Smoke Mountain
Page 1
SMOKE MOUNTAIN
Other books by Erin Hunter
SEEKERS
Book One: The Quest Begins
Book Two: Great Bear Lake
WARRIORS
Book One: Into the Wild
Book Two: Fire and Ice
Book Three: Forest of Secrets
Book Four: Rising Storm
Book Five: A Dangerous Path
Book Six: The Darkest Hour
WARRIORS: THE NEW PROPHECY
Book One: Midnight
Book Two: Moonrise
Book Three: Dawn
Book Four: Starlight
Book Five: Twilight
Book Six: Sunset
WARRIORS: POWER OF THREE
Book One: The Sight
Book Two: Dark River
Book Three: Outcast
Book Four: Eclipse
Book Five: Long Shadows
Book Six: Sunrise
WARRIORS MANGA
Book One: The Lost Warrior
Book Two: Warrior’s Refuge
Book Three: Warrior’s Return
The Rise of Scourge
Tigerstar and Sasha #1: Into the Woods
Tigerstar and Sasha #2: Escape from the Forest
Tigerstar and Sasha #3: Return to the Clans
Ravenpaw’s Path #1: Shattered Peace
WARRIORS SPECIALS
Warriors Super Edition: Firestar’s Quest
Warriors Super Edition: Bluestar’s Prophecy
Warriors Field Guide: Secrets of the Clans
Warriors: Cats of the Clans
Warriors: Code of the Clans
ERIN HUNTER
First published in Great Britain 2010
by Egmont UK Limited
239 Kensington High Street
London W8 6SA
Text copyright © 2010 Working Partners Limited
Cover photographs: Stephen J. Kazlowski/Alamy, Blickwinkel/
Alamy, Radius images/Alamy
Design: Blacksheep
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted
First e-book edition 2011
ISBN 978 1 7803 1029 9
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
www.egmont.co.uk
Table of Contents
Cover
Also By
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One: Kallik
Chapter Two: Toklo
Chapter Three: Lusa
Chapter Four: Lusa
Chapter Five: Kallik
Chapter Six: Kallik
Chapter Seven: Toklo
Chapter Eight: Kallik
Chapter Nine: Lusa
Chapter Ten: Lusa
Chapter Eleven: Toklo
Chapter Twelve: Kallik
Chapter Thirteen: Lusa
Chapter Fourteen: Toklo
Chapter Fifteen: Kallik
Chapter Sixteen: Toklo
Chapter Seventeen: Toklo
Chapter Eighteen: Lusa
Chapter Nineteen: Lusa
Chapter Twenty: Toklo
Chapter Twenty-One: Kallik
Chapter Twenty-Two: Lusa
Chapter Twenty-Three: Kallik
Chapter Twenty-Four: Lusa
Chapter Twenty-Five: Toklo
Chapter Twenty-Six: Kallik
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Toklo
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Lusa
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Kallik
About the Author
With special thanks to Tui Sutherland
The Bears’ Journey: Bear View
The Bears’ Journey: Human View
CHAPTER ONE:
Kallik
Asoft breeze ruffled Kallik’s fur, bringing with it the scents of fresh water and strange bears, as she climbed the rocky slope behind Toklo and Ujurak. Scrubby tufts of grass poked through cracks in the boulders, and tiny pebbles rolled under her paws. A faint orange glow lit up the edge of the sky; the night was already ending, although it felt as if they’d been walking for only a short time.
Kallik turned to look for her brother, Taqqiq. He was shambling along several steps behind her, batting small rocks down the hill with a ferocious paw swipe every few paces. He didn’t look thrilled to be on this journey with the brown bears. Kallik wondered what he was thinking. Once, long ago, she used to be able to tell just by looking at him. Now, after so many moons apart, he looked like a stranger.
Beyond him, far below the ridge they were climbing, she could see the vast blue shimmer of Great Bear Lake reflecting the rising sun. She spotted several shapes moving on the lakeshore. Bears were steadily leaving the Longest Day Gathering, heading back to their homes in forests, on mountains, and on the vast stretches of ice that would return now that the sun had given up its hold over the sky. There were so many bears that Kallik’s keen nose could smell them all the way up here – the mingled scents of damp fur and muddy cubs. All the white bears she’d met were going back to the Melting Sea, where Kallik and Taqqiq had been born . . . where their mother, Nisa, had died. From her high position she could see that most of the bears were staying away from one another, deliberately picking out separate paths so they could travel alone.
Not Kallik. She wasn’t alone any more.
A cold black nose nudged her left side, and Kallik swivelled her head around to look down at the tiny black bear cub beside her.
‘It’s strange to be leaving them all behind, isn’t it?’ Lusa said in a hushed voice, matching her tone to the quiet predawn stillness around them. Her eyes were huge in the pale light. ‘I hope they all make it back to their homes.’ There was a wistful note to her voice as the little black bear watched every other black bear set off in the opposite direction. She shook herself. ‘But I’m glad you’re here, Kallik. It feels right having you with us.’
‘Me and Taqqiq,’ Kallik prompted.
Lusa glanced back at the other big white bear. Kallik followed her gaze and saw that her brother had a tendril of moss hooked around one claw. He was twitching his paw angrily, trying to get rid of it. His teeth were bared and he muttered something under his breath.
‘Yeah, you and Taqqiq,’ Lusa said, but Kallik could hear the drop in enthusiasm in her new friend’s voice. She decided to change the subject. Hopefully Taqqiq would start acting like her brother again soon, like the cheerful, playful cub he had been when they lived on the ice with Nisa, and then the others would feel friendlier towards him.
‘I can’t believe the sun is coming up already,’ Kallik said, tilting her head towards the horizon at their flanks. She and Lusa had started walking again, padding over the cold grey stone to catch up with Toklo and Ujurak. ‘I thought that after the Longest Day the nights would be longer. We’ve barely had any time to follow the Pathway Star.’
‘We’ll still be able to see it for a while,’ Lusa said, raising her nose to the sky where the bright star glittered. ‘And we have Ujurak. He knows where we’re going.’
Kallik blinked, remembering the endless scorching days she had spent travelling to Great Bear Lake, never knowing where she would end up. ‘It’s nice to have someone to follow for once,’ she commented quietly. ‘I’ve been lost for so long.’ She looked up and saw that the two brown bears up ahead had stopped to drink from a small stream that trickled between the rocks. The rising sun tinged their fur a golden colour.
‘But you did what you were trying to do,’ Lusa reminded her as th
ey quickened their pace, both of them thirsty after the night’s walking. ‘You found your brother.’
‘Yes, I did,’ Kallik said. Although that didn’t go quite the way I expected it to.
Toklo swung his shaggy head around to watch them scramble across the rocks towards him. His brown eyes were expressionless, as if he didn’t care if they made it or not. Kallik wished she knew how she could make him like her. Maybe if she proved that she could be useful . . . or if Toklo realised that Taqqiq was not as bad as he thought.
The stream bubbled icy and cold against Kallik’s paws. She wished it were deeper so she could lie down in it and cool off.
‘Brrrrr!’ Lusa huffed as she dabbed her paw in the water. She lapped up a few drops, her long pink tongue flicking in and out. ‘It’s freezing!’
‘It’s perfect,’ Kallik said. She buried her nose in the water and then shook her head as Taqqiq caught up with her, spraying him with icy droplets. ‘Taqqiq, it feels like snow, doesn’t it?’
‘Not really,’ Taqqiq growled. ‘You told me we were going to find real snow. How do we even know there will be snow in this direction? At least back at the Melting Sea we know there was snow, once.’
‘It’ll snow again here some time,’ Ujurak said. He looked up at the cloudless pink-and-grey sky. ‘I mean, maybe not soon. But I know it will, once fishleap is over.’
‘Fishleap?’ Taqqiq curled his lip. ‘What is that?’
‘Black bears call it leaftime,’ Lusa jumped in. ‘When the days are long and hot.’
‘Oh – they mean burn-sky,’ Kallik said to Taqqiq. ‘We just have to wait for snow-sky to return.’
‘If it returns,’ Taqqiq muttered. He raked his claws across the bare rocks with a harsh grating sound. Kallik winced.
‘Why don’t we just keep going?’ Toklo suggested, and Kallik could hear the forced patience in his voice. ‘Lusa, there’s a tree up ahead. Maybe you could climb it and tell us what’s in front of us.’ He jerked his head at a tall, scraggly tree that stood on its own among the rocks. The rocky slope of the hill kept going up beyond it, covered in patches of yellow grass and a few leafy green bushes.
‘Sure!’ Lusa agreed. She bounded across the stream and trotted over to the tree. Her paws flashed as she leaped on to the trunk. In a few moments, she was racing up through the branches.
‘Wow,’ Kallik said. ‘She climbs fast!’
‘Doesn’t she?’ Toklo said, giving Taqqiq a faintly smug look.
Taqqiq snorted. ‘I suppose black bears have to be good at something – they’re useless otherwise.’
Kallik could see the fur rising on Toklo’s shoulders. ‘Taqqiq,’ she said quickly, ‘do you smell any prey? It would be great to eat before we move on.’
Her brother sniffed the air. His eyes narrowed. ‘Maybe . . .’ He began pacing up the stream towards a clump of bushes.
‘Toklo,’ Ujurak said in a low voice, ‘I could have changed into a bird and scouted ahead for us.’
‘I know,’ Toklo said, glancing at Kallik. ‘But I thought Lusa would like to be useful.’ Kallik saw his eyes go to Taqqiq, and she realised that the real reason was that Toklo didn’t want her brother to know that Ujurak could change shape . . . at least, not yet. She sighed. There wasn’t anything she could say; Taqqiq hadn’t exactly given them a reason to trust him, not after he and his friends had stolen a black bear cub at the Longest Day Gathering. It would take time, that was all – that and for Taqqiq to stop being so difficult.
Toklo splashed across the stream and headed for Lusa’s tree, with Ujurak a few pawsteps behind him. Kallik let the water bubble around her paws for a few more moments before she waded out on to the rocks. She took a deep breath and noticed a faint scent on the air. Prey!
Dropping into a crouch, she crept forward on silent paws, her nose twitching. There was a dip in the rocks downstream surrounded by tall, dry grass. Something could be hiding in that grass . . . something edible.
If I could catch some prey for us, wouldn’t Toklo be pleased! Kallik held her breath, trying to edge forward without scraping her claws against the rocks. Her stomach growled and scratchy thistles tickled her belly fur. For a moment it seemed like the world went still, just as out on the ice when Nisa had waited for seals to pop out of their breathing holes.
Kallik inhaled again, and this time she recognised the scent: it was a bird, the kind that built their nests on the ground. Now she could see the flutter of brown feathers behind the tall grass. It hadn’t noticed her yet. She crept forward another pawstep.
Suddenly she felt vibrations in the rocks under her paws. With a bellow, Taqqiq shot past her and threw himself at the patch of grass. His mouth was open and his claws outstretched. There was an explosion of squawks, and the bird burst out of the grass, scattering feathers in all directions. With an outraged shriek, the bird shot away into the sky. In despair, Kallik watched it flapping away into the distance. It was plump and young-looking, and would have made the best meal she’d had in a while. Now she was even hungrier.
‘Stupid birds,’ Taqqiq said. He shook himself and backed out of the tall grass. ‘Salik was really good at catching those.’
Good at catching birds and harmless black bears, you mean, Kallik thought bitterly. She blamed Taqqiq’s friend Salik for turning her brother into this unfriendly, arrogant monster. Salik had acted like he was the leader of a group of young white bears who had insulted every bear at the gathering and tried to provoke war against the black bears. They had been nothing but trouble, and Kallik had been horrified when she realised one of them was her brother, whom she had been looking for ever since their mother was killed by orcas, out on the ice.
Taqqiq sat down in the grass and began scratching an itch behind his ears. Kallik turned away and saw Toklo watching them from under the tree. He must have seen the bird escape. She padded up to him. ‘Sorry,’ she whispered.
Toklo pawed at the tree roots. ‘It’s all right,’ he said gruffly.
Lusa scrambled down from the upper branches and dropped to the ground beside them. ‘It looks like this hill keeps going up to a ridge pretty far ahead of us. I think I saw trees off to the left. And I saw lots of bears leaving the lake behind us. There’s a white bear several bearlengths to our right, going kind of in the same direction as us, but heading that way.’ She pointed with her nose to where the stream came from, between two large boulders higher up the hill to their right.
‘A white bear?’ Kallik said uneasily. Had one of Taqqiq’s friends decided to follow them?
‘Not one I recognised,’ Lusa told her, and Kallik knew she was thinking of Salik too. ‘I think it was a female. There was a cub with her.’
‘Well, we don’t want to run into them,’ Toklo said. ‘We can’t afford to share any prey in this area. We should stay away from other bears if we can.’
It’s going to be hard enough to feed five of us travelling together, Kallik thought. Especially if Taqqiq and I are such useless hunters. She was grateful that Toklo didn’t say so out loud, but she was afraid he was thinking the same thing.
‘We keep going up,’ Ujurak said, pacing around the tree. Taqqiq gave him a suspicious look, his massive shoulders hunched. But as the small brown bear scrambled over the rocks, Taqqiq followed him. Ujurak glanced back when he heard the white bear’s claws clicking against the boulders. His gaze was questioning, as if he wasn’t sure why Taqqiq was there.
Kallik dropped back to walk beside Lusa again. It was strange how she felt so much more comfortable with this little black bear than with her own brother.
‘I’m sure Taqqiq just needs time to get used to us,’ she blurted out after they’d walked for a moment in silence. A bird trilled from somewhere nearby, as if mocking them for losing their prey earlier.
Lusa looked surprised. ‘Well, yes,’ she said. ‘I mean, he’s been travelling with those . . . other bears for so long. He probably misses them.’
Kallik stepped over a tuft of sharp-looking grass. ‘How could he
miss those awful bears?’ she said. ‘You all are much nicer.’
‘I bet Toklo would be surprised to hear you call him nice,’ Lusa barked with amusement. ‘But he really is, deep down.’
‘So is Taqqiq,’ Kallik insisted. Lusa dipped her head, not arguing. But as they kept going up the slope, feeling the sun warm the cold rocks under their paws, Kallik wondered. Was it too late for Taqqiq? Had it been a good idea to make him come with them? Or had he changed too much to be the brother she had known on the ice?
CHAPTER TWO:
Toklo
Toklo was glad to be travelling once more, away from Great Bear Lake and the gathering of bears. He had felt trapped on the lakeshore, with too many bears telling him how to act and what he had to believe in. The only time he had felt free and strong was when he had swum to Paw Print Island, to prove to the Great Bear in the sky that brown bears deserved to have fish in the rivers and territories of their own. He had fought Shoteka there, and won. He was equal to any brown bear; he had nothing more to prove.
The sun rose higher in the sky as they climbed the rocky ridge. They hadn’t passed a tree since the one Lusa had climbed; nor had they seen any more streams. There was no shade up here, and the plants were dry and withered. But it felt good to be with his companions again. It even felt good to be following the strange brown cub, Ujurak.
‘I don’t think he knows where he’s going,’ Taqqiq muttered.
Toklo shot a sideways glance at Taqqiq. The white bear’s shoulders rolled as he paced forward, his eyes narrowed against the bright sun.
‘Yes, he does,’ Toklo corrected him. This was one companion he could happily have left behind at the lake, he thought.
Lusa let out a little sigh, and Kallik looked anxiously at Toklo.
At least Kallik wasn’t so bad. She had walked all night without a single complaint, though her paws had turned brown with dirt and her fur was matted and dusty. Toklo thought his pelt was equally stained, but it didn’t show as much against his russet-brown coat.
Lusa padded beside Kallik as if they’d known each other since their BirthDens. They had been chattering nonstop since leaving Great Bear Lake, as far as Toklo could tell. There had been a lot more peace and quiet when it was just Toklo and Ujurak travelling together.