ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) (36 page)

Korg stared at her, then at the Leader, then back at her again. There was terror in his face, a terror almost as great as her own. The fear slowly faded as he saw her look silently back at him, knew she was alive. In its place came a strange ge
ntleness
she had never seen before.

“
No, dear Leader,
”
Korg said softly,
“
this you must not do. This is not the wish of the Great Spirit but of the demons, the voices. They will only do you harm. You must come with me now, dear Leader.
”

Kneeling beside the Leader, he pulled him gently away from
Zena
. The
huge man made
no resistance, as if all
the
strength had
suddenly left him.
Even his hands had stopped squeezing when Korg had come,
Zena
realized, amazed that she had not noticed before.

The Leader made no answer, but lurched suddenly to one side. Retching noises came from him and vomit poured from his throat.

Korg
’s
face changed, became menacing, as he stared at
Zena
.
“
You have poisoned him!
”

Zena
shook her head wordlessly. Her throat was too so
re for speech. She crawled
to Runor and
checked
again for breath. She thought it was there, faint, but there.

“
The old one then,
”
Korg accused.
Zena
frowned. Was it possible Runor had put poison in the mead? She staggered to the bowl and smelled it, shook her head again.

Korg followed and tasted
the mead
delicately with his tongue. There was nothing. But something had done this to his brother! He looked again at
Zena
, assessing her, then down at Runor. If it had not been
the mead
here, then where?

Abruptly his eyes closed in
agony
.
“
The mead in the old hut,
”
he murmured to himself, so quietly that
Zena
wondered if she imagined the words.

Korg had forgotten her presence, was aware only of the
despair
that had filled him. Why had he not thought? Mordor would have gone first to the mead. After all this time it would be like drinking poison, full of mold and the bitterness of decay. It might not kill, but then again it might.

Perhaps, after all, it would be better if it did.

He looked again at his brother, quiet now, and an unfamiliar sensation suffused him. There was pity, and a terrible sadness, and something else.
Love,
he thought with a cynical smile. Was it possible that after all these years he had discovered the meaning of the word?
Love
, the emotion that others talked of endlessly. Perhaps in the end it had come to him as well. He was not sure he wanted it.

The emotion slid away, but then there was nothing but grief. With a determined twist of his lips, Korg thrust that away as well. No one must ever know what he had felt, or even that he had felt at all.
For a long moment, he stood perfectly still, his back to
Zena
, willing all signs of emotion to leave his face. When he turned to her, his expression was blank.

He made a small bow.
“
We will leave you now,
”
he said politely, and there was great dignity in his voice and in his bearing.
“
I can do no more.
”

Speechless, she watched him pull the Leader to his feet and help him stumble to the entrance. Before he passed through, Korg turned to face her once again.

“
The Great Spirit will not be back,
”
he told her quietly.
“
I have killed him.
”
He paused.
“
No,
”
he corrected in a stronger voice.
“
The Great Spirit has killed himself.
”
Abruptly, he nodded.
“
Yes,
”
he said again, with an ironic smile.
“
The Great Spirit has killed himself.
”
And then he was gone, the water swirling around his legs as he dragged the half-conscious Leader into the wind-scoured darkness beyond.

Zena
stared after him.
A faint cry reached her, flung by the wind.
“S
he is alive, the
sister
you seek. All the time she was
…
”
The rest of the words were lost in the wind, the roaring water.

Zena
sprang to the door of the hut and called desperately after him.
“
Where is she? You must tell me where she is… please, you must tell me…
”

There was no answer.
Zena
rubbed
her swollen throat and tried to call again but knew it was no use. The storm, the raging water had swallowed him up and there was nothing she could do. Tears slid down her face, of frustration, of relief, and for a moment she sobbed uncontrollably. Then she turned back to Runor.

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

Lief pushed his way into the turbulent water.
The stream had been much lower when he had crossed
earlier
.
Now it was a
n uncontrollable
torrent
that
grew
larger every moment.
He
must
get across
it
anyway;
Zena
was on the other side. Why had he not
realized
that this could happen before they separated? He took another step, lost his balance
and fell into the ic
e-cold
water
. He
backed out again
, shivering
. He would have to find a better place to cross.

A figure suddenly appeared on the opposite bank, and his heart pounded with relief.
Zena
; it must be
Zena
. No one else was in the village. He had searched all the huts, the clearing, had found no one. The villagers must have realized what was going to happen and fled for the hills.

But it was not
Zena
; to his astonishment, it was Larak. What was she doing here? Her face was transfigured by fear.

“
Zena
,
”
she cried out when she saw him.
“
Where is
Zena
?
”

Lief did not waste time in questions.
“S
he went to Runor
’s
hut,
”
he shouted back.
“
I think she is still there, but I cannot get across.
”

Larak turned and shouted into the wind behind her.
“
Hular!
”
she screamed.
Within moments, Hular appeared, with three men from the village.

“
We must get Lief across,
”
Larak told them. But
Zena
, what of
Zena
, while they delayed? Even now, she must be with the Leader, with Korg...

“
Rope,
”
one of the men said, and pulled a length of sturdy cord from his pack.
Coiling
it expertly
, he
threw with all his strength toward Lief, who tied it quickly around his waist. The three men began to pull him across.

Runor
’s
hut, where is it?
”
Larak asked urgently, unwilling to wait. A man pointed back into the trees.
“
Not far,
”
he
said.
”
Straight
back toward the ravine.
”
Larak plunged in the direction he had pointed. Never had she known anything as powerful as the fear that gripped her. It gave her legs a strength she did not know they had, made her breath come in
urge
n
t
bursts as she ran.

She saw the
hut ahead.
“
Zena
,
”
she screamed.
“
Zena
, are you there?
”

A pair of stumbling figures approached her. Korg, she saw
. H
e was dragging the Leader, who seemed hardly conscious. Korg stopped for a moment and examined Larak
’s
fear-filled face.

“
Zena
is in the hut
,” he said. “
You will find her well, I think.
”
He
nodded at her,
then picked up his burden and resumed his laborious trek.

For a moment, Larak could not move. What had he meant?
“
Zena
,
”
she called again.
“
Zena
, you must answer!
”

Zena
heard the voice but could not seem to move, even to speak. Korg, the man of whom she had been so afraid; Korg had saved her life, had even told her Teran was alive.
It had not been
Korg but the Leader who was so dangerous. Had Runor known? She must have.

The thought jerked her back into awareness, and she bent over Runor. Was she still
breathing
? Water swirled around her knees as she knelt, and the noise of it rushing past the hut was deafening.

Fearfully, she examined Runor
’s
ashen face, tried to feel a pulse at her flaccid wrist. Had she come too late to save her? There was no time to find out. Whether or not Runor lived, she must get her away.

Pulling the old woman into her arms, she staggered from the hut. She must go up, Lief had said. Only up, away from the water. But where was Lief? Why had he not come? And who had been calling?

She frowned.
Not Lief. It had sounded like Larak. But how could Larak be here?
“
Larak,
”
she croaked, aware that she could hardly speak.
“
I am here!
”

A figure suddenly materialized from the dimness, the swirling air. Larak! It really was Larak, and her face was wild with fear.

“
Zena
!
”
she cried.
“
Zena
, I have been so frightened!
”
She ran to
Zena
and held her close, to make certain she was really
alive
.

“
I am all right,
”
Zena
assured her quickly in a hoarse whisper.
“
Korg saved me,
”
she added, astonishment still evident in her voice, and for the first time she began to understand that the words were true.

“
Korg saved you?
”
Larak
’s
voice was incredulous, but only for a moment.
“
Yes,
”
she said, and nodded.
“
Yes, that I can understand.
”

“
He told me Teran was still alive.
”
Zena
whispered the words, afraid to say them out loud lest they were not true. Had Korg been taunting her?

Larak stared at her.
“
Teran? Alive?
”
Could
Zena
have imagined the words? Or perhaps Korg had lied…
But she must not think of that now. She must get
Zena
away from the
rising
water, the
falling
ice. That was most important
.

She peered down at the woman in
Zena
’s
arms. Not Teran, but Runor.
“
Does she live?
”

“
I cannot tell,
”
Zena
answered shakily.
“
I might have come too late.
”

Suddenly Lief was there, and behind him Hular and the men from the village.
“
Hurry,
”
Lief ordered.
“
The water is higher every moment.
”