ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) (45 page)

Zena
’s
exploring fingers found a lump but she did not think it explained
Lief’s
terrible weakness by itself.
His
stomach ailment
must be worse. That could make people
very ill.
She picked up
his
hand
to comfort
him and was startled when he winced. Her eyes dropped to the hand, saw the blood, the wound.

“
How did that happen?
”
she asked, horrified by the deep, jagged tear.

“
Arrow,
”
Lief
mumbled indistinctly, feeling too weak now to lie.

“
Arrow? Did one of the arrows hit your hand?
”

“Yes,” he said, thinking that a
wound to his hand would worry her less tha
n
an arrow in his shoulder.
If she was to live, she must not worry.
She must sleep if she could. “
I pulled it out and it will heal
,
”
he added
.

Zena
looked more closely at the
wound and
rubbed it gently with snow to clean it.
She suspected it was very painful, and pain too made people weak.
Some part of her was not entirely satisfied with this explanation, but she
did not question Lief further. What he needed now was to rest, to sleep if he could.

“
We will rest now and wait out the storm,
”
she told him
, replacing his cap and covering him with furs
.
“S
oon, the cave will seem warmer, even if we do not have fire.
”
They huddled together, and after a time,
Lief
realized she was right. The small space did seem to get warmer. He saw that the snow seemed to be slowing down as well, now that the light was fading. The pain was receding, too
. Shock had made him numb, and now he hardly felt the fire in his shoulder. He w
as grateful.

Zena
pulled out some
cooked
deer meat she had saved
and they both ate
a little, or at least Lief tried
.
“
It will keep up our strength,
”
Zena
told him
.
“
Then
, as soon as
the light comes again, we can go home.
”
She smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder. He was relieved that she had chosen his good shoulder, and he put an arm around her.

S
nuggling against him,
Zena
allowed her
eyes
to close
for a few moments.
She felt
Lief
’s
arm tighten protectively; she
forced her eyes
open
again and
stroked his wounded hand gently
. As soon as she stopped, her eyes began to close again. She yanked them open,
determined not to fall asleep lest he become worse without her knowledge
. Surely, though, it
would be all right
just
to rest in this way.

Hours seemed to pass, and she thought Lief slept a little.
Zena
was glad, and vowed again to watch over him. For a time she succeeded; then, d
espite her efforts, sleep overcame her, the deep impenetrable sleep of youth and exhaustion. Later, she became aware that she was lying down and that
Lief
was
lying
beside her. She pulled him closer
and
p
ressed hard
against his body so she could give him her warmth, and plummeted once more into sleep.

Lief
smiled, feeling the warmth radiating from her. Only warmth would keep her alive on this night. The thought lodged in his mind as he lay there with
Zena
cradled in his arms.
More h
ours passed, and the thought was still there: only warmth would keep
Zena
alive. It went around and around inside him, seeming to meld with the dizziness, and making sleep impossible.

He lay there thinking about the man who had attacked him,
wondering
who he was, and suddenly his mind
became
as
clear as
a
mountain lake
, and he understood.
T
he man
who had
wrestled
him to the ground
and
fought like a devil
to kill him
was the man with the scarred face he had seen all those years ago
, the man who had spied on them and shot at them
. He was
the reclusive man who traveled with Korg and the Leader. They had been dressed as women
th
at day
,
and the Leader was comatose with mead.

Another revelation followed
.
The man with the scarred face was the real threat, not
Korg and the Leader
as they had always thought. He was
dangerous still. He would kill
Zena
, kill all of them
if he could
. Lief did not know why, only that it was so.
The
knowledge came to
him
abruptly, without warning, in the same irrefutable way he had known long ago that
Zena
would on
e day be important in his life.
He knew too, that the man was still alive.
The fall had not killed him.
He could feel
rage
emanating
from
the
huge
man
,
as
strong and vengeful a
nd implacable
as before
.

Why had he n
ever
realized th
e
se things
before?
And what had been in the sack the
scarred
man carried across
his back?

Panic struck Lief.
He must
warn
the others,
warn
Zena
, quickly
, while he still could
.
Lips stiff
with
fear and
cold
,
h
e
spoke urgent
words into her ear
,
about the man with the scarred face
and what
was
in the sack he carried
,
about the danger
that was still all around them
,
but
the dizziness had come back forcefully
and he was not sure he
said them
aloud
. Perhaps they were just in his mind.
He
forced the words out again
,
desperate now, but the
howling
wind
blew them away
and he did not know if she had heard
.
He spoke them again
and then again
, or
h
e
thought he did.

A
nother shock came, suddenly,
irrevocably
. He
would not live through the night.
He was too weak, and he could feel the weakness growing, spreading through his body and mind, sucking the life from him.
He would not live, but
Zena
must. While he still had the will, he must do what he could to keep her alive. That was all that mattered
now
:
Zena
must live.

Zena
must live. Over and over the thought resounded
through
Lief
’s
mind as he summoned the last of his strength to do what had to be done. Moving carefully so he would not wake her, he stripped himself to the waist and covered her sleeping form with his clothing. The movements were strained and difficult with
his maimed hand and shoulder
, but
Lief
hardly noticed. He just kept tugging until the job was finished. His cap went over her head, his fur cape and the extra furs above him were tucked around
Zena
instead. When he was certain she was wrapped as warmly as possible, he lay above her to protect her from the snow and to give her the last of his body
’s
heat. He looked down at her face, but the night was utterly dark, and all he could see was a pale oval. Closing his eyes, he remembered it instead. He saw her lips curve into a smile, saw doubt encompass her features, and then strength, the strength she had not known she possessed. Now she was intense, serious, as she spoke for the Mother, now she was looking up at him, her eyes filled with love.

Above him, the snow changed to freezing rain that pummeled his naked back and head, and the winds shifted
direction
again to whistle across their cave, but
Lief
did not notice. There was nothing for him now but
Zena
’s
face, the beloved face he would take with him to the stars. He was almost there now, beginning to fly as he and
Zena
had flown so many times together. For a moment anguish filled him because this time she could not come, but the sorrow quickly passed. It did not matter that he should go alone. What mattered was that
Zena
would live and would go on living
and
that no harm would ever come to her. He knew that was so because he would always be with her, watching from the stars. However
difficult
the challenges she faced, however far she journeyed, he would be with her, helping her, loving her, making sure she was safe. Always and forever, he would be there.

CHAPTER TWENTY
T
HREE

Zena
woke in the night; feeling
Lief
’s
weight above her, she drifted back toward sleep. He must be sleeping, too. Still, she should check, make sure he was all right. He had been so weak. She opened her eyes to look at him but the night was too black to see his f
ace
. Snow was all around them; that much she could see, and she thought the wind must have shifted again because she could hear it howling above them. It was good that they had made the cave so deep, she thought sleepily. They were well protected here. She whispered
Lief
’s
name
and touched him gently, but there was n
o answer and she decided to let him sleep on.

When she woke again, the sky had a faint lightness and she knew dawn must be close. She was very cold.
Lief
must be even colder above her. Both of them should get up and move around to bring warmth back into their bodies.

“
Lief
,
”
she said softly. He did not answer, and a prickle of alarm raced through her.
Lief
always woke at the slightest noise. She tried to move a hand up to touch his face, visible now as a pale oval, but her arms were pinned between them.

“
Lief
,
”
she called again, loudly
this time
, but there was still no answer. Fighting panic now,
Zena
struggled to shift his weight and free her arms so she could touch him.
“
Lief
,
”
she said sharply.
“
Lief
, please wake up and tell me you are all right.
”

One hand came free and she touched his face. It was cold, terribly cold. She
reached out to shake
his shoulder
to force him awake.
Shock hit her so hard she had to fight to breathe. His shoulders were bare, and his back... There was nothing on them, no tunic, no furs, nothing, only snow.

Gasping, she pulled furiously at the tangle of furs wrapped around her. What had he done? Where were his clothes? She looked down at the cocoon from which she was struggling to emerge and saw them. They were there,
all around her, not
on him but on her.

“
Lief
,
Lief
, what have you done?
”
she cried, as if he could hear, not wanting to know, not yet, that he could not. She
could not know this yet
...

Sobbing, she finally pull
ed
herself
out from under him and
watched in horror as he fell face first into the hollow that had enclosed her a moment ago. His body was stiff; it did not bend at all as he fell, not even his arms, which had been outstretched to embrace her
and were still out-stretched
. A scattering of snow
flakes
flew into the air, disturbed by the motion, then settled again on his rigid form.

There was frost on his back, and
snow. She brush
ed
it away, saw blood, dark red blood, frozen
into the
snow
, and there was something else..
.

Her hand
reached out to touch the
stub of rough splintered wood
in
his frozen flesh
. An arrow; an arrow had pierced his
shoulder
… Why had she not known? Why had he not told her?

This was not
Lief
; could not be
Lief
, not with an arrow in his back
. Abruptly,
Zena
grabbed his tunic, which had fallen to the ground. Shaking it free of snow, she laid it across his frost
and blood
-covered back, put a fur above that. She must get him warm again; that was it. Once she had warmed him he would be
Lief
again. She rummaged in her pack, found the tinder. It felt dryer now. Wood to burn - that was next. She looked around and for the first time noticed the
depth of the
snow
.
How could she find wood under all that snow? It was still
falling
, too, spilling in thick torrents from the leaden sky.

Agony hit her, and she fell to her knees beside
Lief
’s
body, so stiff, so utterly devoid of life.
“
Where have you gone?
”
she moaned.
“
Lief
, where have you gone? You must come back! How can I live without you?
”

Unbidden, the words he had spoken earlier came into her mind.
“
You must live,
”
he had said.
“
You are
Zena
.
”

Was that why he had done what he had done, so she could live? She did not want to live, not now. Why must she live, just because she was
Zena
?

“
Great Mother,
”
she whispered,
“
help me now.
”
Desolate, she lay down beside
Lief
and took his rigid body into her arms. He had given everything he had, his clothes and furs, the heat of his body, his life itself, to keep her alive. So would she give all she had to him. With desperate strength she tried to push life back into him, as if by the force of her will alone she could repair the damage
the arrow
and the storm
had done, the damage h
e had done to himself.

“
Lief
, I want you to live,
”
she whispered, over and over again.
“
Lief
, you must come back.
Lief
, please come back.
”

How long she lay there she did not know. Time had no meaning now. Even when the cold came so far into her that her bones ached, she did not move. All she could do was cling to him, and hope.

A realization aroused her. She must get help. That was the answer. If she got help, they could bring
Lief
back to the village and nurse him back to health.
His wounds needed to be cleaned, the blood wiped away and the rest of the arrow removed.
Surely, that was the right thing to do.

Ignoring the icy wind,
Zena
pulled herself to her feet
.
She must make sure
Lief
had
everything
he needed before she left. She propped his pack with all its contents beside him, and set his axe, his beautiful axe with the metal blade that was his prize possession, against a rock. Only
Lief
had an axe like that. They were made in the south, where he had
once lived
, and he had traded many fine arrows to get it.

His knife, she thought; he must have his knife nearby. Pulling it out of its sheath, she tried to think where she should put it.
Lief
’s
fingers were curled, as if waiting to grasp the familiar object, so she slid the knife carefully into his hand. After a last look to make sure he was still well covered
with furs
and everything was near him, she began to walk down the mountain.

To her surprise, she kept falling. Her legs seemed not to know where they were, and the snow was so deep she could not see where her feet
landed.
She hauled herself up each time she fell and plunged again into the
thick
drifts
. The movements brought blood back to her legs, and she winced with the pain, wanting to stop and rub them but unwilling to give in to any distraction from her purpose. She must get back as soon as she could. Her toes were the worst, and her fingers.

The storm had stopped, she realized suddenly. The air was bright and clear, almost windless, and very cold. Without warning, sun burst through the clouds and hit the fallen snow. The effect was dazzling. Light bounced in multiple directions from every tiniest surface and rushed back at her
.
Zena
’s
hand
shot up
to her eyes, to protect them from the blinding glare.
It was coming straight into her face.

Narrowing her eyes,
she trudged into the brilliant light, moving as fast as she could through the deep drifts. Hours seemed to pass, and a
fter a time she realized it was hard to see at all, as if the sunlight had gone all the way into her eyes and lodged there, so she could see nothing else. Now she was falling more often. She paid no attention, only got up again and stumbled on.

Her skin felt harsh and burned, and her eyes ached. Perhaps she should tie something around them to protect them. But then she would not be able to see at all
, and if
she could not see she could not walk. Only she was not walking now, but almost rolling down a slope
too
steep
to walk.
She thrust her heels into the snow to st
op herself, and
then took one small step after another, holding her feet sideways and pushing them against the slope so she would not slide. The effort exhausted her but she dared not stop. Something was falling down her face, something wet, and she realized it was tears. She blinked them away, wincing as the light hit them.

After a long time the sun disappeared and she was glad, except that now she was colder. She wondered where she was, made an effort to figure it out. She was going home, going down the mountain to get help for
Lief
. Surely, though, she had gone far enough? She had been walking for a long time.

The snow had started again, wet heavy snow that made the air
as
hazy as it had been
the day
before. Or perhaps the haze was in her eyes, or even in her mind. Perhaps it had crept into her through her eyes and that was why it was so hard to think. It made no difference. She must just keep walking anyway.

A sound snapped her head around and brought her to a stop.
It sounded like someone calling. The realization
had no meaning for her
, and she went wearily on, one step at a time.
The sound came again and this time it penetrated the haze inside her. Someone was calling her name, her name and
Lief
’s
.

The call came again.
“
Zena
!
Lief
!
”

Zena
opened her mouth to answer but no sound emerged. She tried again, managed a squeak. What was the matter with her voice?  Angry now, she rubbed at her throat and forced the sound through.
“
Here,
”
she called.
“
I am here!
”

Awareness tugged at her at the sound of her own voice. They had said they might come up to the pass. Hular and Sorlin had said that. Maybe they had come.

“
Here!
”
she called again, straining to look for them.

“S
tay where you are! Keep calling but do not move,
”
the voice answered.
“
We will come to you.
”
But
Zena
was incapable now of staying still. Still calling, she floundered through the snow, holding her hands in front of her as if they could see what had become so indistinct to her eyes. There were lumps ahead, lumps that were not snow, that were moving... Someone was here, someone who could help her, could get
Lief
...

Arms caught her just before she fell; whose arms she could not tell, only that they were arms and full of warmth. She was aware next of hot liquid going down her throat. She gagged; the liquid went away, but someone was still chafing her hands, her feet, holding her up.

“
We must get her back quickly,
”
another voice said. Arms went under each of her shoulders, lifting her almost clear of the ground, and she felt herself being carried
.

“
No!
”
she cried
out in alarm
.
“
No, we must get
Lief
!
”

The movement did not stop.
“
You can tell us where he is and we will go back for him after we have taken you to the village,
”
the voice reassured her. Sorlin, she thought.