wait until a more decent hour Besides I had just had another one of my bad nights Ever since I’d helped rid our clan’s territory of saber-toothed tigers last month I’d been having terrible nightmares Animals of every kind would chase me and try to eat me alive Crag’s shouts had woken me from a dream of being pursued by some very angry squirrels Last night it had been crazed dodo birds I would usually wake up in a cold sweat and my parents would ask what was wrong But I was always too embarrassed to admit it I wanted them to keep thinking of me as a hero and I was pretty sure heroes weren’t afraid of anything Especially death by dodo Lug repeated Crazy Crag as he entered our cave I closed my eyes and kept perfectly still Crag would usually shout for a while before giving up and heading home Asleep huh he muttered Okay what about your father Big Lug you up I peeked out from under my blanket as he walked right up to my snoring dad who was also the Big Man of our clan the Macrauchenia Riders 2
Hey Big Lug bellowed Crag stomping the snow off his hide boots Come see this Whaaaaaat Dad yawned rubbing his eyes and big bald head Out there said Crag pointing outside with an antelope horn His bright blue eyes gleamed in the dawn light and I watched his big bushy mustache twitch like a nervous squirrel’s tail Bonehead’s gang come to steal another macrauchenia asked Dad sitting up and starting to warm his hands over the fire pit Bonehead was a huge nasty bully who along with his sidekick Bugeyes had been known to swipe a jungle llama or two from the already dwindling herd in our clan’s stable cave Just before the final saber-toothed-tiger attack Bonehead Bugeyes and their parents left our clan and became outlaws It’s not Bonehead screeched Crag Come up the mountain and see for yourself Dad glanced at my mother and sister now looking up grumpily from their sleeping slabs Sorry Crag he murmured placing a few thin slices of llama meat on a fire-pit stone I once forgot 3
to make breakfast and it was not pretty Hey Lug piped up my sister maybe you should go Windy was two years older than me and never missed an opportunity to boss me around I can’t I muttered I have to work on a big cave painting for Echo’s birthday You know what I think said Windy I think you’re afraid of going with Crag No I’m not My dad beamed at me full of pride Don’t be silly Windy he said ruffling my hair Your brother here defeated a pride of saber-tooths And Lug’s very busy my mother Lugga chimed in You have to remember that he’s now our clan’s Minister of Art and Culture Whatever muttered my sister rolling her eyes He created that title for himself She was right I had come up with that position last month after the Clan Council had asked me what I wanted I figured that particular title would pretty much let me cave paint all day Crag narrowed his eyes at me Are you coming up the mountain or not 4
Suddenly I felt something small and furry land on my shoulder I jumped up and shrieked like a baby Hey hey It’s just Lumpkin chuckled my dad What’s the matter Nothing nothing I said trying to shake off our pet cave cat Just a little surprised But the embarrassing truth was that ever since my nightmares had begun I had secretly been avoiding animals Even little Lumpkin freaked me out Hey Stony I called out in relief as my sleepy friend lumbered into the cave How’s uh the new practice field coming along Stony sat down by the fire pit and beamed a big bucktoothed smile at me He had never spoken a word in his life but an arch of his bushy unibrow could say a lot It now twitched like a black cat’s tail as he sniffed the sizzling meat I glanced nervously at Froggy the pet frog sitting on his shoulder but said nothing After Stony had helped Echo and me defeat the saber-toothed tigers he had also chosen a position 5
