"Long ago, in the days of the great ice mountains the first of our people followed the herds of game into a new land." "There was a girl child among them and she was called Ayla." "The legends still speak of her." "Ayla!" "Mama!" "Ayla!" " Mama!" " Ayla!" "Before our people came this had been the land of the old ones." "The Clan of the Cave Bear." "When the Earth shook, they had lost their home." "Many had died." "But Brun, the leader, still had with him Broud the son of his mate, who would be leader after him." "Then came Creb, the great Mog-ur the crippled holy man." "And Iza, his sister, the medicine woman." "Without a cave the Clan was weak." "They knew that soon the wind spirits would bring snow." "And snow would bring death." "Iza." "Leave it." "She lives." "Not Clan..." "It's one of the Others." "Come." "Broud." "Iza..." "Cave lion." "Iza..." "Why do you take her?" "My spirits tell me too." "The child that Iza nursed was one of us." "The new people." "The first the Clan of the Cave Bear had ever seen." "She was proof of the tales they had long heard of "the Others. "" "The strange ones who threatened the world which had always been theirs." "At sunset, they called to the spirits to help them for they were afraid." "Creb." "She doesn't understand." "Creb." "Grub." "Creb." "Iza." "Ayla." "Mog-ur." "Broud." "Broud!" "As the days passed, and still they had not found a cave many were sure that some dark spirit had put the child, Ayla, in their path." "She was of the Others and should have been left to die." "That was what the memories told them." "It was the memories that ruled the Clan." "The ancient knowledge that each was born with." "The voices of the past that could not be disobeyed or changed." "Ayla did not have the memories." "Iza knew the Clan would not let her keep the child much longer." "This place is not in our memories." "No Clan has been here." "Ayla." "Women must never touch weapons." "Ayla." "The Great Cave Bear!" "For many seasons, the Clan lived in this new cave." "And Ayla was allowed to stay among them." "Iza and Creb protected her and raised her with Iza's own daughter, Uba." "Ayla tried to be a child of the Clan." "But she knew that to Broud and many others she was still a threat to the Clan's unchanging ways." "Even the spirits seemed to have no place for her." "Ayla." "Ebra." "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "That is not the Clan way." "I will be leader." "Serve me first." "Ayla, listen to Broud." "Move fast." "Understand?" "Go!" "Are you angry?" "Ayla, you live at my fire." "I must teach you." "Iza hurries..." "Uba hurries..." "Ayla goes slow." "Ayla..." "Got it?" "But are you angry?" "Never." "Will you teach me?" "The Clan knows this much." "They don't understand this." "Only Mog-ur counts this far." "Don't show this to the Clan." "Only you and I will know." "Bring me water." "Creb, find Ayla a spirit." "Iza was afraid." "She knew that Broud would soon be made a hunter of the Clan and Ayla would not be safe." "She did not have an animal totem to protect her as all Clan people did." "And only Creb, the Mog-ur, knew the magic to find her one." "But as he climbed the mountain he was not sure the spirits would grant a protector to this child of the Others." "Bround..." "Bround has killed the great Musk Ox." "He is hunter of the Clan." "Ayla." "Ayla." "The spirits have spoken to me." "They call to Ayla." "She is given a protector." "Alya's spirit is The Cave Lion." "The Lion is a hunter's sign." "Too strong for a woman." "It is Ayla's spirit." "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "Ayla is ugly." "She'll never have a mate." "Iza knew that one day she and Creb would be gone and that without them, Ayla would be alone." "And so she taught Ayla the healing magic to give her a place in the Clan when that day came." "Iza." "My tooth." "This medicine will make you brave." "It won't hurt the great Mog-ur." "The baby is near." "The baby is dead." "Why did the baby die?" "The spirits called for it." "Will the spirits give me a baby?" "The Lion sign is too strong." "Ayla knew the punishment for a woman who touched a hunting weapon was death." "Ayla." "Ayla!" "You must learn." "Clan women kneel." "Brun!" "You shame the Clan." "You want to be leader, Broud." "But a man who hits his people can never lead the Clan." "While gathering herbs for Iza's medicine, Ayla had found a small cave in the forest." "Now she went there whenever she could to escape from Broud, and be alone." "Ayla." "Ayla!" "Uba." "Ayla." "Brac?" "Brac!" "Brac?" "Brac?" "Mama!" "Ayla had used the sling." "And the memory said she should be cursed with a silent death forever." "But because she had saved the child, Brac she would be sent away for only one turning of the moon." "In all the memories no one had ever returned from the "land of the dead."" "And Ayla was a woman carrying a child." "To the Clan, she was now a spirit." "Even to look at her would bring evil among them." "Uba?" "Iza..." "Ayla..." "Ayla..." "Iza!" "Iza!" "Brun?" "Creb?" "Creb..." "Ayla..." "Creb..." "Creb..." "Ayla?" "Ayla?" "Iza..." "The child must die." "Ayla, the child must die." "It will be a burden." "No one will hunt for it." "Ayla has no mate." "If the child is to die I want to die with it." "I ask for the life of Ayla and her child." "Who has hunted for the child until now?" "I was deformed." "The Clan called me a burden." "They called me a woman." "But now I am the great Mog-ur." "Did I deserve to live?" "Do Ayla and her child deserve to live any less?" "I love Ayla." "She is the child I could never have." "Ayla..." "Ayla and the child were spared." "Ayla was to be a woman of the Clan in all ways but one." "From that day on, she was "the woman who hunts. "" "Broud!" "And Creb called the child Durc." "And the Clan accepted him." "For as time passed they saw he had the memories and knew the Clan way." "In Durc's fourth summer a call came for a gathering of all the Clans." "Many of the young men had become hunters and the leaders were growing old." "It was time for the change." "Ayla..." "This medicine bowl was my mother's now it is yours." "Ayla, I am old." "I cannot journey to the Clan Gathering." "Broud is still angry." "He will hurt you." "Go to the Gathering as medicine woman." "You have to find a mate." "I don't want you to leave." "You must go." "Ayla." "The scattered Clans trekked to the Great Gathering." "It would be a time for trading for choosing new leaders, for finding mates." "And Ayla will be the medicine woman of the Clan of the Cave Bear." "Brun!" "Creb!" "She is one of the Others." "She cannot stay." "I say she is Clan." "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "Brug." " Ayla..." "Durc..." " Uba." "Your eyes are blue like mine." "Brug..." "Ayla." "Give me Iza's bowl." "The Mog-urs say you are of the Others." "You will anger the spirits." "The spirits were called to the sacred Ceremony of the Bear." "Broud and the other young hunters were ready." "If they survived the bear's spirit would carry their names to the sky." "And they would be the new leaders." "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "With the Mog-urs' strongest magic, Creb reached out to Ayla." "The same image filled their minds." "She saw two animals walk from the smoke of the sacred fire." "The great Cave Bear and her own Lion Spirit." "Then she saw Durc." "The animals turned." "And before the magic was gone she saw that the lion walked alone." "Ayla felt the lion's strength." "She finally knew that, like him, she must find her destiny on her own." "But she could not take the lion's path while Durc was still so young." "He would not survive the journey." "She would wait for a sign from the spirits." "Ayla!" "Ayla!" "The spirits call me." "You are not safe here." "I know you will never be Clan." "You must go find the Others." "I won't leave you." "You must." "The spirits are close." "Ayla..." "You are my spirit child." "Now I live in your memories." "When the sun rises I will make Broud leader." "The spirits seem far away." "I fear for the clan." "Goov is Mog-ur." "I, Goov, am Mog-ur." "Broud is now leader." "Ayla." "Ayla has no mate." "I will take her to my hearth." "But..." "Ayla hunts no more." "Ayla." "Durc will live at Vorn's hearth." "Oga." "Mama!" "Creb..." "Creb must leave the cave." "Goov is mog-ur." "Creb..." "Broud, you are leader." "I obey you." "Uba." "Creb must not leave." "I am medicine woman." "Without a fire Creb will die." "Creb!" "No, Creb!" "I curse Ayla with death...forever." "Creb, obey me." "Go." "Go." "Go!" "Creb, go!" "Go!" "No, Creb will stay." "Broud..." "Broud!" "You are fighting a spirit." "Ayla has won." "She has beaten you." "You are nothing compared to her." "I wish Ayla had been my child." "I love you." "We are of the same spirit." "Same spirit forever." "Ayla!" "Uba." "Don't go." "You are Clan." "You must keep the Clan way." "I am a spirit now..." "A good spirit." "Remember Ayla." "Mama!" "Ayla!" "Walk with the Cave Bear." "She had spoken out for Creb because she loved him." "The sign had come." "Finally, she understood the vision." "Durc was of the Clan." "And one day he would be their leader." "She must find her own people." "She must walk alone." "Everything she had lived through had prepared her for this journey." "And she was not afraid." "For the first time Ayla felt the strength of her own spirit."