The Mammoth Hunters - Jean M. Auel [65]
“I can go for packs and clothes on horse,” Ayla said.
“I didn’t think of that! After we’re through, there will be plenty to feed on, but I don’t want to leave anything out that I don’t want them to have.”
“We hid the packs, remember?” Druwez said. “She’ll never find them.”
“That’s true,” Barzec said. “I guess we’ll have to go ourselves.”
“Druwez know where to find?” Ayla asked.
The boy looked at Ayla, and nodded.
Ayla smiled. “You want come on horse with me?”
The boy’s face split in a wide grin. “Can I?”
She looked over at Jondalar, and caught his eye. Then beckoned him to come with the horses. He hurried over.
“I’m going to take Druwez and go get the packs and things they left behind when we started chasing,” Ayla said, speaking Zelandonii. “I’ll let Racer come, too. A good run might settle him down. Horses don’t like dead things. It was hard for Whinney in the beginning, too. You were right about keeping the halter on him, but we ought to start thinking about teaching him to be like Whinney.”
Jondalar smiled. “It’s a good idea, but how do you do it?”
Ayla frowned. “I’m not sure. Whinney does things for me because she wants to, because we’re good friends, but I don’t know about Racer. He likes you, Jondalar. Maybe he would do things for you. I think we both need to try.”
“I’m willing,” he said. “Someday I’d like to be able to ride on his back the way you ride on Whinney.”
“I would like that, too, Jondalar,” she said, remembering, with the warm feeling of love she’d felt even then, how she had once hoped that if the blond man of the Others grew to have feeling for Whinney’s colt, it might encourage him to stay in her valley, with her. That was why she had asked him to name the foal.
Barzec had been waiting while the two strangers spoke in the language he didn’t understand, getting a bit impatient. Finally he said, “Well, if you are going to get them, I’ll go back and help with the bison.”
“Wait a moment. I’ll help Druwez up, and go with you,” Jondalar said.
They both helped him up, and stood watching them go.
Shadows were already getting long by the time they returned, and both hurried to help. Later, as she was washing out long tubes of intestines at the edge of the small river, Ayla recalled skinning and butchering animals with the women of the Clan. Suddenly she realized this was the first time she had ever hunted as an accepted member of a hunting group.
Even when she was young, she had wanted to go with the men, though she knew women were forbidden to hunt. But the men were held in such high esteem for their prowess, and they made it seem so exciting, that she would daydream about herself as a hunter, especially when she wanted to escape from an unpleasant or difficult situation. That was the innocent beginning that led to situations far more difficult than she ever imagined. After she was allowed to hunt with a sling, though other hunting was still taboo, she had often quietly paid attention when the men were discussing hunting strategy. The men of the Clan did almost nothing but hunt—except discuss hunting, make hunting weapons, and engage in hunting rituals. The Clan women skinned and butchered the animals, prepared the hides for clothing and bedding, preserved and cooked the meat, in addition to making containers, cordage, mats, and various household objects, and gathering vegetable products for food, medicine, and other uses.
Brun’s clan had had almost the same number of people as the Lion Camp, but the hunters had seldom killed more