Jean Auel - The Clan of the Cave Bear

Aba and Zoug were rushing to meet them. Aba welcomed her daughter and Droog joyously, hugged the older children, then took Groob in her arms. Zoug nodded at Ayla as he ran toward Grod and Uka, then Ovra and Goov.

«Where is Dorv?» Ika motioned.

«He walks in the world of the spirits now,» Zoug replied. «His eyes got so bad, he couldn't see what anyone was saying. I think he gave up and didn't want to wait for your return. When the spirits called, he left with them. We buried him and marked the place so Mog-ur could find it for the death rites.»

Ayla looked around, suddenly anxious. «Where's Iza?»

«She is very ill, Ayla,» Aba said. «She hasn't been out of her bed since the last new moon.»

«Iza! Not Iza! No! No!» Ayla cried, running toward the cave. She threw her bundles down when she reached Creb's hearth and rushed toward the woman lying on her furs.

«Iza! Iza!» the young woman cried. The old medicine woman opened her eyes.

«Ayla,» she said, her gruff voice barely audible. «The spirits have granted my wish,» she motioned feebly. «You're back.» Iza held out her arms. Ayla embraced her and felt her thin, frail body, hardly more than bones covered with wrinkled skin. Her hair was snow white; her face, dried parchment stretched over bones with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes. She looked a thousand years old. She was just past twenty-six.

Ayla could hardly see for the tears that streamed down her face. «Why did I go to the Clan Gathering? I should have stayed here and taken care of you. I knew you were sick, why did I go away and leave you?»

«No, no, Ayla,» Iza motioned. «Don't blame yourself. You can't change what is meant to be. I knew I was dying when you left. You couldn't have helped me, no one could. I just wanted to see you one more time before I went to join the spirits.» «You can't die! I won't let you die! I'll take care of you. I'll make you get well,» Ayla gestured wildly.

«Ayla, Ayla. There are some things even the best medicine woman cannot do.» The exertion brought on a coughing spell. Ayla held her propped up until the cough quieted. She shoved her fur behind the woman to raise her up and make her breathing easier, then began rummaging through the medicines stored near Iza's bed.

«Where's the elecampane? I can't find any elecampane.»

«I don't think there's any left,» Iza motioned weakly. The fit of coughing had exhausted her. «I used a lot of it and couldn't go out to get more. Aba tried to find some, but she brought back sunflowers.»

«I shouldn't have gone,» Ayla said, then raced out of the cave. She met Uba, carrying Durc, and Creb at the entrance.

«Iza's sick,» Ayla waved frantically, «and she doesn't even have any elecampane.

I'm going to get some. There's no fire at the hearth, Uba. Why did I go to the Clan Gathering? I should have stayed here with her. Why did I leave?» Ayla's bleak face, grimy with travel, was streaked with tears, but she neither noticed nor cared. She ran down the slope as Creb and Uba hurried into the cave.

Ayla splashed across the stream, raced to the meadow where the plants grew, and dug up the roots with her bare hands, tearing them out of the ground. Stopping at the stream just long enough to wash them, she sped back to the cave.

Uba had a fire going, but the water she had started heating was just barely warm.

Creb was standing over Iza making formal motions with more fervor than he had felt for many days, calling on every spirit he knew to strengthen her life essence, and pleading with them not to take her, yet. Uba had put Durc on a mat. He was just starting to crawl and pulled himself up on his hands and knees. He scooted toward his mother busy cutting up the root into small pieces, but she pushed him away when he tried to nurse. Ayla had no time for her son. He started to howl while she dumped the root into the water and added more rocks, impatient for it to boil.

«Let me see Durc,» Iza motioned. «He's grown so much.» Uba picked him up and brought him to her mother. She put the baby on Iza's lap, but he was in no mood to cuddle with an old' woman he didn't remember, and struggled to get down again.

«He's strong and healthy,» Iza said, «and he doesn't have any problems holding his head up.»

«He even has a mate already,» Uba said, «or at least a baby girl that has been promised for him.»

«A mate? What clan would promise a girl to him? So young, and with his deformity.»

«There was a woman at the Clan Gathering with a deformed daughter. She came and talked to us the first day,» Uba explained. «The baby even looks like Durc, at least her head does. Her features are a little different. The mother asked if they could be mated;

Oda was so worried that her daughter would never find a mate. Brun and the leader of her clan arranged it. I think she will be coming here to live after the next Gathering, even if she's not a woman. Ebra said she could live with her until they were both old enough to mate. Oda was so happy, especially after Ayla made the drink for the ceremony.» «So they did accept Ayla as a medicine woman of my line. I wondered if they would,» Iza gestured, then she stopped. Talking made her tired, but just seeing her loved ones around her again rejuvenated her spirit, if not her body. She rested for a while, then asked, «What is the girl's name?»

«Ura,» Iza's daughter answered.

«I like the name, it has a good sound.» Iza rested again, then asked another question. «What about Ayla? Did she find a mate at the Clan Gathering?» «The clan of Zoug's kin is considering her. They refused at first, but after she was accepted as a medicine woman, they decided to think it over. There wasn't time to settle anything before we left. They might take Ayla, but I don't think they want Durc.» Iza just nodded, then closed her eyes.

Ayla was grinding meat to make into a broth for Iza. She kept checking the boiling water with the root for the right color and flavor, impatient for it to be done. Durc crawled up to her, whining, but she brushed him off again.

«Give him to me, Uba,» Creb motioned. It quieted the boy for a while, sitting in Creb's lap, intrigued with the man's beard. But he soon grew tired of that, too. He rubbed his eyes and struggled to get loose of the restraining arm, and when freed crawled straight for his mother again. He was tired, and he was hungry. Ayla was standing over the fire and hardly seemed to notice when the cranky baby tried to pull up on her leg. Creb heaved himself up, then dropped his staff and signaled Uba to put the boy into his arm.

Limping heavily without his support, he shuffled to Broud's hearth and laid Durc in Oga's lap.

«Durc is hungry and Ayla is busy making medicine for Iza. Will you feed him, Oga?»

Oga nodded, took the baby from him, and gave Durc her breast. Broud glowered, but one dark glance from Mog-ur made him cover his anger quickly. His hatred of Ayla did not extend to the man who protected and provided for her. Broud feared Mog-ur too much to hate him. He had discovered at an early age, however, that the great holy man seldom interfered in the secular life of the clan, confining his activities to the spirit world.

Mog-ur had never tried to prevent Broud from exercising control over the young female who shared his hearth, but Broud had no wish to lock horns with the magician directly.

The man shuffled back to his hearth and began to search through the bundles that had been dumped for the bladder of cave bear grease that was his share of the rendered fat from the ceremonial animal. Uba saw him and hurried over to help. Creb took it with him into his place of the spirits. Though he was sure it was hopeless, he was going to use every bit of magic at his command to help Ayla try to keep Iza alive.

The roots had finally boiled long enough and Ayla scooped out a cup of the liquid, impatient now for it to cool. The warm broth fed to her earlier, in small sips with Ayla propping her head up just as Iza had done for her when she was a five-year-old and near death, had revived the old medicine woman somewhat. She had eaten little since she had taken to her bed, and not much before. Food brought to her often went untouched. It had been a desolate, lonely summer for Iza. With no one around to watch her and make sure she ate, she often forgot, or just didn't bother. The other three had all tried to help when they saw she was failing, but they didn't know how.