The Mammoth Hunters - Jean M. Auel [322]
“I know just the person to tell to start the rumor going,” Branag said. “With the stories going around already, even if they aren’t entirely believed, I think they will avoid the horses. I don’t think anyone will want to take a chance that Rydag might send the wolf after him. I’ve been meaning to ask, how did Rydag know to signal the wolf?”
Deegie looked at the man to whom she was Promised with surprise. “I guess you don’t know, do you? I don’t know why I should think that just because I know something, you know it, too. Frebec wasn’t just making something up to defend Lion Camp. He was telling the truth. Rydag understands everything that everyone says. He always has. We just didn’t know it until Ayla taught us all his sign language so we could understand him. When Frebec was pretending to walk away, he told Rydag, and Rydag asked Ayla. We all knew what they were saying, so we knew what was going to happen.”
“Is that true?” Branag asked. “You were talking to each other and no one knew it!” He laughed. “Well, if I’m going to be in on the Lion Camp’s surprises, maybe I should learn this secret language, too.”
“Ayla!” Crozie called, coming out of the tent. They stopped and let her catch up. “Tulie just told me what you decided to do to mark the horses,” she said, coming toward them. “Smart idea, and red will stand out on a light-colored horse, but you don’t have two bright red hides. When I was unpacking, I found something I’d like you to have.” She unwrapped a bundle that had recently been untied, took out a folded hide and shook it open.
“Oh, Crozie!” Ayla exclaimed. “This is beautiful!” she breathed in wonder at a chalk-white leather cape decorated with ivory beads in subtle repetitive triangles, and hedgehog quills, dyed ochre red and sewn on in patterns of right-angled spirals and zigzags.
Crozie’s eyes lit up at her admiration. Having made a tunic, Ayla understood the difficulty of making leather white. “It’s for Racer. I think white against his dark brown coat will stand out.”
“Crozie, it’s too beautiful for that. It will get dirty and dusty, and especially if he tries to roll with it on, it will lose the decorations. I can’t let Racer wear this out in the field,” Ayla said.
Crozie looked at her sternly. “If someone is out hunting horses and sees a brown horse with a white decorated cover on his back, do you think that hunter is likely to aim a spear at him?”
“No, but you have put too much work into that to let it get ruined.”
“The work was put in many years ago,” Crozie said, then with a softening expression and a misting of her eyes, she added, “It was made for my son, Fralie’s brother. I have never been able to give it to anyone else. I could not bear to see someone else wear it, and I could not throw it away. I have just dragged it around from place to place, a useless piece of hide, the work wasted. If this hide will help protect that animal, it will no longer be useless, the work will have some value. I want you to have it, for what you have given me.”
Ayla took the proffered package, but looked puzzled. “What have I given you, Crozie?”
“It’s not important,” she said abruptly. “Just take it.”
Frebec, hurrying into the tent, looked up and saw them, and smiled, full of self-satisfaction, before going in. They smiled back.
“I was very surprised when Frebec came forward to defend Rydag,” Branag commented. “I would have thought he would be the last one.”
“He’s changed a lot,” Deegie said. “He still likes to argue, but he’s not so hard to get along with. He’s willing to listen sometimes.”
“Well, he never was afraid to step up and say what he thought,” Branag said.
“Maybe that’s what it was,” Crozie said. “I never did understand what Fralie saw in him. I tried my best to talk her out of joining with him. He didn’t have a thing to offer. His mother had no status, he had no particular talents, I thought she was throwing herself away. Maybe just having the nerve to ask says something for him, and he really did want