The Land of Painted Caves Read online

  Ayla wondered again what illness or difficulty had caused Danella’s physical frailty, which contrasted so sharply with her warm and winning personality. She glanced at Zelandoni and understood that the First also wanted to know, and would find out before they left the camp. Jonayla was squirming, and Ayla thought she probably wanted to see what was going on, and whom her mother was talking to. She shifted the carrying blanket around so her baby could ride on her hip.

  “This must be your ‘Blessed of Doni’ infant, Jonayla,” Danella said.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s a beautiful name. After Jondalar and you?”

  Ayla nodded.

  “She is as beautiful as her name,” Danella said.

  Although it wasn’t obvious, Ayla knew how to read the nuances of body language and detected a hint of sadness in the fleeting frown and slight wrinkling of her brow. And suddenly the reason for both Danella’s weakness and sadness came to her. She has miscarrried quite late, or had a stillborn baby, Ayla thought, and probably had a difficult pregnancy, and very hard birth, and now had nothing to show for it. She is recovering from the strain on her body and grieving for her lost child. She looked toward the First, who was surreptitiously studying the young woman. Ayla thought she had likely guessed the same thing.

  She felt Wolf push against her leg and looked down. He was looking up at her, making a slight whine, which let her know that he wanted something. He looked at Danella, then back at her, and whined again. Did he sense something about the leader’s mate?

  Wolves were always sensitive to weakness in others. When living in a hunting pack, it was the weak ones they generally attacked. But Wolf had formed a particularly close bond with the weak half-Clan child whom Nezzie had adopted when the wolf was very young and imprinting on his Mamutoi pack. Wolves of a pack adore their puppies, but humans were Wolf’s pack. She knew he was drawn to human babies and children, and those that his wolf-sense told him were weak, not to hunt them, but to bond with as wild wolves did with their puppies.

  Ayla noticed that Danella seemed a little apprehensive. “I think Wolf wants to meet you, Danella. Have you ever touched a living wolf?” she asked.

  “No, of course not. I have never been this close to one before. Why do you think he wants to meet me?”

  “He is drawn to certain people sometimes. He loves babies—Jonayla crawls all over him and even if she pulls his hair or pokes at his eyes or ears, he never seems to mind. When we first arrived at the Ninth Cave, he acted like this when he saw Jondalar’s mother. He just wanted to meet Marthona.” Ayla suddenly wondered if Wolf had sensed that the woman, who had once been the leader of the largest Cave of the Zelandonii, had a weak heart. “Would you like to meet him?”

  “What do I have to do?” Danella said.

  The visitors to Sun View were standing around watching. The ones who were familiar with Wolf and his ways were smiling, others were interested, but Stevadal, Danella’s mate, was concerned.

  “I’m not sure about this,” he said.

  “He won’t hurt her,” Jondalar said.

  Ayla handed Jonayla to Jondalar, then led Wolf to Danella. She took the woman’s hand and went through the process of Wolf’s introduction.

  “The way Wolf recognizes someone is by scent, and he knows that when I introduce him to someone like this, they are friends.” Wolf sniffed at Danella’s fingers, then licked them.

  She smiled. “His tongue is smooth, soft.”

  “Some of his fur is, too,” Ayla said,

  “He’s so warm!” Danella said. “I’ve never touched fur on a warm body before. And right here, you can feel something throbbing.”

  “Yes, that’s how a living animal feels.” Ayla turned to the leader of the Twenty-sixth Cave of the Zelandonii. “Would you like to meet him, Stevadal?”

  “You might as well,” Danella said.

  Ayla went through a similar process with him, but Wolf seemed eager to return to Danella, and walked near her when they continued on to Sun View. They found places to sit—logs, padded stones, sometimes on the ground. The visitors took out their cups from pouches attached to their waist bands. They were served tea by the few people who had not gone to the Meeting Camp, among them both Danella’s and Stevadal’s mothers, who had stayed to help the leader’s mate. When Danella sat down, Wolf sat beside her, but he did look at Ayla, as though asking for permission. She nodded, and he put his head down on his paws that were stretched out in front of him. Danella found herself petting him now and then.

  Zelandoni sat beside Ayla. After she drank her tea, Ayla nursed Jonayla. Several people had come to chat with the First and her acolyte, but when they were finally alone, they began to discuss Danella.

  “Wolf seems to be offering her some comfort,” Zelandoni said.

  “I think she needs it,” Ayla said. “She’s still so weak. I think she may have had a late miscarriage or a stillborn, and probably a difficult time before.”

  The First gave her a look of interest. “What makes you say that?”

  “Because she’s so thin and frail, I’m sure she’s been ill or has had some problem for some time, and I noticed a certain sadness when she looked at Jonayla. It made me think she had had a long, hard pregnancy, and then lost the baby,” Ayla said.

  “That’s a very astute judgment. I think you are right. I was thinking something very similar. Perhaps we should ask her mother. I’d like to examine her, just to make sure she’s recovering well,” the Donier said. “There are some medicines that could help her.” The First turned to Ayla. “What would you suggest?”

  “Alfalfa is good for fatigue, and the stinging pain when you pass water,” Ayla said, then paused to think. “I don’t know the name, but there’s a plant with a red berry that’s very good for women. It grows along the ground as a small vine and the leaves are green all year. It can be used for the cramps that can come with the moontime bleeding, and can ease heavy bleeding. It can encourage birth, and make it easier.”

  “I’m familiar with that one. It grows so thick, it sometimes forms a mat on the ground, and birds like the berries. Some people call it birdberry,” the First said. “Alfalfa tea might help restore strength, also a decoction of the roots and bark of spikenard …” She stopped when she saw the puzzled expression on Ayla’s face. “It’s a tall bush with big leaves and purple berries … the flowers are small, greenish white … I’ll show you sometime. It can help if the sac that holds the baby inside a woman drops down, slips out of place. That’s why I’d like to examine her, so I know what to give her. Zelandoni of the Twenty-sixth is a good general healer, but he may not be as knowledgeable about women’s ailments. I’ll have to talk to him before we leave today.”

  After a polite length of time, the men who came to help build the pole-drag and then went to visit the home shelter of the Twenty-sixth Cave finished their tea and got up to leave. The First stopped Joharran. Jondalar was with him.

  “Will you go to the zelandonia camp and see if you can find Zelandoni of the Twenty-sixth?” the Donier said quietly. “Stevadal’s mate has not been well and I’d like to see if there is anything we can do. He’s a good healer, and he may have done everything that can be done, but I need to talk to him. I think it’s a woman’s problem, and we are women …” She left the rest unsaid. “Ask him to come here; we’ll wait awhile.”

  “Should I wait here with you?” Jondalar asked the two women.

  “Weren’t you planning on going to the practice field?” Joharran said.

  “Yes, but I don’t have to.”

  “Why don’t you go, Jondalar. We’ll be along later,” Ayla said, brushing his cheek with hers.

  The two women joined Danella and the two mothers, and a few others. When he saw that the First and her acolyte were not leaving, Stevadal stayed behind as well. The head Zelandoni was adept at finding out what was wrong with people, and soon discovered that Danella had been pregnant, and the baby was stillborn as they suspected, but she sensed that the tw
o older women were holding something back, especially around Danella and Stevadal. There was more to the story than they were willing to say. The Donier would have to wait for the Twenty-sixth. In the meantime, the women chatted. Jonayla was passed around to the women. Although at first Danella seemed reluctant to take her, once she did, she held her for quite a while. Wolf seemed happy to stay with both of them.

  Ayla took the pole-drag off Whinney and let her graze, and when she returned, they asked some tentative questions about the horse and how Ayla came to have her. The First encouraged Ayla to tell them. She was developing into quite a good storyteller and enthralled her listeners, especially when she added the sound effects of horse-neighs and lion-roars. Just as she was finishing, the Zelandoni of the Twenty-sixth Cave appeared.

  “I thought I heard a familiar lion-roar,” he said, greeting them with a big smile.

  “Ayla has been telling us how she adopted Whinney,” Danella said. “Just as I guessed, she has some captivating stories to tell. And now that I’ve heard one, I want to hear more.”

  The First was getting anxious to leave, though she didn’t want to show it. It was entirely appropriate for the First Among Those Who Served The Great Earth Mother to visit with the leader of the Cave that was hosting the Summer Meeting and his mate, but she had many things to do. The ceremony of the Rites of First Pleasures would be the day after next, and then the first Matrimonial of the season. Though there would be another mating ceremony near the end of the summer for those who wanted to finalize their decisions before they returned to their winter shelters, the first one was invariably the largest and most well attended. There were many plans yet to be made.

  While people fussed around making more tea, since they had drunk all there was, the First and her acolyte managed to get the Twenty-sixth aside and speak privately with him.

  “We learned that Danella delivered a stillborn,” the First said, “but more happened, I’m sure. I’d like to examine her and see if there is anything I can do to help.”

  He breathed a long sigh and frowned.

  9

  “Yes, you are right, of course. It wasn’t just a stillborn baby,” the Twenty-sixth said. “They were two-born-together, or would have been, but they were more than born together, they were joined together.”

  Ayla remembered that the same thing had happened to one of the women of the Clan, two babies joined together with a monstrous result. She felt a great sadness for Danella.

  “One was normal size, the other much smaller and not fully formed, and parts of the second were attached to the first one,” the Twenty-sixth continued. “I’m glad there was no breath in them, or I would have had to take it. It would have been too hard for Danella. As it was, she bled so much, I’m surprised she survived. We, her mother, Stevadal’s mother, and I decided not to tell either one of them. We were afraid it would make any later pregnancy even more distressing than a stillborn would. You can examine her if you want, but it happened some time ago, in late winter. She has healed well; she just needs to recover her strength, and get through her grief. Your coming to visit may have helped. I saw her holding Ayla’s baby, and I think that’s good. She seems to have made a friend of you, Ayla, and your wolf, too. Perhaps she’ll feel more inclined to go to the Summer Meeting now.”

  “Jondalar!” Ayla said when she and the First arrived back at the camp of the Ninth Cave. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to the Summer Meeting Camp.”

  “I am going there,” he said. “I just decided to check on Racer and Gray while I was here. I haven’t spent much time with Racer, and they both seemed to enjoy the company. Why are you here?”

  “I wanted to let Whinney feed Gray, while I nurse Jonayla. I was going to leave Whinney here, but then we thought this would be a good time for Zelandoni to ride into Camp on the pole-drag,” Ayla said.

  Jondalar grinned. “Then I’ll wait,” he said. “In fact, why don’t I ride in with you on Racer?”

  “We’ll have to take Gray with us, too,” Ayla said, frowning slightly. Then she smiled. “We can use the small halter you made for her; she’s getting used to wearing it. It might be good for her to get accustomed to being around people she doesn’t know.”

  “That should make quite a show,” Zelandoni said. “But I think I like it. I’d rather be part of a bigger production than the only one for people to stare at.”

  “We should bring Wolf, too. Most people have seen the animals, but not together. There are still a few who can’t quite believe that Whinney allows Wolf near her baby. If they see that he is no danger to Gray, it could help them realize that he’s no danger to them, either,” Ayla said.

  “Unless someone attempted to harm you,” Jondalar said, “or Jonayla.”

  Jaradal and Robenan came running into the summer dwelling of the leader of the Seventh Cave. “Weemar! ’Thona! Come and see!” Jaradal shouted.

  “Yes, come and see!” Robenan echoed. The two boys had been playing just outside.

  “They brought all the horses, and Wolf; even Zelandoni is riding! Come and see!” Jaradal exclaimed.

  “Calm down, boys,” Marthona said, wondering what Jaradal meant. It did not seem possible that Zelandoni could be sitting on the back of a horse.

  “Come and see! Come and see!” both boys were yelling, while Jaradal tried to pull his grandam up from the cushion upon which she was seated. Then he turned to Willamar. “Come and see, Weemar.”

  Marthona and Willamar were visiting Sergenor and Jayvena to discuss their part in an upcoming ceremony that would involve all leaders and former leaders in a small way. They had taken Jaradal with them to keep him out from underfoot of his mother. Proleva, as usual, was involved in meal planning for the event. Solaban’s pregnant mate, Ramara, and her son, Robenan, who was Jaradal’s age-mate and friend, had come along so the boys could play.

  “We’re coming,” Willamar said, helping his mate up.

  Sergenor pushed aside the drape that covered the entrance and all of them crowded out. A most surprising sight met them. Parading toward the zelandonia lodge were Jondalar on Racer’s back, leading Gray, and Ayla riding the mare with Jonayla in her carrying blanket sitting in front of her. Whinney was pulling a pole-drag upon which the First was seated, facing backward. The wolf was padding along beside them. It was still unexpected for most people to see horses with people on their backs, not to mention the wolf nonchalantly walking with them. But to see the First Among Those Who Served The Great Earth Mother riding on a seat that was being pulled by a horse was nothing less than astonishing.

  The procession passed quite near the camp of the Seventh Cave and although Marthona and Willamar and the rest of the people of the Ninth Cave were quite familiar with the animals, they gawked at the demonstration as much as anyone. The First caught Marthona’s eye and, though she smiled in a decorous way, Marthona detected a sparkle of impish delight in the woman’s gaze. It was more than a parade, it was a spectacle, and if there was one thing members of the zelandonia enjoyed staging, it was a spectacle. When they reached the entrance to the big lodge, Jondalar stopped and let Ayla and Whinney pull ahead, then dismounted and offered a hand to the First. For all her size, she stepped down from the seat on the travois gracefully and, perfectly aware that everyone was watching her, entered the lodge with great dignity.

  “So that’s what he wanted us to help him make,” Willamar commented. “He said he needed to build a very sturdy pole-drag, with shelves. It wasn’t shelves he wanted, but it was clever of him to say that. None of us could imagine that they would turn out to be a seat for Zelandoni. I’ll have to ask her what it’s like to sit on a seat that is pulled by a horse.”

  “It is brave of her to do that,” Jayvena said. “I’m not sure that I would want to try it.”

  “I would!” Jaradal said, his eyes full of excitement. “ ’Thona, do you think Ayla would let me sit on a pole-drag seat while Whinney pulled it?”

  “I’d like to do it, too,” Robenan s
aid.

  “The young are always willing to try something new,” Ramara said.

  “I wonder how many similar conversations are going on around this Camp right now,” Sergenor said. “But if she lets one boy do it, every other boy in camp will be clamoring to do the same.”

  “And quite a few girls, too,” Marthona added.

  “If I were her, I would wait until we get back to the Ninth Cave,” Ramara said. “Then it wouldn’t be much different from letting a child or two ride on the mare’s back while Ayla leads her around, the way she does now.”

  “It does make quite a demonstration, though. I recall how I felt when I first saw those animals. It could be frightening. Didn’t Jondalar tell us that people ran away from them when they were on their Journey here? Now that we’re used to them, it just seems rather impressive,” Willamar said.

  Not everyone was so pleasantly impressed by the demonstration. Marona, who loved to be the center of attention, felt a surge of jealousy rise up. She turned to her cousin, Wylopa, and remarked, “I don’t know how anyone can stand to be around those dirty animals all the time. When you get close to her she smells for horse, and I’ve heard she sleeps with that wolf. It’s disgusting.”

  “She sleeps with Jondalar, too,” Wylopa said, “and I’m told he won’t share Pleasures with anyone else.”

  “That won’t last,” Marona said, giving Ayla a venomous stare. “I know him. He’ll be back in my bed again. I promise you.”

  Brukeval saw the two cousins talking, recognized the nasty look Marona gave Ayla, and felt two opposing emotions. He knew it was hopeless, but he loved Ayla and wanted to protect her from the spitefulness of the woman who was also his cousin—he had been the brunt of her malice himself and knew how hurtful she could be. But he was also afraid that Ayla would suggest that he was a Flathead again and he couldn’t stand that, even though he knew in his heart that she didn’t mean it in the unkind way that most people did. He never looked at a polished blackened-wood reflector, but sometimes he caught glimpses of himself in still water and hated what he saw. He knew why people called him by that hateful name, but he couldn’t bear the idea that there might be some truth to it.