The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children 4)

"I came right after the second load of horsemeat. I was ahead of both of them at first, but the ones carrying the first load caught up with me at the river crossing. It was lucky that I saw two women going to meet them. I found a place to hide and waited for them to go past me, and followed them, but the hunters with the second load of meat were closer than I knew. I think they might have seen me, at least from a distance. I was riding at the time, and I rode away from the trail fast. Later I went back and followed again, but I was more careful, in case there was a third load."

"That would explain the 'commotion' Ardemun was talking about. He didn't know what it was, he just knew everyone was nervous and talking after they brought in the second load. But if you've been here, why did you wait so long to get me out of there?" Jondalar asked.

"I had to watch for a long time, waiting for a chance to get you out of that fenced keeping place—what do they call it, a Holding?"

Jondalar made a sound of assent. "Weren't you afraid someone would see you?"

"I've watched real wolves in their den; next to them, Attaroa's Wolves are noisy and easy to avoid. I was close enough to hear them talking most of the time. There's a knoll behind the Camp, up the hill. From there you can see the whole settlement and directly into that Holding. Behind it, if you look up, you can see three big white rocks in a row high in the hillside.

"I noticed them. I wish I'd known you were there. It would have made me feel better every time I saw those white rocks."

"I heard a couple of the women call them the Three Girls or maybe the Three Sisters," Ayla said.

"They call it the Camp of the Three Sisters," Jondalar said.

"I guess I don't know the language very well, yet."

"You know more than I do. I think you surprised Attaroa when you spoke in their language."

"S'Armunai is so much like Mamutoi that it's easy to get a sense of the words," Ayla said.

"I never thought to ask if the white rocks had a name. They make such a good landmark, it seems logical that they would be named."

"That whole highland is a good landmark. You can see it from a long way. At a distance it resembles a sleeping animal, even on this side. There's a place ahead with a good view, you'll see."

"I'm sure the hill must have a name, too, especially since it's such a good location for hunting, but I've only seen a little of it, when we went to funerals. There have been two of them, just in the time I've been here, and the first time they buried three young people," Jondalar said, ducking his head to avoid the bare branches of a tree.

"I followed you to the second funeral," Ayla said. "I thought I might be able to get you out then, but you were too closely watched. And then you found the flint and were showing everyone about spear-throwers," Ayla said. "I had to wait until the time was right, so I could surprise them. I'm sorry it took so long."

"How did you know about the flint? We thought we were caref

ul," Jondalar said.

"I was watching you all the time. Those Wolf Women really aren't very good watchers. You would have seen that and found a way to get out yourself, if you hadn't gotten distracted with the flint. For that matter, they aren't very good hunters, either," she said.

"When you consider that they didn't know anything to start with, they haven't done badly. Attaroa said they didn't know how to use spears, so they had to chase animals," Jondalar said.

"They waste their time going all the way to the Great Mother River to chase horses off a cliff, when they could hunt better right here. Animals following this river have to go across a narrow stretch between the water and the highland, and you can easily see them coming," Ayla said.

"I saw that when we went to the first funeral. The place they were buried would be a good lookout, and someone has signaled with balefires from up there before, though I don't know how recently. I could see the charcoal from large fires," Jondalar commented.

"Instead of building surrounds for men, they could have made one to hold animals and chased them into that, even without spears," Ayla said, then pulled Whinney to a halt. "Look, there it is." She pointed to the limestone highland outlined against the horizon.

"It does look like an animal sleeping, and look, you can even see the three white stones, the Three Sisters," Jondalar said.

They rode in silence for a while. Then, as though he had been thinking about it, Jondalar said, "If it's so easy to get out of the Holding, why haven't the men done it?"

"I don't think they have really tried," Ayla said. "Maybe that's why the women have stopped watching so closely. But a lot of the women, even some of the hunters, don't want the men kept in there any more. They are just afraid of Attaroa." Ayla stopped then. "This is where I have been camping," she said.

As if to confirm it, Racer nickered a greeting as they entered a small secluded space that was clear of brush. The young stallion was tied securely to a tree. Ayla had set up a minimal camp in the middle of the copse each night, but she had packed everything on Racer's back in the morning to be ready to leave immediately if it was necessary.

"You saved both of them from going over that cliff!" Jondalar said.

"I didn't know if you had, and I was afraid to ask. The last thing I remember, before I was hit on the head, was seeing you on Racer's back, having some trouble controlling him."

"I had to get used to the rein, that's all. The biggest problem was that other stallion, but now he's gone and I'm sorry. Whinney came to my whistle as soon as they stopped herding her away from me," Ayla said.

Racer was just as glad to see Jondalar. He dropped his head, then flipped it up in greeting, and he would have walked to the man if he hadn't been tied. The stallion, his ears forward and his tail lifted high, whinnied to Jondalar with eager anticipation as he approached. Then he lowered his head to nuzzle the man's hand. Jondalar greeted the stallion like a friend he thought he would never see again, hugging, scratching, stroking, and talking to the animal.