Then she opened her eyes. Ice commanded the view, filled her vision. The enormous, majestic, formidable expanse of ice that reached the sky marched across the entire breadth of the land as far as she could see. Mountains were insignificant beside it. The sight filled her with a humbling exultation, an awe-inspiring excitement. Her smile brought acknowledging smiles from Jondalar and Ranec.
"I've seen it before," Ranec said, "but I could see it as many times as there are stars in the sky and never get tired of it." Both Ayla and Jondalar nodded in agreement.
"It can be dangerous, though," Jondalar added.
"How did this ice get here?" Ayla asked.
"The ice moves," Ranec said. "Sometimes it grows, sometimes it shrinks back. This split off when the wall was here. This pile was much bigger then. It has been shrinking, like the wall." Ranec studied the glacier. "I think it was farther away last time. The ice may be growing again."
Ayla swept her gaze across the open landscape then, noticing how much farther she could see from her higher vantage point. "Oh, look!" she cried, pointing toward the southeast. "Mammoths! I see a herd of mammoths!"
"Where?" Ranec said, suddenly excited.
The excitement spread through the hunters like fire. Talut, who had started around the side at the sound of the word "mammoths," was already halfway up the ice pile. He reached the top in a few strides, put his hand across his forehead as a sunshade, and looked where Ayla had pointed.
"She's right! There they are! Mammoths!" he boomed, unable to restrain his emotion, or the volume of his voice.
Several others were climbing up the ice, each looking for a place to view the great tusked creatures. Ayla stepped down out of the way so Brecie could stand in her place.
There was a certain relief in sighting the mammoths, as well as excitement. At least they were finally showing themselves. Whatever it was that the Spirit Mammoth had been waiting for, she had finally allowed her creatures of this world to present themselves to those who were chosen by Mut to hunt mammoths.
One of the women of Brecie's Camp mentioned to one of the men that she had seen Ayla standing on the very top of the ice pile with her eyes closed, turning her head as though Seeking something, or perhaps Calling it, and when she opened her eyes, there were the mammoths. The man nodded in understanding.
Ayla was staring down at the shape of the pile of ice below, about ready to descend. Talut appeared beside her, smiling as big a grin as she had ever seen.
"Ayla, you have made this headman a very happy man," the red-bearded giant said.
"I didn't do anything," Ayla said. "I just happened to see them."
"That's enough. Whoever happened to see them first would have made me a very happy man. But I'm glad it was you," Talut said.
Ayla smiled at him. She really did love the big headman. She thought of him as an uncle, or a brother, or a friend, and she felt he cared about her the same way.
"What were you looking at down there, Ayla?" Talut said, starting to follow her down.
"Nothing in particular. I was just noticing that you can see the shape of this pile from here. See how it comes in on the side where we climbed up and then curves back around?"
Talut gave it a cursory look, then found himself looking closer. "Ayla! You've done it again!"
"Done what?"
"You have made this headman a very happy man!"
His smile was contagious. She smiled back. "What makes you happy this time, Talut?" she said.
"You made me notice the shape of this ice pile. It's like a blind canyon. Not quite complete, but we can fix that. Now I know how we're going to hunt those mammoths!"
No time was lost. The mammoths could decide to move away, or the weather could change again. The hunters had to take advantage of the opportunity immediately. The hunt leaders conferred, then quickly sent out several scouts to investigate the lay of the land and the size of the herd. While they were gone, a wall of rock and ice was built to block the open space in one side of the cold canyon, making the tumbled pile of ice into an enclosure with only one opening. When the scouts returned, the hunters gathered to devise a plan to drive the huge woolly animals into the trap.
Talut told how Ayla and Whinney had helped to drive bison into a trap. Many people were quite interested, but they all reached the conclusion that with the huge behemoths, a single rider on horseback would not be able to start a concerted drive, though she might be of some help. To get them started toward the trap, some other means would have to be found.
Fire was the answer. Late summer lightning storms had set enough dry fields on fire that even massive mammoths, who feared little, had a healthy respect for it. At this season of the year, however, it might be difficult to get a grass fire going. The fire would have to be in the form of torches, held in the hands of the drivers.
"What'll we use for torches?" someone asked.
"Dry grass and mammoth dung, bound together and dipped in fat," Brecie said "so they'll catch fast and burn hot."
"And we can use Ayla's firestone to start them quickly," Talut added. There were nods of agreement.
"We're going to need fire in more than one place," Brecie said, "and in the right sequence."
"Ayla has given each of the hearths of Lion Camp a firestone. We have several with us. I have one, and so does Ranec. Jondalar has one, too," Talut said, aware of the added prestige his announcement gave them. Too bad Tulie isn't here, he thought. She would have appreciated the moment. Ayla's firestones were priceless, particularly since they were apparently not too abundant.
"Once we get the mammoths moving, how do we make sure they head for the trap?" the woman from Brecie's Camp asked. "This is open country."
The plan they worked out was simple and direct. They constructed two rows of cairns out of broken chunks of ice and rock, fanning out from the opening of the ice canyon. Talut, with his massive axe, made short work of breaking the large glacier shards into pieces small enough to carry. Several torches were deposited behind each cairn in readiness. Of the fifty hunters, a few chose places within the canyon itself, behind protective blocks of ice, for the first frontal assault. Others ranged out behind the stone cairns. The rest, primarily the fastest, strongest runners – for all their great bulk, mammoths were capable of great bursts of speed for short distances – would split into two groups, to circle around both sides of the herd.
Brecie began explaining some traits and vulnerabilities of mammoths and how to hunt them to the younger hunters, who had not hunted the great shaggy beasts before. Ayla listened carefully, and walked into the ice canyon with them. The headwoman of Elk Camp would lead the frontal assault from inside and wanted to inspect the trap and select her place.
As soon as they were within the icy walls, Ayla noticed the drop in temperature. With the fire they had made to melt the fat for the torches, and the exertion of cutting grass and carrying hunks of ice, she hadn't noticed the cold. Yet, they were so near the great glacier that water left out overnight usually had a film of ice in the morning even in summer, and parkas were necessary during the day. Inside the frozen enclosure the cold was intense, but as Ayla looked around the spacious chamber in the midst of the jagged tumble of ice, she felt she had entered another place, a white and blue world of stark and chilling beauty.