The Mammoth Hunters (Earth's Children 3)

Deegie smiled back. “I know. I just wish you had come sooner. I am going to be leaving after the summer. I almost hate to go. I want to be headwoman of my own Camp, like my mother, but I’m going to miss her, and you, and everyone.”

“How far away you go?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t decided yet,” Deegie said.

“Why go far? Why not build new lodge nearby?” Ayla asked.

“I don’t know. Most people don’t, but I guess I could. I didn’t think of that,” Deegie said, with a look of quizzical surprise. Then, as they reached the last hearth in the earthlodge, she added, “Take off those dirty things and just leave them in a pile there.”

Both Deegie and Ayla peeled off their muddy garments. Ayla could feel the warmth radiating from behind a drape of red leather suspended from a rather low mammoth tusk archway in the farthest back wall of the structure. Deegie ducked down and went in first. Ayla followed, but stopped a moment before entering with the drape held aside, trying to see in.

“Hurry in and close it! You’re letting the heat out!” a voice called from the steamy, dimly lit, somewhat smoky interior.

She quickly scuttled in, letting the drape fall in place behind her, but, rather than cold, she felt the heat assault her. Deegie led her down a rough stairway made of mammoth bones placed up against the dirt wall of a pit that was about three feet deep. Ayla stood at the bottom on a floor that was covered with a soft, deep-piled fur of some kind waiting for her eyes to adjust, then looked around. The space that had been excavated was about six feet wide and ten feet long. It consisted of two circular sections joined together, each with a low domed ceiling—from where she stood, only three or four inches above her head.

Hot bone coals scattered across the floor of the larger section glowed brightly. The two young women walked through the smaller section to join the others, and Ayla saw that the walls were covered with skins, and the floor of the larger space was covered with mammoth bones spaced carefully apart. It gave them a place to walk above the bits of burning coals. Later, when they poured water on the floor to make steam, or to wash, it would drain into the dirt below the bones, which would keep feet above the mud.

More coals were piled up in the fireplace at the center. They furnished both heat and the only source of light, except for a faint outline of daylight around the covered smoke hole. Naked women sat around the fireplace on makeshift benches made of flat bones stretched across other mammoth bone supports. Containers of water were lined up along one wall. Large, sturdy, tightly woven baskets held cold water, while steam issued from the stomachs of large animals supported by-frames of antlers. Someone picked a red-hot stone out of the fireplace with two flat bones and dropped it into one of the water-filled stomachs. A cloud of pine-scented steam rose and enveloped the room.

“Here, you can sit between Tulie and me,” Nezzie said, moving her ample body over one way, making room. Tulie moved the other way. She was a big woman, too, but most of her size was sheer muscular mass, though her full female shape left no doubt about her gender.

“I want to wash some of the mud off first,” Deegie said. “Probably Ayla will, too. Did you se

e her slide down the side?”

“No. Did you hurt yourself, Ayla?” Fralie asked, looking concerned, and slightly uncomfortable with her advancing pregnancy.

Deegie laughed before Ayla could answer. “Ranec caught her, and didn’t look at all unhappy about it, either.” There were smiles and nods.

Deegie picked up a mammoth skull basin, dipped both hot and cold water into it, accidentally picking up a twig of pine from the hot water, and from a dark mound of some soft substance, pulled off a handful for Ayla and one for herself.

“What is this?” Ayla asked, feeling the luxuriously soft and silky texture of the material.

“Mammoth wool,” Deegie said. “The undercoat they grow in winter. They shed it in big bunches every spring, right through the long outer hair. It gets caught on bushes and trees. Sometimes you can pick it up off the ground. Dip it in the water and use it to wash off the mud.”

“Hair muddy, too,” Ayla said, “should wash.”

“We’ll wash up good later, after we sweat awhile.”

They rinsed off to billows of steam, then Ayla sat down between Deegie and Nezzie. Deegie leaned back and closed her eyes, sighing contentedly, but Ayla, wondering why they were all sitting together sweating, observed everyone in the room. Latie, sitting on the other side of Tulie, smiled at her. She smiled back.

There was a movement at the entrance. Ayla felt a cool breeze and realized how hot she was. Everyone looked to see who was coming. Rugie and Tusie clambered down, followed by Tronie holding Nuvie.

“I had to nurse Hartal,” Tronie announced. “Tornee wanted to take him for a sweatbath, and I didn’t want him fussing.”

Were men not allowed here, not even male babies? Ayla wondered.

“Are all the men in the sweatbath, Tronie? Maybe I should get Rydag,” Nezzie said.

“Danug took him in. I think the men decided they wanted all the males this time,” Tronie said. “Even the children.”

“Frebec took Tasher and Crisavec,” Tusie mentioned.

“It’s about time he started taking more interest in those boys,” Crozie grumbled. “Isn’t that the only reason you joined with him, Fralie?

“No, Mother. That’s not the only reason.”

Ayla was surprised. She’d never heard Fralie disagree with her mother before, even mildly. No one else seemed to notice. Maybe in here, with only the women, Fralie didn’t have to worry about seeming to take sides. Crozie was sitting back with her eyes closed; it was amazing how much her daughter resembled her. In fact, she resembled her too much. Except for a stomach big with pregnancy, Fralie was so thin she looked almost as old as her mother, Ayla noticed. Her ankles were swollen. That was not a good sign. She wished she could examine her, then realized she might be able to, in here.