The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [249]
The other men with him weren’t angry. They were just scared. They knew what they had done, and there were enough people here who knew it too. The man standing beside Balderan was thinking about the predicament he was in. It always seemed so easy following him, taking whatever they wanted, and frightening people. Of course, Balderan scared him too, sometimes, but it made him feel important to see people afraid of him. And when they saw that people who came after them were close and determined, and felt it was time to move on, they were nimble and quick and could always get away. They were sure they would never get caught, but the foreign woman with her weapons and her animals had changed that.
There was no doubt that she was a Zelandoni, and they should never have gone after One Who Serves The Mother. But how could they have known? She wasn’t even tattooed. They said she was an acolyte, but an acolyte to the First? He didn’t know the First really existed. He thought she was just a story like the Elder Legends. But now the most powerful Zelandoni on earth was here, with her acolyte, who had magic control of animals and had caught him. What were they going to do to him?
As though hearing his thoughts, one of the Zelandonia said, “Now that they’re here, what are we going to do with them?”
“For now we have to feed them, find a place to keep them, and get some people to watch them until a decision can be made,” the First said, then turned to the woman who was the Zelandoni of the First Cave of Ancient Sacred Site Watchers. “And perhaps you should divide out this bison meat.”
She smiled at the First, acknowledging that she had turned over authority to her, as though she knew that she was the First in this region, although no one had told her. The woman called some names and delegated the responsibility to the leaders of the two Caves to decide how the meat should be parceled out, but assigned several other Zelandonia to supervise the actual work of skinning and butchering the beasts. Some had already been skinned, and they started cutting up that meat for their evening meal. Others were taking Balderan and his men toward the cliff.
Once he was in their hands, Ayla whistled Wolf to her and went to help Jondalar unhitch the pole-drags from the horses. She had seen a nice grassy area away from the people, but decided to ask if there was any reason she shouldn’t use it for the horses. It was always a good idea not to make assumptions about the territory of other Caves. She first asked Demoryn, the leader of Amelana’s Cave.
“We didn’t have a Summer Meeting here this year so I think it just hasn’t been trampled, but you might ask the Zelandoni First if you want to make sure,” he said.
“Zelandoni First?” Ayla said. “Do you mean of the First Cave of the Watchers?”
“Yes, but that is not the reason she is called Zelandoni First. It’s because she is our First,” he said. “It is only coincidence that she happens to be the Zelandoni of that Cave. Which reminds me, I should also tell her that I sent a runner to tell one or two other Caves that Balderan has been caught. They were troubled more than most by him. A few more people may come.”
Ayla frowned, and wondered how many other Caves would do the same. Maybe she should look for a more secluded spot, or perhaps make a fenced area for the horses the way she did at their Summer Meetings. She decided to talk to Jondalar about it after she talked to Zelandoni First.
Ayla and Jondalar talked to the rest