ICE BURIAL: The Oldest Human Murder Mystery (The Mother People Series Book 3) by Joan Dahr Lambert Read Free Book Online

insisted, the Leader was too good in himself to see evil in others, or perhaps…
    Mara left the thought unfinished and allowed herself to drift into sleep again. Later, she felt a tugging at her breasts. Runor had smuggled in an infant to suckle. Was it really safe? The relief was wonderful.
    Once each day, the baby came, until Mara ’s milk gradually dried up. Only the child ’s mother knew, and she was sworn to secrecy. Still, Korg had eyes and ears everywhere , and they must be careful .
    Days passed, then a full cycle of the moon, and Mara ceased to worry so much that Korg and the Leader would find out what had happened to her. The knowledge that the Great Mother was with them helped. She and her mother spoke to the Goddess each day, asking for Her help and guidance, and even though there was no direct answer, Mara knew She was there.
    Had the Leader not come, she thought to herself, she might one day have been the wise one for her tribe , as her mother had been many years ago and her mother before her, for many generations. Then, they would have journeyed south twice each year with all the other People of the Mother tribes to the sacred stones by the sea, to listen as their spiritual leader, the one who bore the name of Zena , called down the Goddess so that all could be renewed by Her spirit.
    An idea came to Mara suddenly, that one day it would be so again. Perhaps that was why Zena had come to her, not just to save her child but to bring the Goddess back to them. Mara’s heart lifted at the thought and hope poured into her.
    Just as quickly it drained away. Perhaps she only imagined that her tribe had been happier as Mother People, with Runor as their wise one. She had only been a child then, who did not understand. And after all these years, people might not wish to return to the Goddess. The Leader ’s beliefs had infiltrated every aspect of their lives, and to be without them was hard to imagine. Besides, everyone in the tribe adored him. He was kind and generous, they said, and if he sometimes seemed cruel in his efforts to keep order or to assuage the Great Spirit, they understood. The sacrifices were small compared to the horrors that would come if they were not made . The spreading ice , the terrible cold that afflicted their ancestors, the fierce northern invaders who had followed had not been forgotten. The old people kept the memories alive, told how their parents and grandparents had died of starvation and cold as the ice crept across the land, how the plants and fruits had disappeared and the great herds of animals had lumbered south, with the savage tribes behind them raping and pillaging and killing all who did not flee before them.
    Only if the tribe obeyed the rules the Great Spirit set down for them could these disasters and all the others, like floods and droughts and storms be prevented, the Leader told them over and over again. Most important was the rule that children born to the Great Spirit must be returned , sacrificed on the sacred altar .
    “ When the Great Spirit comes to a woman, ” the Leader had explained, ‘s he is blessed. If a child should form in her womb she is doubly blessed, for the child comes not from a man but from pure spirit. Her body remains untouched, and any child created by the Great Spirit is not child but part of the Spirit Itself and must be returned. It is in this way that we prevent the horrors from coming. Neither droughts nor floods nor endless cold, nor even the terrible moving sheets of ice that bury everything in their path, will plague us when the child is returned, as the Great Spirit demands. Only this will placate his wrath. ”
    Rofina had believed this, when the Great Spirit had come to her. She had been proud to be so chosen, had felt that she was blessed to be with child while still untouched by a man - until the child had been snatched away and taken to the altar .
    Mara had not believed. To kill an innocent babe for such a reason could not be