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Wouldn’t Brun be surprised to seeHe never allowed ani that little wolf cub into the cave Now look atto learn a lot about cave lions in a hurry—if he lives

She set h she didn’t kno she was going to get the internally healing medicine into the baby lion She left the cub then and went out to skin the reindeer When the first thin, tongue-shaped slices of , she was suddenly at a loss There was no layer of soil on top of the stone ledge, nothing into which she could sink the sticks she used to string her cords across She hadn’t even thought of that when she was so concerned about bringing the deer carcass up to the cave Why was it the s could be taken for granted

In her frustration, she couldn’t think of any solution She was tired, and overwrought, and anxious about bringing a cave lion ho to do with hi to the far end of the porch, she looked out over the valley while the wind blew in her face What could she be thinking of—to bring a baby lion back that would need care, when she should be getting ready to leave and continue her search for the Others? Maybe she should just take hio the way of all weakened ani straight? She didn’t kno to take care of him, anyway Hoould she feed him? And ould happen if he did recover? She couldn’t send him back to the steppes then; his oing to keep the cub, she’d have to stay in the valley To continue her search, she’d have to take him back to the steppes

She went back into the cave and stood over the young cave lion He still hadn’t , and his fuzzy coat reminded her of Whinney’s when she was a baby He was cute, and he looked so funny with his head bandaged up that she had to se lion, she reain It didn’t matter There was no way she could take that baby out to the steppes to die

She went back out and stared at theto stay in the valley, she would have to start thinking about storing food again Especially since she had anotherto think of soht She noticed a e, and she tried poking the stick into it The piece of wood stayed upright, but it would never support the weight of strings of h She went into the cave, grabbed a basket, and ran down to the beach

After so, she discovered that a pyraer stick She ather stones and cut suitable pieces of wood before she was able to string several lines across the ledge to dry theit She built a s and spitted a ru to feed the cub, and how she was going to get the medicine down him What she needed was lion baby food

Young ones could eat the same food as adults, she recalled, but it had to be softer, easier to chew and s Perhaps a meat broth, with the meat cut up very fine She had done that for Durc, why not for the cub? In fact, why not cook the broth in the tea she had infused for medicine?

She set to work i up the piece of deer ht it inside to put into the wooden cooking pot, then decided to add a little of the leftover coht he was resting easier

So and went back to check on hi softly, unable to roll over and get up—but when she approached the oversize kitten, he snarled and hissed and tried to back away Ayla smiled and dropped down beside him

Frightened little thing, she thought I don’t bla sos She stretched out a hand Here, I won’t hurt you Ow! Your little teeth are sharp! Go ahead, little one Taste et used to me I’ll have to be your mother now Even if I knehere your den was, your mother wouldn’t kno to take care of you—if she’d even take you back I don’t know much about cave lions, but I didn’t know h Are you hungry? I can’t give youto like broth and meat cut up fine And the medicine should make you feel better

She got up to check the cooking bowl She was rather surprised at the thickened consistency of the cooled broth, and when she stirred it with a rib bone, she found the meat compacted into a lump at the bottom of the bowl Finally, she poked it with a sharpened skewer and lifted out a congealed s Suddenly she understood, and she burst out laughing It frightened the cub so et up

No wonder that coether as well as it has glued this !

“Baby, do you think you can drink some of this?” she u dish The cub had squiret up She put the dish under his nose He hissed at her and backed away

Ayla heard the clatter of hooves co up the path, and a moment later Whinney ca now, and went to investigate She lowered her head to sniff the fuzzy creature The young cave lion, who as an adult could instill terror in one of Whinney’s kind, was instead terrified by yet another unfa near He spit and snarled and backed away until he was al, remembered a smell a little more fae new things in this place

Ayla lifted the baby lion to her lap, cuddled hi sounds—the way she would have soothed any baby The way she had soothed her own

It’s all right You’ll get used to us Whinney shook her head and nickered The cave lion in Ayla’s arh her instincts told her that scent ought to be She had changed behavior patterns before for the wo with her Perhaps this particular cave lion could be tolerated

The young ani around for a place to nurse You are hungry, aren’t you, baby? She reached for the dish of thick broth and held it under the cub’s nose He smelled it, but didn’t knohat to do with it She dipped two fingers in the bowl, put them in his mouth He knehat to do then Like any baby, he sucked

As she sat in her s back and forth as he suckled her two fingers, Ayla was so overcome with thedown her face and dripping on the fuzzy fur

A bond was forhts when she took the baby lion to her bed to cuddle and suckle her fingers—between the lonely young woman and the cave lion cub; a bond that could never have formed between the cub and its natural mother The ways of nature were harsh, particularly for the young of the htiest of predators While the liontheir early weeks—and even allow them to nurse, occasionally, for six months—froan eatingin a pride of lions allowed no sentimentality

The lioness was the hunter, and, unlike other roup Three or four lionesses together were

a foriant deer, or a bull aurochs in its prih the young and the old were susceptible But the lioness didn’t hunt for her young, she hunted for the ot the lion’s share As soon as he appeared, the lionesses gave way, and only after he gorged did the females take their share The older adolescent lions were next, and only then, if there was any left, did the young cubs get a chance to squabble over scraps