by Jean M. Auel
“Are they still hot and feverish?” Ayla asked.
“Not much anymore, but they are full of red spots.”
“I’ll take a look at them, but if they are not feverish, it may be all right. The Mamutoi think it is an ailment of childhood, and they say it’s better if you get it as a child. Children tend to recover more easily,” Ayla said. “It’s harder on adults.”
“That’s true for Beladora. I think she was sicker than the children,” Kimeran said. “She’s still weak.”
“The mamuti told me the fever is more intense and lingers, and the spots take longer to go away if you get it after you are grown,” Ayla said. “Why don’t you take me to see Beladora and the children.”
Their tent had two tops. A primary pole held up the higher one, and a thin wisp of smoke was coming out of a hole near the top of that one. A smaller pole supported an extension of the tent, making more room. The entrance was a little low and Ayla ducked to go inside. Beladora was lying on a sleeping roll in the enlarged area. The three children were sitting up on their bedrolls but did not seem to feel very energetic. Three other sleeping places were in the other side, two together and one separate. Kimeran came in after Ayla. He could stand erect near the pole in that section, but had to bend over or stoop to move around in the rest of the tent.
Ayla first went to check on the children. The youngest, Levela’s son Jonlevan, seemed to be over his fever, though he was still listless and covered with red spots that seemed to be itchy.
He smiled when he saw Ayla. “Where’s Jonayla?” he asked. The woman recalled that she liked to play with him. He could count three years to her four, but he was approaching her in height. She liked to play his mother or sometimes his mate, and boss him around. They were cousins since his mother, Levela, was the sister of Proleva, who was mated to Jondalar’s brother, Joharran, close cousins who would not be allowed to mate.
“She’s outside,” Ayla said as she put the back of her hand on his forehead; it wasn’t abnormally hot, and his eyes didn’t have the glazed look of fever. “I think you are feeling better, aren’t you? Not so hot anymore?”
“I wan’ play wif’ Jonayla.”
“Not yet, maybe in a little while,” Ayla said.
She checked out Ginadela next. She also seemed well on the way to recovery, though her red spots were certainly colorful. “I want to play with Jonayla, too,” she said. The twins could count five years, and just as Kimeran and Jondalar resembled each other—both were tall and blond—though they were not related, Jonayla and Ginadela were also blond and fair with blue eyes, though Jonayla had the same vivid, startling blue color of Jondalar’s eyes.
Gioneran, Ginadela’s twin, had rather dark brown hair, and brownish-green hazel eyes, like his mother, but he seemed to have some of Kimeran’s height. When Ayla put the back of her hand to his head, there was still some heat, and his eyes had the shiny look of fever. His spots were coming on strong, but they seemed a little raw, not as distinctly developed.
“I’ll give you something to make you feel better in a little while,” she said to the boy. “Would you like a drink of water now? Then I think you should lie down.”
“All right,” he said, with a weak smile.
She reached for the waterbag, and poured some into a cup that was beside his sleeping roll, then helped him hold it while he drank. He did lie down afterward.
Finally she went to Beladora. “How are you feeling?” Ayla asked.
“I’ve felt better,” she said. Her eyes were still glazed, and she was sniffling. “I’m really glad you’re here, but how did you find us?”
“When you weren’t at Camora’s Cave, we thought something must have delayed you. It was Jondalar’s idea to take the horses and look for you. They can go faster than people, but it was Wolf who picked up your scent and brought us here,” Ayla said.
“I didn’t realize how useful your animals could be,” Beladora said. “But I hope you don’t get this sickness. It’s terrible, and now I’m feeling itchy. Will these red spots go away?”
“They should fade soon,” Ayla said, “though it may take a while before they are completely gone. I’ll fix something to help the itch and bring the fever down a little.”
Everyone had crowded into the tent by then. Jondalar and Kimeran were both standing by the taller pole, and the rest were crammed around them.
“I wonder why Beladora and the children got sick, but not the rest of us,” Levela said. “At least not yet.”
“If you haven’t by now, you probably won’t,” Ayla said.
“I was worried that someone might have set evil spirits on us because they were jealous that we were making a Journey,” Beladora said.
“I don’t know,” Ayla said. “Did you anger anyone?”
“If I did, I didn’t mean to. I was excited about seeing my family and my Cave again. When I left with Kimeran, I didn’t know if I ever would. It might have seemed like I was bragging,” Beladora said.
“Did anyone at the First Cave of South Land Zelandonii talk about anyone who had stayed there before you? Or was anyone sick when you were there?” Ayla asked Kimeran.
“Now that you mention it, some people did make a crossing before us, more than one group, and I think their Zelandoni was taking care of someone who was sick,” Kimeran said. “I didn’t ask, though.”
“If there were evil spirits present, they may not have been directed at you. It may be that they were left over from the people who were there before you, Beladora, but some sickness happens without anyone wishing it on you. It just seems to get passed around,” Ayla said. “This fever with red spots might be one like that. If you get it when you are young, you don’t usually get it after you are grown. That’s what one Mamut told me. My guess is that all of you had it when you were children, or you’d be sick, too.”
“I think I do remember a time when a lot of us were sick at a Summer Meeting,” Jondecam said. “They put us all together in one tent, and once we got to feeling better, we felt special because we were getting so much attention. It was like a game; I think we had spots, too. Do any of you remember?”
“I was probably too young to remember,” Levela said.
“And I was just enough older that I didn’t pay any attention to younger children, sick or not,” Jondalar said. “If I didn’t get sick then, I must have had it when I was so young, I don’t remember. What about you, Kimeran?”
“I think I do remember, sort of, but only because my sister was in the zelandonia,” the other tall man said. “At a Summer Meeting, there’s always so much going on, and youngsters from the same Cave tend to stay together. They don’t always notice what others are doing. What about you, Ayla? Have you had the red-spot fever sickness?”
“I remember occasionally being sick and having a fever when I was growing up, but I don’t remember if I ever had red spots with it,” Ayla said. “But I didn’t get sick when I went with a Mamut to the Mamutoi Camp that had the sickness, so that I could learn something about it, and how to treat it. And speaking of that, I want to go out and see what I can find to help you feel better, Beladora. I have some medicines with me, but the plants I want grow almost everywhere, and I’d rather have fresh ones if I can find some.”
Everyone filed out of the tent except Kimeran, who stayed to look after Beladora and her children, as well as Levela’s child.
“Can’t I stay here, mother? With them?” Jonayla asked, indicating the other children.
“They can’t play right now, Jonayla,” her mother said. “They need to rest, and I’d like you to help me find some plants that I can use to make them feel better.”
“What are you looking for?” Levela asked when they got outside. “Can I help you?”
“Do you know yarrow, or common coltsfoot? I also want willow bark, but I know where that is. I saw some just before we got here.”
“Is yarrow the one with the fine leaves and tiny white flowers that grow together in a bunch? A little like carrots
, with a stronger smell? That’s one way you can tell the difference, from the smell,” Levela asked.
“That is a very good description,” Ayla said. “And coltsfoot?”
“Big roundish green leaves that are thick, white, and soft underneath.”
“You know that one, too. Good. Let’s go and find some,” Ayla said. Jondalar and Jondecam were standing by the fireplace outside the tent, talking, while Jonayla was nearby, listening. “Beladora and Gioneran still have some fever. We are going to look for some plants to help bring down the heat. And something to help the itchiness of all of them. I’ll take Jonayla and Wolf.”
“We were just saying we should collect more wood,” Jondalar said. “And I was thinking that I should look for some trees that would make good poles for a pole-drag or two. Even when Beladora and the children get better, they might not be up to a long walk, and we should start back to Camora’s Cave before they start worrying about us.”
“Do you think Beladora will mind riding on a pole-drag?” Ayla asked.
“We’ve all seen the First riding on one. She seems to like it. I think it has made the idea less frightening,” Levela said. “Why don’t we ask her?”
“I need to get my gathering basket anyway,” Ayla said.
“I’ll get mine, too, and we should let Kimeran and Beladora know where we’re going,” Levela said. “And I’ll tell Jonlevan we’re going to get something to make him feel better.”
“He’ll want to go, since he is better, especially when he finds out that Jonayla is going with you,” Jondecam said.
“I know he will,” Levela said, “but I don’t think he should yet. What do you think, Ayla?”
“If I knew the area better and knew where we were going, it might be all right, but I don’t think so yet.”
“That’s what I’ll tell him,” Levela said.
“I’ll take Beladora,” Ayla said. “Whinney is more accustomed to pulling a pole-drag,” It had been several days since they found the missing families, but Beladora still wasn’t entirely recovered. If she pushed herself too soon, Ayla was afraid she might end up with a chronic problem that could make the rest of the Journey more difficult.
She didn’t add that Racer would not be a good horse to pull her travois because he was harder to control. Even Jondalar, who was very good with him, sometimes had difficulty when the stallion got a bit fractious. Gray was still young, Jonayla even younger in terms of ability, and with Whinney dragging the travois behind her, it would be more difficult for Ayla to use the lead rope to help her daughter control the horse. She wasn’t sure that they should make a pole-drag for Gray.
However, the large tent the other travelers had been camping in while people were sick was assembled from their smaller traveling tents and some extra hides, and the third travois could hold the tent poles and other things they had made while they had stopped that they might otherwise have left behind. The children were very much improved, but still tired easily. The pole-drags would also provide a place for them to rest while they were traveling without having to stop. Ayla and Jondalar wanted to return as quickly as possible. They were sure the ones who were waiting for them were wondering where they were.
The night before they planned to leave, they organized as much as they could so they could leave quickly. Ayla, Jondalar, Jonayla, and Wolf used their own traveling tent. In the morning, they made a quick meal of the leftovers from the night before, and packed everything on the pole-drags, including the backframes they usually wore to carry their essentials—shelter, additional clothing, and food—with them. Though the adults were used to carrying them, they found it much easier to walk without the heavy loads. They got off to a good start and traveled farther than they customarily did, but by evening, most people were tired.
While they were drinking the last of their evening tea, Kimeran and Jondecam brought up the idea of stopping early to go hunting so they would have something to bring with them when they met Camora’s relatives. Ayla was concerned. The weather had cooperated so far. There had been a little shower the night Ayla and Jondalar found the other travelers. It cleared up after that, but Ayla didn’t know how long it would stay that way. Jondalar was aware that she had a good “nose” for weather, and usually knew when rain was coming.
It wasn’t exactly a smell that suggested rain; she thought of it as a special tang in the air and often a damp feel. In later times, some would refer to the ozone in the atmosphere before rain as fresh air; others who had the ability to detect it thought it had a metallic tinge. Ayla didn’t have a name for it and found it hard to explain, but she knew it, and she had perceived that hint of coming rain recently. Slogging through mud and pouring rain was the last thing she wanted to do right now.
Ayla woke up when it was still dark. She got up to use the night basket, but stepped outside instead. There was still a glow from the coals in the fireplace in front of the tent that gave enough light for her to go to a nearby bush instead. The air was cool but fresh and as she headed back to the tent she noticed that the true black of night had shaded into the midnight blue of pre-dawn. She watched for a while as a rich deep red flooded the eastern sky, highlighting a mottled pattern of dark purple clouds, followed by a dazzling light that turned the red sky more fiery and spread the clouds out into bands of vibrant color.
“I’m sure it’s going to rain soon,” she said to Jondalar when she went back into the tent, “and it is going to be a big storm. I know they don’t want to arrive empty-handed, but if we keep going we might get there before the rain starts. I would not want Beladora to get wet and cold just as she is getting better, and I dislike the idea of having everything get wet and muddy when if we hurry we might avoid it.”
The rest woke up early, planning to start out not long after sunup. Everyone could see dark clouds gathering on the horizon, and Ayla was sure they would soon be in for a downpour.
“Ayla says a big storm is coming,” Jondalar told the other two men when they brought up hunting. “She thinks it would be better to hunt later, after we get there.”
“I know there are clouds in the distance,” Kimeran said, “but that doesn’t mean it will rain here. They look pretty far off.”
“Ayla has a good sense of rain coming,” Jondalar said. “I’ve seen it before. I don’t necessarily want to have to dry out wet clothes and muddy footwear.”
“But we only met them at the Matrimonial,” Jondecam said. “I don’t want to ask for their hospitality with nothing to give in return.”
“We were only there a half a day before we left to look for you, but I noticed that they don’t seem to be familiar with the spear-thrower. Why don’t we ask them to come hunting with us and show them how to use it. That might be a better gift than just bringing them some meat,” Jondalar said.
“I suppose … do you really think it’s going to rain that soon?” Kimeran asked.
“I trust Ayla’s ‘nose’ for rain. She is seldom wrong,” Jondalar said. “She’s been smelling rain for a few days and she thinks it will be a big storm. Not one that we’ll want to get caught in without good shelter. She doesn’t even want to stop to cook a midday meal; she says we should just drink water and eat traveling cakes along the way, so we can get there faster. Now that Beladora is getting well, I don’t think you want her to get soaked.” Suddenly he had another thought. “We could get there more quickly riding on the horses.”
“How can we all ride on three horses?” Kimeran asked.
“Some people could ride on the pole-drags and others double up on the horses. Have you ever thought about sitting on a horse? You could sit behind Jonayla.”
“Maybe someone else should sit on a horse. I’ve got long legs and I can run fast,” Kimeran said.
“Not as fast as a horse,” Jondalar said. “Her two children can ride on the pole-drag with Beladora. It would be a bumpy ride, but they have already done it a few times. We could move the gear on Racer’s pole-drag to Gray’s. Then Levela and Jonlevan can ride do
uble on Racer with me. That leaves you and Jondecam. I thought he could ride on the pole-drag, or he can ride behind me, and Levela and her young one can be on the pole-drag. That leaves you riding double with Ayla or Jonayla. With your long legs, it would give you more room if you ride with Jonayla, since she rides so close to Gray’s neck. Do you think you could hang on to a horse with your legs while you are sitting on her? You could also hold on to the pole-drag ropes. Whoever rides double with me can hang on to me. We won’t ride too long like that—it would tire the horses—but we could cover a good bit of ground a lot faster if we let them run for a little while.”
“I see you’ve been thinking about this,” Jondecam said.
“Only since Ayla told me of her concerns,” Jondalar said. “What do you think, Levela?”
“I don’t want to get wet if I can avoid it,” she said. “If Ayla says it’s going to rain, I believe her. I’ll ride a pole-drag with Jonvelan like Beladora if it means we’ll get there faster, even if it is a little bumpy.”
While the water was heating for tea, the loads on the pole-drags were rearranged, and Ayla and Jondalar got everyone settled. Wolf was watching from the side with his head tilted at an angle as though he was curious about what was going on, which was emphasized by his cocked ear. Ayla caught sight of him and smiled. They started out slowly at first, then with a look between them, Jondalar signaled Ayla, then gave a shout.
“Get ready, and hold on tight,” he said.
Ayla leaned forward, instructing her horse to run. Whinney started into a fast trot; then her gait changed to a gallop. Though it wasn’t as fast as it would have been if she hadn’t been dragging the travois, she did gain considerable speed. The horses behind followed her lead and the urging of their usual riders, and picked up their pace. Wolf ran along beside them. It was exhilarating for Jondecam and Kimeran, and breathtaking, if a little frightening, for those holding on tight to the pole-drags as they bumped over the rough ground. Ayla paid close attention to her horse, and when Whinney started to labor under the strain, she slowed her down again.