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They nodded and hurried to get the wrapped spears When everybody was ready, Ayla grasped the foot by the toes and heel again with both hands and gently but firh, she pulled, exerting strong pressure carefully It was not the first ti to set two of them He could see the concentration on her face as she pulled, trying to sense by the feel of his leg in her hands if the bones were lining up Even he felt what seeh a bone had found its place She lowered the leg gently, then exaht to Jondalar, but what did he know? At least it wasn’t bent backward at a place it had no right to be

She signaled that he could let go and turned her attention to the bleeding wound Pressing it together as best she could, with Jondalar’s help to lift it, she wrapped it up, splints and all, then tied everything together with the strips of leather she had cut Then she sat back on her heels

It was then that Jondalar noticed the blood It was everywhere, the wrappings, the splints, Ayla, hiround had lost a lot of blood “I think we have to get him back soon,” Jondalar said

A fleeting thought passed through hiswas not quite over, and the ritual releasing the newly mated couple from it had not been performed, but Ayla hadn’t even considered it, and Jondalar disency, and there was no Zelandoni around to ask

“You will need toaround, seeround

They looked at each other, shuffled their feet They were all young and inexperienced Several had only recently reachedtheof the su season, and that had been an easy hunt, hardlyhad been at the instigation of one of them who had watched his brother at similar sport a few years before, and a couple of the others who had heard about it, but primarily it was a spur-of-the-moment decision because they happened to see the beast They all knew that they should have brought in so down the huge ani it thees, and the adht it in Now one of them was badly hurt

Jondalar quickly assessed the situation “What Cave does he belong to?” he asked

“The Fifth,” came the reply

“You run ahead and tell the ht that he could have ridden in to tell them on Racer faster than a boy could run, but someone needed to supervise the construction of the stretcher The boys were still scared and in shock, and having a grown ht noas exactly what they needed “We’ll need three or four of you to help carry hiut that animal It could bloat up fast I’ll send so the h”

“He’sman said

“Fine Pick three et him back The rest can stay,” Jondalar said Then he notice

d that the youngster see to hold back tears “What is your cousin’s name?” he asked

“Matagan He is Matagan of the Fifth Cave of the Zelandonii”

“I know you an, and this has been very hard on you,” Jondalar said “He was very seriously hurt, but I will tell you the truth, he is very lucky that Ayla happened to be here I can’t proain Ayla is a very good healer I knoas mauled by a cave lion, and would have died on the steppes far to the east, but Ayla found me, treated an, Ayla will”

The young man let out a sob of relief and then tried to control hiain