Chapter 12 Summary

As spring comes, Ayla begins training herself to hunt. She learns to track animals and move stealthily. She sometimes follows the men, unobserved. One day, a wolverine enters the cave and steals someone's meat. Ayla sees her chance and goes after the ugly creature. Once she is out of sight of the cave, she kills it in one shot. She has the same elation over her small wolverine that Broud had killing his first bison. The thrill of the hunt has infected Ayla.

She becomes more adept than any of the other hunters with the sling, and many carnivorous predators fall victim to her quick arm. One day, she spies a lynx. She remembers Zoug telling Vorn that a lynx could be killed with a sling, and she tries. The lynx moves, and the stone barely grazes him. He turns on Ayla, and...