Page 171 of Circle of Days

Whenever Joia was feeling triumphant she would ask herself what she needed to do next. Now she looked at the sky and said to Seft: “If we’re to keep to our timetable, we must get the stone onto the sled today, so that we can leave first thing in the morning.”

“You’re a hard taskmaster,” he said, but he smiled.

“And you love it,” she rejoined.

He laughed. “All right.” He turned to a group of volunteers. “Pick up the giant and move him to the thin end of the stone, please,” he said. “Handle him carefully, we’ll need him again.”

He recognized Vee and addressed her. “Can you see three big logs over there, a few yards away?”

The logs were thick. Seft’s cleverhands had felled an oak tree and divided its trunk into three parts. Joia had noticed the logs but had not been able to guess what they were for. She was about to find out.

“I see them,” Vee said. “You need them?”

“Yes. You and your friends bring them here. They’re heavy, but if you roll them it won’t be too difficult. Put them right next to the stone, two on the ground and the third on top of the other two.”

“Next we need to move the sled until it’s touching the logs. Ten or twelve of you, push it along the track, carefully.”

When the sled was in place, Joia saw that the pile of logs was slightly higher than the load-bearing platform of the sled, and now she understood what the logs were for. Seft had long been worried about lowering the stone onto the sled. At first contact the entire weight of the stone would be on one end of the sled and might crush it. But this way the stone would first rest on the logs, and they would take the weight until the stone was almostflat, with its thin end on the front of the sled. Then the logs could slowly be removed, allowing the thick end to come down gently onto the sled.

The giant was raised, and volunteers grabbed the rope. Now they would not be raising the stone but letting it down. More volunteers were ordered to dig the earth out of the hole, to free the thick end, while those holding the rope took the strain as the stone began to tilt over the sled.

The huge stone sank with majestic slowness. It made Joia think of a hunted aurochs finally giving in to many arrow wounds and lying down to die.

The thin end touched the sled. The logs were slowly removed and the thick end sank the last few finger-widths. Joia’s heart seemed to stop as the total weight of the giant stone rested on Seft’s wooden sled. But the wood was stout and the carpentry was sound, and the sled took the weight.

Seft supervised the roping of the stone to the sled, making sure the knots were as tight as they could be.

Joia smelled roasting mutton. Dinner was being prepared. She was surprised to see that the sun was going down. The afternoon had passed swiftly. But they were on schedule. She thought of the obstacles they had overcome. At midday she had feared the task might be impossible, but Seft had brilliantly solved an unforeseen problem.

Now she was exhausted. But what a victory the day had been.

Perhaps tomorrow would be easier.

On the third day, Joia woke before dawn, but she could see the valley clearly in the light of a full moon. Glancing to her side, she was surprised to see Dee leaning on one elbow, looking at her with an expression of friendly curiosity. Joia was vaguely pleased. She decided not to get up just yet.

She said to Dee: “I saw you talking to Bax.” Then she bit her tongue. It had come out like an accusation, which she had not intended.

Dee seemed not to notice. “I was interested in her. She’s got the shoulders of a man.”

“What did you say to her?”

“I asked her if she liked being so strong. She said yes, she liked it, but her mother told her that men don’t like strong women.”

“Did Bax mind that?”

“She said it doesn’t matter because she doesn’t like men.”

Joia laughed, then said: “Do you like men?” As soon as she had asked the question she felt embarrassed. It was so personal.

Two blurts in four sentences, she thought; I’m getting worse.

Once again Dee did not mind. “I don’t dislike men, but I never fall in love with them, if that’s what you mean.”

Joia decided to stop asking questions and share something of her own. “I really love Seft,” she said. “But I’m not in love with him—which is a good thing, because he’s partnered with my sister.”

“Seft is terribly handsome.”

“He’s kind, too. He endured so much cruelty as a child that he wants never to make other people suffer that way. He told me that.”