The shelters of stone - Jean M. Auel [138]
The wolf had enjoyed chasing the animals, but even before the gate was closed he had suddenly stopped running after them and begun searching for Ayla. He found her kneeling beside the wounded man. Some people began to form a circle around her and the man on the ground, but with the wolf there, they kept their distance. Ayla was oblivious to the people watching her as she began to examine him. He was unconscious, but she could feel a slight beating in his neck, under his jaw. She opened his clothing.
There was no blood, but a large blue-black smudge was already forming on his chest and abdomen. Carefully, she felt his chest and stomach around the darkening bruise. She pressed in once. He flinched and made a cry of pain, but did not wake up. She listened to his breathing and heard a soft gurgling, then noted that blood dribbled from the side of his mouth and knew he was injured internally.
She looked up and saw Jondalar’s piercing blue eyes and his familiar frown of concern, and then a second, nearly identical frown, with a questioning look. She shook her head at Joharran.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That bison stepped on him.” She looked down at the dead animal beside him. “His ribs are broken. They are piercing his lungs and I don’t know what else. He is bleeding inside. I’m afraid nothing can be done. If he has a mate, someone should send for her. I’m afraid he will walk the world of the spirits before morning.”
“Nooooo!” came a cry from the crowd. A young man pushed his way forward and threw himself down beside the man. “It’s not true! It can’t be true! How does she know? Only a Zelandoni knows. She’s not even one of us!”
“It’s his brother,” Joharran said.
The young man tried to hug the man on the ground, then turned the wounded man’s head to try to make his brother look at him. “Wake up, Shevonar! Please wake up,” the young man wailed.
“Come on, Ranokol. You’re not helping him.” The leader of the Ninth Cave tried to help the young man up, but was fought off and pushed away.
“It’s all right, Joharran. Let him stay. A brother has a right to say farewell,” Ayla said, then, noticing the man starting to stir, she added, “A brother might cause him to wake up, though, and he will be in pain.”
“Don’t you have some willow bark or something for pain in your medicine bag, Ayla?” Jondalar said. He knew she was never without a few basic medicinal herbs. Hunting always posed some danger, and she would have anticipated that.
“Yes, of course, but I don’t think he should have anything to drink. Not with such severe injuries inside.” She paused, then said, “But, maybe a poultice would help him. I could try it. First, we need to get him to someplace comfortable, and we’ll need wood for a fire, and water to boil. Does he have a mate, Joharran?” she asked again. The man nodded. “Then someone should go for her, and for Zelandoni, too.”
“Of course,” Joharran said, suddenly aware of her strange accent, though he had all but forgotten it until then.
Manvelar stepped in. “Let’s get some people looking for a place to take this man, where he can be comfortable, away from this hunting field.”
“Isn’t there a small cave in that cliff over there?” Thefona said.
“There’s bound to be one somewhere nearby,” Kimeran said.
“You’re right,” Manvelar said. “Thefona, why don’t you get some people and go look for a place to take him.”
“We’ll go with her,” Kimeran said, and called over the people from the Second and Seventh Caves who had joined the hunt.
“Brameval, perhaps you could organize a few people to get wood and water. And we’ll have to make something to carry him. Some people brought sleeping rolls, we’ll get some for him, and whatever else he needs,” Manvelar continued, then he called out to the hunters, “We need a good runner, to take a message back to Two Rivers Rock.”
“Let me go,” Jondalar said. “I can take the message, and Racer is the best ‘runner’ here.”
“I think you’re right about that.”
“Then maybe you could go on to Ninth Cave to get Relona here,