The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children 4)

"Don't forget the spear-throwers and spears," Jondalar added. "Do you think I should take any flint-knapping tools, or flint blanks, in case a knife or something breaks?"

"Whatever we take, it should be no more than I can carry on my back ... or could if I had a carrying basket."

"If anyone carries anything on his back, I think it should be me," Jondalar said, "hut I don't have my backframe."

"I'm sure we can make a back-carrier of some kind, probably out of one of the pack-saddles and some rope or thong, but how can I sit behind you if you're wearing it?" Ayla asked.

"But I'm going to sit behind..." They looked at each other and smiled. They even had to decide how to ride, and both of them had made their own assumptions. It was the first time Ayla had smiled all morning, Jondalar noticed.

"You have to guide Racer, so I have to be in back," Ayla said.

"I can guide him with you in front of me," the man said, "but if you are behind you won't be able to see anything but my back. I don't think you'd be happy if you couldn't see ahead, and we both need to be watching the trail. It may be harder to follow over hard ground or where there are other tracks to confuse it, and you are a good tracker."

Ayla's smile widened. "You're right, Jondalar. I don't know if I could stand it if I couldn't see ahead." She understood that he had been worrying about following the trail left by the horses, just as she had, and had even considered her feelings. Tears suddenly filled her eyes with the love she felt overflowing inside her, and then the tears overflowed to match.

"Don't cry, Ayla. We'll find Whinney."

"I wasn't crying about Whinney. I was thinking how much I love you, and the tears just came out."

"I love you, too," he said, reaching for her, feeling a constriction in his own throat.

Suddenly, she was in his arms, sobbing on his shoulder, and the tears that came were for Whinney as well. "Jondalar, we've got to find her."

"We will. We'll just keep looking until we do. Now, how about fixing up a backpack for me. Something that can hold the spear-throwers and some spears on the outside, where they will be easy to reach."

"That shouldn't be too hard. We'll have to take dried traveling food, of course," Ayla said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"How much do you think we'll need?" he asked.

"It depends. How long will we be gone?" she asked.

The question stopped them both. How long would they be gone? How long would it take them to find Whinney and get her back?

"It probably won't take more than a few days to track the herd and find her, but perhaps we should take enough f

or half a moon cycle," Jondalar said.

Ayla paused, thinking of the counting words. "That's more than ten days, maybe as much as three hands, fifteen days. Do you think it will take that long?"

"No, I don't think so, but it's best to be prepared," Jondalar said.

"We can't leave this camp alone for that long," Ayla said. "Some kind of animal will come and tear it apart, wolves or hyenas or wolverines or bears ... no, bears are sleeping, but something. They'll chew up the tent, the bowl boat, anything leather, and the extra food. What will we do with everything we have to leave behind?"

"Maybe Wolf could stay behind and watch the camp?" Jondalar said, wrinkling his forehead. "Wouldn't he stay if you told him to? He's hurt, anyway. Wouldn't it be better for him not to travel?"

"Yes, it would be better for him, but he won't stay. He would for a while, but he'd come looking for us if we didn't get back within a day or so."

"Maybe we could tie him close to the camp..."

"No! He would hate that, Jondalar!" Ayla exclaimed. "You wouldn't like to be made to stay someplace that you didn't want to be! Besides, if wolves or something did come, they could attack him and he wouldn't be able to fight, or run out of their way. We'll just have to think of some other way to protect our things."

They walked back to their camp in silence, Jondalar a little chagrined and Ayla worried, but both of them still trying to resolve the problem of what to do with their gear while they were gone. As they approached the tent, Ayla remembered something.

"I have an idea," she said. "Maybe we could put everything in the tent and close it up. I still have some of that wolf repellent I made to keep Wolf from chewing on things. I could soften it up and spread it on the tent. That might keep some animals away."

"It might, for a while at least, until the rains washed it away, and that could take some time, but it wouldn't keep out the ones that tried to dig or burrow under it." Jondalar paused. "Why couldn't we gather everything together and wrap it up with a tent? Then you could put your repellent on it ... but we shouldn't just leave it out."

"No, I think we have to get it up, off the ground, like we do with the meat," Ayla said, then more excited, "Maybe we could put it up on the poles. And cover it with the bowl boat, to keep the rain away."