The shelters of stone - Jean M. Auel [275]
Jondalar started to shrug him off, his mind on the demonstration that was not going as well as he’d hoped, then he noticed the deformed arm and a frown of concern on Ayla’s face. She was trying to tell him something, and it was probably about the boy.
“I think he could be a big help,” she said. “He’s even learned the whistle we use to call the horses, but he’s promised not to use it without a good reason.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Jondalar said, turning his attention to the child, “and I’m sure we can use the help.” Lanidar relaxed a little, and Ayla smiled at Jondalar.
“Lanidar came to see the demonstration, too. What targets do you have set up?” Ayla asked as they started walking back toward the crowd of mostly men who were watching them. A few of them looked as though they were getting ready to leave.
“Drawings of deer on a hide tied to a bundle of grass,” he said.
Ayla pulled out a spear and her spear-thrower as they approached, and as soon as she saw the targets, she sighted and let fly. The solid thunk caught a few by surprise, they hadn’t expected the woman to make a cast so quickly. She made a few more demonstrations, but unmoving targets seemed rather commonplace, and even if the spear did fly farther than anyone had ever seen a woman throw before, they had already watched Jondalar do that several times. It was no longer exceptional.
The boy seemed to understand that. He had walked along beside her because he wasn’t sure if she wanted him to stay or go, and tapped her.
“Why don’t you tell the wolf to find a rabbit or something?” Lanidar said.
The woman smiled at him, then made a silent signal to the wolf. The area was trampled by the many people milling around, and it was not likely that there were many animals left, but if any could be found, Wolf would find them. With a little trepidation, some people noticed the wolf dashing away from Ayla. They had started to become accustomed to seeing the meat-eater with the woman, but rushing off on his own was another thing.
Before Ayla arrived, a man had asked Jondalar how far he could cast a spear with one of those spear-throwers, but he said he had used up all his spears and needed to retrieve them before he could throw them again. Jondalar and a knot of men were just starting off together to gather them up when Ayla spied Wolf in a stance that signaled to her that he had found something. Suddenly a noisy willow grouse appeared out of a clump of trees halfway up a slope near the target course. Ayla had been waiting with a lightweight spear in the thrower, one she and Jondalar had started using for birds and small animals.
She hurled the weapon with a speed that was so practiced, it was almost instinctive. The bird squawked when it was hit, causing several people to look. They watched it fall from the sky Suddenly there was renewed interest in the hunting weapon. “How far can she throw?” the man who had asked about distance wanted to know.
“Ask her,” Jondalar said.
“Just throw, or hit the mark?” Ayla asked.
“Both,” the man said.
“If you want to see how far a spear will go using a thrower, I have a better idea,” she said, then turned to the boy. “Lanidar, would you show them how far you can throw a spear?”
He glanced around rather shyly, but she knew he hadn’t been hesitant to speak out or answer questions when he first talked to her, and she thought he wouldn’t mind the attention. He looked at Ayla and nodded.
“Do you think you can remember how you threw the spear before?” she asked.
He nodded again.
She gave him her spear-thrower and a projectile, another bird dart—she had only two lightweight spears left. He was a little awkward at getting the spear set on the spear-thrower with his shorter arm, but he did it himself. Then he walked to the middle of the practice course, pulled his good left arm back, and threw the spear the way he had done it before, let-ring the back of the thrower lift up and add the leverage that would