ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) (3 page)

All that day and for many more days, Lief walked hard, stopping only to find food and to sleep, and even before the end of the moon’s next cycle, he noticed that the land around him had begun to change. The trees were large and leafy, very different from the tall straight pines of northern lands, and the hills were gentle and
brilliantly
green. As he went on, trees began to disappear
,
replaced by low bushes of gorse or some other plant he could not name. The sky was bluer, too. Excited, he quickened his pace. Perhaps he was closer than he had thought to the great water.

Birds
he had never seen before
were flying overhead
.
They were white and shone in the sunlight, and their flight was quick and graceful. One of them spiraled high into the sky
, then
tumbled down again behind the curve of the next hill. It must have seen a mouse or some other small creature, Lief thought, and ran up the hill so he could see over the top and discover what it had caught. When he got there he gasped in wonder. There were no animals where the bird had landed. In fact, it could not have landed at all. Where it had come down there was only water - water that seemed to push itself up and down as if compelled into endless motion by some unknown force. The bird sat complacently atop the sparkling water, as if this moving surface was as familiar to it as the solid ground.

Lief’s eyes traveled further, following the water all the way to the sky, where it merged and blended so that there was no way of telling where one stopped and the other began. Tears pricked behind his lids at the wonder of it. Finally, he had come to the great water, and it was more beautiful than he
had ever
imagined. Here, near
the land,
the water was a hazy green, but as it stretched away it became deep blue and purple, and then a hard gray-blue that softened until it melted into the
sky.
No
islands
interrupted the glittering surface as others had said they did, but perhaps he would see them as he traveled along its edges.

Lief stared for a long time; then he ran again, down and down, until the great water was lapping at his feet.
Removing his shoes, he waded in. The water felt warm, with
none of the icy chill of the mountain lakes. He swished about, peering
curiously
at all the small creatures below the surface, seeing how they, like the bird, went back and forth with its motion. Could he do that as well?

Pulling off his clothes, he went deeper. For a long time he could touch the bottom and he kept going until only his head was above the water. As it moved, some came into his mouth, and
he was surprised to note that
it had a salty taste. Then, suddenly, it rose up in front of him in a great crest.
Taking hold
of his body
, it
fl
u
ng him first up, then down,
then
plung
ed
him under its surface so he could not see at all. Water was in his ears, his eyes, had gone down his throat, making him gasp and cough. Lief floundered, unable to right himself; then his feet found the bottom again and he staggered back to shore
,
a little frightened by the unknown force that
had tossed
him effortlessly about, but also elated. That had been an astonishing ride. When he understood the water better, he would try it again.

He rubbed his skin. It felt clean, smooth. He splashed himself all over, glorying in the sensation of cleanness and coolness after his long journey. Then he picked up his clothes and dunk
ed
them up and down. They were as soiled as he was. When all the dirt and sweat had been rinsed away, he laid the clothes out on a rock in the sun, sank down onto the pale grainy surface beside the water and fell asleep.

He awoke many hours later, stretched luxuriously in the sunlight, and went
back
to the water to see if any of the small creatures at its edges could be eaten. He found a crab, which was not very satisfying since there was little meat inside its hard covering
,
but then he spotted some large shells. He had seen them before, brought by the Mother People as gifts for the villagers with whom they traded. What he did not know was whether there might be food inside them. It seemed a shame to destroy such a beautiful object to find out but he was hungry, so he smashed one open. The big snail-like creature inside was delicious when he roasted it over the fire. He gathered a few more to eat later and went on his way, wondering how the Mother People managed to get the meat out without destroying the shell.

For days, he followed the shoreline, over hills
and cliffs
, along beaches, all the while observing the water. He noticed how it rose and retreated at regular intervals, so that in the morning the whole shoreline might be revealed while by afternoon only a thin ribbon of sand remained. He did not know why this was so but suspected that it was connected the unknown force that had tossed him about so roughly. He went back into the water many times, and soon learned to move with the surges instead of being overturned by them, although sometimes he still
lost his balance.
Then he emerged sputtering as
he had
before, but now he laughed with pleasure.

He watched the many creatures that lived along the shoreline or in the water with equal fascination. Birds seemed to know when the beaches would be exposed to their probing beaks and gathered in huge flocks to feed on the tiny snails and crabs that had burrowed into the wet sand. Lief found food there, too, and also in the water. He learned to use a piece of wood to hold him up as he floated, watching the swimmers below. There were fish of all sizes, some large enough to send him racing back toward the shore lest they mistake him for food, others that were just right for him to eat. These he caught with a closely woven net
he
had
made from reeds
.
When he dragged it thorough the water, fish and crabs and other creatures he did not know were caught in its web. One especially intrigued him. It had a huge soft body with large eyes and many long legs that writhed constantly in search of prey. He did not try to eat this one, suspecting that it would not taste very good or even harm him, but tossed it back into the water along with various other creatures that did not look edible, and watched with interest as they squirmed or swam or wriggled away, according to their habits. The fish he kept, to roast over his fire.

Lief wandered on, content. There was much to be discovered in this place, and he had no wish to hurry. Still, he watched always for the islands in the water. He had the odd feeling that they would hold something important for him if he found them. Many times he dismissed the fanciful thought, but always it returned. And then, early one morning when the mists were still rising, he saw the islands. They rose up from the water, as unexpected and ethereal as dreams in the swirling fog. Some were hardly more than bits of sand and rock sticking up just above the surface, others were much larger. Trees and bushes grew on them, and one or two even had mountains, small ones, but mountains all the same. One
island
was espe
cially large, and he
saw smoke curling up from its interior.

Excitement gripped him.
This must be
the
island
where the Mother People came for their ceremonies. It was a beautiful place, and he could see why the
y
had
chosen it. On one side the land sloped gently
through pale sand to
the water
; the other side had
rugged
dark cliffs
that soared
into the sky
. Huge birds wheeled and scre
amed around them.
To
see
water and rocks together like this was magnificent.

Another sight distracted
him
.
A long ribbon of sand stretched out to the island and at the end of the spit a raft of logs tied together bobbed up and down. Lief let out a low whistle of admiration. So that was how the Mother People got across the water! He saw another contrivance nearby, a huge log that had been hollowed out inside. This one was propelled by two broader poles, one on either side. It would not carry so many people but it might go faster. He must look at both of these rafts more carefully later, so he could make one for himself. Perhaps one day they would take him across the cold mountains lakes
.

And then, as he came around a bend in the shoreline, he saw the Mother People themselves,
wending
their way across the sand.
For an instant h
is heart seemed to stop
,
as it sometimes did when he saw an especially beautiful creature or a vista so magnificent that it took his breath away, and he wondered what it was about the Mother People that seemed so fine to him. Perhaps, he thought, it was because they walked so proudly, with such firm and purposeful steps, or perhaps it was their reverence for this Goddess of theirs that gave them a look of power.

The sensation passed, and he saw them again as ordinary people, milling about, talking to each other and greeting friends as they
walked
toward the spit of
sand. When they reached the raft, some people climbed onto it, balancing carefully as the logs rolled in rhythm with the moving water. One man stood at the side holding a long pole, the others sat while he propelled the craft slowly away from the sand toward the island. Others climbed into the second craft; it slid easily through the water as men pulled at the poles at either side.

Lief relaxed and sat down on a convenient rock to watch. He must have arrived at the right time for the winter ceremony, and he was pleased. Still, he
would take his time
before
approaching
the group. Years of traveling alone had taught him caution. Even Mother People might not want strangers coming to their ceremonies.
W
orse, they might want him to take part, and this he had no desire to do. He was always eager to watch, but he
did not want to join. Besides, he
was not as good at talking to others as he was at talking to himself, inside his thoughts. Once he knew
more of
strangers, he felt easier approaching them.

He studied the people curiously. They had formed a long line now that snaked across the sand as they waited for their turn on the boats. There were old people, often with a young girl or boy in attendance to help them if that was needed, babes still in their mothers’ arms, young boys throwing stones into the water to hear the splashes, as boys did in mountain lakes, and girls skipping from one
small
rock
to the next. He could hear them calling, shouting in delight, their voices high and clear. The men and the women without infants came behind, carrying bundles of possessions and joking with each other while they watched for stragglers or a child who needed a restraining or a helping hand.

One
young woman
especially fascinated Lief.
At one moment she
seemed
to
move
with the
uncertainty of a girl not yet sure of her place
, the next moment with the
authority of a
woman
of some importance
.
He felt
sadness in her, more sadness than such a young woman should have. She will be important to me, Lief thought, and rubbed his forehead in confusion. Why should he think that?

He looked away from her and began to watch the others again, preferring to ponder on what he could understand, not what was only in his mind. His eyes came back to the woman anyway
, and he wondered why
.
Usually, he
was attracted to
big lusty
women
who k
new their bodies well and were prepared to share them with a passing
stranger
. This
one
was
small
and
slender,
too
young
to
have experience.
To take advantage of such a young woman had always seemed wrong to Lief
.
Girls on the cusp of becoming a woman did not yet know what was right for them and should be given time to mature
before a stranger approached them
.

Still, he was attracted to this one. Perhaps it was her hair. It
was the color of the sunset as it began
, and it shone
in the bright
sunlight
.
He had always favored hair
of
that red
-gold
hue.

Lief tore his eyes away, impatient with his thoughts. There was no doubt that this woman aroused feelings in him, but they were quite different than anything he had felt before and he was not sure he wanted to deal with them. He would find out who she was, then he would decide if he wished to meet her.