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The horses, patiently grazing nearby, cae of the plateau and stopped again to look down at the valleys of the primary river and its tributary, and the complement of lih field they could see the confluence of the s from the northwest and the main stream as it approached from the east The ser river turned south, while it was stillsection of its course To the south, at the end of a series of cliffs, they saw the geologic block of lie of the Ninth Cave, with its long front terrace But as Ayla looked down at the home of the Ninth Cave, it was not the re shelter that held her attention, but another most unusual formation

Long before, during a for when impressive peaks were folded and raised at the leisurely pace of geologic tineous rock broke away from the place of its volcanic birth and fell into a stream The

wall of stone from which the pillar had coreat colules

As the rock that broke loose was lacial ice, the coluh bashed and battered, retained its basic shape The pillar of stone was eventually deposited on the floor of an inland sea, along with deep layers of accu limestone Later earth movements raised the sea floor, which eventually beca river valleys As water, weather, and wind eroded the great faces of vertical limestone into the shelters and caves used by the Zelandonii, they also exposed the erratic, the battered piece of basalt from a distant location shaped like a column

As if its sheer size weren’t enough to e abri wasstone ee lih buried deeply into the cliff at one end, it eathering out at such an angle that it see a distinctive land element to the extraordinary rock shelter of the Ninth Cave Ayla had seen it when she first arrived and, with a shiver of recognition, felt she had seen it before

“Does that stone have a na to it

“It’s called the Falling Stone,” Jondalar said

“That’s a good name for it,” she said “And didn’t your mother mention names for those rivers?”

“The main river doesn’t really have a name,” Jondalar said “Everyone just calls it The River Most people think of it as the h it’s not the biggest It flows into aRiver—but many of the Zelandonii Caves live near this one, and everyone knows it’s the one that’s meant when someone says The River

“The little tributary down there is called Wood River,” Jondalar continued “Many trees grow near it, and there is more wood in that valley than in most It’s not used by hunters

The valley of the feeder streaht by limestone cliffs and on the left by steep hills, was not like rassy valleys of the main river and its other nearby tributaries It was dense with trees and vegetation, especially upstream Unlike more open areas, woodlands were not prized by hunters, because hunting was more difficult Animals were harder to see with trees and brush to hide behind and use for cae herds tended to prefer valleys with sizable fields of grass On the other hand, the valley did provide wood, for constructions, and implements, and for fire Fruits and nuts were also collected, and several other plants that were gathered for food and other uses, along with smaller animals that fell to snares and traps In a land of relatively few trees, no one disdained the value of Wood River Valley’s contributions

At the northeastern edge of the Ninth Cave’s terrace belohich also offered a view of the two river valleys, Ayla saw the obvious reood-size fire She hadn’t noticed it when she was there, she had beenthe trail down to the horse’s meadow in Wood River Valley

“Why is there such a large hearth at the edge of the terrace, Jondalar? It can’t be for war?”

“That’s a signal fire,” he said, then continued when he noticed her puzzled expression “A big balefire can be seen for quite a distance froes to other Caves with the fires, and they pass the nal fires”

“What kind of es?”