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.'
The crowd broke out in conversation and Joharran heard various comments and questions. 'I don't know if we can be ready by then.' 'I need to talk to my mate.' 'We aren't packed yet.' 'Won't he wait another day or so?' The leader let it go on for a few moments; then he spoke again.
'I don't think it's fair to ask the Third Cave to wait for us. They want to find a good place, too. I need an answer now so I can send a runner back to him,' he said. 'One person from each hearth must make the decision. If most of you think you can be ready, we'll leave in the morning. Those who want to go then, come and stand to my right.'
There was an initial hesitation, then Solaban and Rushamar walked up and stood on Joharran's right. Jondalar looked at Ayla, who smiled and nodded; then he moved to stand beside them on his brother's right. Marthona did the same. Then a few more came up and joined them. No one moved to his left side, which would have indicated an unwillingness to leave so soon, but several were hanging back.
Ayla was using the counting words as each person joined the group, saying the word under her breath and tapping a finger on her thigh at the same time. 'Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one — how many hearths are there?' she wondered. When she reached thirty, it was obvious that most of the people had decided they could be ready by the following morning. The idea of getting there faster and finding a more desirable location was a powerful incentive. After five more people joined them, she tried to count the hearths left. There were quite a few still undecided people milling around, but she thought they represented only seven or eight hearths.
'What about those who are not ready by then?' a voice from the undecideds spoke out.
'They can come along later, on their own,' Joharan said.
'But we always go as a Cave. I don't want to go alone,' a person said.
Joharran smiled. 'Then make sure you are ready by morning. As you can see, most people have decided they can leave then. I'm sending a runner to Manvelar to tell him we'll be ready to join the Third Cave tomorrow morning.'
With a Cave the size of the Ninth, there were always a few who couldn't make the trip, at least not then — people who were sick or injured, for example. Joharran assigned a few people to stay with them to hunt and help take care of those left behind. The helpers would be replaced after about a half a Moon, so they wouldn't miss out on the entire Summer Meeting.
The people of the Ninth Cave were up much later than usual, and in the morning when everyone started gathering, a few were obviously tired, and grumpy. Manvelar and the Third Cave had arrived fairly early and were waiting in the open area that was just beyond the dwellings, toward Down River, not far from the place where Ayla and Jondalar lived. Marthona, Willamar, and Folara were ready early and had come to their dwelling so some of their things could be packed on the horses or the travoises.
They also brought some food for a morning meal to share with Manvelar and a few others. The evening before, Marthona had suggested to her sons that it might be appropriate for her and Jondalar to entertain Manvelar and his family at Ayla's dwelling — so called since Jondalar had made it for her — and therefore allow Joharran and Proleva to get the rest of the Cave organised for the trek across country to Sun View, the home of the Twenty-sixth Cave of the Zelandonii, the place of the Summer Meeting.
Chapter 5
It was a large group — nearly two hundred and fifty people — that started out later that morning, most of the Ninth and Third Caves. Manvelar and the Third Cave took the lead, heading down the slope from the eastern end of the stone shelter. Unlike the vegetation of Grass River Valley near the Third Cave, where they found the lions, the path from the northeastern edge of the stone porch of the Ninth Cave led down to a small tributary of The River, called Wood River, because its protected valley was unusually rich with trees.
Wooded areas were rare during the Ice Age. The edge of the glaciers that covered a quarter of the earth's surface were not very far to the north, and created conditions of permafrost in the nearby periglacial regions. In the summer the top layer melted to various depths, depending on conditions. In cool, shaded areas with heavy moss or other insulative vegetation, the ground melted only a few inches, but where the land was exposed to direct sunlight, it softened more, enough to allow an abundant grass cover.
For the most part, conditions did not favour the growth of trees with their deeper root systems, except in certain locations. In places that were protected from the coldest winds and the hardest frosts, several feet of topsoil might be thawed, enough for trees to take root. Gallery forests often sprung up alongside the water- saturated edges of rivers.
Wood River Valley was one of those exceptions. It had a relative abundance of both coniferous and deciduous trees and brush, including varieties of fruit and nut trees. It was an amazingly rich resource that provided a wealth of materials, especially firewood, for those who lived near enough to benefit, but it wasn't a dense forest. It was more like a narrow valley parkland with open clearings of meadows and lovely glades between heavier wooded patches.
The large band travelled northwest through Wood River Valley for about six miles of gentle upgrade, a very pleasant beginning of the trek. At a tributary that cascaded down a hillside on the left, Manvelar stopped. It was time for a rest and to let some of the stragglers catch up. Most people built small fires to make tea; parents fed children and snacked on travelling food, dried strips of meat or pieces of fruit or nuts saved from the previous year's harvest. A few ate some of the special travelling cakes that nearly everyone had, a mixture of dried meat ground fine, dried berries or small chunks of other fruit, and fat, shaped into patties or cakes and wrapped in edible leaves.
