The band of travelers walked along the path between theclear sparkling water of Grass River and the black-streaked whitelimestone cliff, following the trail that paralleled the right bank. They went single file around the bend where the stone wall jutted out closerto the water’s edge. Ahead a smaller path split off at an angle towardthe crossing place, where the flowing water spread out and becameshallower, bubbling around exposed rocks.Before they reached the fork in the trail, a young woman near thefront suddenly stopped, her eyes opening wide as she stood perfectly still, staring ahead. She pointed with her chin, not wanting to move.“Look! Over there!” she said in a hissing whisper of fear. “Lions!” Joharran, the leader, lifted his arm, signaling the band to a halt. Justbeyond the place where the trail diverged, they now saw pale-tawny cave lions moving around in the grass. The grass was such effectivecamouflage, however, that they might not have noticed them untilthey were much closer, if it hadn’t been for the sharp eyes of Thefona. The young woman from the Third Cave had exceptionally good vi-sion, and though she was quite young, she was noted for her ability tosee far and well. Her innate talent had been recognized early and they had begun training her when she was a small girl; she was their bestlookout.Near the back of the group, walking in front of three horses, Aylaand Jondalar looked up to see what was causing the delay. “I wonder why we’ve stopped,” Jondalar said, a familiar frown of worry wrinklinghis forehead. Ayla observed the leader and the people around him closely, andinstinctively moved her hand to shield the warm bundle that she car-ried in the soft leather blanket tied to her chest. Jonayla had recently nursed and was sleeping, but moved slightly at her mother’s touch. Ayla had an uncanny ability to interpret meaning from body language,learned young when she lived with the Clan. She knew Joharran wasalarmed and Thefona was frightened.
Ayla, too, had extraordinarily sharp vision. She could also pick upsounds above the range of normal hearing and feel the deep tones of those that were below. Her sense of smell and taste were also keen, butshe had never compared herself with anyone, and didn’t realize howextraordinary her perceptions were. She was born with heightenedacuity in all her senses, which no doubt contributed to her survivalafter losing her parents and everything she knew at five years. Heronly training had come from herself. She had developed her naturalabilities during the years she studied animals, chiefly carnivores, whenshe was teaching herself to hunt.In the stillness, she discerned the faint but familiar rumblings of lions, detected their distinctive scent on a slight breeze, and noticedthat several people in front of the group were gazing ahead. Whenshe looked, she saw something move. Suddenly the cats hidden by thegrass seemed to jump into clear focus. She could make out two youngand three or four adult cave lions. As she started moving forward, shereached with one hand for her spear-thrower, fastened to a carryingloop on her belt, and with the other for a spear from the holder hang-ing on her back.“Where are you going?” Jondalar asked.She stopped. “There are lions up ahead just beyond the split in thetrail,” she said under her breath. Jondalar turned to look, and noticed movement that he interpretedas lions now that he knew what to look for. He reached for his weap-ons as well. “You should stay here with Jonayla. I’ll go.” Ayla glanced down at her sleeping baby, then looked up at him.“You’re good with the spear-thrower, Jondalar, but there are at leasttwo cubs and three grown lions, probably more. If the lions think thecubs are in danger and decide to attack, you’ll need help, someone toback you up, and you know I’m better than anyone, except you.”His brow furrowed again as he paused to think, looking at her. Then he nodded. “All right . . . but stay behind me.” He detectedmovement out of the corner of his eye and glanced back. “What aboutthe horses?”“They know lions are near. Look at them,” Ayla said. Jondalar looked. All three horses, including the new young filly, were staring ahead, obviously aware of the huge felines. Jondalarfrowned again. “Will they be all right? Especially little Gray?”
“They know to stay out of the way of those lions, but I don’t see Wolf,” Ayla said. “I’d better whistle for him.”“You don’t have to,” Jondalar said, pointing in a different direction.“He must sense something, too. Look at him coming.” Ayla turned and saw a wolf racing toward her. The canine was amagnificent animal, larger than most, but an injury from a fight withother wolves that left him with a bent ear gave him a rakish look. Shemade the special signal that she used when they hunted together. Heknew it meant to stay near and pay close attention to her. They duckedaround people as they hurried toward the front, trying not to causeany undo commotion, and to remain as inconspicuous as possible.“I’m glad you’re here,” Joharran said softly when he saw his brotherand Ayla with the wolf quietly appear with their spear-throwers inhand.“Do you know how many there are?” Ayla asked.“More than I thought,” Thefona said, trying to seem calm and notlet her fear show. “When I first saw them, I thought there were maybethree or four, but they are moving around in the grass, and now I think there may be ten or more. It’s a big pride.”“And they are feeling confident,” Joharran said.“How do you know that?” Thefona asked.“They’re ignoring us.” Jondalar knew his mate was very familiar with the huge felines.“Ayla knows cave lions,” he said, “Perhaps we should ask her what shethinks.” Joharran nodded in her direction, asking the question silently.“Joharran is right. They know we’re here. And they know howmany they are and how many we are,” Ayla said, then added, “they may see us as something like a herd of horses or aurochs and think they may be able to single out a weak one. I think they are new to thisregion.”“What makes you think so?” Joharran said. He was always sur-prised at Ayla’s wealth of knowledge of four-legged hunters, but forsome reason it was also at times like this that he noticed her unusualaccent more.“They don’t know us, that’s why they’re so confident,” Ayla con-tinued. “If they were a resident pride that lived around people andhad been chased or hunted a few times, I don’t think they would be sounconcerned.”
