Francine Rivers - An Echo in the Darkness
Here you can read online Francine Rivers - An Echo in the Darkness full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 1998, publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., genre: Humor. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:
Romance novel
Science fiction
Adventure
Detective
Science
History
Home and family
Prose
Art
Politics
Computer
Non-fiction
Religion
Business
Children
Humor
Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.
- Book:An Echo in the Darkness
- Author:
- Publisher:Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
- Genre:
- Year:1998
- Rating:3 / 5
- Favourites:Add to favourites
- Your mark:
An Echo in the Darkness: summary, description and annotation
We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "An Echo in the Darkness" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.
Francine Rivers: author's other books
Who wrote An Echo in the Darkness? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.
An Echo in the Darkness — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work
Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "An Echo in the Darkness" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.
Font size:
Interval:
Bookmark:
(Mark of the Lion #2)
The mad intensity of the mob had always filled him with an unrest. His father had said some found release in watching violence done to others, and Alexander had thought of this when he had seen, on occasion, an almost sick relief in faces among the crowd. In Rome. In Corinth. Here, in Ephesus. Perhaps those who beheld the horrors were thankful to the gods that it was not they who faced the lions or a trained gladiator or some other more grotesque and obscene manner of death.
It was as though thousands came to find a catharsis in the bloodletting, that this embracing of planned mayhem protected each of them from the growing chaos of an increasingly corrupt and arbitrary world. No one seemed to notice that the stench of blood was no less strong than the stench of lust and fear permeating the very air they breathed.
Amandinus' hands gripped the iron bars as he looked out upon the sand where the young woman now lay. She had come out from among the other victims-those who walked to their deaths-calm and strangely joyful. He could not look away from her, for he had seen in her something extraordinary, something that defied description. She had sung and, for the briefest moment, her sweet voice had drifted on the air.
The mob had overwhelmed that sweet sound, rising en masse as she had continued forward, walking across the sand serenely, straight toward Alexander. His heart had pounded harder with each step she took. She had been rather plain in appearance, and yet there had been a radiance about her, an aura of light surrounding her. Or had it just been his imagination? When the lioness had hit her, Alexander had felt the blow himself.
Now, two lions fought over her body. He winced as one beast sank its fangs deeply into her thigh and began to drag her away.
IX
A little girl in a ragged, soiled tunic ran screaming past the iron-gridded gate. Alexander gritted his teeth, trying to harden himself against the sound of those terrified cries. In trying to protect the girl, the child's mother was taken down by a jewel- collared lioness. Alexander's hands whitened on the iron-grated door as another lioness raced after the child. Run, girl. Run!
The sight of so much suffering and death assaulted and nauseated him. He pressed his forehead against the bars, his heart pounding.
He had heard all the arguments in favor of the games. The people sent to the arena were criminals, deserving of death. Those now before him belonged to a religion that encouraged the overthrow of Rome. Yet he couldn't help but wonder if a society that murdered helpless children did not deserve to be undone.
The screams of the child sent a chill through Alexander's body. He was almost grateful when the lioness' jaws closed upon that small throat, extinguishing the sound. He let out his breath, hardly aware he had been holding it, and heard the guard behind him laugh harshly.
"Hardly a mouthful in that little one."
A muscle jerked in Alexander's jaw. He wanted to shut his eyes to the carnage before him, but the guard was watching now. He could feel the cold glitter of those hard dark eyes shining through the visor of the polished helmet. Watching him. He would not humiliate himself by showing weakness. If he was to become a good physician, he had to overcome his sensibilities and aversions. Hadn't his teacher, Phlegon, warned him often enough?
"You have to harden yourself against those tender feelings if you are to succeed," he'd said more than once, his tone ringing with disdain. "After all, seeing death is part of a physician's lot in life."
Alexander knew the older man was right. And he knew that, without these games, he would have no opportunity to further his studies of the human anatomy. He had gone as far as he could by studying drawings and writings. Only by performing vivisection could he learn more. Phlegon had been well aware of his aversion to the practice, but the old physician had been adamant, closing him in a trap of reason.
"You say you want to be a physician?" he had challenged.
Thankful. Alexander watched as, one by one, the victims went down until the horrific sounds of terror and pain were deadened by the relative quietude of feeding lions. Thankful? He shook his head. No, that was one thing he would never feel regarding the games.
Suddenly another sound more dangerous than the lions began to hum. Alexander recognized it quickly-the ripple of boredom, the growing swell of discontent among the spectators. The contest was over. Let the beasts gorge themselves in the dark interiors of their cages rather than tax the crowd with tedious feasting. A dark restlessness swept through the stands like a fire in a cheap tenement.
The warning was quickly heeded by the editor of the games.
The beasts heard the gates swing open and dug in their claws and teeth more fiercely as armed handlers came out to drive them back into their cages. Alexander prayed to Mars, that the men would work quickly, and to Asklepios that there might be the flicker of life in at least one of the victims. If not, he would have to remain here until another opportunity presented itself.
Alexander was not interested in the drama of separating feeding animals from their kills. His gaze swept across the sand, searching for a survivor, any survivor, holding little hope that there was one. His eyes fell upon the young woman again.
No lion was near her. He found that curious, since she was far from the men driving the animals toward the gates. He saw a flicker of movement. Leaning forward, he squinted his eyes against the glare. Her fingers moved!
"Over there," he said quickly to the guard. "Near the center."
"She was the first one attacked. She's dead."
"I want to take a look at her."
"As you wish." The guard stepped forward, put two fingers to his lips, and gave two quick, sharp whistles. The guard made a signal to the plumed visage of Charon, who danced among the dead. Alexander watched the costumed actor leap and turn toward the fallen girl. Charon leaned down slightly, his feathered, beaked head turned as though listening intently for some sound or sign of life, all the while waving his mallet around in the air
XI
At the same moment, a lioness turned on the animal handler who was driving her toward a tunnel. The crowd came to its feet, shouting in excitement. The man barely managed to escape the animal's attack. He used his whip expertly to drive the enraged lioness back away from the child she had been eating and toward the tunnel to the cages.
Font size:
Interval:
Bookmark:
Similar books «An Echo in the Darkness»
Look at similar books to An Echo in the Darkness. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.
Discussion, reviews of the book An Echo in the Darkness and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.