The Mammoth Hunters

33

Rugie and Tusie came running into the main section of the tent, giggling and smiling.

"There's another one outside," Rugie announced.

Ayla quickly looked down, Nezzie and Tulie gave each other a knowing glance, Fralie smiled, and Frebec grinned.

"Another what?" Nezzie asked, to make sure, though she knew.

"Another 'legation,'" Tusie said, with the self-important tone of being tired of all this nonsense.

"Between the delegations and your duties as a guardian, you're having a busy summer, Tulie," Fralie said, cutting up some meat for Tasher, but she knew the headwoman was in her glory to be the focal point of all the interest shown in the Lion Camp and its members.

Tulie and Ayla went out, then Nezzie did, too, to lend support, since almost everyone else seemed to be gone already. Fralie and Frebec walked to the tent opening to see who had come. Frebec followed the three women out, but Fralie stayed back to keep the children out of the way. A group of people was standing outside of the territory which Wolf had determined belonged to the Lion Camp. He had marked the invisible boundaries with his scent, and patrolled them regularly. Anyone could come up to them, but no one could step one foot within them without clear indication of welcome from someone he knew.

The animal was between the people and the tent, in a defensive pose, which included bared teeth and a low growl, and none of the visitors was willing to test his intentions. Ayla signaled him to her side, and gave him the "friend" sign, which she had spent all of one morning teaching him to accept, from her and everyone else in Lion Camp. Against his better instincts, it meant that he must allow outsiders within the boundaries of the territory of his pack. Though repeat visitors were more easily tolerated than complete strangers, he made it known that he didn't like company, and was always relieved when they left.

Occasionally, just to get him used to large numbers of people, Ayla took him through the encampment, keeping him close to her. It always brought stares and gapes to see the woman walking confidently with a wolf at her heel, and that made Ayla uncomfortable, but she felt it was necessary. As similar as wolf ways and people ways were, if people were going to be his pack, there were some things about them Wolf was going to have to get used to. People liked each other's company, even that of strangers, and they liked to gather in large groups.

But Wolf did not spend all his time within Cattail Camp. He often went down to the meadow with the horses, and off on forays by himself, or with individual people, Ayla mostly, but sometimes with Jondalar, or Danug or, strangely enough to many people, with Frebec.

Frebec called the animal to him, and walked him toward the horse lean-to, to keep him out of the way. Wolf did make people nervous, and that could have a less than positive effect upon the delegations that came to court Ayla on behalf of some man. The men were not interested in joining with Ayla to form a union, they knew she was Promised to Ranec. They weren't looking for a mate, they were looking for a sister. The delegations were coming with offers to adopt her.

As astute and knowledgeable as she was about the nature and customs of her people, not even Tulie had considered the scope of that possibility. But the first time she was approached by a woman of her acquaintance, who had only sons, asking if she would entertain an offer from her hearth and Camp for Ayla's adoption, Tulie immediately understood the implications.

"I should have realized from the beginning," Tulie explained to the Camp later, "that a single woman of high status, beauty, and talents would make an extremely desirable sister, particularly since she was adopted by the Mammoth Hearth. That is not usually considered a family hearth. We, or rather, Ayla does not have to accept any of them, unless, of course, she wants to, but the offers alone increase her value."

Tulie's eyes had been full of glee when she considered how much Ayla was contributing to the status and worth of the Lion Camp. In her heart, she almost wished Ayla had not Promised to Ranec. Her Bride Price could be astounding if she were available. On the other hand, that would mean the Lion Camp would lose her, and keeping the treasure was perhaps better than losing it even for a good price. As long as no set value was placed, speculation would always make it greater. But the offers they were getting for her adoption opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. She could be adopted in name, without leaving the Lion Camp. She could even become a headwoman, if her potential brother had the right connections, and ambition. And if Ayla and Deegie were both headwomen, with direct ties back to Lion Camp, it could bring tremendous influence. All these thoughts were going through Tulie's mind as they approached this new delegation.

Ayla had begun to understand that variations in the pattern of designs used to decorate clothing and footwear were a means of defining group identity. Though they all used the same basic geometric shapes, a preponderance of one over the other – chevrons over diamond shapes, for example – and the way they were combined, were significant indicators of Camp affiliation and ties to other Camps. Unlike Tulie, however, she did not yet recognize instantly from those patterns, and from personal acquaintance of the people, exactly where to place them within the overall fabric of hierarchy and relationships within the group.

The status of some Camps was so high Tulie would have accepted less in material goods because of the affiliations and value they brought. Others might be good possibilities if they were willing to pay enough. Based on the offers already received, Tulie dismissed this group at one glance. They were hardly worth talking to. They simply didn't have enough to bring to the relationship to make the association worthwhile. As a result, Tulie was extremely pleasant to them, but did not invite them in, and they understood they had come with too little, too late. Simply making the offer had its compensations, however. It was a way of allying themselves with Lion Camp, which increased its influence, and that would be remembered favorably.

While they were standing outside the tent, making pleasantries, Frebec noticed Wolf striking a defensive posture, and growling toward the river. Suddenly he was off.

"Ayla!" Frebec called out. "Wolf is after something!"

She whistled, loud, piercing, and urgent, then hurried to look down on the path leading to the river. She watched Wolf return, followed by a new group of people. But these were not strangers.

"It's Mammoth Camp," Ayla said. "I see Vincavec."

Tulie turned to Frebec. "Will you see if you can find Talut? We should greet them properly, and you might tell Marlie or Valez they have finally arrived."

Frebec nodded and left.

The delegation that had come to make an offer were too curious to leave now. Vincavec was the first to reach them, saw the delegation, Ayla, and Tulie, and quickly understood the gist of the circumstances. He let his backframe drop, and came forward with a smile.

"Tulie, it must be auspicious that you are the first person we see, since you are the first person I wanted to see," Vincavec said, reaching for both her hands and rubbing her cheek with his cheek like a dear old friend.

"Why should I be the first person you want to see?" Tulie said, smiling in spite of herself. He was a charmer.

He ignored the question. "Tell me, why are your guests dressed in their finest? A delegation, perhaps?"

A woman spoke up. "We have made an offer to adopt Ayla," she said with dignity, as though the offer had not been effectively turned down. "My son has no sister."

Even Ayla could almost see Vincavec's mind working, but it took only a moment for him to understand the entire situation, and a moment more to make a decision and act on it.

"Well, I am going to make an offer, too, more formally later, but to give you something to think about, Tulie, I want to propose a joining." He turned to Ayla and took both of her hands. "I want to join with you, Ayla. I want you to come and make my Mammoth Hearth something more than a name. Only you can give me that, Ayla. It is your hearth to bring, but in return, I can give you Mammoth Camp."

Ayla was startled, and overwhelmed. Vincavec knew she had already made a commitment. Why would he ask for her? Even if she wanted to, could she suddenly change her mind and join with him? Was it so easy to break a Promise?

"She is already Promised to Ranec," Tulie said.

Vincavec looked directly at the big headwoman, and smiled knowingly, then reached into a pouch and pulled out his closed hand. He opened it and held in his palm two beautiful, polished, matched pieces of amber. "I hope he has a good Bride Price, Tulie."

Tulie's eyes opened wide. His offer was enough to take her breath away. He had effectively told her to name her price, and name it in amber if she wanted to, though of course, she wouldn't, not entirely. Her eyes narrowed then. "It is not for me to decide, Vincavec. Ayla makes her own choices."

"I know, but take these as my gift to you, Tulie, for all your help in building my lodge," he said, and pressed them on her.

Tulie was torn. She should refuse. To accept them would give him an advantage over her, but it was Ayla's decision, and Promised or not, she was free to make that choice. Why should she object? As she closed her hand over the amber, she saw Vincavec's expression of triumph, and Tulie felt as though she had been bought for two pieces of amber. He knew she would consider no other offer. If he could convince Ayla, she was his. But Vincavec doesn't know Ayla, Tulie thought. No one does. She might call herself Mamutoi, but she was a stranger still, and who could tell what would move her. She watched as the man with the startling tattooed face turned his full attention on the young woman, and she saw Ayla's reaction. Without question, there was interest.

"Tulie! How nice to see you again!" Avarie was approaching, holding out her hands. "We're so late, all the best places are taken. Do you know a good place to set up Camp? Where are you set up?"

"Right here," Nezzie said, coming up to greet the Mammoth Camp's headwoman next. She had been very interested in the exchange between Tulie and Vincavec, and had noted his expression, too. It was not going to make Ranec happy to know Vincavec was going to make an offer for Ayla, but Nezzie wasn't at all sure that the Mamut-headman of the Mammoth Camp was going to find Ayla all that easy to convince, no matter what he offered.

"You're here? So far away from everything?" Avarie said.

"With the animals, it's the best place for us. They get nervous around crowds," Tulie said, as though it had been chosen on purpose.

"Vincavec, if Lion Camp is here, why don't we Camp nearby?" Avarie said.

"It is not a bad place. There are advantages, more room to spread out." Nezzie said. If both Lion Camp and Mammoth Camp are here, she thought, some of the interest from the center will move here, too.

Vincavec smiled at Ayla. "I can think of nothing I'd rather do than set up near Lion Camp," he said.

Talut came striding into Camp then, and greeted the co-leaders of Mammoth Camp in his booming voice. "Vincavec! Avarie! You finally made it! What held you up?"

"We made some stops along the way," Vincavec said.

"Ask Tulie to show you what he brought her," Nezzie said.

Tulie still felt a little embarrassed, and wished Nezzie hadn't said anything, but she opened her hand and held out the amber for her brother to see.

"Those are beautiful pieces," Talut said. "You decided to do some trading, I see. Did you know Willow Camp has white spiral seashells?"

"Vincavec wants more than seashells," Nezzie said. "He wants to make an offer for Ayla… for his hearth."

"But she's Promised to Ranec," Talut said.

"A Promise is only a promise," Vincavec said.

Talut looked at Ayla, then Vincavec, then Tulie. Then he laughed. "Well, this is one Summer Meeting that won't be forgotten for a long time."

"It wasn't only the stop at Amber Camp," Avarie said. "Seeing you, Talut, with your big red mane reminds me. We kept trying to go around a cave lion with a reddish mane, but he seemed to be heading in the same direction we were. I didn't see a pride, but I think we'd better warn people there are lions around."

"There are always lions around," Talut said.

"Yes, but this one was acting strange. Lions don't usually bother with people that much, but for a while, I thought he was stalking us. He came so close I had trouble sleeping one night. He was the biggest cave lion I ever saw. I still shake when I think about it," Avarie said.

Ayla listened carefully, frowning, then shook her head. No. Just coincidence, she thought. There are a lot of big cave lions.

"When you get set up, come up to the clearing. We're talking about the mammoth hunt and the Mammoth Hearth is planning the Hunting ceremony. It won't hurt to have another good Caller. I'm sure you will want mammoth meat for the Matrimonial Feast, since you plan to be a part of it, Vincavec!" Talut said. He started to leave, then he turned around to Ayla. "Since you are going to hunt mammoth with us, why don't you come back with me, and bring your spearthrower. I was going to come and get you, anyway."

"I'll walk with you," Tulie said. "I have to go to the Womanhood Camp and see Latie."

"This is good quality. Especially for blade tools like chisels, scrapers, drills," Jondalar said, hunkering down on one knee, examining the smooth gray interior face of fine-structured flint. He had used a specially shaped piece of fresh antler, strong and resilient enough to resist breaking, as a digger and a lever to pry out the exposed lump of hard silica from its chalky matrix. Then he broke it open with a hammerstone.

"Wymez says some of the best flint comes from here," Danug said.

Jondalar motioned up at the perpendicular cliff face of a river gorge that had been worn down over time by the churning water. More lumps of the hard flint encased in a white opaque crust jutted out from the somewhat less hard chalky stone. "Flint is always best if you can get it from the source. This is similar to Dalanar's flint mine and his is the best stone in our region."

"The Wolf Camp certainly thinks this is the best flint," Tarneg said. "The first time I came here, I was with Valez. You should have heard him rave. With this place so close to their Camp, they count these workings as theirs. You did the right thing in asking their permission to come, Jondalar."

"It's only courtesy. I know how Dalanar feels about his mine."

"What's so special about this stone? I've often seen flint on river floodplains," Tarneg said.

"Sometimes you can find good nodules that were recently washed out, on floodplains, and they are a lot easier to get. It's work digging them out of the rock. But flint tends to dry out if it lies in the open very long," Jondalar said. "Then the flakes come off shorter, more abruptly."

"If it's been on the surface too long, Wymez sometimes buries flint in damp soil for a while to make it easier to work," Danug said.

"I've done that. It can help, but it depends on the size of the nodule, and how dry it is. If it's a big piece, it can't be too old. It works best for small ones, even down to egg size, but those are hardly worthwhile to work, unless they are really fine quality."

"We do something similar with mammoth tusk," Tarneg said. "As a first step we wrap the tusk in damp skins and bury it with hot ashes. The ivory changes, becomes denser but easier to work, and easier to bend. It's the best way to straighten a whole tusk."

"I wondered how you did that," Jondalar said, then he paused, obviously thinking. "My brother would have wanted to learn about it. He was a spear maker. He could make a good straight shaft, but he understood the properties of wood, how to bend and shape it. I think he would have understood your process, too. Perhaps knowledge of your methods is one reason Wymez was so quick to grasp the idea of heating flint to make it more workable. He is one of the best workers of flint I've ever known."

"You're a good flint man, too, Jondalar," Tarneg said. "Even Wymez speaks highly of you, and he doesn't praise easily. You know, I've been thinking. I'm going to need a good flint worker for Aurochs camp. I know you've been saying you are going back to your home, but it sounds like a long trip. Would you consider staying if you had a place to stay? What I mean is, how would you like to join my Camp?"

Jondalar's forehead furrowed as he tried to think of a way to refuse Tarneg's offer without offending. "I'm not sure. I'd have to think about it."

"I know Deegie likes you, I'm sure she'd agree. And you wouldn't have any trouble finding someone to make a hearth with," Tarneg encouraged. "I've been noticing the women around you, even the red-foots. First it was Mygie, now all the rest of them find reasons to visit the flint-workers' area. It must be because you are new around here. Women are always curious about men they don't know." He smiled. "I've heard more than one man wishing he was a tall, blond stranger. They'd all like to get a red-foot interested again, but it's Danug's turn, this time." Tarneg smirked knowingly at his young cousin.

Jondalar and Danug both looked uncomfortable. Jondalar stood up, and looked away to shift attention elsewhere, and in an incidental way, he noticed that around these two men, he was not exceptionally tall. The three of them were near the same size, and Danug still had some growing in him. He was going to be a second Talut. But there were all sizes of men at the Meeting, just as there were at Zelandonii Summer Meetings.

"Well, I wish you would think about Aurochs Camp, Jondalar. Now that Deegie and Branag are finally going to be joined, we'll be building this fall, though I haven't decided yet whether to make a single lodge, like Lion Camp, or the smaller individual ones for each family. I tend to be old-fashioned. I like the big ones best, but a lot of the younger people want a place with just their own relations, and I admit, when people start arguing, it could be nice to have your own place to go."

"I appreciate the offer, Tarneg," Jondalar said. "I mean that, but I don't want to give you a false impression. I am going home. I have to go back. I could give you a lot of reasons, that I need to bring back word of my brother's death, for example. But the truth is, I don't know why I have to go. I just do."

"Is it because of Ayla?" Danug asked with a worried frown.

"That's part of it. I admit, I don't look forward to seeing her sharing a hearth with Ranec, but I was trying to convince her to come back with me when we met you. Now it looks like I'll be going back alone anyway… I'm not looking forward to that either, but that doesn't change anything. I still have to go."

"I'm not sure I understand, but I wish you good fortune, and may the Mother smile on your Journey. When do you think you'll leave?" Tarneg said.

"Soon after the mammoth hunt."

"Speaking of the mammoth hunt, we should be getting back. They are planning it this afternoon," Tarneg said.

They started walking along the river that was a tributary to the major waterway near the settlement, and began clambering over rocks at a place where the walls narrowed in. Working their way out of the gorge around a precipitous ledge, they came upon a group of young men shouting words of insult or encouragement to two of them who were fighting. Druwez was among the spectators.

"What's going on here?" Tarneg said, wading into their midst and pulling the fighters apart. One was bleeding from the mouth, the other had an eye that was swelling shut.

"They're just having a… competition," someone said.

"Yes, they're… uh… practicing… for the wrestling games."

"This is no competition," Tarneg said. "This is a fight."

"No, honest, we weren't fighting," the boy with the puffy eye said, "just playing around a little."

"You call black eyes and broken teeth playing around? If you were just practicing, you wouldn't have to come here to this out-of-the-way place where no one would see you. No, this was planned. I think you'd better tell me what's going on."

No one volunteered an answer, but there was a lot of shuffling of feet.

"What about the rest of you?" Tarneg said, eying the other youths. "What are all of you doing here? Including you, Druwez. What do you think Mother and Barzec are going to do when they find out you were here, encouraging a fight? I think you'd better tell me what's going on here."

Still no one would say.

"I think we'd better take you back and let the Councils decide what to do with you. The Sisters will find some way to let you work off your urge to fight, and make a good example of you, besides. Maybe they'll even ban all of you from mammoth hunts."

"Don't tell on them, Tarneg," Druwez pleaded. "Dalen was only trying to stop them."

"Stop them? Maybe you should tell me what this fight is about," Tarneg said.

"I think I know," Danug said. Everyone turned to look at the tall young man. "It's because of the raid."

"What raid?" Tarneg said. This was sounding serious.

"Some people were talking about making a raid on a Sungaea Camp," Danug explained.

"You know raiding has been banned. The Councils have been trying to negotiate a friendship fire and establish trading with the Sungaea. I hate to think of the trouble a raid would cause," Tarneg said. "Whose idea was this raid?"

"I don't know," Danug said. "One day everyone was talking about it. Someone discovered a Sungaea Camp a few days' away. The plan was to say they were going hunting, and instead go and wreck their Camp, steal their food, and chase them away. I told them I wasn't interested, and I thought they were stupid to do it. They would just make trouble for themselves and everyone else. Besides, we stopped at a Sungaea Camp on our way here. A brother and sister had just died. Maybe it isn't the same Camp, but they probably all are feeling bad about it. I didn't think it was right to raid them."

"Danug can do that," Druwez said. "No one's going to call him a coward, because no one wants to fight him. But when Dalen said he wasn't going on any raid, either, then a whole bunch of them started saying he was afraid of a fight. That's when he said he'd show them he wasn't afraid to fight anyone. We said we'd come with him so they wouldn't gang up on him."

"Which one of you is Dalen?" Tarneg said. The boy with the broken tooth and bleeding mouth stepped forward. "Who are you?" he said to the other one, whose eye was already turning black and blue. He refused to answer.

"They call him Cluve. He's Chaleg's nephew," Druwez volunteered.

"I know what you're trying to do," Cluve said sullenly. "You're going to put all the blame on me just because Druwez is your brother."

"No, I wasn't going to put blame on anyone. I'm going to let the Council of Brothers decide. You can all expect to get a summons from them, including my brother. Now, I think you'd better clean yourselves up. If you go back to the Meeting looking like that, everyone will know you were fighting, and no one would be able to keep it from the Sisters. I don't have to tell you what will happen to you if they find out you were fighting about a raid."

The young men hurried to leave before Tarneg changed his mind, but they left in two groups, one with Cluve, the other with Dalen. Tarneg made a point of noticing who went with whom. Then the three of them continued back to the Meeting.

"There's something I'd be interested in knowing, if you don't mind," Jondalar said. "Why would you let the Council of Brothers decide what to do with these young men? Would they really keep it from the Council of Sisters?"

"The Sisters have no tolerance for fighting, and won't listen to any excuses, but many of the Brothers went on raids when they were young men, or were in a fight or two, just to make a little excitement. Didn't you ever fight someone when you weren't supposed to, Jondalar?"

"Well, yes, I guess I did. And got caught, too."

"The Brothers are more lenient, especially toward the one who was fighting in a good cause, even though Dalen should have told someone about the raid rather than fighting to show them he wasn't afraid. It seems easier for a man to condone that sort of thing. The Sisters say fighting always leads to more fighting, and that may be true, but Cluve was right about one thing," Tarneg said. "Druwez is my brother. He wasn't really encouraging the fight, he was trying to help out his friend. I hate to see him get into trouble for that."

"Did you ever fight anyone, Tarneg?" Danug asked.

The future headman looked at his younger cousin for a moment, then nodded. "Once or twice, but not too many men want to challenge me. Like you, I'm bigger than most. Sometimes those competitions are more fight than anyone admits to, though."

"I know," Danug said, with a thoughtful expression.

"But at least they are under watchful eyes that won't let anyone get badly hurt, and they don't get carried any further and start a revenge fight." Tarneg glanced at the sky. "It's close to noon, later than I thought. We'd better hurry if we want to hear about the mammoth hunt."

When Ayla and Talut reached the clearing, he led her toward a slight rise off to one side that lent itself naturally as a gathering place for smaller groups and was used for both casual and special meetings. One was in progress and Ayla scanned the crowd of people looking for a glimpse of Jondalar. That was all she ever saw of him lately. From the moment they arrived, he seemed to lose himself in the throng, leaving Cattail Camp early in the morning, and coming back late, if at all.

When she did see him, he was often with some woman, usually a different one each time… She found herself making disparaging remarks to Deegie and some others about his many partners. She was not the only one. She'd heard Talut remark that he wondered if Jondalar was trying to make up for the whole winter in one short season. His exploits were talked about by many around the Camps, often with humor and a backhanded sort of admiration, both for his apparent stamina, and his obvious appeal. It wasn't the first time that his attractiveness to women was the subject of talk, but it was the first time he didn't really care.

Ayla laughed at the comments, too, but in the darkness of night, she held back tears and wondered what was wrong with her. Why didn't he ever choose her? Yet there was a strange comfort in seeing him with many different women. At least she knew he hadn't found any particular one to replace her.

She didn't know that Jondalar was trying to stay away from Cattail Camp as much as possible. In the closer quarters of the tent, he was much more conscious of her and Ranec sleeping together – not in the same bed every night, since she felt she needed the privacy of her own bed sometimes – but next to each other. It was easy enough to stay around the flint-working area during the day, and that led to invitations to meet people and share meals. For the first time since he was a young man, he was making friends on his own, not with the help of his brother, and he discovered it wasn't so difficult.

The women gave him an excuse to stay away at night, too, if not all night, at least until late. He had little real feeling for any of them, but he felt guilty about using them for a place to stay, and made up for it in the way he knew best, which made him all the more irresistible. It had been the experience of many women that a man as handsome as Jondalar was more concerned with satisfying himself than her, but he was skilled enough to make any woman feel well cared for. It was a release for him, he wasn't having to fight his own powerful urges as well as trying to cope with his confused feelings, and he enjoyed the women, but in the same way he had always enjoyed women, on a superficial level. He hungered for the deeper feelings he'd always searched for and that no woman aroused in him, except Ayla.

Ayla saw him coming back from the Wolf Camp's flint mine, along with Tarneg and Danug, and as she often did when she saw him, she felt her heart pound and her throat ache. She noticed Tulie approach the three men, and then saw her walking away with Jondalar while Tarneg and Danug continued toward them. Talut waved the two over.

"I want to ask you about the customs of your people, Jondalar," Tulie said when they had found a private place to talk. "I know you honor the Mother, and that speaks well for you and your Zela… Zelandonii, but do you also have a ceremonial initiation into womanhood with understanding and gentleness?"

"First Rites? Yes, of course. How could anyone not care about how a young woman is opened the first time? Our rituals are not quite the same as yours, but I think the purpose is the same," Jondalar said.

"Good. I have been talking with some women. They speak highly of you, you've been recommended several times, and that's important, but more important is that Latie has asked for you. Would you be willing to be a part of her initiation?"

Jondalar realized he should have known what was coming. It wasn't as though he hadn't been asked before, but for some reason he thought she just wanted to know about the customs of his people. In the past, he had always been more than willing to participate and he was tempted, but this time he hesitated. He had also felt a terrible guilt afterward, for using the deeply sacred ceremony to satisfy his own needs for the deeper feelings it evoked. He wasn't sure he could handle those mixed feelings right now, particularly with someone he liked as much as Latie.

"Tulie, I have participated in similar rituals, and I understand the honor you and Latie have offered me, but I think I must refuse. I realize we have no real relationship, but I have lived with Lion Camp all winter, and in that time I have come to regard Latie as a sister," Jondalar said, "a special younger sister."

Tulie nodded. "That's too bad, Jondalar. In many ways, you would be the perfect one. You come from so far away, there is no possible relationship between you. But I can understand how she could come to feel like a sister. You haven't exactly shared the same hearth, but Nezzie has treated you with the affection of a son, and Latie is a person with much promise. There is no worse abomination in the eyes of the Mother than for a man to initiate a woman born of his own mother. If you feel like a brother, I'm afraid it would taint the ceremony. I'm glad you told me this."

They walked back together toward the people sitting and standing on the slope and where it leveled out into the clearing. Jondalar noticed that Talut was talking, and even more interesting, Ayla was standing beside him with her spear-thrower.

"You've seen how far Ayla can throw a spear with this spear-throwing weapon," Talut was saying, "but I'd like to have them both show it to you under better circumstances, where you can really see what it can do. I know most of us like to use a larger spear with the shaped points Wymez developed for hunting mammoths, but this throwing weapon has some real advantages. Some of us at Lion Camp have experimented with it. This will throw a good-sized spear, but it takes practice, just like throwing a spear by hand does. Most grow up throwing spears, in games and hunting. They are used to throwing, but if they could see how well it works, I'm sure many people would give it a try. Ayla says she plans to use it on the mammoth hunt, and I'm sure Jondalar will, too, so some people will see what it can do. We've talked about a contest, but it hasn't quite worked out yet. When we return from the hunt, I think we should plan to have a big contest, with all kinds of competitions."

There were general expressions of agreement to his suggestion, then Brecie said, "I think a big contest is a good idea, Talut. I wouldn't mind seeing two or three days of it. We've been working on a throwing stick. Some of us have gotten several birds from a flock with one throw. In the meantime, I think we should let the mamuti work out the best day to leave, and do some Calling for mammoths. And if we have nothing more to talk about, I have to get back to my Camp."

The meeting started to break up, then there was a sudden flurry of interest as Vincavec strode into the clearing, followed by his Camp, the delegation that had been talking about adopting Ayla, and the last of Lion Camp, Nezzie and Rydag. The people from the delegation began to spread the news that the Mamut-headman of the Mammoth Camp was willing to pay any Bride Price Tulie wanted for Ayla, in spite of the fact that she was already Promised.

"You know he claims the right to name his Camp after the Mammoth Hearth, just because he's Mamut," Jondalar heard a woman saying to another woman nearby, "but he can't claim any hearth until he's joined. The woman brings the hearth. He just wants her because she's a daughter of the Mammoth Hearth; to make his so-called Mammoth Camp acceptable."

Jondalar happened to be standing near Ranec when he overheard someone tell him. He was surprised to feel a sense of compassion when he saw the dark man's expression. It occurred to him that if anyone knew how Ranec was feeling at that moment, he did. But at least he knew that the man who had convinced Ayla to live with him loved her. It seemed obvious that Vincavec wanted Ayla just to serve his own purposes, not because he cared about her.

Ayla, too, was overhearing pieces of conversation in which her name was mentioned. She didn't like overhearing. In the Clan, she could have averted her eyes so as not to eavesdrop, but when communication was entirely verbal, she could not close her ears.

And then, suddenly, she wasn't hearing anyone, except the tone of taunting voices from several older children, and the word "flathead."

"Look at that animal, all dressed up like people," an older boy said, pointing his finger at Rydag, and laughing.

"They dress the horses, why not the flathead?" someone else added, with more laughter.

"She claims he's a person, you know. They say he understands everything you say, and can even talk," another of the youngsters said.

"Sure, and if she could get the wolf to walk on his hind legs, she'd probably call him a person, too."

"Maybe you'd better be careful what you say. Chaleg says the flathead can make the wolf go after you. He says the flathead made the wolf attack him, and he's taking it to the Council of Brothers."

"Well, doesn't that prove he's an animal? If he can make another animal attack?"

"My mother says she doesn't think it's right for them to bring animals to a Summer Meeting."

"My uncle said he doesn't mind the horses, so much, or even the wolf, so long as they keep them away, but he thinks they ought to be banned from bringing that flathead to meetings and ceremonies that are meant for people."

"Hey, flathead! Go on, get out of here. Go back to your pack, with the other animals, where you belong."

At first Ayla was too stunned to react to the openly derogatory comments. Then she saw Rydag close his eyes and look down, and start to head back toward Cattail Camp. With blazing anger, she stormed up to the youngsters.

"What is wrong with you? How can you call Rydag an animal? Are you blind?" Ayla said with barely restrained fury. Several people stopped to see what was going on. "Can't you see he understands every word you say? How can you be so cruel? Do you feel no shame?"

"Why should my son feel shame?" a woman said, coming to her youngster's defense. "That flathead is an animal, and shouldn't be allowed at ceremonies that are sacred to the Mother."

Several more people were crowding around now, including most of the Lion Camp. "Ayla, don't pay attention to them," Nezzie said, trying to cool her rage.

"Animal! How dare you say he's an animal! Rydag is just as much a person as you are," Ayla cried, turning on the woman.

"I don't have to be insulted like that," the woman said. "I'm no flathead woman."

"No, you aren't! She would be more human than you are. She would have more compassion, more understanding."

"How do you know so much?"

"No one knows better than I. They took me in, raised me when I lost my people and had no one else. I would have died if it hadn't been for the compassion of a woman of the Clan," Ayla said. "I was proud to be a woman of the Clan, and a mother."

"No! Ayla don't!" she heard Jondalar saying, but she was past all caring.

"They are human, and so is Rydag. I know, because I have a son like him."

"Oh, no." Jondalar cringed, as he pushed his way forward to stand beside her.

"Did she say she had a son like him?" a man said. "A son of mixed spirits?"

"I'm afraid you've done it now, Ayla," Jondalar said quietly.

"She mothered an abomination? You better get away from her." A man came forward to the woman who had been arguing with Ayla. "If she draws that kind of spirit to her, it might get inside some other women, too."

"That's right! You better get away from her, too," another man said to the obviously pregnant woman standing beside him, as he led her away. Other people were drawing back, their expressions full of repugnance and fear.

"Clan?" one of the musicians said. "Those rhythms she played, didn't she say they were Clan rhythms? Is that who she meant? Flatheads?"

As Ayla looked around, she felt a moment of panic, and an urge to run from all these people who were looking at her with such disgust. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, lifted her chin and stood her ground defiantly. What right did they have to say her son was less than human? From the corner of her eye she saw Jondalar standing beside, and just behind her, and was more grateful than she could say.

Then, on her other side, another man stepped forward. She turned and smiled at Mamut, and Ranec as well. Then Nezzie was standing with her, and Talut, and then, of all people, Frebec. Almost as one, the rest of the Lion Camp stood beside her.

"You are wrong," Mamut said to the throng, in the voice that seemed too powerful to come from one so old. "Flatheads are not animals. They are people, and children of the Mother as much as you are. I, too, lived with them for a time, and hunted with them. Their medicine woman healed my arm, and I learned my way to the Mother through them. The Mother does not mix spirits, there are no horse-wolves, or lion-deer. The people of the Clan are different, but the difference is insignificant. No children like Rydag, or Ayla's son, could be born if they were not human, too. They are not abominations. They are simply children."

"I don't care what you say, old Mamut," the pregnant woman said. "I don't want a flathead child or a mixed one. If she already had one, that spirit may linger around her."

"Woman, Ayla is no threat to you," the old shaman replied. "The spirit that was chosen for your child is already there. It cannot be changed now. It was not Ayla's doing that gave her baby the spirit of a flathead man, she did not draw that spirit to her. It was the Mother's choice. You must remember, a man's spirit never lingers far from the man himself. Ayla grew up with the Clan. She became a woman while she lived with them. When Mut decided to give her a child, She could only choose from the men who were nearby, and they were all men of the Clan. Of course the spirit of one of them was chosen to enter her, but you don't see any men of the Clan around here now, do you?"

"Old Mamut, what if there were some flathead men nearby?" a woman shouted out from the crowd.

"I believe they would have to be very close, even share the same hearth, before that spirit would be chosen. The people of the Clan are human, but there are some differences. While life is better than no life to the Mother, which is why Ayla was given a child when she wanted one, it is not easy to blend the two. With so many Mamutoi men around, one of them would be chosen first."

"That's what you say, old man," another voice called out. "I'm not so sure it's true. I'm keeping my woman away from her."

"No wonder she's so good with animals, she grew up with them." Ayla turned and saw that it was Chaleg who was talking.

"Does that mean their magic is stronger than ours?" Frebec replied. There was some uneasy shuffling in the crowd.

"I've heard her say it's not magic. She says anyone can do it." Frebec recognized the voice of the Mamut of Chaleg's Camp.

"Then why hasn't anyone done it before?" Frebec said. "You are Mamut. If anyone can do it, let me see you go out and ride back on a horse. Why don't you bring a wolf under your control? I've seen Ayla whistle birds down out of the sky."

"Why are you standing up for her, Frebec, against your own family, your own Camp?" Chaleg asked.

"What Camp is my Camp? The one that turned me out, or the one that took me in? My hearth is the Hearth of the Crane, my Camp is Lion Camp. Ayla lived near us all winter. Ayla was there when Bectie was born, and she is not mixed. The daughter of my hearth would not even be here now, if it hadn't been for Ayla."

Jondalar listened to Frebec with a lump in his throat. In spite of what he said, it took real courage to face down his own cousin, his own relatives, the Camp of his birth. Jondalar could hardly believe this was the same man who had been such a big troublemaker. He had been so quick to condemn Frebec in the beginning, yet who was the one who had felt embarrassed for Ayla? Who was the one who feared what people would say if she said anything about her background? Who was the one that was afraid he would be rejected by his family and his people if he stood up for her? Frebec had shown him what a coward he was. Frebec, and Ayla.

When he'd seen her swallow down her fear, and lift her chin to face them all, he had never felt more proud of anyone in his life. Then the Lion Camp stood up with her, and he could hardly believe it. The ones that counted were the ones that cared. Jondalar forgot as he thought about Ayla and the Lion Camp with praise and pride, that he had been the first one to rush to her side.