ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) (35 page)

“
Great Goddess,
”
she breathed,
“
H
elp me now to do the task you showed me how to do... Great Goddess, I come...
”

Before the final words could leave her lips, Mordor spoke again.
“
You!
”
he repeated incredulously.
“
You are the witch. Why did I not see this before?
”

Runor ignored the beating of her heart.
“
Yes,
”
she told him, and her voice was strong and clear.
“
Zena
is not the witch. I, Runor, am the witch you seek. I am the Great Witch, and when I am gone there will be no more.
”

Mordor hesitated only a moment,
and
then he was upon her. Runor clasped the slender dart firmly in her fingers and h
e
ld it upright so
the tip
would
jab his belly as
his heavy body pressed against her
.
She
had felt his weight like this
before
…

T
he dart slip
ped away, bent
sideways. Pushing hard against his chest, she fought to
jab it in again
, but could not tell if she succeeded.

No, Great Goddess; no, I cannot fail,
she thought frantically as his fingers closed around her throat.
His
body slump
ed
suddenly
against her
, as if all strength had left him. So the dart must have found its target.
Runor
felt
a terrible, aching sadness
for what she had been compelled to do
, then blackness came and she ceased to feel at all.

CHAPTER
S
EVEN
T
EEN

“
We must go faster.
S
omething is wrong, terribly wrong.
”
There was panic in
Zena
’s
voice.
Never had she felt such a sense of terror.
She tried to run but the
wetness of the
steep slope defeated her.

Lief
struggled to keep up with her.
He
was worried, but she was panic-stricken.
She kept saying that
Runor’s whole village
was in danger, not just Runor herself.
Lief
could not argue - he felt it
too
. Some unknown d
isaster
threatened them,
a
menace
unlike anything they had known before.

“
We will be there soon,
”
he comforted
Zena
.
She seemed not
to hear
; she
just
climbed
faster still, her head lowered against the driving rain.
It was coming down in sheets now, as if a
massive
waterfall in the sky was plunging down to the earth
. Ankle deep rivulets charged do
wn the meadows, and
the
streams were so high they could hardly be crossed.
Zena
and Lief charged through them anyway.

They crested the ridge finally and started down the other side, able now to run if they watched their footing.
Zena
slowed at the place where she
and Lief had stopped on that first trip to look for Mara
.
It was as something pulled at her, trying to
check
her headlong
rush
.
Her
eyes
roved the across the slope
s
and paused
on the glacier that hung above Runor
’s
village. There was something unusual about it.

Lief stopped too, glad of the chance to
control his heaving chest.
His eyes followed
Zena
’s
.
“
The dam,
”
he
burst out
.
“
Look at the
ice
dam on
the glacier
.
”
There was horror in his voice, and awe.

Zena
saw it then, a trickle of water coming through a gaping hole in the side of the huge glacier that faced the village
far
below. Always before a thick barrier of ice had blocked the
melt water
behind the glacier, seemingly impenetrable
. Except it
had been penetrated. Swollen by constant rain, the water had finally broken through. It was only a trickle now, but soon it would become a stream, and then it would be a torrent; it would charge down the steep ravine that ran along the southern edge of the village, and everything below would be swept away...

“
Run!
”
Zena
screamed, plunging down the slope.
“
Run! We must warn them!
”
Terror made her feet clumsy and she plunged headlong to the ground. She pulled herself up and ran again.
From the
village
they could not
see what she
and Lief
had seen
. No one
would know
the water was coming
until it was too late. The massive
onslaught
would
drag
everything into its grasp, rocks and trees and
huge
unyielding hunks of ice
;
it would
all
crash down upon them... The
villagers
would be trapped
, hauled into the maelstrom
. All of them would be
killed
,
their helpless bodies sucked
into
the relentless
wall of water
and tossed mercilessly among the displaced boulders, the uprooted trees…

Lief, who had lingered a moment to study the size of the hole, caught up with her and grabbed her hand.
“
Hold on to each other,
”
he told her,
“
s
o we do not fall.
”

Zena
clasped his fingers, her grip tight with fear. Together, they ran down and down
the rain-slick slopes
, chests heaving, legs aching with the strain. But still they ran.
Zena
dared not
pause
even for a moment to look at the mouth of the glacier again, but then Lief pulled  at her hand, forcing her to stop, and pointed up.

“
We will be too far to see in a moment,
”
he panted.
“
Look now.
”

Zena
drew in a great shaky breath and looked. The hole had grown, was a chasm now, and the trickle was already a gushing stream, big enough to uproot trees
and
to carry boulders
. No one could struggle free…
Were they already too late?

They ran again. They should separate when they got to the trees, she thought. That would be faster. Runor
’s
hut was at the edge of the village
above the stream, the
other huts were
clustered
in the fields below
.

“
I will go to Runor,
”
she shouted to Lief, hardly stopping to catch her breath despite the terrible thudding of her heart.
“
You go warn the others.
”

Lief let go of her hand reluctantly.
“
I will send someone to help you,
”
he yelled back as he veered in the direction of the village.
“
But do not wait. Take Runor up,
up as high as you can get
. D
o not come down to us.
”
He raced on.

Zena
nodded, but her ears were focused now on the sounds of rushing water and wind whistling through the trees
. Together, they would destroy
everything before them and pull it down, suck it into a huge roiling river and destroy it...

Gasping, she reached the head of the valley
where Runor lived
. The wind was stronger here, the sound of water louder. She did not have much time.

“
Runor!
”
she screamed, trying to make herself heard through the noise.
“
Runor!
”

The hut was before her.
Zena
darted in. At first, she could see nothing in the dimness, and then she made out a large body bending over Runor
’s
pallet. It was the Leader, must be the Leader; it was too big for Korg. And under it...

“
No!
”
she shouted.
“
No, you cannot!
”
With frantic strength, she pulled at the massive shoulders, saw that the Leader
’s
hands were still on Runor
’s
throat. He shoved her away with an imperious gesture, and she fell heavily. Bounding back, she hauled at him again. This time he resisted for only a moment; then he gasped and collapsed against the ground. No sounds came from him now. Startled,
Zena
looked at him more closely
and saw the terrible pallor of his skin
. He was dead, she thought. But how was that possible?

The question fled
from her mind
when she looked down on Runor. The old wise one
’s
face was ashen and the marks on her neck showed vivid red against the
grayness
. She lay still as stone. Surely she too could not be dead?
Zena
bent closer, to listen for beating in her chest, feel for breath....

Unexpectedly, rough hands pulled her up before she could tell. The Leader
’s
face loomed menacingly above her. In the shadowy light
of the flare
it
had an
odd greenish hue. H
olding tight to her arm, he
stared at her with deranged eyes that seemed not to focus as they should.

“
You!
”
he muttered.
“
It is you!
”
He swayed and almost fell, then pulled himself up again. He could not remember what had happened. Had he been unconscious?

Zena
stared at him, astonished. She had been
sure
he was dead. For the first time she
noticed
the smell
in the hut. It reeked of
nausea
. Someone had been violently ill. The Leader pulled her closer and she knew from his breath that the sickness came from him. But what had he done to Runor?

“
Runor,
”
she whispered
, staring at him in terror
.
“
What have you done to Runor?
”
She tried to wrench
her arm away
but
th
e
Leader
held on with all his strength.

Mordor was confused.
“
Runor?
”
His eyes moved to the inert body beside them. She had said she was the witch, he remembered
,
but that was a lie. This one was the real witch. Why had he not realized?

“
That does not matter,
”
he said violently, ignoring the weakness, the horrible nausea that kept invading his body. He had found the real witch now, and he must not let her go.
“
The old one
does not matter,
”
he repeated.
“
It is you I wanted to find.
”

Zena
stared into his twisted face.
He is mad
, she thought,
complete
ly mad. How long has he been that way?

A smile of triumph crossed his features.
“
And now I have you,
”
he muttered.
“
The Great Witch, the greatest of them all. The voices warned me of her long ago. When you are gone there will be no more, and only I, the Great Spirit, will be left.
”

Slowly, he pushed her down against the ground, lowered himself above her.
Zena
writhed and twisted in his grasp. He was heavy, so heavy...

With a sudden movement she shoved her knees into his groin and thrust herself sideways. She heard him gasp, but his grip only tightened. She must try again.

Her resistance strengthened
Mordor
’s
rage.
How could she struggle so violently? She who was a witch and knew she must die? Another thrust made him still more furious and he pushed her down so hard she could not move. His mind was clear now, clear and focused. Once she was gone there would be no more. He would have finished the task the voices had set for him, and that would be good, so good....

The rage left him abruptly, and when he spoke his voice was soft, caressing.
“
Do not struggle, my child,
”
he told her.
“
It is better so, that you should die like all the others. Go willingly to your long sleep, and all will be well. Go willingly, my child, go as you should, and all will be well.
”
Smiling at her gently, he reached for her throat.

“
No!
”
she screamed.
“
No, I will not!
”
But he had pinned her arms between them, and she could not move. She felt his
strong
hands move to her neck and close around it, begin to squeeze... She twisted her head, but he would not stop....

And then she felt something else. Water. It was under her now. There was another sound - splashing. Someone was coming. Lief; it must be Lief. But it was not Lief
’s
face she saw above the Leader
’s
. It was Korg
’s
. Fear hit her then, a fear so strong she felt paralyzed. She could not fight them both.