Chapter 16 Summary

After meditating all night, Brun decides that, while he must impose the death sentence on Ayla, there are no Clan rules that determine the length of the death sentence. Therefore, when he sentences her to death, Brun adds that she is sentenced to death for one moon, or a month. If Ayla survives her death sentence, she will be allowed to return once again to the Clan.

After she hears her sentence and realizes that her Clansmen are not acknowledging her existence, Alya runsblindly in her grief. She finds herself at her own little cave. She ponders what it means to be dead, and marvels that she does not feel dead. She simply feels cold and hungry. Ayla is a survivor, and she instinctively begins to do what she must to stay alive. She cuts a piece of her fur wrap and uses...