Read Online Sacred Ground by Barbara Wood - Free Book Online Page B

place, and moving farther away from him in their search.
    When the pain subsided, she said urgently to Payat, “Raven led me to a lost boy. We must find him before the vultures make a feast of his body.”
    Within the embrace of a barren, rocky watercourse, they found the boy, unconscious and dehydrated, but still alive. “Oh, you poor little boy, poor thing,” Marimi crooned as she knelt at his side. “Look, Payat, see how his foot is caught.” The child’s ankle was raw and bloody, and the rocks were scarred where he had clawed to free himself.
    Marimi sat back on her heels and listened. She lifted her nose to the air and sniffed. She closed her eyes and summoned up the vision the raven had shown her from the air. “There is a stream,” she said to Payat. And she pointed through the boulders.
    Marimi first slaked Payat’s thirst and then her own, then she brought water to the child, dripping it between his lips. She collected ground ivy from along the bank and wrapped the fresh leaves around the child’s ankle. There were fish in the stream, which Payat caught with a basket, and the three ate well that night at a campfire that burned as brightly as the full moon.
    The next day the boy, already recovering from his ordeal, said his name was Wanchem, but he didn’t know his clan or his family name, and he didn’t know in which direction he lived. As Marimi wondered how she could get him back to his people, she saw that the raven was calling again, impatiently circling in the sky. Marimi had no choice but to follow. And so, shouldering her basket and blanket, clasping her spear, and hefting Wanchem onto her hip, with Payat at her side, she set forth once again toward the setting sun.
    * * *
    Finally, they reached the western edge of the desert, where fierce mountains rose straight up, sharp and jagged. Marimi found a pass through the mountains, and after days of hardship the trio emerged on the other side to find a great lush rolling plain before them. It was green such as they had never seen, and dotted with trees as far as the eye could see, with streams and ponds, and gentle hills. When they descended into the valley, they found an ancient animal track and, knowing it would lead them to food and water, followed it. And indeed along the way they came upon trees laden with fruits and nuts, and streams running with fish and clear water. Marimi wanted to stop and say: Here is our home. But the raven kept flying ever westward, and Marimi followed, unquestioning.
    They continued along the track through glades and open fields, past marshes and great ponds of a black substance that bubbled on the surface and stung the nose with its stench. Westward the trio continued, encountering a few people along the way who were friendly but who spoke a language unknown to Marimi. These people lived in small round shelters and shared their food with the travelers. Marimi stopped occasionally to look at a sick child or a sick elder, and to share the healing herbs she carried.
    And then the air began to change and it was unlike any she and Payat had inhaled. It was fresh and cold and smelled of salt. And when Marimi saw the green mountains in the distance, she was filled with a sense of coming to an ending. Soon, she assured Payat and Wanchem, Raven would stop for his final rest.
    * * *
    As they drew near to the foothills of the green mountains, dark clouds gathered in the sky. A wind arose, buffeting Raven and impeding his progress. Around and around he circled in the sky, while Marimi hugged the two boys to her, drawing her rabbit fur blanket around them. When the storm broke, they huddled beneath the shelter of a great oak tree and watched in fear as streams overflowed and gushed down gullies and ravines, threatening to sweep the three frightened humans away. They watched in horror as cliffs broke apart and gave way, sliding down in great muddy avalanches. The wind roared and the storm thrashed the sturdy oak. Marimi lost sight of