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"Now you’ll see what a real rowled Beor

The contrast between the two : Alain lean and smooth, Beor with his broad chest densely matted with curly hair Alain always seemed to have a ser has anything to worry about, while Beor suffered fro, irritable discontent But, in truth, Beor had ue nearly as much as he had once done Maybe it was just that it had been a er or anything worse than the usual stink of being closed up in their homes for months on end Maybe they were all just more at peace, despite the everpresentthem

"I said I will take on all hter

Beor lifted his hands in ied Alain A child yelped with exciteot hold of a shoulder, they grappled, then Beor twisted Alain back and with brute strength lifted hi man threw out his arms and let out a screahed helplessly along with the rest of the village

Alain cah

"Peace!" he cried "You win"

He extended a hand When Beor took it, to help him up, Alain yanked so hard that Beor tu water beside hi, and as the twoup out of the water, the dogs splashed into the shallows and, in their exciteain

"My sto froe will smell a lot better now," cried Beor’s sister, Etora, froed color downstrea on the rocks After he waded out of the water, she draped it over his shoulders A winter spentwater had oose bumps

"Cold," he proclaimed cheerfully as she fastened the cloak at his left shoulder with a bronze pin He kissed her cheek

His lips were as cold as death

She shuddered

"Adica" Instantly attentive to her moods, he took her hand in his His skin was as cold as a corpse’s The vision hit like the slap of cold water

Six figures, made indistinct by darkness, sit huddled in a stone cha, injured, or dead, the figure of a lion sewn into the cloth on his heavy tunic At the fringe of the light cast by a s torch lies a stone slab On this altar a queen has been laid to rest Her bones have been arranged with care and respect, and the gar for a wo the bones, strands of rotting fabric, beads, a lapis lazuli ring, and arures lifts the torch to see better, and all at once the gold antlers placed at the skeleton’s skull spring into view