Chapter 91
Summer Solstice - June - 3,390 BC
Earth: Village of Assur
Colonel Mikhail Mannuki’ili
MIKHAIL
The men lined up, not just warriors, but all of the unattached men. It slowly dawned on him, the source of Pareesa's laughter.
"I'm too young for a husband…"
Was this some kind of fertility rite?
He glanced at the black-eyed girl who had lost to Ninsianna. The emaciated waif sat on the ground, weeping, all by herself. She held a rock the size of her fist. A great, big red mark marred her too-pale skin.
"I thought the villagers were only supposed to throw mud?" he asked the young man next to him, a stocky, dour-faced teenager who was nearly as tall as he was.
"For the women," the teenager shrugged. "-We- have to face rocks and spears."
For the first time, he recognized the pi
