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The horse, noticing her attention was no longer on her task, whinnied and caet a drink of water first” She put her ar horse and walked toward the stream
The foliage near the running water at the base of the steep southern as a slow- the rhythm of the
seasons; now deep soolds, paler yellows, dry browns, and fiery reds The sheltered valley was a bright swatch ae of the steppes, and the sun armer within its wind-protected walls For all the fall colors, it had felt like a war illusion
“I think I should getwhen I put it down fresh” Walking beside the horse, Ayla continued her ue, then unconsciously stopped the handon the thread Iza always collected grass in fall for winter bedding It sed it, especially when the snoas deep and the wind blowing outside I used to love falling asleep listening to the wind and s summer-fresh hay
When she saw the direction they were going, the horse trotted ahead Ayla sently “You must be as thirsty as I a the sound out loud in response to the filly’s call That does sound like a na should be done properly
“Whinney! Whiiinneeey!” she called The animal perked up her head, looked toward the woman, then trotted to her
Ayla rubbed her head and scratched her She was shedding her prickly baby coat and growing in longer winter hair, and she always loved a scratching “I think you like that name, and it suits you,cereh, and Creb isn’t here to -ur and do it” She s-ur
Ayla started back toward the river again but veered upstream when she noticed she was near the open place where she had dug the pit trap She had filled in the hole, but the young horse spooked around it, sniffing and snorting and pawing the ground, bothered by so odor or memory The herd had not returned since the day they raced down the length of the valley, away from her fire and her noise
She led the filly to drink nearer the cave The cloudy streah point, leaving a slurry of rich brown e It squished under Ayla’s feet and left a brownish red stain on her skin, and it re-ur used for cereer around in the , then smiled and scooped up a handful
I was going to look for red ochre, she thought, but thisher eyes, Ayla tried to remember what Creb had done when he naed old face, with a flap of skin covering the place where an eye should have been, his large nose, his overhanging brow ridges and low sloping forehead His beard had gotten thin and scraggly, and his hairline had receded, but she re, but at the peak of his power She had loved that y old face
Suddenly all her e back Her fear that she would lose her son and her utter joy at the sight of a bowl of red ochre paste She sed hard several tio down, and she wiped a tear away, not knowing she left a sainst her, nuzzling for affection, alh she sensed Ayla’s need The woainst the sturdy neck of the little filly
This is supposed to be your na control of herself The ers She scooped up another handful, then reached toward the sky with the other hand, as Creb had always done with his abbreviated one-handed gestures, calling for the spirits to attend Then she hesitated, not sure if she should invoke the Clan spirits at the naers into the mud in her hand and made a streak down the foal’s face, from her forehead to the end of her nose, as Creb had drawn a line with the paste of red ochre froes met to the tip of his rather small nose
“Whinney,” she said aloud, and finished with the forirl’s … this female horse’s name is Whinney”
The horse shook her head, trying to rid herself of the wet h “It will dry up and wear off soon, Whinney”
She washed her hands, adjusted the basketful of grain on her back, and walked slowly to the cave The na ceremony had reminded her toocreature and eased her loneliness, but by the time Ayla reached the rocky beach, tears had come unbidden, unnoticed
She coaxed and guided the young horse up the steep path to her cave, which roused her out of her grief somewhat “Come on, Whinney, you can do it I know you’re not an ibex or a saiga antelope, but it only takes getting used to”
They reached the top of the wall that was the front extension of her cave and went in Ayla rekindled the banked fire and started sorain and didn’t need specially prepared food, but Ayla made mashes for her because Whinney liked them
She took a brace of rabbits, caught earlier in the day, outside to skin theht them in to cook, and rolled up the skins until she was ready to process thee supply of aniht She wasn’t sure how she was going to use the the winter she h, she’d just pile them around her
Winter was on her rew shorter and the te or harsh it would be, which worried her A sudden attack of anxiety sent her checking her stores, though she knew exactly what she had She looked through baskets and bark containers of dried rains In the dark corner farthest from the entrance, she examined piles of whole, sound roots and fruits to ns of rot had appeared
Along the rear ere stacks of wood, dried horse dung frorain, for Whinney, were stashed in the opposite corner
Ayla walked back to the hearth to check the grain cooking in a tightly woven basket and turn the rabbits, then past her bed and personal belongings along the wall near it, to examine herbs, roots, and barks suspended from a rack She had sunk the posts for it in the packed earth of the cave not too far fros, tea, and medicines would benefit from the heat as they dried, but would not be too close to the fire
She had no clan to tend and didn’t need all the medicines, but she had kept Iza’s pharmacopoeia well stocked after the old wo thewith food On the other side of the herb rack was an assortment of various rasses and barks, hides, bones, several rocks and stones, even a basket of sand from the beach
She didn’t like to dwell too , lonely, inactive winter ahead But she knew there would be no cere, no new babies to anticipate, no gossiping, or conversations, or discussions ofthetactics She planned instead to spend her ti, the better—to keep herself as busy as possible
She looked over soe so she couldout the inside and shaping it with a hand-axe used as an adze, and a knife, then rubbing it smooth with a round rock and sand could take days; she planned to make several Soings, footwear linings, others would be dehaired and worked so well that they would be as soft and pliable as baby’s skin, but very absorbent
Her collection of beargrass, cattail leaves and stalks, reeds, itches, roots of trees, would be htly woven or of looser weave in intricate
patterns, for cooking, eating, storage containers, ing trays, serving trays,food She wouldto rope, fro tail of the horse; and lamps out of stone with shalloells pecked out to be filled with fat and a dried moss hich burned with no smoke She had kept the fat of carnivorous animals separate for that use Not that she wouldn’t eat it if she had to, it was just a matter of taste preference
There were flat hipbones and shoulder bones to be shaped into plates and platters, others for ladles or stirrers; fuzz fro with feathers and hair; several nodules of flint and implements to shape it with She had passedsimilar objects and implements, necessary for existence, but she also had a supply of h she had watchedweapons
She wanted to s She thought she h skill with that weapon took asBrun was the expert with the bola; justthe weapon was a skill in itself Three stones had to be pecked round, into balls, then attached to cords and fastened together with the proper length and balance
Would he teach Durc? Ayla wondered
Daylight was fading and her fire was nearly out The grain had absorbed all the water and softened She took a bowlful for herself, then added water and prepared the rest for Whinney She poured it into a watertight basket and brought it to the aniainst the wall on the opposite side of the cave mouth
For the first few days down on the beach, Ayla had slept with the little horse, but she decided the foal should have her own place up in the cave While she used dried horse dung for fuel, she found little use for fresh droppings on her sleeping furs, and the foal seemed unhappy about it as well The ti to sleep with, and her bed wasn’t big enough for both of theh she often lay down and cuddled the baby animal in the place she had made for her