Death in the Time of Ice by Kaye George Read Free Book Online Page A

distress to herself? Squinting in the dim light, Enga saw it. Now she understood why no dying emotions had gone out.
    A caribou antler prong stuck out of her back.
    Her hands froze in midair, hovering over the body. Hama must have been stabbed, killed so suddenly she had no time to form a single inkling. Stabbed with this sharp antler. Stabbed from behind.
    Enga shook herself and gripped Hama’s shoulders and turned her more. The lifeless body flipped over as much as it could against the antler. Enga drew in air and blinked back the beginnings of tears. Hama’s stained moose-fur tunic gaped open in the front. The antler buttons that had been a gift from the New One, and which he himself had fastened to the tunic, were not in place. They lay scattered on the dirt floor around her sleeping skin. Holes in her tunic gaped where the buttons had been torn out.
    Enga swallowed with a dry mouth.
    I have lost my beloved Hama. She who was the birth mother of Tog Flint Shaper, she who was the leader of the tribe, she who was beloved by me because she raised me. I love her so.
    But what had happened to her? Could she have fallen on the antler? Or did someone stab her?
    The vision of Hama standing with the two males in her life, her first mate, Panan One Eye, and her present mate, Cabat the Thick, popped into her head.
    The Elders saw the hunting party off, as usual, but they stood out of order. Usually Hama stood next to her mate, Cabat the Thick. Last time, her former mate, Panan One Eye, stood next to her.
    Enga remembered wondering what was happening among them, wondering if Hama was changed mates. But then she had needed to concentrate on the hunt. That was the last time she had seen Hama alive.
    The vision faded and Enga returned to the sight before her. Too much Red has spilled. First Ung Strong Arm, then Kokat No Ear. And now Hama.
    Just to make certain, Enga reached down and lightly touched her. Hama’s chest did not move. No breath came or went. Her gray-streaked braid spilled into the puddle of Red and stuck there.
    Enga fought back the tears that wanted to spring forth while she poked her head out the doorway, motioned for Jeek to stay where he was. With difficulty, because they were so overwhelming, she shielded her dire speculations from him. She balled her fists and kept a mental grip on midnight hues to contain her thoughts. Sannum Straight Hair had risen and was slowly headed this way. She ducked back in to think. She wanted to figure out what gone on and she did not have much time. Was it possible Hama had fallen hard enough onto the antler to kill herself? No, Enga thought. She could not picture that.
    A tear finally seeped from the inside corner of one eye. It trickled down beside her nose. Enga reeled while time once again seemed to whirl around her. She took a step. Stumbled, her foot caught on something. She bent to examine it and saw a figure carved from wood, like the one the New One had given her, except it was not a mammoth.
    It lay half buried in the hard-packed dirt floor. Enga stooped and dug it out.
    What a marvel, she thought, with an intake of breath. It is even more beautiful than my mammoth. This has to be the work of the New One.
    The New One had carved a figure of Hama, her ample curves, the strong bones of her face, her large, wide-set eyes, her loose, flowing hair, even the woven bracelets at her wrists. The carving held dirt in some of the crevices but Enga could not take time to clean it now. She set it where she had found it. Others would have to decide what should be done with it.
    There was no more Hama. How could that be? Hama had been like a birth mother to Enga. Her love for Hama flowed down her face with her tears. Then another idea sprouted inside her.
    If someone had killed Hama, who was it? And now, where was that killer?
    * * *
    After Enga Dancing Flower emerged from the wipiti she stood for a moment, gathering herself. Then she used the brightest colors she could summon, the flare of