Read Online By These Ten Bones by Clare B. Dunkle - Free Book Online Page B

lantern from the shelter of the narrow cave. Holes pierced in the metal sides let in air, and one side was covered by a thin panel of horn. The light shone through it and into the crack in the cliff, illuminating it with a dusky tan glow.
    â€œI know this place,” announced Maddie with satisfaction. “It’s the Cave of the Arrows. Look, someone’s made the opening bigger.”
    She ran her finger along one edge of the crack. Large chunks and flakes of rock had been chiseled from its sides and littered the ground at their feet. The young man stopped to look at them, picking up a big fragment. Then he tossed it aside.
    â€œThere’s no time,” he said and stepped into the narrow opening, holding up the light. The pierced sides of the lantern made crazy patterns on the rough, seamed rock as they hurried along, climbing over fallen boulders and avoiding the mossy faces of wet walls.
    â€œFirst to the right and then to the left,” he said as they turned down a side passage. A couple of hundred feet beyond the second turning, their tunnel widened and made a sharp bend. Someone had driven an iron ring into the wall at that bend and attached to it a stout length of chain.
    Carver set the lantern down at the beginning of the rough room. He walked to the chain and lifted it to reveal an iron collar at its free end. He fastened the large, unwieldy collar loosely around his neck, sliding a metal guard over the catch. Maddie watched him with interest, standing by the lantern.
    â€œYou know what to do,” he reminded her.
    â€œI stay here in plain sight where the cave widens,” she recited. “I distract you until you change, and then I can leave.”
    â€œBe sure you don’t come any closer,” he cautioned. “Stay away from me. I can come to here.” He stopped about ten feet from her. He began pacing at the end of the chain as she watched from the passageway. “I wish it weren’t you, Madeleine,” he said. “I wish it were someone else.”
    â€œDoes it hurt?” asked Maddie.
    â€œI don’t know,” he answered, walking back and forth in an arc. “I can’t remember anything about it. Except it’s like a nightmare, like waking up after a bad dream.”
    â€œWhy do you need to be distracted?” she asked. He kept walking, staring at the ground.
    â€œOnce I’m changed, my hands are too clumsy to work the buckle. But if I don’t have anything to think about before I’m changed all the way, I can still unfasten the collar,” he said. “If someone’s here, I don’t think to do that.”
    â€œWhy don’t you just use a padlock?” the practical Maddie wanted to know.
    â€œAnd do what with the key?” he asked impatiently. “If it’s within reach, I might throw it away somewhere during the night, and if you take it, you might trip over a root and break your neck out there. Either way, I starve to death chained to this wall. Even if you come back without the key, I’m dead. You couldn’t get this collar off without it, and no blacksmith will let me go. He’ll find out why I’m like this and then kill me.”
    Maddie thought about that for a minute. “What do you change into?” she asked.
    â€œDon’t you know?” countered the young man, stopping to stare at her. “Didn’t Ned tell you what happens?”
    â€œNot anything that made sense,” she replied.
    â€œYou have to not run away,” he said urgently. “Not till I’m completely changed, no matter what. I’ll come after you. I’ll kill you if you run away too soon.”
    â€œI won’t,” she answered defensively. He continued to stare at her.
    â€œCome here,” he said. And Maddie almost went. She took a step, then paused.
    â€œWhy?” she wanted to know.
    â€œBecause I told you to, you stinking brat!”
    Maddie looked at the young man