The Plains of Passage - Jean M. Auel [208]
She jerked back in fear when the bear got up on his hind legs and growled. But when she looked again, she discovered it wasn’t a real bear. It was Creb, the Mog-ur, dressed in his bearskin cloak.
In the distance she beard her son calling out to her. She looked beyond the great magician and saw the wolf, but it wasn’t just a wolf. It was the spirit of the Wolf, Durc’s totem, and it wanted her to follow. Then the Wolf spirit turned into her son, and it was Durc who wanted her to follow. He called out to her once more, but when she tried to go to him, Creb blocked her way again. He pointed to something behind her.
She turned and saw a path leading up to a cave, not a deep cave, but an overhanging shelf of light-colored rock in the side of a cliff, and above it an odd boulder that seemed frozen in the act of falling over the edge. When she looked back, Creb and Durc were gone.
“Creb! Durc! Where are you?” Ayla called out, bolting up.
“Ayla, you’re dreaming again,” Jondalar said, sitting up, too.
“They’re gone. Why wouldn’t he let me go with them?” Ayla said, with tears in her eyes and a sob in her voice.
“Who’s gone?” he said, taking her in his arms.
“Durc is gone, and Creb wouldn’t let me go with him. He blocked the way. Why wouldn’t he let me go with him?” she said, crying in his arms.
“It was a dream, Ayla. It was only a dream. Maybe it means something, but it was just a dream.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right, but it felt so real,” Ayla said.
“Have you been thinking about your son, Ayla?”
“I guess I have,” she said. “I’ve been thinking I’ll never see him again.”
“Maybe that’s why you dreamed about him. Zelandoni always said when you have a dream like that, you should try to remember everything about it, and that someday you might understand it,” Jondalar said, trying to see her face in the dark. “Go back to sleep now.”
They both lay awake for some time, but finally they dozed off again. When they woke up the next morning, the sky was overcast and Jondalar was anxious to be on their way, but Wolf had still not returned. Ayla whistled for him periodically as they struck their tent and repacked their gear, but he still did not appear.
“Ayla, we need to go. He’ll catch up with us, just like he always does,” Jondalar said.
“I’m not going until I know where he is,” she said. “You can go or wait here. I’m going to look for him.”
“How can you look for him? That animal could be anywhere.”
“Maybe he went back down. He did like Shamio,” Ayla said. “Maybe we should go back to look for him.”
“We’re not going back! Not after we’ve come this far.”
“I will if I have to. I’m not going until I find Wolf,” she said.
Jondalar shook his head as Ayla started backtracking. It was obvious she was adamant. They could have been well on their way by now if it wasn’t for that animal. As far as he was concerned, the Sharamudoi could have him!
Ayla kept whistling for him as she went along, and suddenly, just as she was starting back into the woods, he appeared on the other side of the clearing and raced toward her. He jumped up on her, almost knocking her over, put his paws on her shoulder, and licked her mouth, gently biting her jaw.
“Wolf! Wolf, there you are! Where have you been?” Ayla said, grabbing his ruff, rubbing her face next to his, and putting her teeth on his jaw to greet him in return. “I was so worried about you. You shouldn’t run off like that.”
“Do you think we can get started now?” Jondalar said. “The morning is half-gone.”
“At least he did come, and we didn’t have to go all the way back,” Ayla said, leaping up on Whinney’s back. “Which way do you want to go? I’m ready.”
They rode across the pasture without speaking, irritated with each other, until they came to a ridge. Riding alongside, they looked for a way over it and finally came to a steep grade with sliding gravel and boulders. It appeared very unstable, and Jondalar continued trying to find another way. If it had been just them, they might have been able