The Mammoth Hunters (Earth's Children 3)

es, particularly big ones such as skulls, could be found all over the plains, but as they drew near, it was obvious to Ayla that it was not a natural arrangement. Someone had purposefully stacked them up. A mammoth skull with broken tusks had been placed on top of the heap, upside down.

“That is a sign of bad news,” Talut said, pointing to the skull. “Very bad. Do you see this lower jaw, with the two spine bones leaning against it? The point of the jaw shows which way to go, and the Camp is two days away.”

“They must need help, Talut! Is that why they put this sign here?”

Talut pointed to a piece of charred birchbark, held down by the broken end of the left tusk. “See this?” he said.

“Yes. It’s burned black, like it was in a fire.”

“It means sickness, killing sickness. Someone has died. People are afraid of that kind of sickness, and this is a place people often stop. That sign was not put here to ask for help, but to warn people away.”

“Oh, Talut! I must go. The rest of you don’t have to, but I must go. I can leave now, on Whinney.”

“And what will you tell them when you get there?” Talut said. “No, Ayla. They won’t let you help. No one knows you. They are not even Mamutoi, they are Sungaea. We have talked about it. We knew you would want to go. We started out this way, and we will go with you. I think, because of the horses, we can make it in one day instead of two.”

The sun was skimming the edge of the earth when the band of travelers from the Lion Camp approached a large settlement situated on a broad natural terrace some thirty feet above a wide, swift river. They stopped when they were noticed by some people, who stared in amazement before running toward one of the shelters. A man and a woman emerged. Their faces were reddened with a salve of ochre, and their hair was covered with ashes.

It’s too late, Talut thought, as he and Tulie approached the Sungaea Camp, followed by Nezzie and Ayla, who was leading Whinney with Mamut on her back. It was obvious they had interrupted something important. When the visitors were about ten feet away, the man with the red-colored face raised his arm and held up his hand, palm facing front. It was an obvious signal to stop. He spoke to Talut in a language that was different, yet there was something familiar about it to Ayla. She felt she should be able to understand it; a similarity to Mamutoi, perhaps. Talut answered, in his own language. Then the man spoke again.

“Why has the Lion Camp of the Mamutoi come here at this time?” he said, speaking now in Mamutoi. “There is sickness, and great sadness at this Camp. Did you not see the signs?”

“Yes, we saw the signs,” Talut said. “We have with us one who is a daughter of the Mammoth Hearth, a skilled Healer. The runner, Ludeg, who passed by here some days ago, told us of your troubles. We were preparing to travel to our Summer Meeting, but first, Ayla, our Healer, wished to come here to offer her skills. One of us was related to one of you; we are kin. We came.”

The man looked at the woman standing beside him. It was obvious that she was grieving, and she gathered herself together with some effort.

“It is too late,” she said. “They are dead.” Her voice trailed off in a wail, and she cried out in anguish. “They are dead. My children, my babies, my life, they are dead.” Two people stepped up on either side of the woman and led her away.

“My sister has suffered a great sorrow,” the man said. “She has lost both a daughter and a son. The girl was nearly a woman, the boy a few years younger. We all grieve.”

Talut shook his head in sympathy. “It is indeed a great sorrow. We share your grief, and offer whatever solace we may. If it is within your custom, we would like to stay to add our tears to yours as they are returned to the breast of the Mother.”

“Your kindness is appreciated, and will always be remembered, but there are still those among us who are sick. It may be dangerous for you to stay. It may be dangerous for you to have come.”

“Talut, ask him if I can look at the ones who are still sick. I may be able to help them,” Ayla said quietly.

“Yes, Talut. Ask if Ayla may look at the sick ones,” Mamut added. “I think she will be able to say if it’s safe for us to stay.”

The man with the red face looked hard at the old man sitting on the horse. He had been amazed when he first saw the horses, but he did not want to seem overwhelmed, and he was so numbed with grief he had put his curiosity aside for the moment, while he acted as spokesman for his sister, and his Camp. But when Mamut spoke, the strange sight of a man sitting on the back of a horse was suddenly brought to his awareness with new impact.

“How does that man come to be sitting on a horse?” he finally blurted out. “Why does the horse stand still for it? And that other one, back there?”

“It is a long story,” Talut said. “The man is our Mamut, and the horses answer to our Healer. When there is time, we will be happy to tell you about it, but first, Ayla would like to look at your sick ones. She may be able to help them. She will be able to tell us if the evil spirits still linger, and if she can contain them and make them harmless; whether it is safe for us to stay.”

“You say she is skilled. I must believe you. If she can command the horse spirit, she must have powerful magic. Let me speak to those within.”

“There is one other animal you should know about,” Talut said, then turned to the woman. “Call him, Ayla.”

She whistled, and even before Rydag could let him go, Wolf had wriggled free. The Sungaea man and other bystanders were startled as the young wolf came racing toward them, but even more surprised when he stopped at Ayla’s feet, and looked up at her with expectation. At her signal, he dropped down to his stomach, but his alert attention focused on the strangers made them uneasy.

Tulie had been carefully observing the reactions of the Sungaea Camp and quickly realized what a powerful impression the tractable animals had made. They had enhanced the stature of the people they were associated with, and the Lion Camp as a whole. Mamut, by the simple act of sitting on the back of the horse, had garnered prestige. They watched him with wary glances, and his words had carried great authority, but the response to Ayla was even more revealing. They looked at her with awe, and a kind of fearful reverence.

The headwoman realized that she had grown accustomed to the horses, but she recalled her own apprehension the first time she had seen Ayla with her horses, and it wasn’t hard to put herself in their place. She had been there when Ayla brought the tiny wolf pup to the lodge, and she had watched him grow up, but looking at Wolf as a stranger might see him, she realized he would not be seen as a puppyish young animal. He might be young but, to all appearances, he was nearly a full-grown wolf, and the horse was a mature mare. If Ayla could bend the will of high-strung horses and the spirit of independent wolves to her command, what other forces could she control? Especially when told she was the daughter of the Mammoth Hearth, and a Healer.

Tulie wondered what kind of reception they would receive when they arrived at the Summer Meeting, but she wasn’t at all surprised when Ayla was invited in to examine the ailing members of the Camp. The Mamutoi settled down to wait. When Ayla came out, she went to Mamut, Talut, and Tulie.

“I think they have what Nezzie calls spring sickness, fever, and tightness in the chest, and trouble breathing, except they got it later in the season, and harder,” Ayla explained. “Two older people died earlier, but it is most sad when children die. I’m not sure why they did. Young people are usually strong enough to recover from this kind of sickness. Everyone else seems to be over the worst of it. Some of them are coughing a lot, and I can help make them a little more comfortable, but no one seems seriously ill any more. I would like to fix something to help the mother. She is taking it very hard. I can’t blame her. I am not absolutely certain, but I don’t think it will endanger us to stay for the burial. I don’t think we should stay inside their lodges, though.”

“I would have suggested we set up our own tents, if we decided to stay,” Tulie said. “It’s hard enough for them without having strangers in their midst all the time, and they aren’t even Mamutoi. Sungaea are … different.”