The Burning Horizon

by Erin Hunter

  Kallik had more strength left than Lusa, and she scrambled up the vine without much trouble. But another wave struck just as she reached the top, and her claws slipped on the waterlogged surface. Toklo lunged for her, sinking his claws into both her shoulders. A horrible vision of her being carried far away from the firebeast by the receding wave flashed through his mind.

  “No!” he howled to the water. “You can’t have her!”

  Kallik’s eyes were wide with fear. “I can’t hold on!” she panted.

  Toklo kept his grip on her, but her weight was dragging at him, and he realized with a pang of pure terror that they were both in danger of plummeting into the ravenous waves. But he didn’t let go.

  At the last moment the firebeast lurched the other way and, still clinging together, Toklo and Kallik slid away from the edge until they banged against the structure where Lusa was lying.

  “Thanks, Toklo,” Kallik gasped, then tried to stagger to her paws. “We’ve got to help Yakone!”

  She scrambled to the edge of the firebeast and looked down. Joining her, Toklo saw that Yakone had already begun to climb. But he was in trouble because his injured forepaw couldn’t grip the vine tightly, and he kept slipping back down.

  “I have to go help him,” Kallik panted.

  “No!” Toklo grabbed for her, but she was out of reach.

  Before Kallik could lower herself down the vine, the firebeast tilted wildly to one side. Lusa began to slide toward the water, and Toklo lurched after her and grabbed her shoulder in his jaws. Then he and Kallik hooked their paws over the edge to stop themselves from falling backward, while the side of the firebeast where Yakone was trying to climb was suddenly almost flat.

  “Now, Yakone! Hurry!” Toklo roared.

  Paws skidding, Yakone tottered up the side of the firebeast. He reached Toklo and Kallik just in time, before the firebeast rocked back the other way. They gripped him by the shoulders and pulled him to safety.

  Yakone flopped down on top of the firebeast and choked up a huge amount of lake water. His injured paw was scarlet with blood, and there was a patch of missing fur on his flank where he had been thrown against the side and it had torn on something.

  But at least he’s alive, Toklo thought. We’re all alive. There don’t seem to be any flat-faces here, and the firebeast hasn’t tried to eat us—yet.

  Now that they were up there, being on the firebeast hardly seemed safer than being in the water. Rain and wind still lashed them, the thunder boomed around them like massive rocks thrown around the sky, and lightning ripped from one horizon to the other. The firebeast lurched and heaved, its back slick with water. Toklo and the others had to cling to whatever they could. Lusa was dazed, barely conscious, and Toklo held her scruff in his teeth, terrified that she wouldn’t be able to hold on herself. Every wave that crashed over them dragged them to the edge, threatening to sweep them back into the storm-tossed lake. Toklo was terrified that sooner or later one of them would be swept away and never seen again.

  Is this how our journey will end?

  The sky grew lighter as the short night passed, but the storm kept on, as fierce as ever. All around them was a waste of gray water. Sometimes Toklo thought he could glimpse a darker gray blur of land in the distance, but he couldn’t be sure, and even if it was land, it was too far away for them to swim.

  Then he heard another sound, a harsh screaming that seemed to come from the depths of the firebeast itself. To his horror he saw a gap suddenly zigzag across the top of the firebeast, a dark line stretching from one side to the other.

  Yakone saw it, too. “It’s breaking up!” he barked.

  Toklo briefly let go of Lusa and pulled Kallik and Yakone close, desperate for all of them to stay together. But when he reached for Lusa again, she had slid onto the other side of the slowly widening gap.

  “Lusa!” he roared.

  The black bear looked up, blinking, but she obviously had no idea what was going on. Toklo had a vision of her tossed away, lost to them, as the firebeast broke into pieces. With the screams of the dying firebeast battering his ears, he leaped across the gap and staggered through the lashing rain to Lusa’s side.

  “Get up!” he ordered her, shoving her to her paws. “You have to move. We need to be over there with Kallik and Yakone.”

  “Lusa!” yelled Kallik. “Come to us!”

  “We’ll help you!” Yakone roared.

  Numb but obedient, Lusa scrabbled across the slanting top of the firebeast. She let out a squeal of panic when she saw the gaping crack between her and her friends. Toklo gave her a boost from behind while Kallik and Yakone reached for her, gripping her with claws and teeth to help her across. Once he was sure she was safely on the other side, Toklo followed, bracing himself for a massive leap over the yawning gap. He landed well clear of the edge, colliding with Yakone as the firebeast tilted again.

  The bears clung together, overwhelmed with horror and deafened by the screeching of the firebeast as the two halves of it pulled slowly, hideously apart.

  “No!” Toklo howled.

  Water surged up to meet them, and Toklo found himself struggling to swim again. The bones of the firebeast splintered around him before scattering in all directions, tossed on the white-crested waves. Toklo looked frantically around for his friends, but they had vanished. The tumult of sky and water surrounded him, pitching him this way and that until he sank down and down, and knew nothing more.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Lusa

  Lusa opened her eyes, blinking in the sunlight. Gentle waves rippled around her, rolling pieces of wood onto the sandy shore. The storm had passed, and a weak sun shone overhead through a thin covering of cloud.

  I didn’t drown . . . Lusa thought muzzily. I can’t believe it. . . . Was it all a dream? She remembered the storm, the lashing waves, and how they clambered onto the firebeast to save themselves. Oh, spirits, then the firebeast broke up! Where are the others?

  Lusa scrambled up, every muscle in her body shrieking in protest, and coughed up several mouthfuls of water. She felt battered and too exhausted to take a single pawstep, but she knew she had to find her friends. Gazing around her, Lusa saw that the lake lay eerily peaceful, perfectly blue in the sun. It was hard to believe in the fury of the night before. The shore was littered with branches and scraps of flat-face stuff that Lusa guessed had come from the shattered firebeast. Apart from the soft waves, nothing moved as far as she could see.

  Fear swelling inside her, Lusa limped along the shore, pushing aside lumps of broken wood and sniffing through churned-up weeds from the bottom of the lake. As the moments dragged by, her search became more desperate.

  “Toklo! Kallik! Yakone!” she called desperately, but there was no answer.

  I can’t be the only one who survived . . . I can’t be!

  Then Lusa spotted what looked like a brown-and-white boulder lying on the beach at the water’s edge. As she drew closer, she realized it was Toklo and Yakone, slumped together in a heap of two-colored fur. Neither of them moved.

  “Toklo! Yakone!” Lusa shrieked, racing up to them and prodding them frantically with her snout. “Wake up!”

  Relief crashed over her as Toklo began to stir. He let out a confused grunt, then wriggled out from underneath Yakone.

  “Lusa,” he rasped. “You’re okay?”

  “I feel like a firebeast ran over me,” Lusa choked, almost overcome with emotion. “But I’m all right.”

  By this time Yakone was rousing, too. He blundered to his paws with a yelp of pain.

  “Where’s Kallik?” he barked, looking around.

  As if in answer, a faint cry sounded from farther along the beach. Lusa spun around to spot Kallik tottering toward them.

  “There she is!” Lusa shouted. “We made it—all of us!”

  As Kallik joined them, the bears pressed themselves together, nuzzling with heads and noses as if they couldn’t believe that they were all together again. Lusa couldn’t get close
enough to her friends. Even though she was bruised, exhausted, and waterlogged, she didn’t think she had ever felt happier or more relieved. She could see the same joy shining in the others’ eyes.

  “I’ve never been so scared in my life,” Kallik said quietly, stepping back to look at her friends.

  “Me either,” Toklo agreed. “And where was Ujurak when we needed him?”

  “He was there!” Kallik protested, her eyes widening. “I saw him in the shape of a fish. He pushed Lusa over to me when I couldn’t find her.”

  Lusa nodded as the memory returned, the flash of silver scales in the darkness. “I saw him, too.”

  “There was so much pain in his eyes,” Kallik added. “Pain that he couldn’t save us. It was terrible for Ujurak, too. But now it’s over.”

  “That’s not all,” Toklo added. He took a pace back to check the position of the sun. “Look where we are. We’re on the far side of the lake, right where we wanted to be.”

  “Thank the spirits!” Lusa exclaimed. “I couldn’t go through all that again.”

  A strong fishy smell surged into her nostrils. Following the scent around a rock, Lusa noticed that this part of the shoreline was strewn with fish that had been pushed into a narrow inlet and washed up in the storm. “Look at this!” she called to the others. “Food!”

  Lusa and Kallik collected some of the fish, while Toklo and Yakone scouted around and found a sheltered spot in a grassy hollow above the beach.

  There was more than enough fish for all of them, and Lusa’s belly was stuffed full for the first time in days. “Do we have to leave yet?” she asked drowsily.

  “No, we all need to rest.” Toklo gave a massive yawn. “We’ll get going again when we’re ready.”

  “If you’re sure there’s time,” Yakone said. “We don’t know how close we are to the Longest Day.”

  “Ujurak was with us in the storm,” Kallik reminded him. “He’s still helping us to reach Great Bear Lake in time.”

  “You’re right.” Yakone flopped down beside her. “Let’s sleep.”

  Lusa woke at twilight and saw Arcturus right above her, shining more brightly than any other star. Joy thrilled through her from snout to paws. We’re almost there!

  Unable to contain her excitement, she roused her sleeping companions with sharp prods in the ribs. They staggered drowsily to their paws, becoming quickly more alert as Lusa pointed up at the stars. Ujurak’s star-shape sparkled down at them, and it felt like he was reassuring them that he would be with them until the very last pawstep.

  Lusa thought again how Ujurak had helped her when she was struggling in the lake. “Thank you, Ujurak,” she whispered. “I know you’re watching over us.”

  The bears ate more of the stranded fish, then set off again, traveling through the brief night. It was never fully dark; there was a glow on the horizon the entire time, as if the sun had only just barely dipped below it. The ground had been washed clean by the rain and was squishy underpaw with little streams gurgling through it, which made for easy walking. The air was cool and clean, soothing Lusa’s aching muscles.

  As dawn approached, Lusa began to hear voices from somewhere in the distance. At first she thought she was imagining things, but when the daylight strengthened she was able to make out a group of black bears—two adults and three cubs—traveling a little way ahead.

  “Look!” she whispered. “Black bears!”

  She glanced at Toklo, who gave her a nod. “We’re nearly there, Lusa. It’s time to join the other bears.”

  Lusa hesitated, glancing uncertainly at Kallik and Yakone. Yakone gave her a friendly nod, while Kallik prodded her gently in the shoulder and said, “Go for it!”

  Breaking into a run, Lusa caught up to the group of black bears. As she galloped up, they stopped and turned toward her. Lusa didn’t recognize any of them from the gathering the suncircle before, and for a moment she was daunted by the sight of so many bears who looked just like her. They seem so small! she thought, then reminded herself that they were the same size as her, just much smaller than the companions she was used to.

  “Hi!” said Lusa.

  “Hello,” the male bear said.

  “I’m Lusa. I’m on my way to Great Bear Lake.”

  “So are we,” the male bear told her. He sounded friendly, though there was surprise in his voice as he added, “You’re not traveling alone, are you?”

  “Oh, no, I’m with my friends,” Lusa told him, pointing with her snout to where Toklo, Kallik, and Yakone were making their way toward them.

  Exclamations of shock came from the black bears, and the cubs huddled together, gazing warily at the white and brown bears.

  “Those are white bears and a grizzly,” the male bear said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Why are you traveling with them? Where did you meet?”

  “They aren’t dangerous!” Lusa retorted, annoyed by the male bear’s abrupt questions. “I came to the last Longest Day Gathering with two of them.” Dipping her head to the cubs, she added more gently, “There’s nothing to be scared of.”

  As she spoke, the cubs peeped out from behind their mother. The youngest gave an excited little bounce. “Oh, wow, you’ve been to Great Bear Lake before? That’s so cool! Tell me about it.”

  A slightly bigger male bear let out an exaggerated sigh. “Why can’t you wait till we get there?” He rolled his eyes at Lusa. “Ignore her. She’s always pestering us.”

  “Right,” said a third cub. “She never stops talking!”

  Lusa felt a moment of sympathy for the young she-cub. “Well,” she began, speaking to the little one, “there are lots and lots of bears there, black, and white, and brown, as many bears as there are trees in the forest.”

  “Really?” the little cub squeaked. “I didn’t think there were that many bears in the whole world.”

  “You’ll see them soon,” Lusa promised. Turning to the adult bears, she asked, “When you were there before, did you meet a black bear cub named Miki, or his family?”

  The adult bears shook their heads.

  “I don’t know that name,” the mother bear replied. “But like you say, there are so many bears there.”

  Lusa knew it was a long shot, but still, she felt a stab of disappointment. I don’t even know if Miki will be there this time.

  The black bears started to walk again and Lusa walked with them, while the cubs plied her with more questions about the gathering. Kallik, Yakone, and Toklo followed a few bearlengths behind. Lusa knew they wanted to give her some time alone with the other bears. As the sun rose higher in the sky, a small copse appeared on the horizon. Drawing closer, Lusa could see thick undergrowth beneath the trees, and welcoming shade from the worst of the heat.

  “We always stop here on our way to Great Bear Lake,” the male bear told Lusa. “There’s just one more sunrise of walking to get there, so this is our last chance to rest peacefully.”

  “I see berry bushes!” one of the older cubs announced. He and his brother raced for the trees, with their sister scurrying behind them.

  “You’re welcome to come eat berries with us,” the mother bear invited.

  Lusa glanced back at her friends, who were watching from a respectful distance, giving her some space. If we’re so close to our journey’s end, then I want to spend the rest of the time with them. “No, thank you,” she replied. “I’m not hungry right now. Maybe I’ll see you at the gathering!”

  “Yes, I hope so,” answered the mother bear.

  Lusa watched as the black bears disappeared into the shade of the trees, making faint grunts of pleasure as they found the berry bushes. Lusa turned and padded over to her friends. Kallik dipped her head to give Lusa a gentle lick around the ears, while Toklo nudged her shoulder. Yakone gave her a friendly nuzzle on top of her head.

  Lusa closed her eyes with a mixture of relief and sadness. This was where she belonged for now. Tomorrow they would reach the end of their journey. And I’ll arrive at Great Bear Lake with
the bears who have traveled with me from the beginning.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Kallik

  Will Taqqiq be at the lake? Kallik asked herself. Excitement built up inside her as she and her friends continued their trek, leaving the black bears behind. More trees and bushes appeared as they padded on, and now—with the sun at its highest point—every leaf and twig glistened from the recent rain.

  Kallik knew that if she and Yakone continued to Star Island, she would end up very far away from her brother. Whatever else has happened, Taqqiq and I are still bonded through Nisa. I hope I can see him one more time before I start my new life.

  Kallik was pulled from her thoughts as Toklo, who had been leading the way, stopped and looked back.

  “Let’s hunt,” he barked. “There’s a group of trees over there that looks promising.”

  Kallik saw a large clump of trees growing closely together, the ground beneath them filled with dense undergrowth. Her belly growled as she headed toward it, and her jaws started to water at the thought of prey.

  “Can I hunt with you?” Lusa asked as they drew closer to the trees.

  “Of course,” Kallik replied. She was surprised that Lusa wanted to hunt when there were berry bushes beneath the trees, red berries shining temptingly among the leaves. Then Kallik realized this might be their last hunt together before they reached Great Bear Lake.

  Of course Lusa wants to share it with us.

  The bears plunged into the copse, trying to tread silently through the clumps of ferns and bramble thickets. Kallik was the first to spot prey, a grouse squatting in the shadows of a juniper bush. She crept over to it with Lusa stalking quietly up from another direction, in case the grouse tried to break out that way. But it was Kallik who reached it first and leaped on top of the bird as it tried to fly off. She snapped its neck cleanly with one paw.

  Picking up the grouse, Kallik padded over to Toklo and laid it down at his paws. “This is for you,” she said, dipping her head solemnly, feeling the need to give him the first catch from their last shared hunt. We’ve looked out for each other for so long. . . .