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It was unexpected, but the arible For a while, neither nal fro to an arht of it, without hesitation, she nal and shouted the word
Feeling hisahead With the sinewy grace of his kind, he sped down the valley with the woman on his back She squinted at the wind in her face Tendrils of hair that had escaped her braids streamed behind her She had no control She did not direct Baby as she had Whinney—she here he took her, and went gladly, feeling an exhilaration beyond anything she had ever known
The quick burst of speed was short-lived, as was his way even in the attack He slowed down, made a wide circle, and loped back to the cave With the woman still on his back, he climbed the steep path and stopped at her place in the cave She slid off and hugged hi no other way to express the deep unnao, he flicked his tail, then headed for the back of the cave He found his favorite spot, stretched out, and very quickly went to sleep
She watched hih for the day, is that it? Baby, after that, you can sleep as long as you want
Toward the end of suer The first tione for more than a day, Ayla was beside herself orry, and so anxious that she didn’t sleep the second night She was as tired and bedraggled as he looked when he finally appeared the next ave hih usually he toyed with the brittle strips As tired as she was, she went out with her sling and brought back two hares He awoke froreet her, and took one hare to the rear of the cave She carried the other to the back, then went to her own sleeping place
The tione three days, she didn’t worry as rew heavier He returned with gashes and scratches, and she knew he had skirh to be aware of females Unlike horses, lionesses had no special season; they could come into heat any time of the year
The young cave lion’s longer absences becaressed, and when he did return it was usually to sleep Ayla was sure he was sleeping elsewhere as well, but didn’t feel as secure there as he did in her cave She never knehen to expect him, or fro up the narrow path from the beach or, more dramatically, in a sudden leap down froe in front
She was always happy to see his were always affectionate—sometimes a little too affectionate After he leaped up to put heavy forepaws on her shoulders and knocked her down, she was quick to signal “stop” if he seehted to see her
Usually, he’d stay a few days; soht a kill back to the cave now and then Then he’d get restless again She was sure Baby was hunting for hiainst the hyenas, or wolves, or carrion birds that would try to steal the, she could expect him to leave shortly afterward The cave felt so e of winter She was afraid it was going to be a lonely one
The fall was unusual—war over the bright hues that a kiss of frost could bring They clung to the trees in drab withered clusters that rattled in the wind long beyond the tiround The peculiar weather was unsettling—autumn should be wet and cool, full of blustery winds and sudden showers Ayla couldn’t avoid a sense of dread, as though sue until overcoht of winter
Every e, and was al in a ree, watching the sun drop below the edge of the earth with only a haze of dust glowing dull red instead of a glorious display of color on water-laden clouds When the stars winked on, they filled the darkness so that the sky looked shattered and cracked with their profusion
She had been staying close to the valley for days, and when yet another day daarm and clear, it seemed foolish to have wasted the beautiful weather when she could have been out enjoying it Winter would coh to keep her confined to a lonely cave
Too bad Baby’s not here, she thought It would be a good day to go hunting Maybe I can go hunting myself She hefted a spear No Without Baby or Whinney, I’ll have to find a neay to hunt I’ll just takeI wonder if I should take a fur? It’s so warathering basket But I don’t need anything—I’ve gotwalk I don’t need to carry a basket for that, and I won’t need a fur either A brisk ill keep h
Ayla started down the steep trail feeling strangely unencumbered She had no burdens to carry, no ani to worry about but herself, but she wished she had The utter lack of responsibility gave her s: an unaccustomed sense of freedom and an unaccountable frustration
She reached the rade to the eastern steppes, then set herself a fast pace She had no particular destination in mind and walked wherever her whim took her The dryness of the season was accentuated on the steppes The grass was so withered and parched that, when she held a brittle blade in her hand and crumpled it, it shattered to dust The wind scattered it from her open palm
The ground beneath her feet was cemented into rock hardness and cracked in a checkered pattern She had to watch her footing to avoid stu an ankle in a hole or furrow She had never seen it so arid The atmosphere seemed to suck thewith her, expecting to fill it at known strea was one
When she came to a stream that she was sure would have water and found only , she walked along the streambed for a ways and ca hole When she bent down to taste, to see if it was drinkable, she noticed fresh hoofprints A herd of horses had obviously been there not long before So about one of the prints made her look closer She was an experienced tracker, and though she hadn’t thought of it, she had seen Whinney’s hoofprints too many times not to know the minor variations in outline and pressure that made her prints unique When she looked, she was certain Whinney had been there, and not long before; she must be close by Ayla’s heart beat faster
It wasn’t hard to find the trail The broken edge of a crack where a hoof had slipped in as the horses left the rass—all pointed the way the horses had gone Ayla folloith breathless excite its breath with anticipation It had been so long—would Whinney reh
The herd was farther away than she thought they would be So across the plains She heard snarls and co wolf pack, and she should have backed off But she had to go closer to ht of a deep brown coat relieved her, but it was the same uncommon color as the stallion, and she felt sure the horse was from the same herd
As she continued to track, she thought about horses in the wild and how vulnerable they were to attack Whinney was young and str
ong, but anything could happen She wanted to bring the young mare back with her
It was alhted the horses They were still nervous froht her scent, theywoman had to circle wide to coh to see individual horses, she identified Whinney, and her heart pounded She sed hard a few ti
She looks healthy, Ayla thought Fat No, she’s not fat I think she’s pregnant! Oh, Whinney, hoonderful Ayla was so pleased that she could hardly contain it Then she couldn’t stand it; she had to see if the horse would remember her She whistled
Whinney’s head came up instantly and looked in Ayla’s direction The woain, and the horse started toward her Ayla couldn’t wait; she ran to alloped between the at Whinney’s hocks, herded her away Then rounding up the rest of the herd, the lead erous woman
Ayla was heartbroken She couldn’t keep chasing after the herd She was already much farther away from the valley than she had planned to come, and they couldto make it back before dark, she’d have to hurry She whistled one , but she kneas too late She turned away, disheartened, and, pulling her leather wrap higher up around her shoulders, she bent her head into the cold wind