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When the dizziness passed, she decided to clean herself and then get some wood, but she didn’t knohat to do with the baby She was torn between taking hi him sleep where he was Women of the Clan never left babies untended, they were alithin sight of so hiet more water, and she could carry more ithout him

She peeked out through the bare-limbed bushes to make sure no one was near, then pushed the branches aside and left the cave The ground was soggy; near the creek it was a slippery ered in shaded nooks Shivering in the brisk wind that blew fro more rain clouds before it, Ayla stripped and stepped into the cold creek to rinse herself, then sponged her wraps The clammy damp leather did little to warm her when she put them back on

She walked to the woods that surrounded the high pasture and tugged at so vertigo overwhelmed her, her knees buckled, and she reached for a tree to steady herself Her head was pounding; she sed hard to keep frohts of hunting or gathering food left her The depleting pregnancy, the ravaging delivery, and the grueling clith left

The baby was crying when she got back to the cave It was cool and damp and he missed her warm closeness She picked hi she had left by the creek She had to have water She put her son down and dragged herself out of the cave again It was starting to rain When she returned, she sunk down, exhausted, and pulled the damp heavy fur over the away at the corners of her mind as sleep overwhelmed her

“Didn’t I tell you she was insolent and willful?” Broud gestured self-righteously “Did anyone believe me? No They took her side, made excuses, let her have her way, even let her hunt I don’t care how strong her totem is, women are not supposed to hunt The Cave Lion didn’t lead her to it, it was just defiance See what happens when you give a woman too much freedom? See what happens when you’re too lenient? Now she thinks she can force her deformed son into the clan No one can make excuses for her this time She deliberately disobeyed the customs of the Clan It’s inexcusable”

At last Broud had been vindicated and he gloried in his chance to say “I told you so” He rubbed it in with a vengeance thatface and the son of his mate didn’t make it any easier

“You’ve naled “There’s no need to keep on about it I’ll take care of her when she coainst otten aith it, and no woman will start now

“When we search again to on to the reason he called the o Iza said Ayla knew of a small cave Has anyone ever seen a set very far Let’s forget about the steppes or the forest and search where caves are likely to be With this rain her trail has been washed away, but there ht be a footprint left Whatever it takes, I want her found”

Iza waited anxiously for Brun’s e to speak to him and decided the time was now When she saw the men leave, she walked to his hearth with bowed head and sat at his feet

“What do you want, Iza?” Brun asked after tapping her shoulder

“This unworthy woan

“You may speak”

“This wo not to co woot to use the formal form of address as her emotions overcaht she would ever conceive life, least of all her How could the Spirit of the Cave Lion be overcoh she suffered, she never coht that her baby would die gave her strength at the end She just couldn’t bear to give him up, even if he was deformed She was sure it was the only baby she would ever have She was out of her head froht I know I have no right to ask, Brun, but I beg you to let her live”

“Why didn’t you co for her life would do any good nohy didn’t you come to me then? Have I been so unkind to her? I was not blind to her suffering Ainto another man’s hearth, but he cannot close his ears There is not a person in this clan who does not know the pain Ayla suffered to give birth to her son Do you think me so hardhearted, Iza? If you had come to me, told me how she felt, what she planned to do, don’t you think I would have considered allowing her baby to live? I could have overlooked her threat to run and hide as the ravings of a woman out of her head I would have examined the child Even without a ht have allowed it But you gave me no opportunity You assumed to knohat I would do That’s not like you, Iza

“I have never known you to be derelict in your duty You have always been an example for the other women I can only blame your behavior on your illness I kno sick you are, though you try to hide it I respected your wishes and made no mention of it, but I was sure you were ready to walk in the world of the spirits last autumn I ell aware Ayla believed this was her one chance to have a child I suspect she is right Yet, I saw her put all thoughts of herself aside when you were ill, Iza, and she pulled you through I don’t kno she did it Maybe it was Mog-ur who placated the spirits that wanted you to join the-ur alone

“I was ready to grant his request and allow her to become medicine woman I had come to respect her as much as I once respected you She has been an admirable woman, a model of dutiful obedience, in spite of the son of my mate Yes, Iza, I am aware of Broud’s harsh treatment of her Even her one lapse early last suh I don’t fully understand how It is unworthy of hiainst a wo hunter and has no reason to feel his manhood is threatened by any fe I overlooked Perhaps he’s right, I have been blind to her Iza, if you had coht have let her son live It is too late now When she returns on her child’s na day, both Ayla and her son will die”

The next day Ayla tried to make a fire There were still a few sticks of dry wood left froainst another piece of wood, but she didn’t have the endurance to maintain the sustained effort required to make it s and Crug found their way to the mountain meadohile she and the baby slept They would have smelled a fire or the remains of one and found her As it was, they walked so close to the cave that if the baby had whimpered in his sleep, they would have heard But the entrance to the small hole in the rock as so well hidden by the thick old stand of hazelnut bushes, they didn’t notice it

But fortune s sullenly fro the bank of the sround of thea pall over her spirits, washed away all traces of her So expert were the hunters at tracking, they could identify the individual footprints of each member of the clan, and their sharp eyes would easily have seen broken-off shoots or disturbed earth froathered any food Her very weakness saved her from discovery

When Ayla went out later and saw the ave rise to the creek, where they had stopped for a drink of water, her heart nearly stopp

ed It ust that shook the brush fronting her cave, and strained to hear iined sounds

The food she had brought with her was nearly gone She searched through the baskets she had , lonely stay of her temporary death curse All she found were sos of s since eaten She found the rotten, dried reiven her when she used the cave as shelter during her woman’s curse—totally inedible

Then she remembered the cache of dried deer meat in the stone pit at the back of the cave, from the deer she killed for a rap Ayla found the small mound of rocks and moved them The preservedof her tensions was shortlived The branches at the mouth of the cave moved, and Ayla’s heart raced

“Uba!” she gestured with shocked surprise as the girl entered the cave “How did you find me?”

“I followed you the day you left I was so afraid soht you some food and some tea to make your milk flow Mother made it”

“Does Iza knohere I am?”

“No She knows I do, though I don’t think she wants to know or she’ll have to tell Brun Oh, Ayla, Brun is sofor you every day”

“I saw their footprints by the spring, but they didn’t see the cave”