Valknut: The Binding by Marie Loughin Read Free Book Online Page B

charge, this time using regulation fuse.
    The echoes from the blast seemed to go on
forever. They could hear the Bossman yelling before the last rumble
died away. Red and Angus exchanged uneasy glances as a cloud of
dust settled over them. Far more dust than warranted from such a
small charge. Puzzled, Red pulled his bandana over his mouth and
nose and peered around the ridge. At first, he couldn’t see
anything. Slowly the air cleared. Instead of a smooth, wide shelf,
he saw a deep pile of rubble.
    “One little knuckle of rock!” the Bossman
yelled, stomping toward them. Red wondered if the man would pass
out from all the blood rushing to his face. “What in the hell were
you thinking? All I asked was that you take out one stupid chunk of
rock and you bury the ledge in five feet of scree. Get your asses
over there. You’re going to clear out that rubble if it takes you
the rest of today and all night besides.”
    He turned and started shouting at the other
workers. “The rest of you, get those ties out of the wagons. The
FRC isn’t paying you to lie about!”
    Angus groaned and hefted his hammer. “My pa
always said trains’d get me into trouble some
day.  Son,  he’d say,  it ain’t right to get
so darned worked up over a machine.  But did I listen to
Pa?” Hammer on his shoulder, he rubbed his lower back and grimaced.
“No, sir! I got a job with the Company, didn’t I? Gandydancin’ and
whatnot, just to be near ’em. And you know somethin’? Pa was wrong.
Trains ain’t just gonna get me in trouble—more’n likely they’re
gonna  kill  me.” Angus shook his head and trudged
off toward the debris.
    Unconcerned, Red chuckled and grabbed his
shovel. It would take him and Angus a week to clear the shelf by
themselves. He knew the Bossman would send help soon enough.
    They had been working for over an hour when
Red saw something thin and white poking up through the debris. He
drove his shovel under it and lifted it out. The thing slid free
and clattered on the ground. It looked like a bone.
    “Hey, Angus—I found somethin’!”
    Angus set his hammer down and winced as he
straightened, pressing the small of his back with both hands.
“Whatcha got?”
    He shuffled over, rolling a cigarette. He
started to light it, but stopped short when he saw the bone. “Well,
will ya lookit that. S’pose it’s human?”
    “It’s big enough, but there’s only one way to
know for sure.”
    Red planted his shovel where he had found the
bone and began to dig. Angus watched for a moment, then put the
cigarette away and joined in with his hands. They found more bone
fragments, but nothing conclusive until Red found part of a jaw.
Looked human. He held it up to the light for a better look. Angus
kept digging.
    “Whoa, I think I got somethin’, Red.
Somethin’ big!” Angus stood over a patch of white that gleamed
through the dirt. “And hooo-wee—it sure smells bad.”
    It didn’t look like bone from where Red
stood. Too big. He hunkered down next to Angus to help dig. After a
few minutes’ work, they had uncovered something as large as a horse
and wound in white string. Dirt-crusted tufts of dark fur poked
through the bindings.
    “Maybe it’s some kinda art-ee-fact,” Red
said. “I hear them collectors pay good money for old Indian
crap.”
    Angus shook his head. “Nah, that string looks
too clean to be that old. And it smells deader’n a skunk in a
beaver trap.” He waved a hand in front of his face. “Phew! Maybe we
should let it alone.”
    “Don’t go all knock-kneed on me, Angus.
Whatever it is, it might be worth somethin’ to someone.” Red
glanced nervously at the wagons, half-expecting to see the Bossman
coming toward them. “Let’s have a look. We can always hide it and
come back for it later.”
    Red tugged at the string, trying to break it.
It felt flimsy and soft, but it held firm. He braced himself and
pulled harder. The string bit through his skin and pain shot up his
arm. He swore