Page 169 of Circle of Days

Seft said: “I’m not sure how we would weight the base.”

Joia said impatiently: “Get ten people to stand on it.”

Seft and Tem laughed, but Seft said: “That could work. They’ll have to jump off before it lands.”

Tem tied a rope around the top of the stone, made it very tight, and knotted it. The priestesses had made the ropes very long so that there would be generous grab lines. Volunteers lined up, holding the rope.

The first to stand on the thick end were two priestesses, Duna and Bet. Another eight people joined them, holding on to one another to steady themselves. Joia frowned. When she had so quickly suggested this, she had not taken into account that the surface of the stone was uneven.

She heard Narod laughing, saying: “This is stupid!”

Joia said: “Ready… take the strain… heave!”

The stone moved, but not as expected. The thin end did not rise and the thick end did not drop into the hole. Instead, the stone slid laterally.

The volunteers jumped off, but one of them slipped. It was Duna. She landed in the hole with the stone still inching across the gap above her. Joia saw that the stone was going to crush her. She screamed at those pulling the rope: “Stop, stop, stop!”

Bet fell to her knees and reached into the hole for Duna. Thestone had momentum, and did not stop moving even when the volunteers dropped the ropes. Bet got hold of Duna’s arms and Duna grabbed Bet’s neck. Bet hauled Duna out just in time.

The base of the stone ran into the far side of the hole, lodged in the earth there, and stopped.

Joia felt terrible. It had been her idea to stand people on the thick end, and she had almost killed Duna.

If Narod saysI told you so, I will kill him, Joia thought.

She put on a brave face and said: “I think we’re almost there.”

Seft said thoughtfully: “The people pulling are now lower than the top of the stone, so they’re pullingdown. We need to be higher than the highest part of the stone, so that we’re pullingup.Then it may come upright.”

Tem said gloomily: “If there was a tree nearby with a branch conveniently at the right height, we could loop a rope over the branch. Then when we pulled on the rope it would lift the stone. But I don’t see such a tree.”

Joia looked around carefully. Tem was right.

She did not like this indecision in front of the volunteers. It could undermine their morale, which at the moment was high. She glanced at the sky: it was midday. “Everybody, let’s have lunch!” she shouted, and they cheered. Speaking quietly to Seft, she said: “We need a new plan by the time they’ve eaten.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Seft.

Verila and her team were handing around slices of smoked pork. Joia took some and looked around for Dee, hoping to sit with her. But Dee was deep in conversation with Bax. Feeling mildly annoyed, Joia went back to sit with Seft and Tem.

They were working on something, she saw with relief. The ground around them was scattered with flints and hammers and ropes. Also on the ground were two poles, very long, longer than the stone. Joia guessed that each pole was the entire trunk of a tall, slender tree.

Seft and Tem were tying the two poles together with rope. The knot was nearer to one end of the poles than the other. The thing they were making was like a giant with two long legs and two short arms. While she watched, they took one pole each and raised the structure upright. Both men nodded, as if finding it satisfactory.

They put it down again and did some more work on it. They added a crossbar so that the legs could not move closer together or farther apart.

Then Tem said: “We don’t want it to fall flat at the wrong moment.”

Seft grunted agreement, and as Joia watched, they fixed two shorter legs to the crossbar, front and back, so that if the giant leaned forward or backward the short legs would stop him falling to the ground.

Joia wondered how this strange four-legged thing would help, but she suppressed her impatience and kept quiet. All would become clear in time.

Finally they sharpened the feet of the giant into two long points.

The volunteers were finishing their lunch and gathering for the afternoon’s work, and they stared at the giant with the same baffled curiosity that Joia felt.

Seft and Tem now positioned the giant flat on the ground with his arms toward the thick end of the stone. Then they took the rope that was tied around the thin end and laid it so that it passed between the giant’s arms, across the knot, and between the legs.

He told ten volunteers to grab the end of the rope.