ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

sure he could stay away for too long. One day, when he had explored all the lands he wished to see, he promised himself, he would come back and live there again.
    Turning resolutely, he walked on, nibbling at berries when he found them and drinking water from the cold, clear streams. It was a good life, to wander in this way.
    All that day and for many more days, Lief walked hard, stopping only to find food and to sleep, and even before the end of the moon’s next cycle, he noticed that the land around him had begun to change. The trees were large and leafy, very different from the tall straight pines of northern lands, and the hills were gentle and brilliantly green. As he went on, trees began to disappear , replaced by low bushes of gorse or some other plant he could not name. The sky was bluer, too. Excited, he quickened his pace. Perhaps he was closer than he had thought to the great water.
    Birds he had never seen before were flying overhead . They were white and shone in the sunlight, and their flight was quick and graceful. One of them spiraled high into the sky , then tumbled down again behind the curve of the next hill. It must have seen a mouse or some other small creature, Lief thought, and ran up the hill so he could see over the top and discover what it had caught. When he got there he gasped in wonder. There were no animals where the bird had landed. In fact, it could not have landed at all. Where it had come down there was only water - water that seemed to push itself up and down as if compelled into endless motion by some unknown force. The bird sat complacently atop the sparkling water, as if this moving surface was as familiar to it as the solid ground.
    Lief’s eyes traveled further, following the water all the way to the sky, where it merged and blended so that there was no way of telling where one stopped and the other began. Tears pricked behind his lids at the wonder of it. Finally, he had come to the great water, and it was more beautiful than he had ever imagined. Here, near the land, the water was a hazy green, but as it stretched away it became deep blue and purple, and then a hard gray-blue that softened until it melted into the sky. No islands interrupted the glittering surface as others had said they did, but perhaps he would see them as he traveled along its edges.
    Lief stared for a long time; then he ran again, down and down, until the great water was lapping at his feet. Removing his shoes, he waded in. The water felt warm, with none of the icy chill of the mountain lakes. He swished about, peering curiously at all the small creatures below the surface, seeing how they, like the bird, went back and forth with its motion. Could he do that as well?
    Pulling off his clothes, he went deeper. For a long time he could touch the bottom and he kept going until only his head was above the water. As it moved, some came into his mouth, and he was surprised to note that it had a salty taste. Then, suddenly, it rose up in front of him in a great crest. Taking hold of his body , it fl u ng him first up, then down, then plung ed him under its surface so he could not see at all. Water was in his ears, his eyes, had gone down his throat, making him gasp and cough. Lief floundered, unable to right himself; then his feet found the bottom again and he staggered back to shore , a little frightened by the unknown force that had tossed him effortlessly about, but also elated. That had been an astonishing ride. When he understood the water better, he would try it again.
    He rubbed his skin. It felt clean, smooth. He splashed himself all over, glorying in the sensation of cleanness and coolness after his long journey. Then he picked up his clothes and dunk ed them up and down. They were as soiled as he was. When all the dirt and sweat had been rinsed away, he laid the clothes out on a rock in the sun, sank down onto the pale grainy surface beside the water and fell asleep.
    He awoke many hours later, stretched