The Mammoth Hunters (Earth's Children 3)

“You do know animals, Ayla,” Ranec said, then with a questioning look, he added, “There is something I’d like to ask you, though. How did you know the horses wouldn’t hurt him? Wolf packs hunt horses, and I’ve seen horses kill wolves. They are mortal enemies.”

Ayla paused and considered. “I’m not sure. I just knew. Maybe because of Baby. Cave lions kill horses, too, but you should have seen Whinney with him when he was little. She was so protective, like a mother, or at least an aunt. Whinney knew a baby wolf couldn’t hurt her, and Racer seemed to know it, too. I think if you start when they are babies, many animals can be friends, and friends of people, too.”

“Is that why Whinney and Racer are your friends?” Latie asked.

“Yes, I think so. We’ve had time to get used to each other. That’s what Wolf needs.”

“Do you think he might get used to me?” Latie asked, with such yearning, Ayla smiled with recognition of the feeling.

“Here,” she said, holding the puppy out to the girl. “Hold him.”

Latie cuddled the warm and wriggling animal in her arms, then bent her cheek to feel the soft fuzzy fur. Wolf licked her face, too, including her in his pack.

“I think he likes me,” Latie said. “He just kissed me!”

Ayla smiled at the delighted reaction. She knew such friendliness was natural to wolf puppies; the humans seemed to find it as irresistible as adult wolves did. Only when they grew older did wolves become shy, defensive, and suspicious of strangers.

The young woman observed the pup with curiosity as Latie held him. Wolf’s coat was still the unshaded dark gray color of the very young. Only later would the hair develop the dark and light bars of the typical agouti coloration of an adult wolf—if it would at all. His mother had been solid black, even darker than the pup, and Ayla wondered what color Wolf would turn out to be.

They all turned their heads at Crozie’s screech.

“Your promises mean nothing! You promised me respect! You promised I would always be welcome, no matter what!”

“I know what I promised. You don’t have to remind me,” Frebec shouted.

The squabble was not unexpected. The long winter had provided time to make and mend, to carve and to weave, to tell stories, sing songs, play games and musical instruments; to indulge in all the pastimes and diversions ever invented. But as the long season drew to a close, it was also the time when close confinement caused tempers to flare. The undercurrent of conflict between Frebec and Crozie had caused such strained relations that most people felt an outbreak was imminent.

“Now you say you want me to leave. I am a mother with no place to go, and you want me to leave. Is that keeping your promise?”

The verbal battle was carried along the passageway and soon arrived in full force at the Mammoth Hearth. The wolf puppy, frightened by the noise and commotion, squirmed out of Latie’s arms, and was gone before she could see where he went.

“I keep my promises,” Frebec said. “You didn’t hear me right. What I meant was …” He had made promises to her, but he didn’t know then what it would be like to live with the old harridan. If only he could just have Fralie and not have to put up with her mother, he thought, looking around trying to think of some way to get out of the corner Crozie had put him in.

“What I meant was …” He noticed Ayla and looked directly at her. “We need more room. The Crane Hearth isn’t big enough for us. And what are we going to do when the baby comes? There seems to be plenty of room in this hearth, even for animals!”

“It’s not for the animals, the Mammoth Hearth was this size before Ayla came,” Ranec said, coming to Ayla’s defense. “Everyone in the Camp congregates here, it has to be larger. Even then it gets crowded. You can’t have a hearth this big.”

“Did I ask for one this big? I only said ours wasn’t big enough. Why should the Lion Camp make room for animals but not for people?”

More people were coming to see what was going on. “You can’t take room from the Mammoth Hearth,” Deegie said, making room for the old shaman to come forward. “Tell him, Mamut.”

“No one made room for the wolf. He sleeps in a basket near her head,” Mamut began in a reasonable tone. “You imply Ayla has this entire hearth, but she has little space to call her own. People gather here whether there is a ceremony or not, particularly the children. There is always someone around, including Fralie and her children sometimes.”

“I have told Fralie I don’t like her to spend so much time here, but she says she needs more room to spread out her work. Fralie would not have to come here to work if we had more room at our hearth.”

Fralie blushed, and went back to the Crane Hearth. She had told Frebec that, but it wasn’t entirely true. She also liked to spend time at the Mammoth Hearth for the company, and because Ayla’s advice had helped with her difficult pregnancy. Now Fralie felt she would have to stay away.

“Anyway, I wasn’t talking about the wolf,” Frebec continued, “though no one asked me if I wanted to share the lodge with that animal. Just because one person wants to bring animals here, I don’t know why I should have to live with them. I’m not an animal, and I didn’t grow up with them, but around here animals are worth more than people. This whole Camp will build a separate room for horses, while we are squeezed into the smallest hearth in the lodge!”

An uproar ensued with everybody shouting at once, trying to make themselves heard.

“What do you mean, ‘the smallest hearth in the lodge’?” Tornec stormed. “We have no more room than you, maybe less, and just as many people!”

“That’s true,” Tronie said. Manuv was vigorously nodding his head in agreement.

“No one has much room,”

Ranec said.