The Mammoth Hunters ec-3 Read online

  "We would appreciate that, but I suspect we'll be the last ones. We will have to take what we can get. We will look for you, though," Avarie said, as they walked out.

  "We'll leave in the morning, then," Tulie said. The two women embraced, and touched cheeks, then the headwoman of the Lion Camp started toward the tents.

  "Oh, Tulie, in case I don't see Ayla to tell her before you go, please thank her again for the firestone," Avarie said, then added in an apparently offhand way, "Have you set a Bride Price for her yet?"

  "We have been thinking about it, but she has so much to offer, it's difficult," Tulie said, then turned to go. After a few steps, she turned back and smiled. "She and Deegie have become so close Ayla is almost like a daughter to me."

  Tulie could hardly suppress a smile as she walked away. She thought she had noticed Vincavec paying particular attention to Ayla, and she knew Avarie's comment was no casual remark. He had put his sister up to it. It would not be a bad match, Tulie thought, and having ties with the Mammoth Camp could prove beneficial. Of course, Ranec has first claim. They are, after all, Promised, but if someone like Vincavec made an offer, it wouldn't hurt to consider it. At the very least, it would raise her value. Yes, Talut had a good idea when he suggested they stop and do some trading.

  Avarie watched her go. So Tulie is going to negotiate the Bride Price herself. I thought as much. Perhaps we should stop off at Amber Camp on the way, I know where Mother keeps the raw stone, and if Vincavec is going to try for Ayla, he's going to need everything he can get. I never saw a woman drive a harder bargain than Tulie, Avarie thought with begrudging admiration. She hadn't particularly cared for the big headwoman of the Lion Camp before, but these past few days when they had a chance to get better acquainted, she had come to respect her, and even like her. Tulie had worked hard with them and was generous with her praise when it was deserved, and if she was a formidable trader, well, that was the headwoman's role. In fact, if she were young and ready to make a joining, Avarie thought, she wouldn't mind having someone like Tulie negotiating her Bride Price.

  From the Mammoth Camp, the Lion Camp traveled in a generally northerly direction, for the most part following the river. Near the great waterways that coursed down the continent, the northern landscape changed continually and displayed a rich diversity of plant life. Their trek took them from tundra fells and bess plains to reedy forest lakes, from lush bogs to windy knolls and grassy meadows bright with summer blooms. Though the northern plants were stunted, the flowers were often larger and more brilliant than southern varieties. Ayla could identify most of them; though she didn't always know what to call them. When they passed them, or if she was out riding or walking alone, she often picked some to bring to Mamut, or Nezzie, or Deegie, or someone to tell her the names.

  The closer they came to the place of the Summer Meeting, the more Ayla found reasons to make side trips. Summer had always been the time when she wanted solitude. It had been her pattern for as long as she could remember. In the winter, she accepted the confinement imposed by severe weather, whether it was to the cave of Brun's clan, or the one in her valley, or the Mamutoi earthlodge. But in summer, though she did not like to be alone at night, she had often enjoyed getting off by herself during the day. It was her time to think her own thoughts, and follow her own impulses, free from the restriction of being watched too much, either because of suspicion, or love.

  When they stopped for the evening, it was easy enough to say she wanted to identify plants or to hunt, and she did both, using the spear-thrower as well as her sling to bring back fresh meat, but she really wanted to get away alone. She needed time to think. She was dreading their arrival, and couldn't quite understand why. She had met enough people now, and had been easily enough accepted, so she knew that wasn't the problem. But the closer they got, the more excited Ranec became, and the more morose Jondalar seemed. And the more she wished she could avoid this gathering of the Camps.

  On their last night of traveling, Ayla returned from a long walk with a handful of flowers. She noticed that a patch of ground near the fire had been smoothed out, and that Jondalar was making marks in it with the drawing knife. Tornec had a broken piece of ivory in his hand and a sharp knife out, and was studying marks.

  "Here she is," Jondalar said. "Ayla can tell you better than I can. I'm not sure I could find my way back to the valley from Lion Camp, and I know I couldn't do it from here. We've taken too many turns and detours."

  "Jondalar was trying to make a map showing the way to the valley where you found the firestones," Talut said.

  "I've been looking ever since we left, and I haven't seen one firestone," Tornec added. "I'd like to make a trip there sometime and get some more. The ones we have won't last forever. Mine already has a big groove in it."

  "I'm having trouble judging distance," Jondalar said. "We traveled on horseback, so it's hard to say how many days it would take on foot. And we explored a lot, stopped when we felt like it, didn't follow any logical trail. I'm almost certain we went back across the river that runs through your valley, farther north. Maybe more than once. When we went back, it was almost winter, and many landmarks had changed."

  Ayla put down the flowers, and picked up the drawing knife, and tried to think about how to make a map to the valley. She started to make a line, and then hesitated.

  "Don't worry about trying to do it from here," Talut encouraged. "Just think about how to get there from Lion Camp."

  Ayla crinkled her brow in concentration. "I know I could show you the way from Lion Camp," she said, "but I still don't understand maps very well. I don't think I know how to draw one."

  "Well, don't worry about it," Talut said. "We don't need a map, if you can show us the way. Maybe after we return from the Summer Meeting, we can make a trip there." Then he motioned with his red-bearded chin toward the flowers. "What did you bring back this time, Ayla?"

  "That's what I want you to tell me. I know what they are, but I don't know what you call them."

  "I know that red one is a geranium," Talut said. "And this is poppy."

  "More flowers?" Deegie said, just joining them.

  "Yes. Talut told me these two," Ayla said.

  "Let's see, that's heather, and that's cushion pink," Deegie said, identifying the other two, then sat down beside Ayla. "We're almost there. Talut says sometime tomorrow. I can hardly wait. Tomorrow I'll see Branag, and then it won't be long until we are finally joined. I don't even know if I'll be able to sleep tonight."

  Ayla smiled at her. Deegie was so excited it was hard not to share her enthusiasm, but it only served to remind her that she, too, would soon be joined. Jondalar's talk about the valley and going back there had renewed her ache of longing for him. She had been watching him, trying not to make it obvious, and she had a distinct feeling that he had been observing her. She kept meeting his eyes briefly before both looked away.

  "Oh, Ayla, there are so many people I want you to meet, and I'm so glad we are going to be joined at the same Matrimonial. That's something we'll always have together."

  Jondalar got up. "I need to go… and… uh… set up my sleeping roll," he said, then hurried away.

  Deegie watched Ayla's eyes follow after him, and was almost certain she saw tears being held back. She shook her head. Ayla just didn't seem like a woman who was about to join and establish a new hearth with a man she loved. There was no joy, no excitement. Something was missing. Something called Jondalar.

  31

  In the morning the Lion Camp continued upstream, staying on the plateau of the plains, but catching glimpses of the swift waterway below on their left, cloudy with glacial runoff and churning with silt. When they reached a fork, a place where two major rivers joined, they took the left branch. After fording two large tributaries, putting most of their possessions in a bowl boat they had brought along for that purpose, they descended to the floodplain and traveled through the woods and grassy meadows of the river valley.

  Talut kept watch
ing the system of hollows and ravines on the high right bank across the river, comparing the actual landscape to the ivory scratched with symbols, whose meaning was still unclear to Ayla. Ahead, near a sharp bend, was the highest point of the opposite shoreline, rising some two hundred feet above the water. On their side, a broad grassy field and patches of woods extended inland for some miles. As they drew closer, Ayla noticed a bone cairn, with a wolf skull on top. A peculiar arrangement of rocks extended across the river in the direction Talut was heading.

  The river there was wide and shallow, and would have been fordable in any case, but someone had made the crossing even easier. Piles of rock and gravel, and some bone, had been placed and spread out in the manner of stepping-stones to make a pathway for people to cross the river, while diverting the flow of water to the spaces in between.

  Jondalar paused to look more closely. "What a clever idea!" he remarked. "You could cross the river here without even getting your feet wet."

  "The best places to put lodges are on that side – those deep hollows give good protection from the wind – but the best hunting is on this side," Barzec explained. "This walkway washes out with the floods, but Wolf Camp builds a new one every year. They seem to have gone to extra trouble this year, probably to make it easier for visitors."

  Talut started across. Ayla noticed Whinney was extremely agitated, and thought the horse was nervous about the steppingstone path with the watery spaces in between, but the mare followed her without incident.

  The headman paused more than halfway over. "Right here, it's good fishing," he said. "The current runs fast, so it's deep. Salmon come up this far. Sturgeon, too. And other fish, pike, trout, catfish." He directed his comments at Ayla and Jondalar in particular, though he included any of the youngsters who had not been there before. It had been some years since Lion Camp had visited Wolf Camp as a group.

  On the other side, as Talut led them toward a wide ravine, perhaps a half-mile across at the top, Ayla heard a strange sound, like a loud hum or a muted roar. They gradually climbed uphill. Sixty feet or so above the level of the river and one hundred and fifty yards back, they came to the bottom of the large ravine. Ayla looked ahead, and gasped. Protected by steep walls, a half-dozen separate round lodges in a row were comfortably settled within the nearly mile-long hollow. But it wasn't the round earthlodges that made Ayla gasp.

  It was the people. In all her life, Ayla had never seen so many people. Well over a thousand human souls, more than thirty Camps, had gathered together for the Mamutoi Summer Meeting. The length and breadth of the entire area was filled with tents. There were at least four or five times as many people as had come together for the Clan Gathering – and everyone was staring at her.

  Or rather, at her horses and Wolf. The young canine cowered against her leg, just as thunderstruck as she. She sensed panic in Whinney and was sure Racer felt the same. Fear for them helped her overcome her own feelings of sheer terror at the sight of so many human beings. She looked up and saw Jondalar hanging on the lead rope, struggling to keep Racer from rearing, while the frightened boy hung on tight.

  "Nezzie, get Rydag!" she called out. The woman had already seen the problem and hardly needed Ayla's words to impel her to move. Ayla helped Mamut down, and put her arm around the mare's neck, leading her toward the young stallion to help calm him. The wolf followed after her.

  "I'm sorry, Ayla. I should have thought about how the horses would react to so many people," Jondalar said.

  "You knew there would be this many?"

  "I… didn't know, but I guessed there might be about as many as would come to a Zelandonii Summer Meeting."

  "I think we should try to set up Cattail Camp someplace out of the way," Tulie said, speaking up to get everyone's attention. "Maybe here, near the edge of the encampment. We'll be farther away from everything" – she was looking around as she spoke – "but Wolf Camp has a creek running through their hollow this year, and it turns this way."

  Tulie had been anticipating the reaction of the people, and she hadn't been disappointed. They had been seen crossing the river, and everyone there had crowded close to watch the arrival of the Lion Camp. But she had not anticipated that the animals might be overwhelmed by their initial introduction to a herd of humanity.

  "How about over there, near the wall," Barzec suggested. "It's not too level, but we can even it out."

  "It looks fine to me. Are there any objections?" Talut said, looking pointedly at Ayla. She and Jondalar just led the animals that way, wanting to get them settled. The Lion Camp began clearing out rocks and brush and leveling a place to set up their large, double-skinned, communal tent.

  Living in a tent was made much more comfortable by using two layers of hides. The insulating layer of air between helped to keep the warmth in, and moisture condensing in the cool of the evening ran down the inner side of the outer hides to the ground. The inner hides, which were tucked under the interior ground cloths, kept drafts out as well. Though not nearly as permanent as the earthlodge at Lion Camp, it was a more substantial structure than the single-wall overnight shelter that was only a part of the full summer tent, which they used when traveling. They referred to their summer home as Cattail Camp to differentiate the summer location, wherever it happened to be, from the winter site, when they spoke of it, though they still thought of themselves as belonging to a group called Lion Camp.

  The tent was divided into four interdependent conical sections, each with a separate fireplace, supported by sturdy, flexible young trees, although mammoth rib bones, or other long bones, could have and had been used. The central section, which was largest, would house the Lion Hearth, the Fox Hearth, and the Mammoth Hearth. While the tent lodge was not as roomy as the earthlodge, it would be used primarily for sleeping, and it was seldom that everyone would be in the tent sleeping at the same time. Other activities, private, social, and public, would take place outdoors, so setting up also meant defining territory beyond the walls of the tent. The placement of Cattail Hearth, the main exterior cooking hearth, was a matter of some importance.

  While they worked to set up their tent and stake out their territory, the rest of the people at the Meeting began to recover from their initial stunned silence, and began to talk excitedly among themselves. Ayla finally discovered the source of the peculiar muted roar. She recalled, when she first arrived at Lion Camp, how noisy she thought it was when everybody spoke at once. This was that noise many times over; it was the combined voices of the entire throng.

  No wonder Whinney and Racer were so skittish, Ayla thought. The constant hum of humanity made her skittish, too. She wasn't used to it. The Clan Gathering had not been as big, but even if it had, it would never have been as noisy. They used few words to communicate; a gathering of the people of the Clan was quiet. But with people who used verbal speech, except for rare occasions, it was always noisy within an encampment. Like the wind on the steppes, the voices never ceased, they only varied in intensity.

  Many people hurried to greet the Lion Camp, offering to help set up and arrange their place, and were greeted warmly, but Talut and Tulie passed several meaningful glances between themselves. They didn't remember having so many friends who were so willing to help before. With the help of Latie, Jondalar, and Ranec, and for a while, Talut, Ayla set up a place for the horses. The two young men worked together easily, but spoke little. She turned down offers of help from the curious, explaining that the horses were shy and strangers would make them nervous. But that only made it obvious that she was the one in control of the animals, and engendered more curiosity. Word of her spread quickly.

  At the farthest edge of the encampment, slightly around a curve of the wall of the ravine that opened onto the river valley, they constructed an awninglike lean-to, utilizing the hide tent she and Jondalar had used when they traveled together, supported by small trees and sturdy branches. It was somewhat hidden from the sight of the people camped in the hollow, but the view of the river and the beautiful wo
oded meadows across was expansive.

  They were moving in and setting up places to sleep in the somewhat more crowded quarters when a delegation from Wolf Camp, along with several others, came to welcome them officially. They were in the host Camp's territory, and though it was expected, it was more than courtesy to extend to all visitors the use of the Wolf Camp's hereditary fishing weirs, berry, nut, seed, and root beds, and hunting grounds. Even though the Summer Meeting would not last the entire season, hosting such a large group would take its toll, and it was necessary to find out if some particular area should be avoided so as not to overtax the resources in the region.

  Talut had been quite surprised when told of the change in the location of the Summer Meeting. The Mamutoi didn't, as a rule, meet at a home Camp. Usually they chose some location that was out on the steppes or in some large river valley that could accommodate such concentrations of people more easily.

  "In the name of the Great Mother of all, the Lion Camp is welcome," a thin, gray-haired woman said.

  Tulie was shocked to see her. She had been a woman of uncommon grace and robust health, who had shouldered the responsibility of her co-leadership with ease, but she seemed to have aged ten years in the last season. "Marlie, we appreciate your hospitality. In the name of Mut, we thank you."

  "I see you have done it again," a man said, grasping both of Talut's hands in greeting.

  Valez was younger than his sister, but for the first time, Tulie noticed that he also showed signs of age. It made her suddenly aware of her own mortality. She had always thought Marlie and Valez were close to her in age.

  "But I think this is your biggest surprise," Valez continued. "When Toran came running in, shouting something about horses walking across the river with you, everyone had to go and look. And then someone spied the wolf…"

  "We won't ask you to tell us about them now," Marlie said, "though I must admit I am curious. You'll just have to repeat it again too many times. We might as well wait until this evening so you can tell everyone at once."