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Brun glanced toward the sun, then nal to leave The other hunters, unco repriet away They fell in behind the leader who set a fast pace back to the cave Broud brought up the rear, his face still crimson
Ayla crouched un to breathe She was petrified for fear they would see her She knew she had witnessed a scene no woman would ever be allowed to see Broud would never have been castigated like that in front of a woman The men, no matter what the provocation, maintained a brotherhood of solidarity around woirl’s eyes to a side of the men she never realized existed They were not the all-powerful, free agents who reigned with iht They too had to follow orders and they too could be repriure who ruled supreme She didn’t understand that Brun was under constraints farthan any of the others: the traditions and customs of the Clan, the unfathomable, unpredictable spirits that controlled the forces of nature, and his own sense of responsibility
Ayla re after the ht return She was still apprehensive when she finally dared to step out froh she didn’t fully coht into the nature of theshe did understand; she had seen Broud as submissive as any woant youngher for the least infraction whether she knerong or not, and she often wore the bruises of his quick temper She couldn’t seem to please him, no matter how hard she tried
Ayla walked across the clearing thinking about the incident As she neared the post, she saw the sling still on the ground where Broud had flung it in anger No one had remembered to retrieve it before they left She stared at it, afraid to touch it It was a weapon, and fear of Brun ht ry at her as he had been at Broud Her mind wandered back over the whole series of incidents she had just witnessed, and looking at the li’s instructions to Vorn, and Vorn’s difficulty Is it really so hard? If Zoug showed me, could I do it?
She was appalled at the telanced around to hts would be known if someone saw her Broud couldn’t even do it, she recalled She thought about Broud trying to hit the post and Zoug’s disparaging gestures at his failure, and a fleeting smile crossed her face
Wouldn’t he be ht of bettering Broud at anything Looking around onceapprehensively, then stooped down and picked it up She felt the supple leather of the eapon and suddenly thought about the punish in her hand She nearly dropped it again, looking quickly across the clearing in the direction the one Her eye fell on the small pile of stones
I wonder, could I do it? Oh, Brun would be so mad at me, I don’t knohat he’d do And Creb would say I was bad I’ What can be so bad about touching a piece of leather? Just because it’s used to throw stones Would Brun beat ive him an excuse to beat ry, could they be any madder if I tried it? Bad is bad, isn’t it? I wonder, could I hit that post with a stone?
The girl was torn betanting to try out the sling and the knowledge that she was forbidden to do it It rong She knerong But she wanted to try it What difference will onelanced around guiltily once more, then walked toward the stones
Ayla picked one up and tried to re’s instructions Carefully, she put the two ends together and gripped the limp She felt clumsy, unsure of how to put the stone in the orn cup Several tian to ’s deot it started, but the sling becaain
The next ti the round pebble a few paces Elated, she reached for another stone After a few more false starts, she lobbed a second stone The next few tries were unsuccessful, then one stone fleide of the et the knack
When the pile of stones was gone, she gathered theain, and then a third tithem very often Ayla looked down and saw three stones left on the ground She picked one up, placed it in the sling, whirled it over her head and launched the missile She heard a thunk as it hit the post squarely and bounced back, and she jumped into the air filled with the thrill of success
I did it! I hit the post! It was pure chance, a lucky fluke, but that didn’t diminish her joy The next stone fleide, but far beyond the post, and the last fell to the ground only a few feet ahead But she had done it once, and she was sure she could do it again
She started to collect the stones again and noticed the sun was nearing the horizon in the western sky Suddenly, she re wild cherry bark for Iza How did it get so late? she thought Have I been here all afternoon? Iza will be worried; Creb will be, too Quickly, she stuffed the sling into a fold of her wrap, raced to the cherry trees, cut away the outer bark with her flint knife, and scraped off long thin pieces of the inner cambium layer Then she ran back to the cave as fast as she could, slowing only as she neared the stream to assume the careful posture proper for fe gone so long; she didn’t want to give anyone ry
“Ayla! Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick I was sure you had been attacked by some animal I was ready to ask Creb to have Brun look for you” Iza scolded the moment she saw her
“I was looking around to see as starting to grow, and down by the clearing,” Ayla said, feeling guilty “I didn’t realize how late it was” It was the truth, but not the whole truth “Here’s your cherry bark The pokeweeds are corew last year Didn’t you tell ood for Creb’s rheumatism, too?”
“Yes, but you steep the root and apply it as a wash to relieve the pain The berries are rowths and lu her question auto to distract one so long, er, now that she knew the child was safe, was gone, but she wanted to ain Iza worried whenever Ayla went out
“I won’t do it again without telling you, Iza It just got late before I knew it”
As they walked into the cave, Uba, who had been looking for Ayla all day, spied her She ran toward the girl on her chubby, bowed legs, and stumbled just as she reached her But Ayla scooped the baby up before she fell and swung her around in the air “Could I take Uba withI could start to show her sos”
“She’s too young to understand, yet She’s just learning to talk,” Iza said, but seeing how happy the tere together, she added, “I suppose you could take her along for coo too far”
“Oh, good!” Ayla said, giving Iza a hug with the baby in her arhed out loud, while Uba gazed at her with twinkling eyes full of adoration “Won’t that be fun, Uba?” she said after sh
e put the child down “Mother is going to let you come with me
What’s gotten into that child? Iza thought I haven’t seen her so excited for a long tie spirits in the air today First, theas usual, they each go to their own fires and hardly pay any attention to the women I don’t think I’ve seen one of them scold anyone Even Broud was almost nice to y, hugging everyone I don’t understand it
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“Yes? What do you want?” Zoug gestured impatiently It was unusually war was thirsty and uncoe deer hide with a blunt scraper as it was drying He was not in the irl who had just sat down near hie her
“Would Zoug like a drink of water?” Aylaup deirl was at the spring and saw the hunter working in the hot sun This girl thought the hunter ht be thirsty, she did not mean to interrupt,” she said with the for a hunter She offered a birchbark cup and held out the cool, dripping waterbag oat