Thus they beheld the Market-place from their cover, and saw that
those folk who were to be hewn to the god were now standing facing
the altar in a half-ring, and behind them in another half-ring the
glaive-bearers who had brought them thither stood glaive in hand
ready to hew them down when the token should be given; and these were
indeed the priests of the god.
There was clear space round about these poor slaughter-thralls, so
that the bowmen could see them well, and they told up a score of
them, half men, half women, and they were all stark naked save for
wreaths of flowers about their middles and their necks; and they had
shackles of lead about their wrists; which same lead should be taken
out of the fire wherein they should be burned, and from the shape it
should take after it had passed through the fire would the priests
foretell the luck of the deed to be done.
It was clear to be seen from thence that Folk-might was right when he
said that these slaughter-thralls were of the best of the house-
thralls and bed-mates of the Dusky Men, and that these felons were
open-handed to their god, and would not cheat him, or withhold from
him the best and most delicate of all they had.
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