Both he and Joia wanted the stones to look smooth, for a greater contrast with other, inferior stone circles. Some of that work might be done while the stone was in transit.

She looked up to see two people approaching from the south. As they came closer she recognized Scagga and his sister, Jara. She cursed quietly. They were here only to cause trouble, that was certain.

Although there was a resemblance, she noticed that the big eyes looked good on her, but not on him.

His greeting was characteristically oafish. “What do you fools think you’re doing?”

Seft remained cool. “Hello, Jara, hello, Scagga. Glad to see you both. You can help the people trimming tree trunks. We need a lot of branches. Pick up a couple of flint-headed axes and get to work.”

Scagga did not reply, but walked slowly around the giant stone and the people standing beside it. As he did so, he said: “You probably thought you were hidden away up here. In fact practically everyone on the Great Plain knows where you are.”

Joia said: “We’ve got no reason to hide. What are you doing here, if you haven’t come to help?”

Scagga completed his circuit, looked at Joia, and said: “Surely you don’t imagine you can transport this enormous stone to the Monument?”

“Wait and see,” said Joia.

“It’s impossible!” Scagga’s eyes bulged.

Seft said: “If you’re right, then you’ll look clever, and I’ll look foolish. You’ll enjoy that.”

“No, no, no,” said Scagga. “This must stop. Look at all these herder folk wasting their time here. And many of them living here, to judge by the houses! None of them doing anything to benefit their fellow herders.”

Jara said: “Just as we feared. This is growing out of control. Countless more people will be needed to move that stone. You’llhave crowds up here helping you try to do the impossible. And meanwhile back at home their useful work will be neglected. The elders never anticipated this.”

So that would be the line of attack, Joia deduced. They would say she had gone beyond what the elders had authorized. She said: “They won’t be away from their work for long.”

“Well, then, how long?” Jara demanded.

Joia went out on a limb. “Four days,” she said. “A day to get here. A day to load the stone onto the sled. Two days to drag the sled to the Monument.”

Scagga said: “Impossible! If you can move it at all, it’s going to get stuck twenty times a day. Half your people will get fed up and go home. You’ll keep at it, though, obstinately, day after day. This is going to be a disaster.”

Seft put down his stone hammer and turned to face Scagga. “Don’t you think I’ve thought of all that?” he said. “You’ve been here a few moments and imagined some snags. I’ve been thinking about this for more than a year, and I’m an expert, so I’ve foreseen many more problems than the few you’ve dreamed up. And I’m finding solutions for them, one by one, instead of just squealing about things being impossible.”

Joia was impressed. Seft did not often take part in arguments. In fact he went to some trouble to avoid conflict, perhaps because of his brutal childhood. It was interesting to see how formidable he could be when he chose.

Neither Scagga nor Jara had an answer for him. After a pause Scagga said: “We’ll see about that!” very emphatically, then turned and walked back the way he had come. Jara hesitated—perhapswondering where else they were going to spend the night—then followed him.

When they were out of earshot, Joia said: “Thanks for backing me up.”

Seft shrugged. “Of course.”

“Can we really do it in four days? What do you think?”

“Well,” Seft said, “now that you’ve said it, we’ll just have to.”

Joia returned to Riverbend, hard on the heels of Scagga and Jara, suspecting he would call a meeting of the elders as soon as he got home, and knowing she had to be there to defend herself.

Keff was irritated, and he let it show as he opened the meeting. “We have already approved of Joia and Seft erecting a stone within the Monument as part of the rebuilding,” he said. “I believe they’ve already done a good deal of the preliminary work. But now, Scagga, you ask us to reconsider our decision urgently. It seems very unfair when they’re halfway through. But you must give us your reasons.”