Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, names or anything connected to Jean M Auel's Earth's Children series in this story. I'm just having some fun.

Chapter Four
Wolf Song

Sammi woke up violently. She sat up and looked about wide eyed. The pregnant woman, who had come in that morning, screaming in agony, had awoken. She was pale and sweating. Ayla was there too and she and Zelandonii were trying to help the woman, in obvious pain.

There was a tall blonde man there too who looked unsure of what to do and seeing Sammi sitting up and looking scared senseless he walked over to her, and put a comforting arm around her small shoulders. Jondalar felt the woman shaking on his shoulder and looked down to see her tussled brown hair buried in his chest.

Sammi had never seen anything so horrific in her life. There was blood everywhere…its stench was putrid to her. There was talking and yelling in different languages that she didn't understand. She was overwhelmed by it all and when the tall handsome man gave her a place to hide from it all she took it.

She did not se the large wolf at the time, whose body was charged with the anxiousness that hung in the air. If Sammi had seen the huge animal she probably would have started screaming. Wolves had plagued her constantly when she was lost in the wilderness, and they scared her.

Sammi felt safer as this handsome man's arms closed around her, holding her closely. Jondalar watched as Ayla and Zelandonii fought a helpless cause. Proleva was dying, and so was her baby. In the body's final attempt to correct the sudden complications, Proleva strained in the eight week early delivery of her baby.

The fight didn't last long. Proleva's body gave out on her, and the young mother knew peace. Sammi had peaked through he tall man's arms and saw the woman's yes flutter shut and felt tears spring to her eyes when she did not open them again.

In the short few hours that woman, who Ayla had told her was named Proleva, she felt close to her. Sammi had a feeling her baby wouldn't survive, and she felt sorry for Proleva. She knew how much it could hurt to lose a baby, both mentally and physically.

But Sammi had never dreamed the pretty young woman would die herself. She cried for herself and for Proleva, and she wasn't alone. She felt the man who was holding her, rub her back soothingly, but from the way his breath came, she knew he cried too.

Wolf sitting on the floor raised his nuzzle and let out a full howl followed by another and another. He sang his wolf song full of pain and loss for the young mother and her unborn child.

The sudden loss of the leaders mate disturbed the whole cave. It was unexpected, to say the least. Joharran was quite and reserved, drawing into himself. He wasn't eating, and his face was pale. Proleva's body had been wrapped up appropriately after her burial rights, but due to the still raging storm they were unable to bury it at this time.

The body was placed in cold chambers near the Cave designed for such a purpose. Due to the freezing the body lost nearly all odors. No children dared enter this place; indeed it frightened many of the adults as well. It was like the sacred burial ground, and they feared that the sprits of the newly deceased would try to claim their bodies.

Folara, who was heavily pregnant, could expect to give birth any day now and the events had sacred her. Her mate and her family had to go to great lengths to calm her down after Proleva's funeral. Proleva's death and the loss of her child were added to her normal fears of child birth. She had never given birth and the loss of her friend made her realize that she could die in childbirth too.

Jonayla was too young to really grasp what had happened. She knew Proleva was gone and she was upset. She missed the smiling face of the woman who would always pick her up and give her a new toy or bracelet. She was carrying around the doll Proleva had made her for days now, unsure of what to do with herself.

Sammi was confused. Why did they not simply take the woman to a hospital? She thought in fact why hadn't she been taken to a doctor? She knew now that her leg had been broken, despite the lack of communication, and the stuff they had used to fix her leg was tree bark which had hardened. She had a sinking feeling that she was very far away from home.

Being allowed out of the dwelling of Zelandonii to attend the funeral, using forked branches as crutches, she could see that these people lived in a cliff overhang, and their way of life was amazingly primitive. They all wore the same clothing out of animal furs, used strange tools of thin stone, but incredibly sharp. Baskets and mats were made out of woven plant materials.

The death of the young woman shocked her not only because she hadn't expected her to die, it also meant this wasn't some kind of television stunt. T.V producers may stop to low levels but they surely would not have allowed a woman to die like that without some kind of professional interference.

Sammi was growing steadily uneasy as her mind started drawing conclusions. This just couldn't be Australia. Where in Australia did blizzards howl for over four days? This place did not feel like her home, nor did it feel like her time. She was starting to think she was in another era, but her mind did not want to accept such a thought.

This feeling was proven when she watched Ayla working a skin, sweat beads forming on her brow from concentration. The instrument she used was one of those stone tools some carried in pouches at their waists.

"What you do?" Sammi asked her.

"I am stretching this hide, so it will be soft and wearable" Ayla replied, stopping long enough to look up at the strange woman and smile at her. Sammi felt herself blush at this, but pressed Ayla with further questions.

"Why make with…animal?" she said, Ayla nodding to say she had the right word.

"What else would we use for clothes?" Ayla asked. Zelandonii is right, she thought, she doesn't seem to know much at all, but sometimes I feel she is laughing at me, like she knows something. "Your clothing is strange, what is it made of?"

Sammi could only just grasp the meaning of the question, which was emphasized when Ayla pointed to her black t-shirt. She had been wearing only her bra until Jondalar had brought her suitcase to Zelandonii's dwelling, after Ayla had cut of her other shirt to heal her. She had squealed at delight at it, glad she did not have to attend the burial of Proleva in her underwear.

"Not know word," she sighed "Cotton".

"What is this cotton?" Ayla asked saying the word in English.

"Is plant" Sammi replied, not really paying attention to the conversation now. She didn't know what cotton was, she used animal skin for clothes, and this place was unbelievably cold any distance away from a fire. The fact that they used fire for light and heat spoke for itself. An anxious nausea was taking hold again. She felt like weeping.

"You can make clothes from plants?" Ayla asked amazed "How do you do this? Can you teach me?"

"What?" Sammi asked jerked out of her thoughts.

"Can you teach me to make clothing out of plants?"

"I not make" Sammi said wishing she had more words "Ayla what….what…year is it?"

"What is year? I am a twenty year" Ayla replied.

Sammi shook her head "The year! What is?" she asked urgently.

Ayla shook her head confused. Sammi felt her face pale. She can't even give me a date! Her mind screamed, was this a time before time was made? Before dates, numbers, years? Before the orderly procession of days, weeks and months of her world?

Sammi felt weak. These people don't have time! How far back am I? Those thoughts swirled around her head so fast that she did not hear Ayla call her name as shock caused her body to slump into unconsciousness.

Sammi awoke with her mind amazingly clear. She started up at the rock roof tracing the formations she knew by heart. Something was different. The dwelling was dark; the only light was from the glowing coals of the banked fire. Ah of course, she thought, it's quite the storm must of blown its self out.

She closed her eyes and savored the silence. She opened them again and reached into her pocket. She pulled out the stone doni the huge woman had given her when she first awoke. She looked at it, her thumb running over the huge breasts and ample buttocks. It had a comforting feel to it.

Still holding the doni in her left hand she sat up and reached for the water bag by her bed. She thought it was the stomach of some animal, but did not want to know for sure, fearing it would make the water harder to dink if it was. Reliving her thirst she lay back down.
There must be a reason as to why I'm here, she thought, or else I would gone back home again wouldn't I? How did I get here though…does this Earth Mother have something to do with it? She shook her head to herself. Sammi had never believed in a God, the proof science had unearthed was to convincing. But still, how could I transport back thousands of years in time? Why me?

She sighed and pushed the doni back into her pocket, sorely wishing she could shower and change her clothes. But with her injuries the closest she had come to cleaning herself was a quick was of her hair in a basin of melted snow. She had been able to brush her teeth and comb her hair from her toiletries bag but she kept them hidden from the people. She didn't want the to ask her what they where…what was she supposed to say to them?

She did know if her presence her had already happened before and any disturbances she made would not alter history. She smiled to herself wondering what an archeologist would think if he dug up this site in the twenty-first century to find spear heads and flint knives lying next to her hairbrush made of plastic.

Would they hurt me when they find out? Sammi had quickly dismissed the idea. Although they could make spears with wicked points, sharp knives and weapons, he didn't think the act of a person killing another was as common as in her times here.

Well if I'm stuck here I may as well find out why, Sammi concluded. Some unknown force had hurtled her back through the eons and there had to be a reason for it, and if it killed her she was going to find out why.

She slipped further down the straw stuffed bed and pulled the furs around her body, warming herself up. As she slipped into sleep the same thought stayed with her. I have to find out why I'm here.