Mammoth Hunters (96 page)

The status of some Camps was so high Tulie would have accepted less in material goods because of the affiliations and value they brought. Others might be good possibilities if they were willing to pay enough. Based on the offers already received, Tulie dismissed this group at one glance. They were hardly worth talking to. They simply didn’t have enough to bring to the relationship to make the association worthwhile. As a result, Tulie was extremely pleasant to them, but did not invite them in, and they understood they had come with too little, too late. Simply making the offer had its compensations, however. It was a way of allying themselves with Lion Camp, which increased its influence, and that would be remembered favorably.

While they were standing outside the tent, making pleasantries, Frebec noticed Wolf striking a defensive posture, and growling toward the river. Suddenly he was off.

“Ayla!” Frebec called out. “Wolf is after something!”

She whistled, loud, piercing, and urgent, then hurried to look down on the path leading to the river. She watched Wolf return, followed by a new group of people. But these were not strangers.

“It’s Mammoth Camp,” Ayla said. “I see Vincavec.”

Tulie turned to Frebec. “Will you see if you can find Talut? We should greet them properly, and you might tell Marlie or Valez they have finally arrived.”

Frebec nodded and left.

The delegation that had come to make an offer were too curious to leave now. Vincavec was the first to reach them, saw the delegation, Ayla, and Tulie, and quickly understood the gist of the circumstances. He let his backframe drop, and came forward with a smile.

“Tulie, it must be auspicious that you are the first person we see, since you are the first person I wanted to see,” Vincavec said, reaching for both her hands and rubbing her cheek with his cheek like a dear old friend.

“Why should I be the first person you want to see?” Tulie said, smiling in spite of herself. He was a charmer.

He ignored the question. “Tell me, why are your guests dressed in their finest? A delegation, perhaps?”

A woman spoke up. “We have made an offer to adopt Ayla,” she said with dignity, as though the offer had not been effectively turned down. “My son has no sister.”

Even Ayla could almost see Vincavec’s mind working, but it took only a moment for him to understand the entire situation, and a moment more to make a decision and act on it.

“Well, I am going to make an offer, too, more formally later, but to give you something to think about, Tulie, I want to propose a joining.” He turned to Ayla and took both of her hands. “I want to join with you, Ayla. I want you to come and make my Mammoth Hearth something more than a name. Only you can give me that, Ayla. It is your hearth to bring, but in return, I can give you Mammoth Camp.”

Ayla was startled, and overwhelmed. Vincavec knew she had already made a commitment. Why would he ask for her? Even if she wanted to, could she suddenly change her mind and join with him? Was it so easy to break a Promise?

“She is already Promised to Ranec,” Tulie said.

Vincavec looked directly at the big headwoman, and smiled knowingly, then reached into a pouch and pulled out his
closed hand. He opened it and held in his palm two beautiful, polished, matched pieces of amber. “I hope he has a good Bride Price, Tulie.”

Tulie’s eyes opened wide. His offer was enough to take her breath away. He had effectively told her to name her price, and name it in amber if she wanted to, though of course, she wouldn’t, not entirely. Her eyes narrowed then. “It is not for me to decide, Vincavec. Ayla makes her own choices.”

“I know, but take these as my gift to you, Tulie, for all your help in building my lodge,” he said, and pressed them on her.

Tulie was torn. She should refuse. To accept them would give him an advantage over her, but it was Ayla’s decision, and Promised or not, she was free to make that choice. Why should she object? As she closed her hand over the amber, she saw Vincavec’s expression of triumph, and Tulie felt as though she had been bought for two pieces of amber. He knew she would consider no other offer. If he could convince Ayla, she was his. But Vincavec doesn’t know Ayla, Tulie thought. No one does. She might call herself Mamutoi, but she was a stranger still, and who could tell what would move her. She watched as the man with the startling tattooed face turned his full attention on the young woman, and she saw Ayla’s reaction. Without question, there was interest.

“Tulie! How nice to see you again!” Avarie was approaching, holding out her hands. “We’re so late, all the best places are taken. Do you know a good place to set up Camp? Where are you set up?”

“Right here,” Nezzie said, coming up to greet the Mammoth Camp’s headwoman next. She had been very interested in the exchange between Tulie and Vincavec, and had noted his expression, too. It was not going to make Ranec happy to know Vincavec was going to make an offer for Ayla, but Nezzie wasn’t at all sure that the Mamut-headman of the Mammoth Camp was going to find Ayla all that easy to convince, no matter what he offered.

“You’re here? So far away from everything?” Avarie said.

“With the animals, it’s the best place for us. They get nervous around crowds,” Tulie said, as though it had been chosen on purpose.

“Vincavec, if Lion Camp is here, why don’t we Camp nearby?” Avarie said.

“It is not a bad place. There are advantages, more room to
spread out.” Nezzie said. If both Lion Camp and Mammoth Camp are here, she thought, some of the interest from the center will move here, too.

Vincavec smiled at Ayla. “I can think of nothing I’d rather do than set up near Lion Camp,” he said.

Talut came striding into Camp then, and greeted the co-leaders of Mammoth Camp in his booming voice. “Vincavec! Avarie! You finally made it! What held you up?”

“We made some stops along the way,” Vincavec said.

“Ask Tulie to show you what he brought her,” Nezzie said.

Tulie still felt a little embarrassed, and wished Nezzie hadn’t said anything, but she opened her hand and held out the amber for her brother to see.

“Those are beautiful pieces,” Talut said. “You decided to do some trading, I see. Did you know Willow Camp has white spiral seashells?”

“Vincavec wants more than seashells,” Nezzie said. “He wants to make an offer for Ayla … for his hearth.”

“But she’s Promised to Ranec,” Talut said.

“A Promise is only a promise,” Vincavec said.

Talut looked at Ayla, then Vincavec, then Tulie. Then he laughed. “Well, this is one Summer Meeting that won’t be forgotten for a long time.”

“It wasn’t only the stop at Amber Camp,” Avarie said. “Seeing you, Talut, with your big red mane reminds me. We kept trying to go around a cave lion with a reddish mane, but he seemed to be heading in the same direction we were. I didn’t see a pride, but I think we’d better warn people there are lions around.”

“There are always lions around,” Talut said.

“Yes, but this one was acting strange. Lions don’t usually bother with people that much, but for a while, I thought he was stalking us. He came so close I had trouble sleeping one night. He was the biggest cave lion I ever saw. I still shake when I think about it,” Avarie said.

Ayla listened carefully, frowning, then shook her head. No. Just coincidence, she thought. There are a lot of big cave lions.

“When you get set up, come up to the clearing. We’re talking about the mammoth hunt and the Mammoth Hearth is planning the Hunting ceremony. It won’t hurt to have another good Caller. I’m sure you will want mammoth meat for the Matrimonial Feast, since you plan to be a part of it,
Vincavec!” Talut said. He started to leave, then he turned around to Ayla. “Since you are going to hunt mammoth with us, why don’t you come back with me, and bring your spear-thrower. I was going to come and get you, anyway.”

“I’ll walk with you,” Tulie said. “I have to go to the Womanhood Camp and see Latie.”

“This is good quality. Especially for blade tools like chisels, scrapers, drills,” Jondalar said, hunkering down on one knee, examining the smooth gray interior face of fine-structured flint. He had used a specially shaped piece of fresh antler, strong and resilient enough to resist breaking, as a digger and a lever to pry out the exposed lump of hard silica from its chalky matrix. Then he broke it open with a hammerstone.

“Wymez says some of the best flint conies from here,” Danug said.

Jondalar motioned up at the perpendicular cliff face of a river gorge that had been worn down over time by the churning water. More lumps of the hard flint encased in a white opaque crust jutted out from the somewhat less hard chalky stone. “Flint is always best if you can get it from the source. This is similar to Dalanar’s flint mine and his is the best stone in our region.”

“The Wolf Camp certainly thinks this is the best flint,” Tarneg said. “The first time I came here, I was with Valez. You should have heard him rave. With this place so close to their Camp, they count these workings as theirs. You did the right thing in asking their permission to come, Jondalar.”

“It’s only courtesy. I know how Dalanar feels about his mine.”

“What’s so special about this stone? I’ve often seen flint on river floodplains,” Tarneg said.

“Sometimes you can find good nodules that were recently washed out, on floodplains, and they are a lot easier to get. It’s work digging them out of the rock. But flint tends to dry out if it lies in the open very long,” Jondalar said. “Then the flakes come off shorter, more abruptly.”

“If it’s been on the surface too long, Wymez sometimes buries flint in damp soil for a while to make it easier to work,” Danug said.

“I’ve done that. It can help, but it depends on the size of the nodule, and how dry it is. If it’s a big piece, it can’t be too old. It works best for small ones, even down to egg size, but
those are hardly worthwhile to work, unless they are really fine quality.”

“We do something similar with mammoth tusk,” Tarneg said. “As a first step we wrap the tusk in damp skins and bury it with hot ashes. The ivory changes, becomes denser but easier to work, and easier to bend. It’s the best way to straighten a whole tusk.”

“I wondered how you did that,” Jondalar said, then he paused, obviously thinking. “My brother would have wanted to learn about it. He was a spear maker. He could make a good straight shaft, but he understood the properties of wood, how to bend and shape it. I think he would have understood your process, too. Perhaps knowledge of your methods is one reason Wymez was so quick to grasp the idea of heating flint to make it more workable. He is one of the best workers of flint I’ve ever known.”

“You’re a good flint man, too, Jondalar,” Tarneg said. “Even Wymez speaks highly of you, and he doesn’t praise easily. You know, I’ve been thinking. I’m going to need a good flint worker for Aurochs Camp. I know you’ve been saying you are going back to your home, but it sounds like a long trip. Would you consider staying if you had a place to stay? What I mean is, how would you like to join my Camp?”

Jondalar’s forehead furrowed as he tried to think of a way to refuse Tarneg’s offer without offending. “I’m not sure. I’d have to think about it.”

“I know Deegie likes you, I’m sure she’d agree. And you wouldn’t have any trouble finding someone to make a hearth with,” Tarneg encouraged. “I’ve been noticing the women around you, even the red-foots. First it was Mygie, now all the rest of them find reasons to visit the flint-workers’ area. It must be because you are new around here. Women are always curious about men they don’t know.” He smiled. “I’ve heard more than one man wishing he was a tall, blond stranger. They’d all like to get a red-foot interested again, but it’s Danug’s turn, this time.” Tarneg smirked knowingly at his young cousin.

Jondalar and Danug both looked uncomfortable. Jondalar stood up, and looked away to shift attention elsewhere, and in an incidental way, he noticed that around these two men, he was not exceptionally tall. The three of them were near the same size, and Danug still had some growing in him. He was going to be a second Talut. But there were all sizes of
men at the Meeting, just as there were at Zelandonii Summer Meetings.

“Well, I wish you would think about Aurochs Camp, Jondalar. Now that Deegie and Branag are finally going to be joined, we’ll be building this fall, though I haven’t decided yet whether to make a single lodge, like Lion Camp, or the smaller individual ones for each family. I tend to be old-fashioned. I like the big ones best, but a lot of the younger people want a place with just their own relations, and I admit, when people start arguing, it could be nice to have your own place to go.”

“I appreciate the offer, Tarneg,” Jondalar said. “I mean that, but I don’t want to give you a false impression. I am going home. I have to go back. I could give you a lot of reasons, that I need to bring back word of my brother’s death, for example. But the truth is, I don’t know why I have to go. I just do.”

“Is it because of Ayla?” Danug asked with a worried frown.

“That’s part of it. I admit, I don’t look forward to seeing her sharing a hearth with Ranec, but I was trying to convince her to come back with me when we met you. Now it looks like I’ll be going back alone anyway … I’m not looking forward to that either, but that doesn’t change anything. I still have to go.”

“I’m not sure I understand, but I wish you good fortune, and may the Mother smile on your Journey. When do you think you’ll leave?” Tarneg said.

“Soon after the mammoth hunt.”

“Speaking of the mammoth hunt, we should be getting back. They are planning it this afternoon,” Tarneg said.

They started walking along the river that was a tributary to the major waterway near the settlement, and began clambering over rocks at a place where the walls narrowed in. Working their way out of the gorge around a precipitous ledge, they came upon a group of young men shouting words of insult or encouragement to two of them who were fighting. Druwez was among the spectators.

“What’s going on here?” Tarneg said, wading into their midst and pulling the fighters apart. One was bleeding from the mouth, the other had an eye that was swelling shut.