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“It makes no difference if he is ht, he’s a man He can beat you anytime he wants, as hard as he wants He will be leader someday, Ayla, you must obey him, you must do just as he says, when he says it You have no choice,” Iza explained She looked at the stricken face of the child Why is it so hard for her? she wondered Iza felt a sadness and sy the facts of life “It’s late, Ayla, go to bed”

Ayla went to her sleeping place, but it was a long time before she went to sleep She tossed and turned and slept badly when sleep did finally overco stick, and was gone before breakfast She wanted to be alone, to think She cli, but she didn’t feel

It’s all Broud’s fault, she thought Why does he always pick on me? What did I ever do to him? He never has liked me So what if he’s ato be leader, he’s not so great He’s not even as good as Zoug with the sling I could be as good as he is, I’m already better than Vorn He misses a lot more than I do; Broud probably does, too Heoff for Vorn

Angrily, she started slinging stones One bounced into a copse of bushes and flushed a sleepy porcupine from his hole The s thing about Vorn killing a porcupine, she thought I could, too, if I wanted to The ani up a sandy hill near the creek, quills extended Ayla fitted a stone into the bulge of her leather sling, took ai porcupine was an easy target; it dropped to the ground

Ayla ran toward the creature, pleased with herself But when she touched it, she realized the porcupine wasn’t dead, only stunned She felt his beating heart and saw the blood trickling fro the small animal back to the cave to heal him as she had done with so many wounded creatures She wasn’t pleased anymore; she felt terrible Why did I hurt hi hiht away he was hit with a stone; she’s seen too

The child stared at the wounded animal I can’t ever hunt, she realized Even if I killed an aniood is all this practicing with a sling? If Creb is mad at me noould he do if he knew? What would Brun do? I’m not even supposed to touch a weapon, o away? Ayla was overcoo? I can’t leave Iza and Creb and Uba Who would take care ofinto tears

I’ve been bad I’ve been so bad, and Creb is so mad at me I love him, I don’t want him to hate me Oh, why is he so irl’s face She lay down on the ground, sobbing her misery When she had cried herself out, she sat up and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, her shoulders shaking with renewed sobs every now and then I won’t be bad anyood I’ll do whatever Broud wants, no ain To e under a bush, raced to get her basket, and started down to the cave Iza had been looking for her and saw her returning

“Where have you been? You’ve been gone alland your basket is empty”

“I’ve been thinking,at Iza with earnest seriousness “You were right, I’ve been bad I won’t be bad any Broud wants me to And I will behave the way I should, I won’t run or anything Do you think Creb will ever love ood?”

“I’ently She’s had that sickness again, the one that makes her eyes water when she thinks Creb doesn’t love her, the wo at Ayla’s tear-streaked face and red swollen eyes Her heart ached for the girl It’s just harder for her, her kind are different But perhaps it will be better now

11

The change in Ayla was unbelievable She was a different person She was contrite, she was docile, she raced to do Broud’s bidding The htened discipline They nodded their heads knowingly She was living proof of what they had always maintained: if men were too lenient, wouidance of a strong hand They eak, willful creatures, unable to exert the self-control of men They wanted men to command them, to keep them under control, so they would be productive members of the clan and contribute to its survival

It didn’t irl or that she was not truly Clan She was nearly old enough to be a woman, already taller than most, and she was female The women felt the effects as the men took their own ideas to heart The uilty of leniency

But Broud took the h he cla to the assault he launched on Ayla If he had been hard on her before, he was doubly hard on her now He kept after her constantly, hounded her, harassed her, sought her out with every kind of insignificant task to make her jump to his demands, cuffed her at the least infraction, or at no infraction—and he enjoyed it She had threatened histo pay Too often had she resisted hiht to keep fro her Noas his turn He had bent her to his will and he was going to keep her there

Ayla did everything she could to please him She even tried to anticipate his wants, but that backfired when he repri she could knohat he wanted The moment she stepped outside the boundaries of Creb’s hearth, he was ready, and she could not stay within the stones that ician’s private domain without reason It was the last busy time of the season, with the final preparations for winter; there were just too s that needed to be done to secure the clan fro cold Iza’s stock of medicine was essentially complete, so there was little excuse for Ayla to leave the environs of the cave Broud ran her ragged all day, and at night she collapsed in bed exhausted

Iza was sure Ayla’s change of heart had less to do with Broud than he iined It was her love for Creb more than her fear of Broud Iza told the old ain when she thought he didn’t love her

“You know she went too far, Iza I had to do soain, Brun would have That could have been worse Broud can only make her life ave themore force than the power of fear, and the the his meditations for days Creb softened toward her almost immediately It had been all he could do to

The first light siftings of snoashed away by frigid downpours that changed to sleet or freezing rain with the cooling te found puddles crusted with thin shattery ice, portending a deeper cold, only to ain when the capricious wind blew from the south and an irresolute sun decided to press its authority All during the indecisive transition from late fall to early winter, Ayla never faltered in her proper feminine obedience She acquiesced to Broud’s every whim, jumped at his every demand, bowed her head subhed or even s—but it wasn’t easy And though she struggled against it, tried to convince herself she rong, forced herself to be even an to chafe under the yoke

She lost weight, lost her appetite, was quiet and subdued even within Creb’s hearth Not even Uba could h she often picked the baby up the ht and hel

d her until they both fell asleep Iza worried about her, and when a day of bright sunshine followed one of freezing rain, she decided it was tiive Ayla a little respite before the winter closed in on them completely

“Ayla,” Iza said loudly as they stepped outside the cave before Broud couldmy medicines and I don’t have any snowberry stems for stomachaches It’s easy to identify It’s a bush covered hite berries that stay on after the leaves have fallen”

Iza neglected to mention that she had many other remedies in stock for stomachaches Broud frowned as Ayla raced into the cave for her collecting basket But he knew that gathering Iza’shim a drink of water, or tea, or a piece of ot to wrap around his legs as leggings, or his hood, or an apple, or two stones from the stream to crack nuts because he didn’t like the stones near the cave, or any of the other inconsequential tasks he ed fro stick