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carcass lying against the far wall. It was bigger than a cow and had the most hideous face the boy had ever seen—the face of a goblin rat.
    Now the boy understood why the priests had fled from the temple.
    But what on earth could have torn the goblin rat apart? The boy pushed open the cupboard door and crawled out. He rubbed his aching arms and legs and looked around. Except for the gory mess, everything in the temple looked just as it had the evening before.
    Or did it?
    The boy looked at the cats he had painted on the great white screens, and he saw that every mouth of every cat was stained with blood—the blood of the goblin rat.

Ask the Bones
    â€¢ A Tale from the Caucasus Region •

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    Y usef had always avoided the man with cruel eyes who came to the outdoor market to hire young servants. But now the boy was desperate.
    He could no longer run errands for the old woman who’d sold vegetables, because she had died. His coins were gone and his hunger pangs were unbearable.
    Yusef watched the cruel man buying silk and spices at a nearby stand. And when the man took money from his pouch, two rubies tumbled out. The man quickly scooped them up.
    But Yusef had seen them. Surely such a rich man could buy good food for his servants. Yusef tugged at the man’s cloak.
    â€œWell?” asked the man harshly.
    â€œCould I work for you?” Yusef stammered.
    â€œI can always use another boy,” the man said. “But where’s your family?”
    â€œI have no family,” said Yusef.
    The man’s eyes glinted more cruelly than before. “Come along, then.” And he loaded all his purchases into the young boy’s arms.
    When they arrived at the man’s home, he showed Yusef a place where he could sleep in the barn. At least the straw was soft, and there was a roof overhead.
    The boy was given food each day, scraps, really, from his master’s table. But to Yusef it was a feast. In return, he cared for the man’s livestock—cows, calves, bulls, and camels.
    The man had hired other boys before, but none lived there now. Yusef wondered where they’d found work.
    All went well for almost a week. Then the man asked him to kill a bull and skin it. It was a miserable, bloody task, but Yusef gritted his teeth and did what he was told. And no sooner had he wiped the gore off his hands and face than his master ordered him to prepare two camels for a journey. “One for me and one to carry the hide of the bull.”
    Yusef thought they would travel to the outdoor market and sell the hide there. Instead they headed toward a wild and lonely plain. The boy grew more uneasy by the hour. He walked behind the camels with the sun beating down upon him. The stones were sharp underfoot. Up ahead, a mountain rose like a needle into the sky. Its sides were incredibly steep, and there were no footholds in sight.
    Yusef ran alongside the camel that was carrying his master. “Why do we need a bull’s hide out here?” he asked.
    â€œNo questions,” the man said. “Just do what I tell you.” And his eyes looked colder than ever.
    By the time they reached the base of the mountain, Yusef was sick with fear, and with good reason, for the man ordered him to spread the bull’s smelly hide on the ground and lie on it.
    The boy knew that the man was stronger than he was, so he squatted on the hide, ready to jump if necessary. But the man knocked him flat and tied the hide around him so quickly that Yusef hardly knew what was happening. Then the man hid behind a rock.
    Within moments Yusef felt himself rising into the air, the hide clutched in the talons of a giant bird. He landed with a jolt on the mountaintop.
    The bird began to rip off the remaining bits of the bull’s flesh. It punctured the hide and raked its sharp beak across the boy’s shoulder. He panicked. Kicking and punching, he fought his way out of the hide and frightened the