The Shelters of Stone (Earth's Children 5)

Then the One Who Was First added some material from a pouch. She’s making a decoction, cooking it, not just steeping a tea, Ayla thought. There is probably some root or bark in that drink, something strong. The next time hot stones were added, the billowing steam filled the air with a strong aroma. The mint was easy to detect, but she smelled other odors and flavors, which she tried to identify, and suspected that the mint was there to cover the taste of something less pleasant.

A couple of people spread a heavy leather covering on the damp and rocky floor near the seat that the First had occupied. “Ayla, Jondalar, why don’t you come over here and make yourselves comfortable,” the large woman said, indicating the leather. “I have something for you to drink.” The young woman who was tending the potion in the cooking bowl brought out four cups in preparation. “It’s not quite ready yet, but you might as well relax.”

“Ayla has been enjoying the wall paintings,” Jonokol said. “I think she might like to see more of them. It might be more relaxing than sitting there waiting until that drink is ready.”

“Yes, I would like to see more,” Ayla added quickly. She found herself suddenly feeling rather anxious about drinking some unknown decoction that she knew was intended to help her find some other world. Her past experience with similar drinks had not been especially agreeable.

Zelandoni observed her closely for a while. She knew Jonokol well enough to understand that he would not have made the suggestion without good reason. He must have noted that the young woman was showing some distress, and she did seem to be agitated.

“Certainly, Jonokol. Why don’t you show her the painted walls,” the First said.

“I’d like to go with them,” Jondalar said. He wasn’t feeling very calm himself. “And maybe the torch carrier could come with us.”

“Yes, of course,” said the First Acolyte of the Second, picking up the torch she had put out. “I’ll need to relight it.”

“There is some fine work on the wall behind the zelandonia, but I don’t want to bother them,” Jonokol said. “Let me show you something interesting down this corridor.”

He led them down a passageway that turned off to the right from the main one. Immediately on the left, he stopped in front of another panel of reindeer and a horse.

“Did you do these, too?” Ayla asked.

“No, my teacher did. She used to be Zelandoni of the Second, before Kimeran’s sister. She was an exceptional painter,” Jonokol said.

“She was good, but I think the student has outdone the teacher,” Jondalar said.

“Well, for the zelandonia, it is not so much the quality, although it is appreciated. It is the experience. These paintings are not just for looking at, you know,” the First Acolyte of the Second said.

“I’m sure that’s true,” Jondalar said with a wry smile, “but for me, I think I like the looking more. I must admit, I’m not exactly waiting eagerly for this … ceremony. I’m willing, of course, and I think it may be interesting, but for the most part, I’m happy to let the zelandonia have the experience.”

Jonokol grinned at his admission. “You are not alone in that feeling, Jondalar. Most people would rather stay firmly in this world. Come, let me show you something else before we have to get serious.”

The artist acolyte led them to another area on the right side of the passage, where many more stalagmites and stalacrites than usual had formed. The wall was covered with the calcareous formations, but on top of the concretions had been painted two horses that incorporated them to create the effect of a long shaggy winter coat. The one behind was leaping in a very animated way.

“These are very lively,” Ayla said, quite intrigued. She had seen horses behave in similar ways.

“When boys first see it, they always say this one in back is ‘leaping for Pleasure,’ “Jondalar said.

“That is one interpretation,” the woman acolyte said. “That could be a male attempting to mount the female in front, but I believe it is purposely ambiguous.”

“Did your teacher paint these, Jonokol?” Ayla asked.

“No. I don’t know who made them,” Jonokol said. “No one does. They were done long ago, when the mammoths were painted. People say they were made by the ancestors, the forebears.”

“There is something I want to show you, Ayla,” the woman said.

“Are you going to show her the vulva?” Jonokol said with some surprise. “That is not usually shown on a first visit.”

“I know, but I think we should make an exception for her,” the other acolyte said, holding up the lamp and leading the way to a place not far from the horses. When she stopped, she lowered the torch to throw light down on a very unusual formation of rock that extended out from the wall and parallel to the floor, but raised up from it.

When Ayla first looked, she noticed an area of stone that had been enhanced with red, but it was only after looking carefully that she understood what it was, and then perhaps only because she had assisted more than one woman who was giving birth. A man might have recognized it before a woman. By accident—or supernatural design—the concretion had naturally formed an exact

replica of a woman’s sexual organ. The shape, the folds, even a depression that matched the entrance to her vagina, everything was there. Only the red color was added, to highlight it, to make sure they could find it easily.

“It is a woman!” Ayla said, astonished. “It is exactly like a woman! I have never seen anything like it.”

“Now do you understand why this cave is so sacred? The Mother herself made this for us. It is proof that this cave is the Entrance to the Mother’s Womb,” said the woman who was training to serve the Great Earth Mother.

“Have you seen this before, Jondalar?” Ayla asked.