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’I have hunted for six seasons of the storer-tooth with my spear, and I offer its head in tribute’
When he stepped back, the next in the line took his place, crossing a pair of bones each as long as his arer-tooth skull
’I have hunted for seven seasons of the storm,’ he intoned solemnly ’My fellow hunters wounded this tree-jaw and I finished it with my knife’
One by one, each of the aspirants stepped forward and proclairound beneath the platfor
’And noe shall show our honoured visitors the strength of our people,’ Hebris declared, clapping his hands again
Froed carrying logs of different lengths and girths, and laid the size They then stepped back and the youths trotted for­wards
In the sarabbed it by the end The warrior then stepped for­ward and placed his foot against the opposite end so that it would not slip and the youth hauled the log up and attempted to lever it above his head As each stood there, arreat cheer and they gratefully dropped it back to the earth All passed the first test with ease
The trial was then repeated with the second tree trunk, and once h s threat­ened to buckle beneath the weight At the third log, the first youth failed, throwing hi ar turip There was no cheer this ti with sadness into the arly and ruffled his tou­sled hair affectionately
Of the others, threeand were elirasp of one of the blow to his leg which sent hi Sha away the hands of those who offered to support him
After the fourth, two more had failed the task, but of those that re, to resounding cheers fro aspirants knelt in the earth and bowed their heads to the Space Marines, the logs were dragged away
’And noe shall show our honoured visitors the speed of our people,’ Hebris announced, once ether
The crowd parted so that a path was for out from the audience platforht red cloths, and six more fell into line at the foot of the platforin
As one, the warriors dropped the rags and the boys set off at a sprint A s several metres on his competitors after only a dozen strides The crowd clapped and roared as the boys ran between the each other as they jostled for position
The first boy reached the far end quickly and snatched up one of the rags and spun to begin the return leg A few seconds later, the others were also halfway and those with the fastest hands s They all hurtled back towards the Space Marines, and it was here that soroup slowly stretched out Just fifty metres froait becoritted, he hobbled on as the others ran past hiet in front and clai qualification places
One tripped and fell and was stepped on by the boy behind hi hia his bruised back In the final dash for the finish, a tall, long-li his strength and in the last ten metres hurled hi cloths The others followed in his wake and there was a desperate mad scramble of those who had not yet claied
The three others turned to leave, but the red-headed youth hobbled after thee, while the boy tried to force the other aspirant to take the cloth, as he could not carry on hi hiuards stepped in and separated the two as they squared up to fight, banishing thery cuffs round the back of their heads Once things had settled again, the eleven re competitors returned to their places in front of Boreas, the red cloths now tied around their waists Hebris raised his ar fell silent
’And noe shall show our honoured visitors hoe can leap through the air like the lash-ether once
This tied fro a bundle of thin sharpened stakes roughly waist-high in length They forht at one pace intervals and crouched down, the spears held upright in front of theed to the end of the line and then turned and bowed to the Space Marines After receiving a nod fro warriors Leaping into the air, he stepped onto the back of the first and jumped forwards onto the back of the next, over the spear tips Fro the line, using the warriors as stepping-stones over the jagged spear tips On the twelfth he faltered and threw hiers’ cheer echoed off the caldera’s walls as he pushed himself to his feet and stood up with arht juh on the spear dps as his balance failed hi, blood streaed the adulation of the crowd The next aspirant al only after seventeen ju
The other aspirants each took their turn to greater or lesser degrees of success until all had completed the trial The tenth warrior in the row then stood up and with the hafts of the thin spears he carried, he whipped the four boys who had failed to reach hiers Now only seven reht of Boreas, and eel tipped with the long tooth of a giant predator, and a shield made from woven hide pulled taut in a wooden frame
’And now that we have proven the worth of our bod­ies, let us prove the worth of our spirit!’ shouted Hebris, and the crowd for the aspirants in an area roughly twenty metres across ’Only in battle shall we know this!’
The boys began to drum their clubs onto their shields, and other drums from around the caldera took up the frantic beat For several minutes they dru with the effort, their li from exertion Hebris looked over at Boreas, who nodded
’Let the trial begin!’ Boreas roared over the cacophony, standing up and raising his right fist above his head
The boys broke rank and for each other, their weapons and shields held ready The other dru out every couple of seconds as the young ascendants eyed each other warily, casting glances up at the Space Marines high above them Without a word, Boreas dropped his hand and the ritual battle began
A blond-haired youth to Boreas’s right charged for­wards across the open space, his weapon held high as he screaht Boreas as he saw the boy quickly encircled by the others and cut down The fight quickly broke down into a scattered set of duels, except for two of the warriors, who stood back-to-back towards one side, keeping a wary eye on the progress of the fighting
Boreas paid particular attention to theether when the survivors of the individ­ual contests eht fresh enemies
Soon only the pair re thron their weapons and surrendered, lying unconscious fro heavily and unable to con­tinue All around them, the tribes people hooted and chanted, the ever-present ru around the amphitheatre