Authors: Erin Hunter
Yakone padded up to him and butted him gently in the shoulder. “Come on,” he said. “We'll find a den for the night, and put some snow on those scratches.”
“You're welcome to stay with us if you want,” the old she-bear invited.
Toklo shook his head. “We're traveling to the Frozen Sea,” he explained. “Thank you, but we must go on.”
Dipping his head to the white and brown bears, he turned away. The first pawstep was the hardest, but as he got moving, it suddenly felt right to be journeying once again with friends he could trust. Lusa and Kallik walked close beside him, their fur brushing his. Toklo was comforted by his sense of his family near him.
Maybe I don't need another brown bear to make a territory next to mine. Maybe, for now, this strange family we've created is enough.
LOOK FOR
Toklo's paws churned up snow as
he hurtled across the ground, ice clogging his belly hair. He could feel his heart pounding. His breath came in hot gasps.
Glancing over his shoulder, Toklo saw Kallik on his tail. A wild light shone in her eyes as she pounded along. Yakone was racing after her shoulder, less than a snout-length behind. Forcing his aching legs to move even faster, Toklo faced forward again. A steep, rocky outcrop loomed up in front of him.
If I can only reach that â¦
he thought.
Somewhere behind him he heard Lusa stumble and let out a yelp that was quickly muffled by snow. Toklo was sure the small black bear had fallen into a drift, but he didn't stop or even look back.
Lusa will have to look after herself. I need to keep going.
One set of the thundering pawsteps behind Toklo halted, and he realized that Yakone had dropped back to help Lusa.
The rocky outcrop was just ahead. With a mighty leap, Toklo flung himself at the lowest ledge, but his paws slipped on the icy surface and he fell back, rolling over in the snow in a tangle of flailing legs.
Kallik sprinted past him and sprang onto the rock, scrambling to the summit and sending a shower of yet more snow down onto Toklo.
“I won!” she roared.
Toklo hauled himself to his paws, shaking clotted snow out of his fur. “No, you didn't,” he retorted, annoyance welling up inside him. “I got to the rock first. It's not my fault my paw slipped.”
“First to the top of the rock, that's what we said.” Kallik slid down to join him, giving him a friendly poke with her snout. “Don't be a sore loser.”
Toklo just grunted. He was angry with himself more than with Kallik.
I
should
have won! If I'd just been a bit more carefulâ¦
“Well done, Kallik!” Yakone called as he came puffing up with Lusa. “You're really fast. You too, Toklo.”
“Thanks for checking on meânot!” Lusa added.
Toklo stifled a snort of amusement as he looked at the little black bear. She was covered in snow; even her ears were filled with it. “I know how much you like falling into snowdrifts,” he said to her. “Besides, it could have been a trick to make me slow down.”
Lusa shook her head from side to side, trying to dislodge the snow from her ears. “I never had a chance of winning,” she murmured sadly. “My legs are so short.”
Seeing her beginning to shiver, Toklo padded over to her and started to lick the snow out of her ears. “Cheer up,” he comforted her. “You'd win in a tree-climbing race.”
“I'm not sure I would.” Lusa looked dejected. “I'm so out of practice. I can't remember the last time we saw a real tree!”
“True,” Kallik agreed. “There's not much of anything on this island, and it seems to just go on forever. Are you
sure
this is the right way to the sea?”
“This is the way Nanulak's family told us to go,” Toklo replied.
“And we trust them?” Yakone muttered. “After what Nanulak did?”
Yakone's words revived the pain of betrayal, as sharp as a thorn piercing Toklo's heart. He had believed that Nanulak was his friend, that he could teach and take care of the young bear just as he had taken care of Ujurak.
But all Nanulak wanted was to use me, to get revenge on his family.
The memory of Nanulak's father flashed into Toklo's mind so vividly that he almost thought that the huge white bear was looming over him. He saw blood patching the bear's white fur, and remembered the pain of his own wounds.
I could have killed him because Nanulak lied to me. How could I have been so wrong about Nanulak?
Kallik gave Toklo a gentle nudge, drawing him away from his hurtful memories. “Why don't we hunt?” she suggested. “It won't be light for much longer.” Her eyes gleamed with amusement as she added, “I won the race, so I think you should all bring food for me!”
“In your dreams!” Toklo exclaimed, relieved that she hadn't mentioned Nanulak. He gave her a harder nudge in return. “You're so fast, you should be the one chasing prey!”
Toklo took the lead again as the bears headed onward, making for the crest of a low range of hills that lay across their path. His belly was bawling with hunger, but so far there was no sign of any prey. Snow-covered slopes rolled into the distance on every side, broken occasionally by jutting rocks or a few stunted thorn trees. For days they had been heading toward the setting sun, meeting scarcely any other bears. Even traces of flat-faces were rare in this desolate landscape: only the occasional small den, or thin tower poking into the sky.
Pushing the thought of Nanulak to the back of his mind, Toklo tried to relax and enjoy the company of his friends. The race had been fun, even though he had lost. Yakone, the reddish-pelted white bear they had met on Star Island, was settling into the group. And they had directions now that would take them to a narrow stretch of sea that divided this island from the mainland. Everything was looking good.
But the parting that was soon to come nagged at Toklo's mind like a rough pieces of ice between his toes. The whole point of this journey was to reach the Melting Sea, where Kallik and Yakone would stay with the other white bears who made their homes there. The little family they had created through so many difficulties and dangers would be broken up. Soon Lusa, too, would find bears like herself and live with them among the trees that were her true home.
If only Nanulakâ¦
Toklo cut off the thought, stifling a sigh. Everything seemed to lead back to Nanulak. Once Toklo had believed that he would build a new life with the young mixed bear, living in adjoining territories so that he could teach Nanulak the ways of brown bears.
That's not going to happen now. I can't believe that treacherous bear had me fooled for so long. And suppose a bigger, stronger bear does thatâone who could beat me if it came to a fight?
Determinedly, Toklo shrugged off the worry.
No. I'll never make that mistake again.
“I can't wait to get away from all this snow!” Lusa's voice came from just behind Toklo; she was trotting along between Kallik and Yakone, and sounded quite cheerful, as if she had forgotten all about Nanulak and the problems he had caused. “I'm just longing to see real trees again, and to find some other black bears!”
“I'm sure you will,” Kallik responded. “Every pawstep is taking you closer.”
The she-bears' confidence reminded Toklo of his own blank future. Kallik had Yakone, and might even meet her brother, Taqqiq, again once they reached the Melting Sea. And Lusa was so friendly, she would find it easy to be accepted by her own kind.
But what about me?
Toklo wanted to wail like an abandoned cub, and instantly felt ashamed of himself.
You'll find a territory and live alone. That's what brown bears do.
But the prospect didn't seem as enticing as it once had.
By now the crest of the hill was only a few bearlengths away. As they approached it, Toklo heard a familiar clicking sound, though it took him a moment to remember what it was.
“Caribou!” he exclaimed.
“Oh, great!” Kallik bounded past him. Reaching the top of the hill, she glanced back and added, “A whole herd!”
Toklo quickened his pace until he stood on the ridge beside her, Lusa and Yakone hard on his paws. In front of him the ground fell away in a gentle sweep of land. The herd of caribou were wandering past about halfway down the slope, nosing into the snow to find the grass buried underneath. The clicking sound came from their feet as they moved.
Memories flashed through Toklo's mind of the first time they had seen caribou in the Last Great Wilderness, and then of the time they had driven a herd of caribou into a frantic stampede on Star Island, to trample down the flat-face oil rig that was destroying the wild and driving the spirits away.
He gave his pelt a shake in an effort to banish the recollections.
We've got more urgent things to worry about now
, he thought, gazing out across the landscape.
Beyond the caribou, the slope ended in a narrow stretch of flat, white ice. On the opposite side, mountains reared up, dark and bulky against the sky.
“That must be the crossing,” Toklo said, angling his head toward the ice. “The Melting Sea should be really close now.”
Kallik sniffed the air eagerly, then shook her head. “I can't pick up anything familiar,” she told the others. “We're still too far awayâbut this must be the right way to go.” With a sigh she added, “It was so much easier when we had Ujurak with us.”
Toklo murmured agreement, struggling once again with a pang of loss. The small brown bear had always been certain of the path they should take, even when there was nothing to guide them. Now the bears had only their own instincts to trust, and any information they could glean from other bears.
And we just have to hope we're getting it right
, he added to himself.
“If it wasn't for all this spirit-forsaken snow, we might be able to see where we're going,” he grumbled.
“At least we can see the place we have to cross,” Kallik reminded him. “Now, what about the caribou? We need to work out how to separate one from the herd and bring it down.”
Yakone stared at her, blinking in amazement. “You
hunt
caribou?” he asked. “That's no sort of food for a white bear.”
Toklo opened his jaws for an indignant retort.
If the Star Island bears had learned how to hunt caribou, they wouldn't have been starving when the seals got sick!
But Kallik spoke first, giving Yakone a gentle nudge with her snout. “It's great food,” she told him. “You'll see.”
Toklo padded along the ridge to get closer to the caribou, making sure that they were downwind of the herd. The huge beasts were meandering along slowly, grazing as they went, and obviously had no idea that there was any danger.
Peering down at the caribou through narrowed eyes, Toklo spotted a young male at the edge of the herd, limping on one forehoof. Water flooded his jaws as he anticipated the taste of caribou flesh.
“That one,” he murmured, pointing with his snout. “Kallik, you circle around and get onto its other side. Make sure they don't spot you.”
Kallik nodded and padded softly down the slope, her white pelt scarcely visible against the snowy ground.
“Yakone,” Toklo went on, “head down the slope, but keep behind the herd, in case the one we want doubles back.”
“Okay.” Yakone followed Kallik, then crouched in hiding behind a rocky outcrop.
“What about me?” Lusa asked, her eyes shining.
Toklo hesitated. Lusa was much smaller than the others and much more likely to be injured by trampling hooves. “Stay here,” he ordered at last. “If our prey breaks away upward, roar and drive it back.”
For a moment Lusa looked disappointed, as if she suspected Toklo was trying to protect her. Then she gave a brisk nod. “You got it.”
Checking that Kallik was in position, Toklo rose to his hindpaws with his forelegs splayed out and roared loudly. The echoes rolled around the hills. The caribou halted, looking up, then as one they began to race away in a thunder of hooves.
Toklo dropped to all four paws and hurtled down the slope. The limping caribou was already dropping back, unable to keep up with the rest of the herd. Seeing Toklo bearing down, it swung around and fled, its hooves skidding in the snow.
Kallik was ready. Springing up out of a shallow dip, she leaped at the caribou. It swerved wildly away, tossing its antlered head, only to meet Yakone racing toward it, his jaws wide as he roared. Trapped between three bears, the caribou let out a terrified bellow. Toklo sprang at its haunches, driving his claws through its tough hide. At the same moment Kallik barreled into it from the other side and threw it off balance.
“Grab it!” she growled at Yakone.
After a moment's hesitation, Yakone flung himself at the caribou, sank his claws into its shoulder, and pulled it to the ground.