The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children 2)

She hurried to the entrance, then stopped cold when she looked out. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Lines of meat cut in neat little tongue-shaped pieces were strung out from one end to the other of the stone porch, with several small fires spaced in the midst of them. Could she still be dreaming? Had all the women of the clan suddenly appeared to help her?

“There is some meat from a haunch I spitted at that fireplace, if you’re hungry,” Jondalar said, with assumed casualness, and a big smug smile.

“You? You did that?”

“Yes. I did it.” His grin was even wider. Her reaction to his little surprise was better than he’d hoped. Maybe he wasn’t quite up to hunting yet, but at least he could skin the animals she brought and start the meat drying, especially since he had just made new knives.

“But … you’re a man!” she said, stunned.

Jondalar’s little surprise was more staggering than he knew. It was only by drawing on their memories that members of the Clan acquired the knowledge and skills to survive. For them, instinct had evolved so that they could remember the skills of their forebears and pass them down to their progeny, stored in the backs of their brains. The tasks that men and women performed had been differentiated for so many generations that Clan members had sex-differentiated memories. One sex was unable to perform the functions of the other; they did not have the memories for it.

A man of the Clan could have hunted or found deer and brought them back. He could even have skinned them, though somewhat less efficiently than a woman. If pressed, he might have hacked out some hunks. But he would never have considered cutting up the meat to start it drying, and, even if he had, he wouldn’t have known how to begin. He could certainly not have produced the neat, properly shaped pieces that would dry uniformly that Ayla saw in front of her eyes.

“Isn’t a man allowed to cut up a little meat?” Jondalar asked. He knew some people had different customs concerning woman’s work and man’s work, but he had only meant to help her. He didn’t think she would be offended.

“In the Clan, woman cannot hunt, and men cannot … make food,” she tried to explain.

“But you hunt.”

His statement gave her an unexpected jolt. She had forgotten she shared with him the differences between the Clan and the Others.

“I … I am not a Clan woman,” she said, disconcerted. “I …” She didn’t know how to explain. “I’m like you, Jondalar. One of the Others.”

23

Ayla pulled up, slid off Whinney, and gave the dripping waterbag to Jondalar. He took it and drank in large thirsty gulps. They were far down the valley, almost on the steppes, and quite a distance from the stream.

The golden grass rippled in the wind around them. They had been collecting grains of broomcorn millet and wild rye from a mixed stand that also included the nodding seed heads of unripe two-row barley, and both einkorn and emmer wheat. The tedious job of pulling the hand along each stalk to strip off the small hard seeds was hot work. The small round millet, put into one side of a divided basket which hung from a cord around the neck to free the hands, broke off easily, but it would need additional winnowing. The rye, which went into the other side of the basket, threshed free.

Ayla put the cord of her basket around her neck and went to work. Jondalar joined her shortly afterward. They plucked the grains side by side for a while, then he turned to her. “What is it like to ride a horse, Ayla?” he asked.

“It’s hard to explain,” she said, pausing to think. “When you go fast it’s exciting. But so is riding slow. It makes me feel good to ride Whinney.” She turned back to her task again, then stopped. “Would you like to try?”

“Try what?”

“Riding Whinney.”

He looked at her, trying to determine how she really felt about it. He had wanted to try riding the horse for some time, but she seemed to have such a personal relationship with the animal that he didn’t know how to ask tactfully. “Yes. I would. But will Whinney let me?”

“I don’t know.” She glanced toward the sun to see how late it was, then swung the basket to her back. “We can see.”

“Now?” he asked. She nodded, already starting back. “I thought you went to get the water so we could pick more grain.”

“I did. I forgot, the picking goes faster with two sets of hands. I was only looking at my basket—I’m not used to the help.”

The man’s range of skills was a constant surprise to her. He was not only willing, he was able to do anything she could, or he could learn to. He was curious and interested in everything, and particularly liked to try anything new. She could see herself in him. It gave her a new appreciation for just how unusual she must have seemed to the Clan. Yet they had taken her in and tried to fit her into their pattern of life.

Jondalar flipped his picking basket to his back and fell in beside her. “I’m ready to give this up for today. You’ve got so much grain already, Ayla, and the barley and wheat aren’t even ripe yet. I don’t understand why you want more.”

“It’s for Whinney and her baby. They’ll need grass, too. Whinney feeds outside in winter, but when the snow is deep, many horses die.”

The explanation was sufficient to quell any objection he might have had. They walked back through the tall grass, enjoying the warm sun on bare skin—now that they weren’t working in it. Jondalar wore only his breechclout, and his skin was as tanned as hers. Ayla had changed to her short summer wrap that covered her from waist to thigh, but more importantly, provided pouches and folds for carrying tools, sling, and other objects. Her only other piece of apparel was the small leather pouch around her neck. Jondalar had found himself admiring her firm supple body more than once, but he made no overt gestures, and she invited none.

He was anticipating the ride on the horse, wondering what Whinney would do. He could get out of her way in a hurry if he had to. Except for a slight limp, his leg was fine, and he thought the limp would work its way out in time. Ayla had done a miraculous job of treating his wound; he had so much to thank her for. He had begun to think about leaving—there was no reason for him to stay anymore—but she seemed in no hurry for him to go, and he kept putting it off. He wanted to help her prepare for the coming winter; he owed her that much at least.

And she had to worry about the horses, too. He hadn’t thought of that. “It takes a lot of work to store feed for the horses, doesn’t it?”

“Not so much,” she said.

“I was just thinking, you said they needed grass, too. Couldn’t you cut whole stalks and take them to the cave? Then, instead of gathering grain in these,” he indicated the picking baskets, “you could shake the seeds into a basket. And have grass for them besides.”

She paused, frowning, to consider the idea. “Maybe.… If the stalks are left to dry after they’re cut, the seeds might shake loose. Some better than others. There’s still wheat and barley … worth a try.” A big smile spread across her face. “Jondalar, I think it might work!”

She was so genuinely excited that he had to smile, too. His approval of her, his attraction, his sheer delight in her were all apparent in his wonderfully seductive eyes. Her response was open and spontaneous.

“Jondalar, I like it so much when you smile … to me, with your mouth, and with your eyes.”

He laughed—his unexpected, unconstrained, exuberantly wanton laugh. She is so honest, he thought. I don’t think she’s ever been anything but completely forthright. What a rare woman she is.

Ayla was caught up by his outburst. Her smile gave in to the contagion of his merriment, collapsed into a chuckle, then grew into a full, uninhibited exultation of delight.

They were both breathless when the

y regained control, relapsing into new spasms, then taking deep breaths and wiping their eyes. Neither of them could say what had been so outrageously funny; their laughter had fed on itself. But it was as much a release of tensions that had been accumulating, as the mirthfulness of the situation.

When they started walking again, Jondalar put an arm around Ayla’s waist. It was an affectionate reflex to the shared laughter. He felt her stiffen and jerked his arm away immediately. He had promised himself, and her, even if she hadn’t understood him at the time, that he would not impose himself on her. If she had made vows to abstain from Pleasures, he was not going to put himself in a position that would force her to refuse him. He had been very careful to respect her person.

But he had smelled the female essence of her warm skin, felt the turgid fullness of her breast on his side. He remembered, suddenly, how long it had been since he had lain with a woman, and the breechclout did nothing to hide the evidence of his thoughts. He turned away in an attempt to conceal his obvious tumescence, but it was all he could do to keep from tearing off her wrap. His stride lengthened until he was nearly running ahead of her.

“Doni! How I want that woman!” he muttered under his breath.

Tears squeezed out of the corners of Ayla’s eyes as she watched him bolt ahead. What did I do wrong? Why does he pull away from me? Why won’t he give me his signal? I can see his need, why doesn’t he want to relieve it with me? Am I so ugly? She quivered with the remembered feel of his arm around her; her nostrils were full of his masculine scent. She dragged her feet, not wanting to face him, feeling the way she had when she was a little girl and had done something she knew was wrong—only this time, she didn’t know what it was.

Jondalar had reached the cool shade of the wooded strip near the stream. His urgency was so strong that he could not constrain himself. Only moments after he was out of sight behind a screen of dense foliage, spasms of viscous white spurted to the ground, and then, still holding himself, he leaned his head against the tree, shaking. It was release, nothing more, but at least he could face the woman without trying to throw her down and force her.