'There she goes, striding down the hillside without a care in the world!  That's right dear, pull your bearskin cloak tighter around your skinny shoulders.  We wouldn't want you to catch cold now.'

'Tikko, why do you tease Lera so much?  You were such good friends up to a couple of seasons ago.'

'Me, tease?  I just told her to take care of herself!'

'You know what I mean.  You never invite her to your fireside, or invite her son to play with yours.  You never have a kind word for her.  You don't even go hunting with her any more.'

Tikko looked around to make sure none of the clan was within hearing distance, then took my arm and drew me towards the stream, where we crouched and began searching for the little fish that our men could use for bait to catch something for our evening meal.

'Look Fye,' she began, 'You are more observant than the rest.  Surely you must have noticed that she has been very successful in her hunting lately?'

'Yes,' I replied, excitedly.  'We have been eating very well, thanks to Lera and her son.  Her aim with the bow and the arrows has improved recently, and I have seen her practising with Gom's spear, so she may soon be able to go hunt larger animals, then we shall have some feasting!'

'She's been stealing my meat,' said Tikko abruptly.

'Why do you think that?'  I asked, giving her a puzzled look.

'I know it,' she said.  'She gets her precious son to run to the prey before we can get there, and he takes the grass ties from my arrows and places her sign on them.  She has turned into the worst neighbour I have ever known.'

'But why would she do that?' I asked.  'What would they have to gain?  The meat is shared among us equally, no matter who kills the animals.  You must be wrong.'

Tikko shook her head, her dark hair flying.

'It gains value for her in the eyes of Gom,' she said.  'If he sees what a good hunter she is, he will take her for his mate.  I was the clan's best hunter, so if she can claim my kill, then he will think I am becoming too old to hunt, and make me stay in the caves with the old people and the babies.'

'Well, in another two or three seasons you would have to do that anyway.'  I wanted to tell her that she was imagining things, but was reluctant to say so.  After all, we had been close neighbours since I had joined the group, when Ubo had taken me for his mate.  An unfortunate encounter with an angry bear had widowed me soon after that, and I had chosen to hunt for the clan to help raise our son Dob.

'I have a lot of years as a hunter in me,' she hissed.  'I am not a nursemaid.  Something has to be done about it.'

'Why not change your markings from grass ties to something that can't be altered, like a certain scratch on the arrow?'

'Those markings were awarded to me when I made my first kill, and you know they can only be altered in special circumstances.  It would take too long for the council of elders to decide whether I can change my arrows.  I might never convince them that I have good reason, as they won't believe Lera is cheating.  No, I can't wait.  I must do something now!'

She hunched there for a while, absentmindedly trailing her hand in the water, then announced determinedly, 'I know what I must do.  On the next hunt, I will arrange to accidentally shoot her son, using an arrow with her markings on it.  With him out of the way, she cannot steal my meat, and who knows, if they think she killed her own son, they may banish her from the caves.'

I listened, appalled, to her plan.  And she called Lera a bad neighbour!  I began to tremble for the safety of my own son.  What if her deranged mind fastened on him as a target for her accusations? 

I silently wailed at having Tikko as a close neighbour, and vowed that I would no longer take Dob out on the hunt with me, because after noticing what Lera and her son had been doing, I had made Dob change the markings on Tikko's arrow, only once, so that the big fat buck was credited to my skill.

After all, Lera wasn't the only woman around who wanted Gom to take her for a mate!