The clan of the cave bear_ a novel - Jean M. Auel [274]
“Broud!” Ayla shouted from her place. His head shot up. “You can’t do that! You can’t make Creb move from his hearth!” She was stomping toward him full of righteous wrath. “He needs a protected place. The wind blows too hard into the back. You know how he suffers in the winter.” Ayla had forgotten herself as a Clan woman; she was now the medicine woman protective of her patient. “You’re doing it to hurt me. You’re trying to get back at Creb because he took care of me. I don’t care what you do to me, Broud, but leave Creb alone!” She was standing in front of him, towering over him, gesticulating angrily in his face.
“Who gave you permission to speak, woman!” Broud stormed. He swung at her with a clenched fist, but she saw it coming and ducked. Broud was startled at reaching nothing but air. Rage replaced his surprise as he started after her.
“Broud!” Brun’s shout brought him to a standstill. He was too accustomed to obeying that voice, especially when it was raised in anger.
“That is Mog-ur’s hearth, Broud, and will be his hearth until he dies. That will happen soon enough without your bringing it on sooner by moving him. He has served this clan long and well; he deserves that place. What kind of leader are you? What kind of a man are you? Using your position to get revenge on a woman? A woman who has never done anything to you, Broud, who couldn’t if she tried. You are no leader!”
“No, you are the one who is no leader, Brun, not anymore.” Broud had regained the realization of his position, and Brun’s, after his initial impulse to obey. “I am leader now! I make the decisions now! You have always taken her side against me, always protected her. Well, you can’t protect her anymore!” Broud was losing control, gesticulating wildly, his face purple with rage. “She will do what I say, or I will curse her! And it won’t be temporary! You just saw her insolence, and you still stick up for her. I won’t stand for it! Not anymore. She deserves to be cursed for it. And I will! How do you like that, Brun? Goov! Curse her! Curse her! Now, right now! I want her cursed now. No one will tell this leader what to do, least of all that ugly woman. Did you understand me? Curse her, Goov!”
Creb had been trying to get Ayla’s attention from the moment she lashed out at Broud, trying to warn her. It didn’t matter to him where he lived, front or back of the cave, it was all the same to him. His suspicions had been aroused from the moment Broud said he would take Ayla as second woman. It was too responsible a move for Broud to make without some reason. But his suspicions hadn’t prepared him for the ugly scene that followed. When he saw Broud order Goov to curse her, the last bit of fight went out of him. He didn’t want to see any more, and turned his back to shuffle slowly into the cave. Ayla glanced up just as he disappeared into the hole in the mountain.
Creb wasn’t the only one upset by the confrontation. The whole clan was in an uproar, gesturing, shouting, milling around in confusion. Some couldn’t bear to watch, while others gazed in rapt disbelief at the spectacle not one of them ever expected to witness in their entire lives. Their lives were too ordered, too secure, too bound by traditions and customs and habits.
They were surprised at Broud’s irregular and unreasonable announcements separating Ayla and her son; they were shocked at Ayla’s confrontation with the new leader no more than Broud’s decision to move Creb; they were stunned as much by Brun’s angry denunciation of the man he had just made leader as by Broud’s uncontrolled temper tantrum demanding that Ayla be cursed. They were yet to be traumatized.
Ayla was shaking so hard she didn’t feel the trembling beneath her feet until she saw people toppling over, unable to keep their balance. Her own face mirrored the stunned expressions of the rest as