by Erin Hunter
Anarteq jumped heavily onto the beach. “The first bear to find it wins the trial.”
Shila started trotting toward the cove.
Taqqiq lingered beside Kallik. “Are you coming?”
Kallik glanced at Yakone. He’d gotten to his paws and was shaking the water from his pelt. “I should talk to Yakone instead.”
“You can do that afterward,” Taqqiq urged. “Let’s find the fish first. You can think about what you’re going to say to him while you’re looking.”
Kallik hesitated.
“Come on!” Shila called. The other bears were already streaming over the rocks. Manik, Salik, and Iqaluk jostled against one another, fighting to be the first into the cove.
Kallik let her brother steer her after the others. The rocks were sharp beneath her paws, and she was relieved to jump down the other side onto a patch of soft sand. Ahead, the narrow strip of shore was covered with boulders. Pines reached to the edge, their branches sticking out over the water. White pelts glowed in the shadow of the trees as bears picked their way through the undergrowth, heads down as they sniffed for the fish.
Shila broke into a run toward the top of the beach. Taqqiq followed.
Kallik clambered over the boulders instead, following the edge of the lake. The large stones rocked beneath her paws as clear blue water lapped against them. Kallik sniffed halfheartedly. Pine scent filled her nose. She could hear Illa calling to Kissimi in the trees.
“Don’t stray far!”
“What if I smell the fish?” Kissimi called back.
“Tell me!” Illa answered.
“But the others might hear and find it first!”
As their barks faded away, Kallik picked her way along the shore until it widened. She stopped, a heavy stone tipping beneath her paws, and looked back.
Yakone was standing on the outcrop. His muzzle high, he seemed to be scanning the shoreline. Is he taking part in this trial? Kallik frowned as Yakone hurried down the rocks and began to head along the shore.
The other bears were all in the forest now. This time she could speak to him without any interruptions. Kallik walked toward him. Let Iqaluk, Salik, or Kotori find the fish. If Yakone didn’t want her to go to Star Island, he had to tell her why. She could go back to the Melting Sea with Shila and Taqqiq. She could be happy eventually. Perhaps they’d let her take care of their cubs.
“Kallik.” Yakone greeted her with a grunt.
“Be careful on the rocks,” Kallik warned, not knowing what else to say. “They move when you step on them.” As she spoke, one shifted beneath her and she stumbled.
Yakone didn’t seem to notice. “Is that why you came?” he growled. “Were you worried I couldn’t take care of myself?”
Rage sparked beneath Kallik’s pelt. “I came to talk to you! Is that okay or are you going to walk away again?” When he didn’t speak, she went on. “I hardly know who you are anymore.”
Yakone held up his paw. “I’m a lame bear! If you don’t like that, leave me alone.”
“You lost two dumb toes!” Kallik exploded.
“I lost more than that,” Yakone snarled.
“It’s always about you, isn’t it?” Kallik accused. “Your paw. Your home. Your feelings! What about me?”
“I’m doing this for you!”
“Doing what?”
“I’m saving you from a life with a crippled bear in a place among bears you hardly know.”
Kallik shook with rage. “Thanks for deciding what’s best for me!”
“Would you rather I didn’t care?” Yakone barked.
“Is this you caring?” Kallik couldn’t believe her ears. He’d let her spend two days breaking her heart over him. “I remember you when you really cared. When you lay down as bait for coyotes to save your friends. When you trekked for a moon to find Lusa. You were missing your toes then, remember? You haven’t starved since you got caught in that trap. You can still do everything! This is just an excuse.”
Yakone’s eyes glistened with pain.
Guilt stabbed Kallik’s heart. She’d hurt him. “If you don’t want me to come to Star Island, that’s fine.” Her growl thickened. “I loved traveling with you, but our journey is over now, and I understand if you don’t want to start a new life with me. It’s okay to change your mind.”
Yakone stared at her. “Is that what you think?” He sounded amazed. “That I don’t want to start a new life with you?”
“That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”
“I told you why I don’t want you to come.” Yakone lifted his paw once more. “I might be able to hunt now, but not like I used to. When we get to Star Island, I’ll be weaker than I was before. I won’t be able to take care of you.”
“I’ve been taking care of myself since I was a cub,” Kallik told him. “I don’t need you to take care of me. I want to take care of you. And I don’t understand why you won’t give me the chance. Don’t you love me anymore?”
Yakone lowered his head. “Of course I love you. I could never stop loving you.”
“Then how could you try to drive me away?”
“What if you don’t like Star Island? What if you miss your home on the Melting Sea? What if you get bored staying in one place? What if it’s not the same without Lusa and Toklo?” The questions tumbled out, his growl growing hoarser with each one.
Love flooded Kallik’s heart. It had never been about Yakone’s injured paw. He was frightened she wouldn’t be happy on the Endless Ice. “I only ever want to be with you,” she breathed. “You gave up everything to come with me. Everything we have, we have made together. I won’t ever miss my home, because my home is with you.”
Yakone stumbled forward and buried his muzzle in her neck fur. Kallik breathed in the scent of him, dizzy with emotion.
As he pressed harder against her, a stone rocked beneath his paw. The fresh smell of fish wafted around them. Stepping back, Kallik looked down. A fish gleamed beneath the boulder. “You’ve found it! You’ve found the fish!”
Her loud bark made several white heads pop out from the tree line.
Yakone grabbed the fish in his jaws and headed back toward the outcrop. Kallik hurried after him, pride warming her pelt. She clambered over the rocks after him as he crossed the shore and dropped the fish at Kunik’s paws.
Behind them, the other bears were hurrying from the cove.
“Yakone won the trial!”
“I didn’t think he was taking part,” Salik muttered.
“He must have been. He found the fish!” Shila barked.
Illa raced along the beach, scrambling to a halt beside Kallik. “Where was it?” she whispered.
“Under a rock.”
Kunik stepped forward, looking troubled. “This means we have no winner for the trials.”
Illa sniffed. “We have three winners: Taqqiq, Kallik, and Yakone.”
Malik shouldered his way to the front. “They can’t all lead the ceremony.”
“They should fight to find out who the real winner is,” barked Salik.
Taqqiq turned on him. “We come here to honor the spirits in peace!”
Murmurs of agreement rippled among the others.
“Perhaps the spirits will decide who should lead the ceremony,” Anarteq rasped.
“How will they tell us?” Salik scoffed.
Anarteq looked up at the sky. “They will find a way.”
Kallik followed the old bear’s gaze. Perhaps they’d send a message through Ujurak? As she stared into the vast blueness, she saw clouds bubbling on the horizon. The hot wind was bringing a change in the weather. Would there be a storm on the Longest Day?
She shivered. Then she remembered she’d never told Yakone about Hakan. She lowered her voice. “Hakan’s here,” she murmured. “He attacked Lusa.”
Yakone’s eyes widened. “Is she okay?”
“He didn’t manage to hurt her. I pulled him off. But he’s grieving for Chenoa. I think it was Hakan who sabotaged the brown bears’ fishing tr
ial.”
“Will Lusa be safe with him around?”
“Lusa’s friend persuaded him to join the black bear camp,” Kallik explained. “They think that with the help of his own kind, Hakan can come to terms with Chenoa’s death. I can’t imagine him attacking her again, not with so many bears around. She’ll be okay.”
“We don’t know that for sure. We should go and check on her.” Yakone headed toward the far shore. “We’ve helped Lusa get this far. We can’t abandon her now.”
Kallik hurried after him, her heart swelling with pride. This was the brave, decisive Yakone she’d traveled beside for all those moons. She noticed with a rush of joy that he wasn’t limping anymore. You’re as strong as you ever were, she thought as she fell into step beside him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Lusa
Lusa felt a paw nudge her, and sleepily, she opened her eyes.
Ossi was standing beside her nest. “Wake up! It’s not cold-earth yet.”
Bright sunshine sliced through the branches above her. She must have slept late. The breeze from the lake had picked up, but Lusa was hot. The forest was stifling. Still drowsy, Lusa heaved herself to her paws. “Has the last trial begun?” she yawned.
“It’s about to,” Ossi told her. “That’s why I woke you. I hope you don’t always sleep this late.”
Lusa’s pelt prickled. Ossi’s easy familiarity irritated her. She felt that there was something more than friendship in his tone, as though he’d decided after their talk yesterday that she was going to travel home with him after all. She stretched, feeling guilty. Perhaps she was imagining it.
“Come on.” Ossi was nudging her from her nest. “Dustu’s about to announce the start of the foraging.”
Lusa shook him off. “I want to check Chula’s leg. And Tibik. He seemed sleepy yesterday.”
“Hot weather makes everyone drowsy.” Ossi was shifting impatiently from paw to paw.
“I’ll catch up.” Lusa shooed him away with a jerk of her snout. She headed for the nest of wounded bears.
Chula was pacing around the edge, putting gentle weight on her sprained paw. “It’s much better!” she called as she saw Lusa.
Lusa chuffed with delight. “Does it hurt?”
“Just a bit.”
“Don’t walk too much,” Lusa warned.
The bushes at the edge of the clearing rustled, and Miki emerged. His pelt was wet.
“Have you been for a swim?” Lusa asked, surprised.
“I just went to cool off in the lake.” Miki sounded distant. Perhaps the hot weather was making him cranky.
“I guess it feels good to get your fur wet on a day like this,” Lusa ventured.
“Yes.” Miki nodded to her politely, then turned to Chula. “Come and soak your leg, Chula! The water’s cold enough to freeze the fish.”
Lusa bristled. Why is he being friendly with Chula and not me?
Chula glanced at her. “Do you want to come?”
Miki answered before she could. “Lusa will want to take part in the final trial.” He looked at her, his eyes betraying nothing. “Won’t you?”
“Oh, yes!” Chula exclaimed. “I’d forgotten. We’ll come see how you did later!”
Lusa watched Miki and Chula head away between the trees, feeling something sharp and heavy in her chest. Then she remembered Tibik. She hurried to his nest.
Sheena was leaning over her son. “He’s so sleepy and hot,” the she-bear fretted.
Lusa touched the sleeping cub. He did feel hot, but the weather was suffocating. All the bears probably felt hot.
“He keeps waking up and falling asleep again.” Sheena’s eyes glittered with worry.
“It’s probably all that honey he ate yesterday,” Lusa guessed. “Let him sleep it off.” She sniffed Tibik’s pelt. She smelled sourness there. The heat? She saw a dead bee caught in his pelt. Plucking it out with a paw, she tossed it away. “If only honey came without stings,” she murmured.
She pictured Chula and Miki at the lakeside. Chula would be limping though the shallows by now. Miki would be bouncing around her, splashing water over her fur.
Swallowing back irritation, Lusa headed for a shady patch in the forest where she could see the other bears gathering for the trial. “Keep an eye on him,” she called back to Sheena.
Ossi was pacing when she arrived. “I thought you were going to miss the start!”
Pokkoli was studying the slope above them, as though already picking out the best plants to forage from.
With his paw, Dustu drew two lines in the leaf litter where sunshine striped the forest floor. “When the shadow hits this line, you can begin foraging. When the shadow reaches the next line, you must stop. Collect as many leaves, grubs, berries, and insects as you can. The winner will be the bear who has collected the most variety and best quality.”
Rudi stepped forward. “Each bear should forage alone and bring what they’ve found back here.”
Lusa felt Ossi’s flank brush hers. “We might have to forage alone, but there’s no reason we can’t forage in the same part of the forest,” he whispered.
“I guess.” Lusa forced herself to sound enthusiastic. Isn’t he going to give me any space?
The bears leaned forward as the shadow slowly moved across the forest floor.
“Good luck,” Ossi whispered.
“Have fun,” Lusa reminded him. These trials weren’t about winning, they were about enjoying themselves.
“Begin!” Dustu called out as the shadow hit the first line.
Paws swished over leaves as the bears scampered into the forest.
“Which way should we go?” Ossi asked.
Lusa wanted space to think. She couldn’t get Miki out of her head. She was sure she could hear him and Chula barking happily beside the lake. Ossi gazed at her, round-eyed. She couldn’t disappoint him. They were friends, after all. “Let’s find somewhere cool.”
“This way.” Ossi led her up the slope to a cluster of mossy rocks. “There’ll be a few grubs’ nests here,” he told her.
Lusa peered past a half-rotted fallen log. She could see the glossy leaves of a cloudberry bush on the other side. “I’ll go this way,” she told Ossi.
“Okay,” he grunted. He was already digging in the soil.
Lusa clambered over the log and began to pick cloudberries from the bush. She popped one in her mouth, grunting as the juice burst on her tongue. When she’d gathered a small pile, she left them and padded toward the roots of a spruce. The earth here was soft and damp, and she didn’t have to dig far to unearth a fat worm. Working her paws deeper, she uncovered a clump of grubs. They were fat and white, as big as any she’d seen. Happily, she picked a few to take back with her and popped the rest into her mouth. She sat back on her haunches and enjoyed the musky flavor.
A foul scent touched her nose. It made her wince. Curious, Lusa got to her paws. Circling the spruce, she saw an opening in the other side. The trunk was hollow and she looked up, realizing that the needles on the branches were long dead. The stench was worse here, and, screwing up her nose, Lusa leaned in to see what was making such a smell. It was too early in the season for fungi. Her nose wrinkled when she saw a half-eaten squirrel rotting inside the hollow. Maggots wriggled over its carcass.
Lusa pulled away, feeling sick. Who’d eaten this and left the rest to rot?
Her pelt rippling with unease, she backed away from the spruce and scanned the forest. Had brown bears been hunting in the black bears’ forest? Not all of them were as friendly as Toklo. Lusa scooped up the grubs and decided to find Ossi. She could look after herself, but it would be easier if she had a friend.
She halted as she reached her pile of cloudberries. A thought sparked in her mind. The stench of the rotting squirrel had reminded her of something. Pausing, she frowned. She’d smelled sourness earlier.
Tibik!
Lusa’s heart lurched. It wasn’t the heat that made him smell sour. It was infection! How had she missed i
t?
“Ossi!” Panicked, she called through the trees.
She heard paws thump the ground. “Lusa? Are you okay?” Ossi skidded around a tree and stopped in front of her. Berry juice smeared his jaws.
“Tibik’s sick!”
“How do you know?”
“I remembered the smell.” Lusa’s pelt bristled with fear. “He’s got an infected wound.” She pelted down the slope.
Ossi raced after her. “But he didn’t have any wounds.”
“He must have one I didn’t see!” Lusa scrambled over the mossy rocks, scattering her grubs and berries behind her. Her thoughts whirled. She knew what herbs would stop infections from taking root, but what could she use to cure an infection that was already sour?
She stumbled to a halt beside Tibik’s nest. Sheena jerked around. “What’s wrong?”
“Infection!” Lusa puffed. She leaned over Tibik. Heat pulsed from his pelt. He was damp, and when she touched him, he felt as limp as dead prey. There must be a cut somewhere. She ran her paws over his fur, searching for an injury. “Has he trodden on a thorn?” she asked Sheena.
“No.” The she-bear was leaning close, stiff with fear.
Lusa checked Tibik’s pads for grazes. They were fine.
The bee sting! Didn’t Ujurak once tell her they could get infected? Lusa ran her paws over the patch of fur where she’d knocked the bee away earlier. It felt swollen and even hotter than the rest of Tibik. She pressed the fur aside and saw yellow pus straining beneath the surface. She wrinkled her nose at the foul stench. She turned to Sheena. “The bee sting is infected. Squeeze as much of this pus out as you can. I need to fetch herbs.”
Anger flashed through the fear in Sheena’s eyes. “You said he was sick from eating too much honey!” she growled. “You left him and went to the trial.”
Lusa’s belly tightened. “I know. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
Ossi peered into the nest. “How is he?”
“Sick,” Lusa told him. “Stay with Sheena while I fetch herbs.”
She raced into the trees. The usual herbs she needed to prevent infection wouldn’t be enough. They might help clean out the wound once the pus was gone, but what would help Tibik fight the infection that had found its way inside? She swerved around a clump of brambles, running half-blind as she tried to think.