The Land of Painted Caves (Earth's Children 6)

Ayla stopped immediately. “Are you uncomfortable?” she said.

“No, but didn’t you say you wanted to make a real seat for me?”

“Yes.”

“Then the first time you take me for everyone to see on this, I think it would be better to have the seat fixed up the way you want it, because you know people will be looking and appraising,” the large woman said.

Ayla and Jondalar were taken aback for a moment, then Jondalar said, “Yes, You are probably right.”

In the next breath, Ayla said, “That means you would be willing to ride on the pole-drag!”

“Yes, I think I could become used to it. It’s not like I couldn’t get off anytime I wanted to,” the great Donier said.

Ayla wasn’t the only one working on traveling gear. The entire Cave had various items spread out in their dwellings or outside workplaces. They needed to make or repair sleeping rolls, traveling tents, and certain structural elements of the summer shelters, although most of the materials to make them would be gathered at the campsite. Those who had made objects as gifts or for trade, especially those who were proficient in certain crafts, had to make decisions regarding what and how much to bring. Those walking could carry only a limited amount with them, especially since they also had to carry food, both for immediate use and for gifts and special feasts, clothing, and sleeping rolls and other necessities.

Ayla and Jondalar had already decided to make new pole-drags for Whinney and Racer—the ends of the poles that dragged on the ground were the part that wore down first, especially when dragging heavy loads. After several people had made requests, they had offered the additional carrying power of the horses to family and close friends, but even the sturdy horses could take only so much.

From the beginning of spring, the Cave had hunted meat and collected plants—berries, fruits, nuts, mushrooms, edible stems, leaves and roots of vegetables, wild grains, even lichen and the inner bark of certain trees. Though they would bring a small amount of fresh food recently hunted or foraged, most of their food was dried. Drying preserved food for a long time and it weighed less, allowing them to carry more to eat while traveling and after they arrived until hunting and gathering patterns could be established at the location of the current year’s Summer Meeting.

The site of the annual gathering changed every year in a regular cycle of suitable places. There were only certain areas that could accommodate a Summer Meeting and any area could only be used for one season and then had to rest for several years before it could be used again. With so many people congregated in one place—somewhere between one and two thousand people—by the end of the summer they would have used up all the resources for some distance around, and the earth needed to recover. The year before they had followed The River north about twenty-five miles. This year they would be traveling west until they reached another waterway, West River, which ran generally parallel to The River.

Joharran and Proleva were inside their dwelling finishing a midday meal along with Solaban and Rushemar. Ramara, Solaban’s mate, and her son Robenan, had just left with Jaradal, Proleva’s son, both of whom could count six years. Sethona, her baby daughter, had fallen asleep in Proleva’s arms and she had just stood up to put her down. When they heard a tapping on the hard rawhide panel beside the entrance, Proleva thought that Ramara had probably forgotten something and returned, and was surprised when a much younger woman entered at her call to come into the dwelling.

“Galeya!” Proleva said, rather surprised. Though Galeya had been friends with Joharran’s sister, Folara, almost from birth, and often came to their dwelling with her friend, she seldom came alone.

Joharran looked up. “Are you back already?” he said, then turned to the others. “Since she’s such a fast runner, I sent Galeya to the Third Cave earlier this morning to find out when Manvelar plans to leave.”

“When I got there, he was just going to send a runner to you,” Galeya said. She was a little out of breath, and her hair was wet from the sweat of her effort. “Manvelar said the Third Cave is ready to leave. He wants to start tomorrow morning. If the Ninth Cave is ready to go, he would like to travel with us.”

“That’s a little sooner than I had planned, I was thinking of leaving in the next day or so,” Joharran said, his frown lines showing. He looked at the others. “Do you think we can be ready to go by tomorrow morning?”

“I can,” Proleva said, without hesitation.

“We probably can,” Rushemar said. “Salova has finished the last of the baskets she wanted to take with her. We haven’t packed, but I have everything ready.”

“I’m still sorting through my handles,” Solaban said. “Marsheval came by yesterday to talk about what he should bring. He seems to have a talent for working with ivory, too, and is gaining skill,” he added with a smile. Solaban’s craft was making handles, mostly for knives, chisels, and other tools. Though he could make handles out of antler and wood, he particularly liked working with mammoth tusk ivory and had begun making other objects from it, like beads and carvings, especially since Marsheval had become his apprentice.

“Can you be ready to leave by tomorrow morning?” Joharran asked. He knew Solaban often agonized to the last moment over the decision of which handles to bring with him to the Summer Meeting, for gifts and for trading.

“I suppose I can,” Solaban said, then coming to a decision, “Yes, I’ll be ready, and I’m sure Ramara can be, too.”

“Good, but we need to find out about the rest of the Cave so I can send a runner back to Manvelar. Rushemar, Solaban, we need to tell everyone that I’d like to have a short meeting, as soon as possible. You can say what it’s about if anyone asks and tell them that whoever comes to represent each hearth should be able to decide for the rest,” he said. He dumped the last remnants left in his personal eating bowl into the fire, then wiped it and his eating knife with a damp piece of buckskin before putting them into a carrying pouch attached to his belt. He’d run them under water when he had a chance. As he got up he said to Galeya, “I don’t think you need to run back there again. I’ll send another runner.”

She looked rather relieved, then smiled. “Palidar runs fast. We were racing with each other yesterday, and he almost beat me.”

Joharran had to stop and think a moment; the name wasn’t immediately familiar to him. Then he remembered the lion hunt. Galeya had hunted with a young man from the Third Cave, but Palidar had also been with them on the hunt. “Isn’t he a friend of Tivonan, the young man Willamar has been taking with him on trading missions?”

“Yes. He came back with Willamar and Tivonan last time, and decided he might as well go with us to the Summer Meeting and meet

his Cave there.” Galeya said.

Joharran nodded. It was acknowledgment enough. He didn’t know if he would send the visitor, or someone else who was a member of the Ninth Cave, but he was aware that Palidar seemed to be of interest to Folara’s friend Galeya, and obviously the young man had found a reason for staying. If there was a possibility that he might someday become a member of the Ninth Cave, Joharran wanted to know more about him, and tucked the thought away in his memory. He had more pressing issues to think about at the moment.

Joharran knew that at least one person from each dwelling would be present at his meeting, but as people started coming out, he saw that nearly everyone wanted to find out why the leader was calling a sudden meeting. When they had gathered in the work area, Joharran stepped up on the large flat stone that had been placed there so that he, or anyone who had something to say, could be seen more easily.

“I spoke with Manvelar not long ago,” Joharran began without preamble. “As you know, the site of the Summer Meeting this year is the big field near West River and a tributary near the Twenty-sixth Cave. Manvelar’s mate was from the Twenty-sixth Cave, and when her children were young they used to visit often to see her mother and family. I know how to get there by going south to Big River, then west to another river that joins with West River, and then following it north to the Summer Meeting place, but Manvelar knows a more direct way, starting out at Wood River and going west from here. We’d get there more quickly, and I had hoped we could travel with the Third Cave, but they are leaving tomorrow morning.”

There was a murmuring from the gathered assembly, but before anyone could speak out, Joharran continued. “I know you like to have a few days’ warning before we leave, and I usually try to do that, but I’m sure most of you are nearly ready to go. If you can pack and be ready by morning, we can travel with the Third Cave and get there much faster. The sooner we get there, the better our chances will be of finding a good place to set up our camp.”