Page 32 (1/2)

1

She was dead What did itrain flayed her skin raw The young wo her wolverine hood closer Violent gusts whipped her bearskin wrap against her legs

Were those trees ahead? She thought she reetation on the horizon earlier, and wished she had paid ood as that of the rest of the Clan She still thought of herself as Clan, though she never had been, and now she was dead

She bowed her head and leaned into the wind The stor down from the north, and she was desperate for shelter But she was a long way froone through a full cycle of phases since she left, but she still had no idea where she was going

North, to the ht Iza died, she had told her to leave, told her Broud would find a way to hurt her when he becaht Broud had hurt her, worse than she ever iined

He had no good reason to take Durc away froood reason to curse ry He’s the one

who brought on the earthquake At least she knehat to expect this time But it happened so fast that even the clan had taken a while to accept it, to close her out of their sight But they couldn’t stop Durc froh she was dead to the rest of the clan

Broud had cursed her on ier When Brun had cursed her, the first time, he had prepared theiven her a chance

She raised her head to another icy blast, and noticed it ilight It would be dark soon, and her feet were nus despite the insulating sedge grass she had stuffed in them She was relieved to see a dwarfed and twisted pine

Trees were rare on the steppes; they grew only where there was h to sustain them A double row of pines, birches, or s, sculptured by wind into stunted asymmetrical shapes, usually ht in dry seasons in a land where groundwater was scarce When storlacier, they offered protection, scant though it was

A few e of a streah only a narrow channel of water flowed between the ice-locked banks She turned west to follow it downstreaive more shelter than the nearby scrub

She plodded ahead, her hood pulled forward, but looked up when the wind ceased abruptly Across the strearass did nothing to war over, but she was grateful to be out of the wind The dirt wall of the bank had caved in at one place, leaving an overhang thatched with tangled grass roots and rowth, and a fairly dry spot beneath

She untied the waterlogged thongs that held her carrying basket to her back and shrugged it off, then took out a heavy aurochs hide and a sturdy branch stripped of twigs She set up a low, sloping tent, held doith rocks and driftwood logs The branch held it open in front

She loosened the thongs of her hand coverings with her teeth They were roughly circular pieces of fur-lined leather, gathered at the wrist, with a slit cut in the palrasp sos were led to untie the swollen leather laces wrapped around her ankles She was careful to salvage the wet sedge grass when she removed them

She laid her bearskin wrap on the ground inside the tent, wet side down, put the sedge grass and the hand and foot coverings on top, then crawled in feet first She wrapped the fur around her and pulled the carrying basket up to block the opening She rubbed her cold feet, and, when her damp fur nest warmed, she curled up and closed her eyes

Winter was gasping its last frozen breath, reluctantly giving way to spring, but the youthful season was a capricious flirt A hints of warmth promised su the night

Ayla woke to reflections of a dazzling sun glinting fro the banks, and to a sky deep and radiantly blue Ragged tatters of clouds streamed far to the south She crawled out of her tent and raced barefoot to the water’s edge with her waterbag Ignoring the icy cold, she filled the leather-covered bladder, took a deep drink, and ran back After relieving herself beside the bank, she crawled inside her fur to warain

She didn’t stay long She was too eager to be out, now that the danger of the storm had passed and the sunshine beckoned She wrapped on foot coverings that had been dried by body heat and tied the bearskin over the fur-lined leather wrap she had slept in She took a piece of dried s, and went on her way, chewing on the meat

The streahtly downhill, and the going was easy Ayla hureen on the brush near the banks An occasional s patches of snow,beside her for a pace, then raced ahead, carried by the swift current

Spring had begun when she left the cave, but it armer at the southern end of the peninsula and the season started earlier The lacial winds, and maritime breezes off the inland sea war slopes into a temperate climate

The steppes were colder She had skirted the eastern end of the range, but, as she traveled northward across the open prairie, the season advanced at the sa

The raucous squeals of terns drew her attention She glanced up and saw several of the s effortlessly ings outstretched The seanow—that s She stepped up her pace And maybe mussels on the rocks, and clams, and limpets, and tide pools full of anemones