Jean Auel - The Clan of the Cave Bear

Broud glanced around the clan and noticed Creb leaning on his staff near the cave. The old man looked angry.

But, not nearly as angry as Brun. His face was a black rage as he watched Ayla return to her place. He struggled to control himself, to keep from interfering. There was more than anger in his eyes, the pain in his heart showed, too. The son of my mate, he thought, who I raised and trained and just made leader of this clan. He is using his position for revenge. Revenge against a woman, for wrongs he has imagined. Why didn't I see it before? Why was I so blind to him? Now I know why he raised Vorn's status so soon. Broud arranged the whole thing with him; he planned to do this to Ayla all along.

Broud, Broud, is that the first thing a new leader does? Puts his hunters in jeopardy with a young and inexperienced second to avenge himself against a woman? What pleasure can it bring you to separate a mother and her child when she has suffered so much pain already? Have you no heart, son of my mate? All she has of her son is to share her bed with him at night.

«I am not finished, I am not through,» Broud gestured, trying to get the attention of the shocked and uneasy clan. They finally settled down.

«This man was not the only one raised to a new position. We have a new mog-ur.

There are certain privileges that go with increased status. I have decided that Goov…the mog-ur, will move to the rightful hearth of the magician of the clan. Creb will move to the back of the cave.»

Brun shot a glance at Goov. Was he in on the arrangement, too? Goov was shaking his head with a puzzled look on his face.

«I don't want to move to The Mog-ur's hearth,» he said. «That has been his home ever since we moved into this cave.»

The clan was becoming more than uneasy about their new leader.

«I have decided you will move!» Broud gestured imperiously, angry at Goov's refusal. When he had noticed the crippled old man leaning on his staff glaring at him angrily, he suddenly realized the great Mog-ur was magician no more. What did he have to fear from a deformed old cripple? On impulse, he had made the offer, expecting Goov to jump at the choice spot in the cave as Vorn had jumped at the chance for increased status. He thought it would cement the new mog-ur's loyalty to him, make Goov obligated to him. Broud hadn't counted on Goov's loyalty, and love, for his mentor. Brun was unable to hold back any longer and was just about to speak out, but Ayla beat him to it.

«Broud!» Ayla shouted from her place. His head shot up. «You can't do that! You can't make Creb move from his hearth!» She was stomping toward him full of righteous wrath. «He needs a protected place. The wind blows too hard into the back. You know how he suffers in the winter.» Ayla had forgotten herself as a Clan woman; she was now the medicine woman protective of her patient. «You're doing it to hurt me. You're trying to get back at Creb because he took care of me. I don't care what you do to me, Broud, but leave Creb alone!» She was standing in front of him, towering over him, gesticulating angrily in his face.

«Who gave you permission to speak woman!» Broud stormed. He swung at her with a clenched fist, but she saw t coming and ducked. Broud was startled at reaching nothing but air Rage replaced his surprise as he started after her.

«Broud!» Brun's shout brought him to a standstill. He was too accustomed to obeying that voice, especially when it was raised in anger.

«That is Mog-ur's hearth, Broud, and will be his hearth until he dies. That will happen soon enough without your bringing it on sooner by moving him. He has served this clan long and well; he deserves that place. What kind of leader are you? What kind of a man are you? Using your position to get revenge on a woman? A woman who has never done anything to you, Broud, who couldn't if she tried. You are no leader!» «No, you are the one who is no leader, Brun, not anymore.» Broud had regained the realization of his position, and Brun's, after his initial impulse to obey. «I am leader now! I make the decisions now! You have always taken her side against me, always protected her. Well, you can't protect her anymore!» Broud was losing control, gesticulating wildly, his face purple with rage. «She will do what I say, or I will curse her! And it won't be temporary! You just saw her insolence, and you still stick up for her.

I won't stand for it! Not anymore. She deserves to be cursed for it. And I will! How do you like that, Brun? Goov! Curse her! Curse her! Now, right now! I want her cursed now.

No one will tell this leader what to do, least of all that ugly woman. Did you understand me? Curse her, Goov!»

Creb had been trying to get Ayla's attention from the moment she lashed out at Broud, trying to warn her. It didn't matter to him where he lived, front or back of the cave, it was all the same to him. His suspicions had been aroused from the moment Broud said he would take Ayla as second woman. It was too responsible a move for Broud to make without some reason. But his suspicions hadn't prepared, him for the ugly scene that followed. When he saw Broud order Goov to curse her, the last bit of fight went out of him. He didn't want to see any more, and turned his back to shuffle slowly into the cave. Ayla glanced up just as he disappeared into the hole in the mountain.

Creb wasn't the only one upset by the confrontation. The whole clan was in an uproar, gesturing, shouting, milling around in confusion. Some couldn't bear to watch, while others gazed in rapt disbelief at the spectacle not one of them ever expected to witness in their entire lives. Their lives were too ordered, too secure, too bound by traditions and customs and habits.

They were surprised at Broud's irregular and unreasonable announcements separating Ayla and her son; they were shocked at Ayla's confrontation with the new leader no more than Broud's decision to move Creb; they were stunned as much by Brun's angry denunciation of the man he had just made leader as by Broud's uncontrolled temper tantrum demanding that Ayla be cursed. They were yet to be traumatized.

Ayla was shaking so hard she didn't feel the trembling beneath her feet until she saw people toppling over, unable to keep their balance. Her own face mirrored the stunned expressions of the rest as they changed to fear, and then stark terror. It was then she heard the deep, terrifying rumble from the bowels of the earth.

«Duurrrc!» she screamed, and saw Uba grab for him then fall on top of him as though trying to protect his small body with her own. Ayla started toward them, then suddenly remembered something that filled her with horror.

«Creb! He's inside the cave!»

She scrambled up the swaying slope trying to reach the large triangular entrance.

A huge rock rolled down the steep wall that held the opening and, deflected by a tree that splintered under the impact, crashed to the ground beside her. Ayla didn't notice. She was numb, in shock. The memories locked in her old nightmare were released, but jumbled and confused by sheer panic. In the roar of the earthquake, not even she heard the word in a long forgotten language torn from her lips.

«Motherrr!»

The ground beneath her dropped several feet, then heaved up again. She fell over and struggled to get up, and then saw the vaulted ceiling of the cave collapse. Jagged chunks, torn from the high roof, crashed down and split on impact. Then more fell. All around her, boulders bounced and tumbled down the rocky face, rolled down the gentler slope, and splashed into the icy stream. The ridge to the east cracked and half of it toppled.

Inside the cave it was raining rocks and pebbles and dirt, mixed with the intermittent thunder of large sections of the walls and vaulted dome. Outside, tall conifers danced like clumsy giants and naked deciduous trees shook bare limbs in an ungraceful jitter, moving in speeded time to the thunderous dirge. A crack in the wall, near the east side of the opening, opposite the spring-fed pool, widened with an explosive gush that flushed out loose rock and gravel. It opened another underground channel that deposited its load of debris on the broad front porch of the cave before making its maiden voyage to the stream. The roar from the earth and the smashing rocks overpowered the screams of the terror-stricken people. The sound was deafening.