ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) (43 page)

The
air turned damp and cold as they climbed higher, and
a thin fog
spread across the slopes.
Shivering, they stuffed their boots with soft grasses to make them warmer and pulled on leggings and fur capes and caps, glad now t
o have them.
In the
mountains, to be prepared for any kind of weather was wise.

The way quickly became steeper, and
almost all
the slope
s
were covered with
the
loose rock
they had seen from below
. T
hey decided to
climb in
a ravine
that
seemed to
lead to the pass
, though it was hard to be sure in the fog
. If they could get over the
top
before
a
storm came
- if one came -
they would be all right
,
Zena
reassured herself
.

They did not speak but saved their energy for climbing. They must be very high,
Zena
thought, because her breath came in gasps.
She had not realized how high the pass
above her Kyrie
was.
Lief
was gasping too, but whether it was from the effort of climbing with his stiff legs or the thin air she could not tell. He kept going anyway.

Half way up the wind hit them. It
came
from all sides, making everything around them, leaves and twigs and even  branches, swirl through the air. They lowered their heads and forced their way through it.

Then, unexpectedly, another danger came blasting through the wind. Arrows,
Lief
realized, and felt his body recoil with shock.
Men
were
shooting arrows at them!
One flew past his head; another thunked into the rocky slope beside him.

He
spotted
one of the
attackers
behind a rock.
Pulling a
newly finished
arrow
out of his quiver
, he
shot
it
at the man
, grateful that he had strung his
bow
.
He
did not
wait
to see i
f the arrow
found its quarry
. Instead, he reached urgently
for
Zena
and pulled her down
to the ground
. A
s he did
,
he
felt a sickening thump in the back of his shoulder. Piercing pain followed. He cried out, and
Zena
turned her face up to him, alarmed.

He must not let her know the arrow had hit him,
Lief
thought frantically. If she knew she would try to defend him, and then she might be killed.
He must get rid of the arrow, too, so she would not see it protruding from his back. He could not do it now
, though.
Zena
would
see
what he was doing, and so would the attackers.
Later, when it was safe to walk again, he would pull the arrow out
.

He lay perfectly still for a long time
, holding
Zena
under him
. To stay where they were was dangerous, but he did not think the
ir attackers
could see them well in the swirling fog and wind as long as they did not move.
And if
they did shoot,
Zena
was safe beneath him.

“
Who was
it?
”
Zena
’s
voice was muffled.

“
A hunter perhaps, who saw our movements and thought we were game,
”
Lief
replied, trying to make his voice sound normal despite the waves of pain
stabbing
relentlessly at his shoulder
and the faintness that assaulted him
.

He
hoped
Zena
would believe the
explanation
, though he did not himself.
No hunter would come into the mountains
when a storm threatened
. But if not hunters, who were they?
If there had been only one man,
he would have suspected that the mysterious watcher
really was following them
, intent on revenge for some reason he did not understand. But
many men made even less sense. Why would they
attack
at a time like this,
when they were in the mountains
in fog and wind and a bigger storm seemed imminent?

Zena
did not believe the explanation either, but she had no other ideas, so she focused on Lief.
She did not like the sound of
his
breathing. It was still labored
from the climb
, but
also
shallow. She must get him home quickly, she thought. He was not as well as he pretended to be.

No more arrows came, and
Lief
decided the attackers must have left, deterred by
the fog and
the re
lentless
winds.
Creeping away
from
Zena
on hands and knees, he
stood up slowly
, keeping his back turned
so she would not see the arrow
stuck in his shoulder.
Dizziness threatened to swamp him but he managed to fight it back.

Zena
peered into the wind and fog behind them.
“
I think they have gone,
”
she murmured.

“
Yes,
”
he agreed,
still
keeping his back carefully turned away from her.
S
he nodded and began to climb again, her head lowered against the wind.

Lief
waited until she was a short distance ahead, then he reached back with his right hand and pulled with all his strength at the arrow, grunting with the effort. The shaft broke off so suddenly that he lost his balance and fell back against a boulder, his arm still twisted behind him. As he hit the rock, the sharp point of the broken shaft plunged deeply into his palm. Wincing,
Lief
hauled
himself upright and pulled the shaft out again. Nausea rose in his throat; he swallowed it, paying no attention to the pain that caused it. All he could think of was the need to protect
Zena
, to keep her from knowing if he could.

Hard
ly aware of the movement, he thr
ust the broken shaft into his quiver and peered at his palm. There was blood all over it, and the wound looked deep. More blood oozed slowly out, and his hand throbbed with a dull, aching pain. He flexed his fingers; they felt stiff, unyielding. He wondered vaguely if the arrow in his back had penetrated as deeply. That wound throbbed, too, but mostly it burned as if a fire had been lit inside him.

He ought to have a knife ready, he realized with a
n effort, in case the attacker
s
came back. He pulled it out but his hand could hardly grasp it
.
He was about to
put it
away
when the man struck. Leaping out from behind a
nother
boulder, he wrestled Lief to the ground
. The attacker’s
beard was encrusted with snow and ice, and h
is head and body were
so swaddled in coverings
that Lief could not tell who he was.
All he knew was that
the man had inhuman strength. Panic poured through him as the massive arms encircle
d
him
. How could he break such a
savage
grip?
But he had to, had to get back to
Zena
…

Grunting with the effort,
Lief
struck
out
with his knife
.
His hand seemed not to work
, and the blow was weak.
He
tried with his
other hand but
that was no better.
He felt the man’s huge hands mov
e
up his body to
his neck
and close around it
, begin to squeeze…

With strength born of
sheer
desperation,
Lief
t
wist
ed
away from
his a
ssailant
’s
heavy body
and struggle
d
to his feet
.
The man
rose to face him. He was
as
wide
a
s he was tall
,
with
limbs
as thick as trees,
and Lief could feel
the
hatred emanating from him
. He
caught a
glimpse
of
the man
’s
eyes
as
he pulled out a
long knife
,
and saw confidence in them
, and triumph
. This time, his
assailant
expected to
kill him. He raised an enormous arm, ready to
drive the blade home.

P
etrified
,
Lief thrust out with his own knife and at the same time
gave
the man
’s
body
a heavy shove with his good shoulder
.
Taken by surprise,
his
opponent
stumbled
and the knife dropped from his hand
. Lief shoved again, harder, propelling his
whole
body into
the man
with
the
frantic energy
of terror.
His
adversary
lunge
d
,
hands upraised
as if
to clasp Lief around the neck
again
. It was a
savage lunge
, and it
made him careless.
He was standing below Lief, and when h
is
foot
slipped on the ic
y rocks
, he fell heavily,
rolled
and fell again
; then he
tumbl
ed
out of control do
wn
the steep
side of the
mountain.

Breathing hard, trying not to faint,
Lief stood
still
, wa
iting
to see i
f
the
man
would return.
The sound of his falling body had stopped but the swirling fog made it impossible to see where he had landed
or if he was still moving
.
No further noise came, no sign of movement.

Slowly, haltingly,
Lief
climbed toward
Zena
again.
He did not try to overtake her but stayed
behind so she would not see his unsteady steps or the blood on his back or hand
, or know that he
h
ad fought with one of the attackers.

Suddenly, without warning, snow was
all
around them, hard and heavy. No light flurries or tentative flakes came first as they usually did, giving
mountain
travelers
a ch
ance to go down before the storm worsened. The stinging onslaught flew straight into their eyes, making it even harder to see through the whirling debris and hazy air
.

“
To have snow
so
late in the season
is strange,
”
Zena
said
when
he came close
enough to hear. “Perhaps we should go down the mountain and find shelter.
”

While they stood uncertainly, the wind shifted again. Now it was blowing straight up the ravine, and there was no longer any possibility of going down. It would be too hard to see. Wearily, they began to climb again, the wind shrieking at their backs.