ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) (49 page)

She could not go on. Durak understood. He brought Mara and Hular to greet her first, giving her time to recover before she turned to greet Pila.

Zena went up to her. “I am
Zena
,” she said softly
, and held out her hands in a gesture of greeting
.

For a moment,
Pila stood perfectly still and
stared at
Zena
. Suddenly, her shadow woman had turned into flesh and blood, turned into someone she knew almost as well as she knew herself, only she still didn’t really know either
.

It did not matter, she thought
, impatient with herself
. What mattered was that
Zena
needed her. Taking
Zena
’s hands, she pulled her into her arms.

“I know you almost as well as I know myself,
yet
at the same time
I do not know you,”
she
whispered
. “
It is a strange feeling.
But I
also
know
that you have felt great pain since Lief’s death, such terrible pain, because I have felt it too, for you.
Even if I still do not know fully that I am Teran, I feel as if I were Teran, and oh how I wish I could have been with you sooner that this. I have felt you longing for me…
”

She drew away and looked up into
Zena
’s tear-stained face. “
I am so glad we have found each
other
at last,” she whispered
, still holding
Zena
’s hands in hers
.

Zena
could not speak.
The tears were flowing too fast. Pila was Teran; she felt and smelled and sounded like Teran, so she really did have Teran back…

She
blinked hard
, trying to contain
the
emotions
surging inside her
. Teran had always been better at that, but even she was struggling despite her
smile and her
brave words
.
Her brown eyes were brilliant with
unshed
tears.

“
For me to express how joyous it is to have you back again is… Well, if I speak of it I will weep again and I might not be able to stop,” she whispered back. “And one day y
ou will know both of us again
; I know it will be true, and I will help all I can. We will have to
be patient
, but
at least
now
we can wait together.”

Pila smiled, the wide, radiant, warming smile
Zena
remembered so well.“Yes,” she agreed. “Already I have started
knowing you
.
For a long time now
, I have felt you like a shadow beside me, and now suddenly you are no longer a shadow.”

“I have felt you like a shadow beside me, too, for all the time you have been gone,”
Zena
confided
when she could trust her voice
. “
That is how I knew you were still alive.
And I am very, very glad you are no longer a shadow. Even if you do not remember, you are real.”

They were silent then, looking at each other uncertainly, yet
with complete understanding.
How odd it was
,
Zena
thought, to
both know and not know another person at the same time. She could barely imagine how strange it must feel to know who you were with one part of you but not know with the other. But at the same time,
it seemed to
her that she and Teran
were already as close to each other, as able to intuit each other’s thoughts and feelings as they had been before.
Even if Pila did not remember who she was, even if she never fully remembered, they would have that closeness.
That was truly a gift
.

The child
provided a welcome interruption
from the intensity of their reunion.
Reaching out
from Pila’s arms
, he touched
Zena
’s face
. H
e had pale hair and blue-green eyes, very like her own
,
and
f
or the first time,
Zena
absorbed the fac
t
that
it was her beloved sister’s child she had saved,
Teran’s child
.

“He is beautiful,” she said, trying to smile as tears
pricked at her eyelids
again
.

Pila seemed to pick up her thoughts, as Teran had so often done.
“You saved him for me,”
she
said, her voice
finally
breaking. “They would have taken my child…
That
you
should have saved him, not knowing
….
”

They would both have broken down
again
then if Brulet had not come running up. She
hugged Pila fiercely. “Oh, I am so
glad to see you again!
We heard that
you had left Niva
’s
village and we were so worried. We
did not
know where you were.
I
am so glad to
know you are safe and to
see you here!
”

Thrilled to see Brulet again, Pila hugged her back.
Brulet was like a refreshing breeze cool
ing
the intense emotions raging inside her, and she was very glad of the distraction.
“
I
am
so
glad
to see you again too, Brulet
.
I have wanted to see you again for
a
long
time
.
And
I am
happy to be
here, very happy.
How
I have long
ed to be in
a village with Mother People
again
!
”

“I brought you a shell like the one I once showed you,” Brulet said
. She handed
Pila a shell that looked much like the one
Zena
had given her so long ago.
“I
wanted you to have one because you loved looking at it.”

Pila was
delighted
with the gift.
“I thank you Brulet
!
I will treasure the shell. It is beautiful
. I
will keep it with me always.
Like this one,” she added, pointing to the amulet around her neck.

Brulet’s eyes lit up. “I am glad you still have it,” she said.

“
It
is
because of the
amulet and the
shell you showed me that I left Niva’s village
,”
Pila
added
with a smile
.
“
They
told me that I did not belong
there.
”

“How did the
y
do that?” Brulet asked, fascinated.

Pila’s face became dreamy. “
The amulet because you told me it symbolized the Mother’s never-ending circle of wisdom, and I knew I must find the place where other people believed that. As for the shell -
I
often
dreamed of
a
land
where many shells
like the one you gave me lay scattered
on fine
earth that
was
almost white
. Your shell told me that my dream could be real, that perhaps once I really had gone to that place, and so I had to leave
Niva’s village
to see if I could find the people who had taken me there. I remember that
the
water
stretched all the way to the horizon
and
went
back and forth
ceaselessly, though
I do not know how that can happen
...”
She broke off, confused.

“That is the place where we
-
the Mother People
-
go for our ceremonies,”
Zena
told her,
finally
managing a smile.
“
We will go there together soon
.”

“Yes. Durak said that too. I w
ant
to go there
very much
,
”
Pila replied
.

She turned to Durak.
“
I do not
know what would have happened
to
me and to my child
after I left
Niva’s village
if Durak
had not found me
and helped me to recover
.
I was very weak still, and then I sprained my ankle badly, so I could not walk
.
Durak took care of me.
I would not be here
now, but for
Durak
.” She
reached
for
his
hand
, and
Zena
saw instantly that they were lovers.

A pang of longing for Lief shot through her even as she rejoiced for Durak
.
He had been so devastated by Rofina’s death
that s
he had not been sure he would ever recover. Thanks to Pila, he had.

Niva came to greet them
then,
and to tell them that Runor was waiting. “She tires easily
,
” Niva said
with just a trace of her old bossiness
, “so it will be good if you
can
come right away
.
”

Obediently, they went to greet Runor.
She looked
old and
weary
and
distressed
,
Zena
thought, and wondered what troubl
ed
her
so
badly.

Runor
greeted them soberly, which was unlike her. She
offered them
food and drink
,
and when they had finished,
she rose
laboriously to her feet
. “Come,” she said.
“I must show you the man who came to us
.
”

She led them into a hut lit by low lamps.
A big
man l
ay
on a pallet
by a low fire.
A soft cloth covered part of his face, and
his
hands were
wrapped in bandages,
as were his feet. Another big bandage was wrapped around his leg.

The man stared up at them in
rank
terror. “He is always afraid,” Runor
told them
softly. “His name is Gurd, and he lives in
dread of us.
We have all
tried to tell him we mean him no harm, but he does not believe us. I cannot blame him. He has caused us great suffering and
so he
is certain we must
hate him. P
erhaps we should
, but
we cannot
, not now
.”

“
So that is
Gurd,” Niva said
in a hushed voice
. “I have never seen him before
. In all that time, I never saw him.
That seems very strange.
”

Pila s
hook her head in pity.
“
To me, he is th
e hooded man,” she murmured. “He has done
me
much harm,
too, but I understand why
it is difficult to wish to harm him in return.”

Durak nodded. “He is the man who shot me, but I
can
not
wish him harm
, either
, not now
.
He looks
frozen with fear
, like an animal caught in a trap
.
”

“He is like that,” Runor agreed. “I think to be anywhere except with the Korg and the Leader is hard for him. Only with them d
id
he feel secure
.”