The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [147]
When they arrived at the shallow crossing of The River, they stopped again. Jondalar got down from Racer’s back and scrutinized the river crossing. “It’s up to you. Would you rather get down and wade across, or stay on the pole-drag, Zelandoni?”
“I’m not sure. I think both of you would know better,” the Donier said.
“What do you think, Ayla?” Jondalar said.
She was in front of the group, using the carrying blanket to secure Jonayla in front of her on the mare’s back. She twisted around to look at the others. “The water doesn’t look deep, but it could be deeper farther on and you might find yourself sitting in water,” Ayla said.
“If I get out and wade, I will certainly get wet. Maybe I’ll take a chance and see if this seat keeps me drier,” the First said.
Ayla looked around at the sky. “It’s a good thing we got here now while the river is low. I think it might rain, or … I don’t know,” she muttered. “It feels like something is coming.”
Jondalar remounted his horse and Zelandoni stayed on the pole-drag. As they crossed, the horses were in water up to their belly and the two on horseback got their lower legs and bare feet wet. The Wolf, who had to swim a short distance, actually got fully soaked, but he shook it off when they reached the opposite bank. But the wooden pole-drag floated a bit, and the water level was low. Except for a few splashes, Zelandoni stayed quite dry.
Once across The River, they followed a well-marked path heading away from the river, traversed up the side of a ridge, over a rounded top where another trail joined it, then down the opposite side and along the customary shortcut. The walking distance to the Fifth Cave of the Zelandonii was about four miles. As they were traveling, the First offered them some information and history about the Fifth Cave. Although Jondalar knew most of it, he still listened attentively; Ayla had heard some of it before, but learned much that was new.
“From the counting word in their name, you know that the Fifth Cave is the third oldest existing group of the Zelandonii,” the Donier began, speaking in her instructional voice, which carried quite a distance though it was not excessively loud. “Only the Second and Third Caves are older. While the Histories and Elder Legends speak of the First Cave, no one seems to know what happened to the Fourth. Most people assume that some illness reduced its numbers until they were less than viable, or a difference of opinion among a number of the people caused some to leave, with the remaining ones then joining another Cave. Such an occurrence is not uncommon, as the missing counting words in a naming and tallying of all the various Caves will attest. Most Caves have Histories of assimilating members or joining other groups, but none has any stories about the Fourth Cave. Some people imagine that a terrible tragedy befell the Fourth Cave, which caused the death of them all.”
The First Among Those Who Serve The Great Earth Mother continued to lecture as they proceeded, thinking that Ayla in particular needed to know as much as possible about her adopted people, especially since she would someday have to teach the younger ones of the Ninth Cave. Ayla found herself listening with fascination, watching the trail they were following only peripherally, guiding Whinney unconsciously with the pressure of a knee or a shift in her position as the woman behind her spoke, and though facing backward, filled the surrounding air with her voice.
The home of the Fifth Cave was a comfortable little valley between limestone cliffs below a high promontory with a clear stream running down the middle, which began in a lively spring and ended where it debouched straight into The River several hundred feet away. The high cliffs rearing up on both sides of the small stream offered nine rock shelters of various sizes, some rather