His mind returned to the present. As the echoes of the cheering continued to sound, Jelena stirred beside him and took his hand. He smiled at her. In this capable, accomplished woman, he had at last found a life’s partner not only wise beyond her years, but loyal as well. How strange life was, indeed. Gideon had told him to be loyal to himself for a change, and how true that was. Standing here on this promontory of rock, co-leader of these ancient and worthy people, was surely the last thing he could have ever have imagined to be his fate. And yet it now felt like the one challenge he’d been preparing for his entire life.
“How’s this for loyalty, partner?” he said under his breath.
He felt Jelena move his hand slowly until it rested on the center of her belly. He glanced at her again and saw the answer to his unvoiced question in her eyes. The tribe, noting the movement and its significance, redoubled their cheers. He passed the staff to her. Taking a deep breath, she began to tell a story, her voice rich and assured. He was able to get the gist of it, a fascinating tale that went back to the mythical founding of the tribe, explaining how everything that was to happen had begun in precisely this way: a woman with child.
When she was done, Jelena passed the staff back to Garza, and he raised it to signal that their morning oration was complete. And then, as a gong sounded and the entire group turned to acknowledge the rising of the life-giving sun, the valley reverberated with the echoes of a single word, repeated again and again: “Epouroun! Epouroun! Epouroun!”
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About the Authors
The thrillers of DOUGLAS PRESTON and LINCOLN CHILD “stand head and shoulders above their rivals” (Publishers Weekly). Preston and Child’s Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series, and their recent novels include City of Endless Night, Beyond the Ice Limit, Blue Labyrinth, Crimson Shore, and The Obsidian Chamber. In addition to his novels, Preston writes about archaeology for The New Yorker and National Geographic magazines. Lincoln Child is a Florida resident and former book editor who has published seven novels of his own, including the huge bestseller Deep Storm.
Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a “strangely entertaining” newsletter from the authors, at their website, PrestonChild.com. The authors welcome visitors to their alarmingly active Facebook page, where they post regularly.
Also by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Pendergast novels
City of Endless Night
The Obsidian Chamber
Crimson Shore
Blue Labyrinth
White Fire
Two Graves*
Cold Vengeance*
Fever Dream*
Cemetery Dance
The Wheel of Darkness
The Book of the Dead**
Dance of Death**
Brimstone**
Still Life with Crows
The Cabinet of Curiosities
Reliquary†
Relic†
(* The Helen Trilogy
** The Diogenes Trilogy
† Relic and Reliquary are ideally read in sequence)
Gideon Crew novels
Beyond the Ice Limit
The Lost Island
Gideon’s Corpse
Gideon’s Sword
Other novels
The Ice Limit
Thunderhead
Riptide
Mount Dragon
By Douglas Preston
The Lost City of the Monkey God
The Kraken Project
Impact
The Monster of Florence (with Mario Spezi)
Blasphemy
Tyrannosaur Canyon
The Codex
Ribbons of Time
The Royal Road
Talking to the Ground
Jennie
Cities of Gold
Dinosaurs in the Attic
By Lincoln Child
Full Wolf Moon
The Forgotten Room
The Third Gate
Terminal Freeze
Deep Storm
Death Match
Lethal Velocity (formerly Utopia)
Tales of the Dark 1–3
Dark Banquet
Dark Company
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, corporate or government entities, facilities, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Splendide Mendax, Inc. and Lincoln Child
Cover design by Flag. Cover photos: Phaistos Disk by Getty Images/Leemage/Contributor; compass by Getty Images/Comstock Images. Cover copyright © 2018 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Excerpt from “In Praise of Limestone” copyright © 1951 by W. H. Auden. Excerpt from “Atlantis” from W. H. Auden Collected Poems copyright © 1945 by W. H. Auden.
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First Edition: June 2018
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