The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [136]
They worked their way carefully around the turn, especially after Ayla slipped a little on the wet clay, and then Zelandoni slipped, too. After they made it around the difficult corner, with little effort they reached the turnoff that had been on their right and was now on their left and Zelandoni stopped.
“If you recall,” she said, “I told you there is an interesting sacred space down that tunnel. You can go in and see it, if you want. I’ll wait here and rest; Ayla can use her bird whistle to find it, I’m sure.”
“I don’t think I want to,” Ayla said. “We’ve seen so much, I doubt that I could appreciate anything new. You said that you may not come back here again, but if you’ve been here several times before, I think it’s likely I may come back again, especially since it’s so close to the Ninth Cave. I’d rather see it with fresh eyes, when I’m not so tired.”
“I think that’s a wise decision, Ayla,” the First said. “I will tell you it’s another ceiling, but on this one, the mammoths are painted in red. It will be better to see it with fresh eyes. But I do think we should have a bite to eat and I need to pass water.”
Jondalar breathed a sigh of relief, took off his backframe, and found a darkened corner for himself. He had been sipping on his small waterbag all day, and he felt a need to relieve himself, too. He would have gone in the new passage if the women had wanted to go, he thought as he stood hearing his stream on the stone, but he was tired of the marvelous sights of this cave for now, and tired of walking, and just wanted to get out. He didn’t even care if they ate right now.
There was a small cup of cold soup waiting for him, and a bone with some meat on it. Wolf was working his way through a small pile of cut-up meat, too. “I think we can chew on the meat as we walk,” Ayla said, “but save the bones for Wolf. I’m sure he’d like to gnaw on them while he’s resting by a fire.”
“We’d all like a fireplace about now,” Zelandoni said. “I think we should also put the lamps away when they run out of fat, and use these torches for the rest of the way out.” She had a fresh torch ready for each of them.
Jondalar was the first to light his as they walked by the other passage opening out on their left, across from the first painted mammoth they had seen.
“This is the place where you turn in to see the children’s fingermarks, and there are other kinds of interesting things on the walls and ceilings, deep in that passageway and its several turnoffs,” Zelandoni commented. “No one knows what they mean, though many have made guesses. Many are painted in red, but it’s a bit of a walk from here.”
Not long afterward, both Ayla and Zelandoni lit their torches. Ahead, where the tunnel split, they took the right-hand path, and Ayla thought she could see the hint of light ahead. When it angled farther to the right, she was sure, but it wasn’t bright light, and when they finally walked out of the cave, the sun was setting. They had spent the entire day walking in the great cavern.
Jondalar stacked wood in the pit to light with his torch. Ayla dropped her haversack on the ground near the firepit, and whistled for the horses. She heard a distant whinny, and started in that direction.
“Leave the baby with me,” Zelandoni said. “You’ve been carrying her all day. You both need a rest.”
Ayla put the blanket down on the grass, and put Jonayla on it. She seemed glad to kick her feet in freedom, as her mother whistled again and ran toward the answering sounds of horses. She always worried when she was gone from them for some time.
They slept late the next morning, and didn’t feel any particular rush to continue their travels, but by midmorning, they were getting restless and anxious to go. Jondalar and Zelandoni discussed what would be the best way to get to the Fifth Cave.
“It