ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) (42 page)

“Good,”
Pila
said
, more to herself than to them. “
The arrow
did not penetrate much beyond the bone and so it has not hit a vital part. It did not bleed
too much
, either
. A little
bleeding
is good.
It
takes infection with it.”

Reaching for her basket of herbs and ointments, she selected a
greenish
paste made from the bark of willow and various herbs
,
and slathered it across the puncture in Durak’s chest. Then her fingers reached again for the pulse on his wrist and neck. Faster now, perhaps too fast. She would give him some herbs to sedate him and keep the pain at bay, but only a little lest it overwhelm him.

She pointed at a wooden cup near the fire. “Could you dip that
cup
in the boiling water to clean it, then I will mix a light sedative
to st
e
ady him
,” she said to Niva.

Niva quickly obeyed. “You are a healer,” she remarked as she handed the warm cup to Pila. It was a statement, not a question.

Pila blinked
, as if coming out of a trance
.
“I did not know… I did not know I was… I do
not remember…”

“Later you can tell us what happened to you
before you came to us
,” Niva said gently.
“Now, you must concentrate on Durak.”

“I need clean water
again
so I can mix these herbs and give the drink to Durak,” Pila requested.

Mixing the drink, she
lifted Durak’s head with one hand while
she deftly
pour
ed
a small amount of the liquid into his mouth
with the other
. Then she lowered his head again and examined it gently, turning it to peer at the back of his skull.

“He must have hit it hard when he fell,” she reported. “That is what made him unconscious
,
even more than the arrow.”

“Perhaps that is
good
,” Wulf suggested. “It might have made the man who shot him think he was dead when he was not.”

Pila’s eyes widened.
“I had not thought of that,”
she said. “Perhaps it is so.” Her lips formed more words
,
but she did not say them aloud.
Or perhaps we should thank the Goddess for finding a way to save him,
she had almost said.

Suddenly exhausted,
Pila
sat back on her heels. “That is all I can do now,” she said wearily. “We must wait and watch, and let Durak’s body do the healing.

“Thank you for helping me,”
she added
. “To move Durak and care for him by myself would have been hard.”

“I am glad we were passing by,” Niva
answered.
“We were on our way to the next village to make sure people are all right after the
rains and
flooding.”

Unexpectedly,
Noran
,
who was still strapped to
Pila’s back, gurgled loudly. Niva and Wulf smiled as he waved a fist at them, then stuck it in his mouth.

“The baby is beautiful,”
Niva said to
Pila.
“If you like, I will hold him while you
take off some of your outer clothes.
”

Pila hesitated
, remembering that the last time Niva had taken the baby from her it was for
sacrifice
. Then, seeing Niva’s stricken face as she too remembered, she lifted
Noran
off her back and handed him to the older woman.

“Thank you,” she said, and realized for the first time that she was very hot by the fire in her boots and outer clothes. She had forgotten she was still wearing them. She had even forgotten that
the baby
was still on her back.

“He is
a lovely child
,” Niva said
, holding the baby reverently.
“I am so glad, so very glad, he was rescued.
Zena
was  brave to do that. She
is a fine woman.
”

Pila’s head turned sharply at the name. Durak had mentioned it
many times
and she had not reacted, but this time she felt
something inside her mind click, as if it knew what she herself did not know.

In
the days that followed,
as they nursed Durak
back to health
and spoke of
what
had happened in Niva’s village
,
of all that
Pila could remember of what
had happened to
her
before she came to them,
Niva and Wulf, and later Durak, spoke frequently of Zena. Each time she heard the name, Pila experienced that same click of recognition, but even when she did not hear it,
the
name
Zena
kept going around and around in
her
mind
. It seemed to insist that she pay attention to it, as if it was determined to bring on the moment when she would understand what it meant to her.
After a time,
the name
become
lodged in a kind of shadow
person who
walked beside her, always present but never
clear enough to resolve itself into
a woman
she could see.

***************************

A
s soon as they were certain that Durak was out of danger, Wulf went on to the next village to make sure everyone was all right, while
Niva
stayed to help Pila. He had an astounding tale to tell when
he returned
.
The ice dam that
had always
held in the water of the lake had burst and flooded down on the
village
, carrying huge trees and chunks of ice and even rocks
, he
reported
.
Korg and the Leader had been killed
by the rampaging water
, but no one from the village
had been hurt since
their wise one,
Runor
,
had sent
all of them
to the circle of stones
.
Only Runor had stayed in the village, and Zena and Lief had rescued her.
Niva went to see Runor soon after that,
anxious to see if her old friend was all right
after such a traumatic experience
,
and reported the story of Runor’s attempt to kill the Leader, how
Zena
had saved
Runor
and then Korg had saved
Zena
. It was an astonishing tale that held Pila and Durak
enthralled
.

“That is fitting,” Niva said of Korg and the Leader. “The Mother took them in her own way. We are free of them now, and that is a great blessing.”

Pila agreed, and became ever more curious about
Zena
, who had dared to challenge Korg and the Leader
.

“How did
Zena
save Noran?” she asked Durak. “And what sort of woman is she?
What does she look like?
”

Durak was happy to answer.
There was no doubt in his mind now that Pila was Teran, but he had been hesitant to say this directly, or say too much about
Zena
because it seemed to confuse Pila. Now at last, he could speak freely.

“
Zena
has hair the color of a sunset and eyes the color of Noran’s,” he reported. “She is about your size, but thinner, I think. She
is a remarkable
young
woman,” he
went on enthusiastically.
“She has great imagination
and sometimes she just seems to have the Mother inside her. She saved
Noran by acting the part of the Great Mother, urging the people to return to Her ways.” He described the costume
Zena
had made, how the others had helped her set the scene
, how mesmerizing her  performance had been, but
how terrible Zena had felt after the ceremony because she had fooled the people.”

Pila laughed. “That sounds
l
ike
Zena
,” she said, without thinking first. “She is always too hard on herself.”
Astonished, she clapped her hand over her mouth.
“
How
did I know
to say that?
”

“Because underneath, you do know,” Durak replied calmly. “No
w
it is just a matter of clearing away the fog. So I will tell you everything I can think of.”

First, he repeated
the
story of
how
Zena
’s twin sister Teran, had disappeared so suddenly
,
then he spoke of
Lief, the man who had
recently
come to live
in their village and
was now
Zena
’s lover. “He has helped
Zena
enormously,”
he told Pila. “They are happy together, just as we are happy together. Lief was with
Zena
when she performed the ceremony that saved
Noran. He steadies her, supports her in all ways.
It has not been easy for
Zena
to
face
the task of guiding the Mother People alone
.
Before
Teran vanished, they
had planned to
do it together
, since they are the twin daughters of Zena, who was their mother.
Zena means
Queen
of the sky
;
Teran
means
Queen of the earth
,
”
he ex
plained
, watching Pila’s face carefully
for signs that the
information
had meaning for her.

The name Teran did have meaning for Pila
, just not as much meaning as she would have liked. It seemed to her that she must be Teran - she looked and acted like her, Durak said, and she had been abducted when Teran had disappeared
, and she seemed to be familiar with things about
Zena
that she did not know she knew
. But she still didn’t
recognize
herself as
Teran in the way that most people
recognized themselves
.
At least, though, the name Teran
felt comfortable
, and she supposed that was a start
.
She
knew it well even as she did not
identify with it.

Pila
sighed.
The sensation of knowing and not knowing at the same time was
frustrating
, and s
ometimes
she wished she could just go back to the way she had been before, when she had waited patiently for the fog still stubbornly lodged in her mind to clear.
But she could not.

What she needed most, Pila thought, was to
see
the woman called
Zena
, not just the shadow
that walked beside her
, but the real woman. Then, surely, the
haze
that still clouded her mind might finally clear so that memory could return.

C
HAPT
ER
TWENTY
TWO

Lief
followed
Zena
across the meadow. He
preferred
to
stay
behind
her
so she would not
notice
that
the stiffness in his joints
was worse
.
He would be glad to get home and go to
the healer again
. She had
inserted
thin wooden needles purified by fire
in certain spots
along his legs and back
and
twisted them gently. The treatment had
helped
and it would again.
In the meantime it was best to
pay no attention to the pain
,
Lief
told himself
firmly
. He
quickened his pace.

Zena
looked back at him an
xiously
. Despite
Lief
’s
stoic
efforts
to hide his pain
, she was fully aware of
the
discomfort
he suffered
. She wished now that they had taken the shorter route  home from Runor’s village with the others. Wanting some time alone, she and Lief had
decided to
go north and
make
a circle over the mountain
beyond
her Kyrie
and
return
to the village on the mountain path
she had looked at so often from her high outpost.
It was a route they had always wanted to explore.
The trek would take an
extra
day or two
,
but the
weather was fine
, with
summer on the way
,
and the temptation to have time alone
in the high
peaks
they so loved
had been strong.
Besides, it was such a glorious feeling to be safe, to know they were not being followed. Korg and the Leader were dead and could not harm them any longer.

Zena
glanced back again at Lief. How fine he was, she thought, how fine and brave and strong. He tried so hard to spare her any sorrow or distress
because of his stiffness. That was
good in one way but hard in another since th
ere was little she could
do
to help him e
xcept slow down
and rest more often.

“
Let us
stop
here for a time,
”
she told him with a smile
when they came to a sunny spot by a stream
.
Lief
sat down gratefully and put his arms around her.

“
You are my joy,
”
he told her,
smiling with pleasure. He too was
glad that they were alone
. For the first time in many weeks, he
could speak
and act
without
the
restraint
of others nearby
.

“
And you are mine,
”
Zena
answered
.
Sinking down
on the dry grasses
, they
lay close together. For a long time they did not move, only felt the lengths of their bodies touching. Warmth sprang up between them, from their bodies but also from the heat of their passion, yet to be expressed but growing ever more intense. They waited, and waited some more,
and then they could be still no longer.
Lief
’s
hands moved first, caressing
Zena
’s
arms, her belly and thighs. Her hands rose toward his body
and she sighed, a long, wondrous sigh of ecstasy at what was to come. First the delicate, sensuous touching and then the hands that stroked harder, the lips that could not seem to come close enough and the tongues that pushed and explored, and with them the intensity that built and built until it exploded. And then, finally, to fly, to soar like birds and plunge to the earth and soar again.

And so it always was with
Lief
. For her, there was no other
.
Nor was there for him.
He remembered the way he had
once
been, eager for women, never caring for one alone. He had changed. Truly, when men and women could choose freely
,
one
be
loved
mate was best of all.

The sun was dropping to the far side of the horizon before they stirred again.
They went on
for a few more hours
and then stopped for the night.
In t
wo days,
Zena
mused
as she fell asleep
,
they would be
back
in their
special hut
and could settle in together for the summer.
The thought was wonderful.

Lief’s sleep was less peaceful. Twice, he woke with the
tingling sensation that told him
he was being watched.
He
rose to look, but the night was dark and he could not see into the trees. He remembered
the man
who had been watching them
after the flood
.
It seemed to him that he
could feel
the same sense of overwhelming anger coming toward him now.
Was it possible the man was following them?

The next morning
his anxiety
was alleviated
when they
unexpectedly passed
near
a
village
.
Probably the watchers had just been children who seldom saw strangers
, he realized with a sense of relief
. The village
was remote,
so
they
would be curious about anyone
they had
n
ot seen before.

When they came closer to the mountain, they stopped to examine the route ahead.
The
terrain on this side
was
steeper than the side she had seen so often from her Kyrie,
Zena
realized.
The mountain
rose up in a series of ridges, and
loose rock
left by
avalanches made
many s
lopes too unstable to climb.
Still, the
hunters often climbed over the pass and came down this way as they searched for
game
;
so did the herders when they took the animals to and from high summer pastures
, so it should not be too difficult. The pass should be a one day climb, she thought, and once they got over that, she knew the route well.

She looked at Lief and mentally added another day.
His legs
stiffened even more in the cold, and
the hig
h mountains were always colder. A sickness in his belly that sometimes
made him bend over in pain
had also plagued him recently.
They had
gathered a supply of fungus from the bark of birch trees that eased the problem, and it seemed to be helping
, but he was still slower than usual
.

They
w
ould spend one night on the mountain,
Zena
decided, build a fire and cook
deer
meat
and bread, and other food they found along the way. She had seen berries on some bushes, and wild plums.
That would be very pleasant.

They
climbed slowly but steadily, enjoying the fine day
and pausing often to rest and admire the sweep of land below
, the brilliant blue of the sky above. The air itself
se
emed to sparkle in the sunlight, and they were content.

When the light began to fade, they stopped on the sheltered side of
a deep ravine.
They made a small fire and sat quietly looking out at the view
s
and working on projects they had brought with them.
Lief
had left his bow
and some arrows
with the men
in
Runor’s
village
as a parting gift
and
was making a new one, as well as
some
new arrows
,
while
Zena
repair
ed
their clothing. S
ince s
he had no sinew
,
she used thread made from long grasses twisted together.
Then they
shared
a fine meal of meat
,
bread they had made from
grains
,
and fruit.

When it was too dark to see, they snuggled
close
inside their furs and watched the stars slowly appear. They were so brilliant,
Zena
thought with wonder. Even without the moon, they gave enough light so she could see
Lief
’s
face, close to her own. What made them so bright, and why were they always in the same places? Some moved, but always along predictable paths, so
that
she could tell the seasons from their position. Others were always in exactly the same place, providing a welcome sense of direction.

“
To fly up among the stars would be fine,
”
Lief
murmured sleepily, picking up her thoughts as he so often did.
“
When I return one day to the Mother I will go up and see them, I think.
”

Zena
shivered in his embrace
, horrified at the thought
.
“
You must not do that for a long time,
”
she answered.
“
How would I live without you?
”

Lief
stroked her face gently.
“
You would live,
”
he said confidently.
“
You must live. You are
Zena
.
”

She sighed.
“S
ometimes to be
Zena
makes me weary.
”

“
Then let us pretend we are two other people for a time,
”
Lief
answered.
“
We can make up stories as we travel.
”

Zena
brightened.
“
That is a good idea! Perhaps we could be lovers fleeing our village because I am being forced to take a horrible old man as mate, and you are the one I love above all others.
”

“
And the leader of the village is chasing after me, seeking revenge,
”
Lief
added, holding her closer. They traded ideas until they fell asleep.

They woke to clouds and intermittent rain, but the day was windless, and they trudged on, making up more stories to pass the time. 
Zena
suspected
Lief
suffered more than he allowed her to see
from
his ailments
, but she also felt a deep happiness in him
, especially
now that they were alone
again
and able to come
together in Akat
w
henever they liked
, and
that gave her great pleasure.

By the time they reached the slopes that led to the final pass,
Zena
felt as if she could almost smell home. Sorlin and Hular knew the route they were taking and would be watching for them, might even come up part way to greet them, and the village would be waiting...

Lief
’s
expression
dampened her optimism
.
“
I do not like the look of that sky,
”
he said uneasily.
He felt the tingling again, too,
and
knew they were being watched,
but he did not tell
Zena
that.

Zena
looked up and
saw that
he was right. A filmy haze covered the s
ky, not obliterating it
completely, but causing
it
to give off a strange purplish light.
That could mean
a storm was coming
, but sometimes
the haze, and the threat, moved on to the next valley, leaving only a sprinkle behind. If the westerly winds held, that would probably happen.