"I see," the holy man said. "I'd like some time to meditate on this, Brun."

"Maybe we should all think about it. We'll meet again tomorrow morning," he announced, "without the girl."

"What is there to think about?" Broud objected. "We all know the punishment she deserves."

"Her punishment could be dangerous to the whole clan, Broud. I need to be absolutely sure there isn't something we've overlooked before I condemn her. We will meet again tomorrow."

As the men returned to the cave, they talked among themselves.

"I never knew of a woman who wanted to hunt," Droog said. "Could it have something to do with her totem? It's a male totem."

"I didn't want to question Mog-ur's judgment at the time," Zoug said, "but I always did wonder about her Cave Lion, even with the marks on her leg. I don't doubt it anymore. He was right, he always is."

"Could she be part male?" Crug commented. "There's been some talk."

"That would account for her unwomanly ways," Dorv added.

"She's female all right, there's no doubt of that," Broud said. "She must be killed, everyone knows it."

"You're probably right, Broud," Crug said.

"Even if she is part male, I don't like the idea of a woman hunting," Dorv commented dourly. "I don't even like her being part of the clan. She's too different."

"You know I've always felt that way, Dorv," Broud agreed. "I don't know why Brun wants to talk about it again. If I were leader, I'd just do it and be done with it."

"It's not a decision to make lightly, Broud," Grod said. "What's your hurry? One more day won't matter."

Broud hurried ahead without bothering to respond. That old man is always lecturing, he thought, always sticking up for Brun. Why can't Brun make a decision? I've made up my mind. What good is all this talk? Maybe he's getting old, too old to lead anymore.

Ayla stumbled back after the men. She went straight to the cave to Creb's hearth and sat on her sleeping fur, staring into s.p.a.ce. Iza tried to coax her to eat, but she just shook her head. Uba wasn't sure what was going on, but something was troubling the tall, wonderful girl, the special friend she loved and idolized. She went to Ayla and crawled into her lap. Ayla held the small girl, silently rocking her. Somehow Uba knew she was a comfort. She didn't squirm to get down, she just allowed herself to be held and rocked and finally fell asleep. Iza took the child from Ayla's arms and put her to bed, then retired to her own, but she didn't sleep. Her heart was too full of grief for the strange girl she called daughter who sat staring at the glowing coals of the cooling fire.

The morning dawned clear and cold. Ice was forming on the edges of the stream, and a thin film of solidified water covered the still, spring-fed pond near the mouth of the cave in the mornings, usually melted by the time the sun was high. Before very much longer, the clan would be confined to the cave for the winter.

Iza didn't know if Ayla had slept; she was still sitting on her fur when the woman awoke. The girl was silent, lost in a world of her own, hardly conscious of her own thoughts. She just waited. Creb did not return to his hearth for the second night. Iza saw him shuffle into the dark crevice that was the entrance to his inner sanctum. He didn't come out again until morning. After the men left, Iza brought the girl some tea, but Ayla didn't respond to the medicine woman's gentle questions. When she returned, the tea was still beside the girl, cold and untouched. It's as though she's already dead, Iza thought. Her breath caught in her throat as the icy claw of sorrow gripped her heart. It was almost more than Iza could bear.

Brun led the men to a place in the lee of a large boulder, sheltered from the brisk wind, and had a fire built before he opened the meeting. The discomfort of sitting in the cold might encourage the men to be hasty, and he wanted to know the full range of their feelings and opinions. When he began, it was in the completely silent symbols used to address spirits, and it told the men this was not a casual gathering, but a formal meeting.

"The girl, Ayla, a member of our clan, used a sling to kill the hyena that attacked Brac. For three years, she has used the weapon. Ayla is female; by Clan tradition, a female who uses a weapon must die. Does anyone have anything they want to say?"

"Droog would speak, Brun."

"Droog may speak."

"When the medicine woman found the girl, we were looking for a new cave. The spirits were angry with us and sent an earthquake to destroy our home. Maybe they weren't so angry, maybe they just wanted a better place, and maybe they wanted us to find the girl. She is strange, unusual, like a sign from a totem. We have been lucky since we found her. I think she brings luck and I think it comes from her totem.

"It's only part of her strangeness that she was chosen by the Great Cave Lion. We thought she was peculiar because she liked to go into the water of the sea, but if she had not been so peculiar, Ona would be walking the spirit world now. Ona is only a girl, and not even born to my hearth, but I have grown to love her. I would have missed her; I'm grateful she didn't drown.

"She is strange to us, but we know little of the Others. She is Clan now, but she was not born Clan. I don't know why she ever wanted to hunt; it's wrong for Clan women to hunt, but maybe their women do. It doesn't matter, it was still wrong, but if she hadn't taught herself to use a sling, Brac would be dead, too. It's not pleasant to think of the way he would have died. For a hunter to be killed by a meat eater is one thing, but Brac is a baby.

"His death would have been a loss to the whole clan, Brun, not just to Broud and you. If he had died, we wouldn't be sitting here trying to decide what to do about the girl who saved his life, we'd be grieving for the boy who will one day be leader. I think the girl should be punished, but how can she be condemned to die? I am finished."

"Zoug would speak, Brun."

"Zoug may speak."

"What Droog says is true; how can you condemn the girl when she saved Brac's life? She is different, she wasn't born Clan, and maybe she doesn't think like a woman should, but except for the matter of the sling, she behaves like a good Clan woman. She had been a model woman, obedient, respectful ..."

"That's not true! She is rebellious, insolent," Broud interrupted.

"I am speaking now, Broud," Zoug returned angrily. Brun shot him a disapproving glance and Broud curbed his outburst.

"It's true," Zoug continued, "when the girl was younger, she was insolent to you, Broud. But you brought it on yourself, you're the one who let it bother you. If you act like a child, is it so strange that the girl does not treat you like a man? She has never been anything but dutiful and obedient to me. Nor has she ever been insolent to any other man."

Broud glowered at the old hunter but held himself in check.

"Even if it were not true," Zoug continued, "I have never seen anyone as good with the sling as she is. She says she learned from me. I never knew it, but I will say openly I wish I had so apt a pupil to teach, and I must admit, I could learn from her now. She wanted to hunt for the clan, and when she couldn't, she tried to find another way to help the clan. She may have been born to the Others, but in her heart she is Clan. She has always put the interests of the clan before herself. She didn't think of the danger when she went after Ona. She may be able to move on the water, but I saw how tired she was when she brought Ona back. The sea could have taken her, too. She knew it was wrong for her to hunt, kept her secret hidden for three years, but she didn't hesitate when Brac's life was in danger.

"She is skilled with that weapon, more skilled than anyone I've ever seen. It would be a shame to let that skill go to waste. I say let her be a benefit to the clan, let her hunt ..."

"No! No! No!" Broud jumped up in anger. "She is female. Females cannot be allowed to hunt ..."

"Broud," the proud old hunter said. "I am not through. You may ask to speak when I am done."

"Let Zoug finish, Broud!" the leader cautioned. "If you do not know how to conduct yourself at a formal meeting, you may leave!" Broud sat down again, struggling to control himself.

"The sling is not an important weapon. I only began to develop my skill after I got too old to hunt with a spear. It's the other weapons that are the real men's weapons. I say let her hunt, but only with the sling. Let the sling be the weapon of old men and women, or at least this one. I am finished now."

"Zoug, you know as well as I that it is more difficult to use a sling than a spear, and many times you have provided meat when the hunt was a failure. Don't belittle yourself for the girl's sake. With a spear, you only need a strong arm," Brun said.

"And strong legs and heart, and good lungs, and a great deal of courage," Zoug replied.

"I wonder how much courage it took to face another lynx after being attacked by one, alone, with only a sling?" Droog commented. "I wouldn't object to Zoug's suggestion, if she hunts only with a sling. The spirits don't seem to object; she is still bringing us luck. What about our mammoth hunt?"

"I'm not sure that's a decision we can make," Brun said. "I don't see any way we can even allow her to live, much less hunt. You know the traditions, Zoug. It's never been done before; would the spirits really approve? What made you think of it, anyway? Clan women don't hunt."

"Yes, Clan women don't hunt, but this one has. I probably wouldn't have thought of it if I didn't know she could, if I hadn't already seen her. All I'm saying is let her continue to do what she has already done."

"What do you say, Mog-ur?" Brun asked.

"What do you expect him to say, she lives at his hearth!" Broud interjected bitterly.

"Broud!" Brun stormed. "Are you accusing Mog-ur of putting his own feelings, his own interests, before those of the clan? Is he not Mog-ur? The Mog-ur? You think he will not say what is right, what is true?"

"No, Brun. Broud has made a good point. My feelings for Ayla are well known; it's not easy to forget I love her. I think you should all remember that, even though I've tried to put emotions aside. I can't be sure that I have. I have been fasting and meditating since you returned, Brun. Last night I found my way to memories I never knew, perhaps because I never looked.

"Long ago, long before we were Clan, women helped men to hunt." There was a gasp of disbelief. "It's true. We will have a ceremony, and I will fake you there. When we were first learning to make tools and weapons, and we were born with a knowing that was like memories, but different, women and men both killed animals for food. Men did not always provide for women then. Like a mother bear, a woman hunted for herself and her children.

"It was later that men began to hunt for a woman and her young, and even later before women with children stayed behind. When men began to care about the young, when they began to provide, it was the beginnings of the Clan and helped it to grow. If a mother of a young child died while she was trying to get food, the baby died, too. But it wasn't until people stopped fighting each other and learned to cooperate, to hunt together, that the Clan really began. Even then, some women hunted, when they were the ones who talked to the spirits.

"Brun, you said it's never been done before. You are wrong; Clan women have hunted before. The spirits approved then, but they were different spirits, ancient spirits, not the spirits of totems. They were powerful spirits, but they have long since gone to rest. I'm not sure if they can rightfully be called Clan spirits. It wasn't that they were honored or venerated, more that they were feared; but they weren't evil, just powerful."

The men were stunned. He spoke of times so ancient and so little recalled, they were almost forgotten, almost new. Yet just his mentioning of them evoked a recollection of the fear, and more than one man shuddered.

"I doubt that women born to the Clan now would ever want to hunt," Mog-ur continued. "I'm not sure they could. It's been too long, women have changed since then, so have men. But Ayla is different, the Others are different, more different than we think. I don't think letting her hunt would make any difference as far as the other women are concerned. Her hunting, her wanting to hunt, surprises them as much as us. I have nothing more to say."

"Does anyone have anything more to say?" Brun asked. He wasn't sure, though, that he was ready for more. Too many new ideas had already been proposed for comfort.

"Goov would speak, Brun."

"Goov may speak."

"I am only an acolyte, I don't know as much as Mog-ur, but I think he overlooked something. Maybe it's because he has tried so hard to put aside his feeling for Ayla. He has concentrated on remembering, not on the girl herself, perhaps out of fear it would be his love speaking and not his mind. He hasn't thought about her totem.

"Has anyone considered why a powerful male totem would choose a girl?" He answered his own rhetorical question. "Except for Ursus, the Cave Lion is the most powerful totem. The cave lion is more powerful than the mammoth; he hunts mammoth, only the young and old, but he does hunt mammoth sometimes. The cave lion does not hunt mammoth."

"You're not making sense, Goov. You say the cave lion hunts mammoth, then you say he doesn't," Brun gestured.

"He doesn't, she she does. We overlook that when we speak of protective totems; even the male cave lion is the protector. But who is the hunter? The largest meat eater of all, the strongest hunter is the lioness! The female! Is it not true she brings her kill to her mate? He can kill, but his job is to protect while she hunts. does. We overlook that when we speak of protective totems; even the male cave lion is the protector. But who is the hunter? The largest meat eater of all, the strongest hunter is the lioness! The female! Is it not true she brings her kill to her mate? He can kill, but his job is to protect while she hunts.

"It's curious that a Cave Lion would choose a girl, isn't it? Has anyone ever thought that perhaps her totem is not the Cave Lion, but the Cave Lioness? The female? The hunter? Couldn't that explain why the girl wanted wanted to hunt? Why she was given a sign? Maybe it was the Lioness who gave her the sign, maybe that's why she was marked on her left leg. Is it really more exceptional for her to hunt than it is for her to have such a totem? I don't know if it's true, but you must admit it's reasonable. Whether her totem is Cave Lion or Cave Lioness, if she was meant to hunt, can we deny it? Can we deny her powerful totem? And do we dare condemn her for doing what her totem wishes?" Goov concluded. "I am finished." to hunt? Why she was given a sign? Maybe it was the Lioness who gave her the sign, maybe that's why she was marked on her left leg. Is it really more exceptional for her to hunt than it is for her to have such a totem? I don't know if it's true, but you must admit it's reasonable. Whether her totem is Cave Lion or Cave Lioness, if she was meant to hunt, can we deny it? Can we deny her powerful totem? And do we dare condemn her for doing what her totem wishes?" Goov concluded. "I am finished."

Brun's head was whirling. Ideas were coming at him too fast. He needed time to think, to work it out. Of course it's the lioness who hunts, but who ever heard of a female totem? The spirits, the essences of protective spirits are all male, aren't they? Only someone who spends long days dwelling on the ways of the spirits would come to the conclusion that the totem of the girl who had been hunting was the hunter of the species that embodied her totem. But Brun wished Goov hadn't brought up the idea of denying the wishes of so powerful a totem.

The whole concept of a woman hunting was so unique, so thought-provoking, that several of the men had been jarred into making the small incremental step that pushed the frontiers of their comfortable, secure, well-defined world. Each man spoke from his own viewpoint, from his own area of concern or interest, and each had pushed forward the frontier only in that one small area; but Brun had to embrace them all, and it was almost too much. He felt duty-bound to consider every aspect before he made a judgment, and he wished he had time to mull them over carefully. But a decision could not be held off much longer.

"Does anyone else have any more opinions?"

"Broud would speak, Brun."

"Broud may speak."

"All these ideas are interesting, and may give us something to think about on cold winter days, but the traditions of the Clan are clear. Born to the Others or not, the girl is Clan. Clan females may not hunt. They may not even touch a weapon, or any tool that is used to make a weapon. We all know the punishment. She must die. It makes no difference if long ago women once hunted. Because a she-bear hunts, or a lioness, doesn't mean a woman may. We are neither bears nor lions. It makes no difference if she has a powerful totem or if she brings luck to the clan. It makes no difference if she is good with a sling or even that she saved the life of the son of my mate. I am grateful for that, of course-everyone has noticed I said so many times on the way back, I'm sure-but it makes no difference. The traditions of the Clan make no allowances. A woman who uses a weapon must die. We cannot change that. It is the way of the Clan.

"This whole meeting is a waste of time. There is no other decision you can make, Brun. I am finished."

"Broud is right," Dorv said. "It is not our place to change the traditions of the Clan. One exception leads to another. Soon there would be nothing we can count on. The punishment is death; the girl must die."

There were a couple of nods of agreement. Brun did not respond immediately. Broud is right, he thought. What other decision can I make? She saved Brac's life, but she used a weapon to do it. Brun wasn't any closer to a resolution than he was the day Ayla pulled out her sling and killed the hyena.

"I will take all your thoughts into consideration before I make my decision. But now I want to ask each of you to give me a definite answer," the leader finally said. The men were sitting in a circle around the fire. They each clenched a fist and held it in front of their chests. A movement up and down would mean an affirmative answer, a lateral movement of the fist, no.

"Grod," Brun began with his second-in-command, "do you think the girl Ayla should die?"

Grod hesitated. He sympathized with the leader's dilemma. He had been Brun's second for many years, he could almost read the leader's thoughts, and his respect for him had grown with time. But he could see no alternative; he moved his fist up, then down.

"What other choice is there, Brun?" he added.

"Grod says yes. Droog?" Brun asked, turning to the toolmaker.

Droog did not hesitate. He moved his fist across his chest.

"Droog says no. Crug, how about you?"

Crug looked at Brun, then Mog-ur, and finally Broud. He moved his fist up.

"Crug says yes, the girl should die," Brun confirmed. "Goov?"

The young acolyte responded immediately by drawing his fist across his chest.

"Goov's opinion is no. Broud?"

Broud moved his fist up before Brun could say his name, and Brun moved on just as quickly. He knew Broud's answer.

"Yes. Zoug?"

The old sling-master sat up proudly and moved his fist back and forth across his chest with an emphasis that left no doubt.

"Zoug thinks the girl should not die, what do you think, Dorv?"

The hand of the other old man went up, and before he could bring it down, all eyes turned toward Mog-ur.

"Dorv says yes. Mog-ur, what is your opinion?" Brun asked. He had guessed what the others would say, but the leader wasn't sure about the old magician.

Creb agonized. He knew the Clan traditions. He blamed himself for Ayla's crime, for giving her too much freedom. He felt guilty about his love for her, afraid it would usurp his reason, afraid he would think of himself before his duty to his clan, and began to move his fist up. Logically he decided she must die. But before he could start the movement, his fist jerked to the side, as though someone had grabbed it and moved it for him. He could not bring himself to condemn her, though he would do what he must, once the decision was made. He had no choice. The choice was Brun's and only Brun's.

"The opinions are evenly divided," the leader announced. "The decision was never anything but mine anyway, I only wanted to know how you felt. I will need some time to think about what was said today. Mog-ur says we will have a ceremony tonight. That's good. I will need the help of the spirits, and we all may need their protection. You will know my decision in the morning. She will know then, too. Go now and prepare for the ceremony."

Brun remained by the fire alone after the men left. Clouds scudded across the sky, driven by brisk winds, and dropped intermittent icy showers as they pa.s.sed, but Brun was as oblivious to the rain as he was to the last dying embers sputtering in the fireplace. It was nearing dark when he finally hauled himself up and plodded slowly back to the cave. He saw Ayla still sitting where he had seen her when they left in the morning. She expects the worst, he said to himself. What else can she expect?

16*

The clan gathered outside the cave early. A chill east wind was blowing, hinting of icier blasts, but the sky was clear and the morning sun just above the ridge, bright, in contrast to the somber mood. They avoided each other's eyes; arms hung limp with the absence of conversation as they shuffled to their places to learn the fate of the strange girl who was no stranger to them.

Uba could feel her mother shaking and her hand gripped so hard it hurt. The child knew it was more than the wind that made her mother shiver so hard. Creb was standing at the mouth of the cave. Never had the great magician seemed more forbidding, his ravaged face set in chiseled granite, his single eye opaque as stone. At a signal from Brun, he limped into the cave, slowly, wearily, weighted by an overwhelming burden. He walked into his hearth and looked at the girl sitting on her fur, and with a supreme effort of will, forced himself to approach her.

"Ayla. Ayla," he said gently. The girl looked up. "It's time. You must come now." Her eyes were dull, uncomprehending. "You must come now, Ayla. Brun is ready," Creb repeated.

Ayla nodded and dragged herself up. Her legs were stiff from sitting so long. She hardly noticed. She followed dumbly behind the old man, staring at the trampled dust still bearing traces of those who had walked that way before-a heelmark, the imprint of toes, the blurred outline of a foot encased in a loose leather pouch, the round b.u.t.t of Creb's staff and the furrow of his dragging lame leg. She stopped when she saw Brun's feet, wrapped in their dusty coverings, and dropped to the ground. At a light tap on her shoulder, she forced herself to look up into the clan leader's face.

The impact jolted her to awareness and awakened an undefinable fear. It was familiar-low, swept-back forehead, heavy brows, large beaky nose, grizzled beard-but the proud, stern, hard look in the leader's eyes was gone, replaced by sincere compa.s.sion and luminous sorrow.

"Ayla," he said aloud, then continued with the formal gestures reserved for serious occasions, "girl of the Clan, the traditions are ancient. We have lived by them for generations, almost as long as the Clan has existed. You were not born to us, but you are one of us, and you must live, or die, by those same customs. While we were north, hunting mammoth, you were seen using a sling and you have hunted with a sling before. Clan females may not use weapons, that is one of our traditions. The punishment, too, is part of the traditions. It is the Clan way, it may not be changed." Brun leaned forward and looked into the frightened blue eyes of the girl.

"I know why you used the sling, Ayla, though I still can't understand why you ever started. Brac would not be alive if it hadn't been for you." He straightened and with the most formal of gestures, made so everyone could see, he added, "The leader of this clan is grateful to the girl for saving the life of the son of the mate of the son of my mate."

A few glances pa.s.sed among the watching clan. It was a rare concession for a man to make publicly, and more rare for a leader to admit grat.i.tude to a mere girl.