Unhappily ever after
Summary: What if Vincavec had judged the relationship between Ayla, Jondalar and Ranec correctly, or overheard enough lion camp gossip?
Disclaimer: The Earth's Children series and all characters therein belong to Jean M. Auel. This unworthy woman claims no copyright and makes no money with this.
It was the twilight of pre-dawn when Jondalar silently left camp. Nobody had been up so early, except for Old Mamut, who had wished him good journey and had not tried to talk him out of it. Or had he? Morosely, the tall man plodded on. Why was he leaving without Ayla? And if she wanted to stay, why was he not staying here with her? Because she wanted Ranec, he thought, sobbing.
In front of him, someone cleared his throat. Jondalar looked up, startled. On a boulder beside the creek sat Vincavec, basking in the morning sun, his grey eyes gleaming with mirth at catching the traveller unawares. „If I were a cave lion, you'd be my breakfast", he grinned, giving the handsome Zelandonii man an appraising look. Jondalar, his eyes still swollen and cheeks tear-streaked, blushed crimson with embarrassment. The smaller man ambled up to him, his gait somewhat swaying, and grasped both his hands firmly in the greeting gesture. „Jondalar, we need to talk. Don't leave. I know you don't want to. You love her. You want be here at her side, don't deny it." Pale grey eyes were looking up at him with compassion and sincerity. „But she doesn't want me", he confessed, „she's chosen Ranec. I'm not good enough for her." He paused and withdrew his hands. „At least you won't have a claim on her. I knew from the beginning all you wanted was her mammoth hearth and her control over animals. It is better that she gets a caring, loving man." „You've seen right through me," admitted the tattoed shaman with a melancholic smile, „yet you are utterly mistaken. They both agreed to take me in as co-mate. Tulie wouldn't have it any other way. You see, Ranec is an excellent carver, but not exactly rich, and Nezzie unwisely put a winter's effort in Ayla's matrimonial tunic instead of her adopted son's brideprice. So, why let so much status and amber as I can give slip when all I want is a joining in name so that I get the mammoth hearth and make my camp's name acceptable?" It made sense, and Jondalar felt a wild urge to stay, just to protect Ayla from being used to increase someone elses' power, or better still, to slam his fist into that decorated face and bring some other colours forth. „Jondalar", the smaller man intervened hurriedly, placing a hand on the angry traveller's chest, his eyes widening in fear - or was that something else? - „I understand that you feel protective. For a while I thought you were her brother, you were acting so protectively. Ayla is a fine woman, to be sure, but if it were not for her mammoth hearth ... let me put it thus: Jondalar, you are the most handsome man I have ever seen." There was a pleading, hopeful look in his pale grey eyes.
The tall man was puzzled, the anger left him. Could it be? The mamut-headman was only after Ayla's status and did not desire her in his furs? He was no threat to his own claim on the woman? What claim, wasn't he leaving? But hadn't the man requested he stayed? Confused, he looked into those eyes again and was instantly lost in the fathomless black pools that seemed to drink in his spirit. There was nothing he wanted more than to give in to that deep, soothing voice that so calmed his confused and self-loathing mind: „Jondalar, come with me. Join with us. As long as you live, there is hope. You will live with me at mammoth camp, but you will see her at summer meetings, joint hunts and visits. This way, you will always be near her; you can always court her, ask her, to come to your sleeping place. And I may court you and ask you, but I shall not demand anything you are unwilling to give. What say you? Bargain?" Jondalar's heart overflowed with gratitude - he would be close to Ayla once again. His cry of „Yes!" was a release of all his pent-up pain. He hardly noticed the other man walking him back to the camp gently, one hand on his rear below the backframe.
„You know she loves him, don't you?" The dark-skinned carver looked away. „You needn't trust me on this; ask Nezzie, ask Old Mamut or even Danug. I've heard them talk. Ranec! If Jondalar leaves, Ayla will follow him. If you want to keep her, you must include him - we must include him. But I can keep him away from her, and I'd love to; that man has an enormous appeal. Besides, you know what I can pay as a bride-price. Do you want her to forego so much wealth and status? You want only the best for her, don't you? What say you? Deal?"
Ayla had not offered an opinion when Ranec had told her he was willing to accept Vincavec as a co-mate, she just aquiesced, particularly since Tulie seemed pleased and she felt obliged to the headwoman for allowing her to stay and backing her up in the councils. She was, however, overjoyed when Jondalar showed up at the matrimonial ceremony, wearing Darnev's finery, and was generously taken in by her two intended as another mate. The matrimonial night was a sweet and languorous affair with Ranec alone, while Jondalar and Vincavec shared another tent nearby, but the thought of her first and only love within reach, possibly touching her the very next moment, made it ever so delightful.
As the summer meeting progressed, Ayla was saddened to realize that Jondalar still kept anxiously away from her, until one day, when Ranec was away to heat and straighten mammoth tusks, Vincavec came up to her with an unexpected proposal. „Ayla, darling, I couldn't help but notice the lovesick glances you shot Jondalar the other day. Isn't it a pity that he won't respond to you, even though he is your mate? There is something I could do for you, woman of my hearth. You know I am mamut. There are charms that can be made, that can draw a man to a woman. Ayla, I could make a charm that could draw Jondalar back to you, if that is what you want." From the look in her eyes, he knew he had hooked her. „There is ... one minor inconvenience. For such a charm to work, I need ... your womanly essence ... the juices of your pleasures." He looked pointedly down at the place where her legs joined and managed to blush.
Several charms ostensibly failed before Ayla, quite ashamed for trying to do such a thing to Jondalar, sought advice from Old Mamut, who seemed quite surprised by the very concept.
Later in the year, several camps teamed up again for the autumn hunts, when animals were fattest, the blowflies were dead and the temperatures allowed meat to be transported over considerable distances before it needed to be put in cold storage. It was then that Ayla (blessed already) and Ranec indicated their intention to winter with the mammoth camp.
Vincavec had overseen the storing of the dried and frozen meat, rendered fat, raw hides, bones for fuel, and some grain and hay they had collected on the way for Ayla's horses. He was bone-weary from carrying heavy loads, but happy to see mammoth camp well stocked. When he entered the mammoth hearth lodge tiredly, all he wanted was to drop onto a sleeping platform and doze off. Instead, strong hands gripped both his arms, dragged him fully inside, and someone forced a gag into his mouth when he tried to scream. They tied his wrists together with leather thongs and attached them to a peg high up in the roof so that his feet barely touched the ground. In the dimly lit lodge, he could make out all his mates: Ayla, Ranec and Jondalar. They were looking rather angry.
„You tricked us!" Jondalar was towering over him, forcing him too look up by a firm grip in his hair. The tall man's eyes glowed nearly violet in the lamplight; an angry vein pulsed on his temple. „You lied to us, you worm. Every word you ever told me was a lie, and you did the same thing to Ayla and to Ranec. You are disgusting, like a piece of rotten meat. I'd so like to break every bone in your worthless body."
Well, he had a point. Trying to explain how Jondalar had been willing to abandon Ayla and should by rights be grateful that he was mated to her now would have been useless even without the gag; the Zelandonii man looked quite irrational at the moment. Vincavec could only hope they would not dare beat up a headman in his own camp, but he was far from sure. Jondalar raised a fist and aimed at his stomach, but Ayla stopped him. „No, Jondalar, don't! He'd vomit and choke on it, with the gag. Leave him be, we discussed this, remember?"
Ranec stepped in, grinning: „Heyo, Jon, if you are not in the mood, I can always fill in for you." Now that got the other man's attention. As much as he wanted to punish Vincavec, he was nearly as angry at Ranec for that man's share of Ayla's time, but that had been the only workable arrangement they could come up with. Fuming, the blond man turned around, hugged the woman he loved tightly and gave her a long, hard kiss, the first in months. She responded to his need with equal vigour. Soon, they stumbled over to a sleeping platform, practically ripped the clothes off each other, and shared pleasures as if there was no tomorrow. Ranec shot Vincavec a somewhat commiserating glance and buried himself under the furs on another sleeping platform, drawing the curtains shut. At least, he could dream of what he might do the next day.
Vincavec could not escape the sight of the handsome couple sharing pleasures in plain view. He was painfully hard, but also uncomfortably hot, since he was still wearing his heavy outdoor clothes, including mittens and a mammoth wool scarf. There was also no way he could sleep, suspended by his wrists like this. He spent most of the night in a shallow trance, controlling his breathing and heartbeat, accepting the pain and turning it into pleasure, as he had learned in his training. When, in the morning, Ayla and Jondalar honoured the Mother again, then got up and shared breakfast with Ranec, Vincavec wondered whether they would let him sleep the other night or drive him to breakdown and complete exhaustion. He was not keen on that again.
After breakfast, Ayla stood in front of the bound and gagged man, Ranec and Jondalar beside her. She checked the pulse in his neck, then slapped him lightly a couple of times to get him fully awake. She noticed the bulge in his trousers. „We will let you down now.", she announced. „You won't tell anybody of this. If you do, I will shatter the hearth immediately. You abused my trust and disappointed me greatly, consider this restitution." He nodded. Looking down at his nether regions again she said to the other men: „One moment please, I'll be right back.", disappeared ouside the lodge and was soon back with a bowl of snow. Opening the front of his trousers, she stuffed several handsful in and he cringed and shuddered, much to the amusement of the other two men. Only then did Jondalar free his hands from the overhead peg. Blood and feeling returning to his arms was intensely painful. Jondalar, remembering what it was like to be tied in uncomfortable positions from his experience with the Hadumai, added to the pain by kneading his rival's upper arms, hard. Vincavec screamed and was, for once, glad he was still gagged. He was also hungry, tired, dreched in sweat and very thirsty. Ayla addressed him once again: „You may now eat what is left. You may pass your water and tidy up, but not otherwise touch yourself. You will stay within sight of one of us all day. We will continue in the evening." He nodded. Then Jondalar whispered in his ear: „Tonight, Ayla will be with Ranec. That means you will entertain me. I'll beat you green and blue if you aren't good." He nodded again.
Vincavec quickly washed, changed into clean clothes, brushed his hair, wolfed down the leftover food and tea, then chewed some ephedra to stay awake for the chores of the day. This was certainly going to be one interesting winter.