"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!" "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." "lza." "Broud." "lza." "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." "Creb." "Grub." "Creb." "lza." "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." "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!" "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." "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." "Ayla knew the punishment for a woman who touched a hunting weapon was death." "Brun!" "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." "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." "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."" "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." "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." "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." "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." "Mama!" "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."