The valley of horses_ a novel - Jean M. Auel [295]
Ayla bowed her head, then looked up again. “How much will they like me when they find out my people were the Clan? Will they welcome me when they learn I have a son, who was born when I lived with them, who is abomination to them?”
“You can’t hide from people for the rest of your life. Didn’t the woman … Iza … didn’t she tell you to find your own kind? She was right, you know. It won’t be easy—I can’t keep the truth from you. Most people don’t know the Clan people are human. But you made me understand, and there are others who wonder. Most people are decent, Ayla. Once they get to know you, they will like you. And I’ll be with you.”
“I don’t know. Can’t we think about it?”
“Of course we can,” he said. We can’t start on a long Journey until spring, he was thinking. We could get as far as the Sharamudoi before winter sets it, but we can winter here as well. It would give her some time to get used to the idea.
Ayla smiled with genuine relief and stepped up her pace. She had been dragging her feet physically as well as mentally. She knew he was missing his family, and his people, and if he decided to go, she would go with him no matter where he went. She hoped, though, that after settling down for the winter he might want to stay and make his home in the valley with her.
They were far from the stream, almost up the slope to the steppes, when Ayla stooped to pick up a vaguely familiar object.
“It’s my aurochs horn!” she said to Jondalar, brushing off the dirt and noticing the charred inside. “I used it to carry my fire. I found it while I was traveling, after I left the Clan.” Memories flooded back. “And I carried a coal in it to light the torches to help me chase the horses into my first pit trap. It was Whinney’s dam that was caught, and when the hyenas went after her foal, I chased them away and brought her to the cave. So much has happened since then.”
“Many people carry fire when they travel, but with the firestones, we don’t have to worry about it.” His brow suddenly furrowed, and Ayla knew he was thinking. “We’re stocked up, aren’t we? There’s nothing more we need to do.”
“No, we don’t need anything.”
“Then why don’t we make a Journey? A short Journey,” he added when he saw her distress. “You haven’t explored the area to the west. Why don’t we take some food and tents and sleeping furs, and look it over? We don’t have to go far.”
“What about Whinney and Racer?”
“We’ll take them with us. Whinney can even carry us part of the time, and maybe the food and gear. It would be fun, Ayla. Just the two of us,” he said.
Traveling for fun was new to her, and hard to accept, but she couldn’t think of any objections. “I suppose we could,” she said. “Just the two of us … why not?” It might not be a bad idea to explore more of the country to the west, she thought.
“The dirt is not as deep back here” Ayla said, “but it’s the best place for a cache, and we can use some of the fallen rocks.”
Jondalar held the torch higher to spread the flickering light farther. “Several small caches, don’t you think?”
“So if an animal breaks into one, he won’t get everything. Good idea.”
Jondalar moved the light to see into some of the crannies among the fallen rocks in the far corner of the cave. “I looked back here once. I thought I saw signs of cave lion.”
“This was Baby’s place. I saw cave lion signs before I moved in, too. Much older. I thought it was a sign from my totem to stop traveling and stay for the winter. I didn’t think I would stay so long. Now I think I was supposed to wait here for you. I think the Cave Lion spirit guided you here, and then chose you so your totem would be strong enough for mine.”
“I always thought of Doni as my guiding spirit.”
“Maybe She guided you, but I think the Cave Lion chose you.”
“You may be right. The spirits of all creatures are Doni’s, the cave lion is Hers,