by Erin Hunter
“Go on!” Kallik growled, shoving him from behind. “They haven’t got firesticks.”
Encouraged, Toklo reared up on his hindpaws and let out an enormous roar. The flat-faces scattered.
We can’t stay among these firebeasts forever, Toklo thought, hurtling onward. The flat-faces with firesticks will be here soon.
He darted toward the empty space at the end of a row. The mountain slope stretched out ahead of him, white and empty, with nowhere to hide.
Yakone thrust his way forward and paused beside Toklo, gazing out, his eyes narrowed in concentration.
“There’s nothing out there!” Toklo hissed. “They’ll catch us easily!”
On his other side, Lusa was gazing up at the sky, and Toklo knew she was searching for Ujurak. Unless he turns us into flat-faces or snowflakes, Toklo thought, he can’t help us.
Without warning, Yakone leaped out into the open space and began racing up the slope. “Follow me!” he ordered.
Toklo hesitated.
“Go on!” Kallik urged. “Trust him!”
Lusa nodded. “I’d rather die trying to escape than just give up.” Her voice was grim, and for a moment her eyes looked old and wise.
Toklo nodded. “You’re right. We can’t stand here and do nothing.”
Though he thought that his fear might choke him, he pelted out into the open after Yakone. Kallik and Lusa bounded alongside him, and Toklo suddenly remembered their carefree race of a few days before.
It’s not so fun this time!
They were beginning to catch up with Yakone when Lusa missed her footing in the snow and rolled over, her legs flailing. Instantly Toklo veered aside to help her stand, thrusting her upright again with his shoulder.
“Thanks!” Lusa gasped. “I’m sorry, I just can’t deal with this stupid snow!”
Toklo nodded, watching Lusa as she tried to scrape off the soft snow that was clogging her belly hair. Her legs were too short to keep her clear of it; the climb was far harder for her than the rest of them.
He used the moment’s delay to look back. More flat-faces had appeared around the firebeasts. He heard a shot exploding from a firestick.
“Go!” he growled at Lusa, giving her a hard shove up the slope as he began to run again.
Then, as he scanned the mountainside ahead of him, he blinked in confusion. Kallik and Yakone had disappeared.
What’s happened to them? he wondered. Have they been shot? Are they injured?
“Kallik! Yakone!” he roared, looking around frantically. But the snow-covered slope was empty. There was no sign of his friends; the line of their pawsteps simply stopped, and the snow beyond was unmarked.
“Toklo! Over here!”
Toklo stiffened as he heard Yakone’s voice, coming faintly from somewhere ahead.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“See that bump in front of you? We’re behind that. We’ve dug down into a drift.”
“Hurry up and join us,” Kallik added. “Jump as far as you can so that you don’t leave a trail of pawprints.”
Toklo was impressed. He got behind Lusa. “I’m going to give you a boost,” he added aloud. “Ready?”
Lusa nodded. Toklo worked his shoulders underneath her and thrust upward, hurling her over the bump. A deep trough of soft snow swallowed her up.
Toklo followed her, landing on the powdery surface and sinking deep, deep down, until his ears and nose and mouth filled up with the white stuff.
Kallik’s head suddenly appeared beside him. “Dig down!” she hissed. “It’s our only chance!”
Toklo braced himself as if he were about to jump into a river. “Okay, this is it,” he whispered as he started to dig.
CHAPTER FIVE
Lusa
Lusa crouched in the snow, hardly daring to breathe. She knew that it was only a matter of time before the flat-faces discovered them.
“Yakone saw the bump in the hill,” Kallik, beside her, murmured into her ear. “He felt the direction of the wind, and guessed that the best chance of a drift deep enough to hide us would be over here.”
In spite of her fear, Lusa was full of admiration for Yakone. “He was right. He knows so much about snow!” she whispered. But will it work? she asked herself. Is this hiding place good enough?
There was nothing to do but wait. Lusa was so cold that she had to clench her teeth together to stop them from chattering.
“Right now I’d rather be in the belly of the firebeast,” she muttered to herself. “I hated it in there, but at least it didn’t freeze the blood in my veins, and I had air to breathe.” She heaved a sigh. “Maybe we should have stayed there until the firebeast woke up and carried us away. We could be far, far away by now, safe from these angry flat-faces with sticks on their hindpaws.”
“Hush!” Toklo hissed. “The flat-faces will hear you.”
Lusa burrowed deeper into the snow. I wonder how snow-hares manage to live down here without freezing to death.
She could feel the thud of flat-faces approaching, their pawsteps vibrating through the snow, and hear the hiss of their pawsticks on the surface. They weren’t yowling anymore, but walking quietly, murmuring to one another. Lusa could smell their fear, and guessed that they had been scared by Toklo’s show of strength earlier.
But not scared enough to stop chasing us. Please just leave us alone! she thought desperately.
As Lusa tried to breathe, snow got up her nose, and she had to sneeze. The itching got worse with every moment that passed, until she couldn’t bear it any longer.
I have to breathe! she thought.
To her relief, she could hear the flat-faces scrambling away, and the sound of their voices grew fainter.
Lusa exploded out of the snow, sneezing and spitting out the lump of cold stuff that had almost choked her.
The others loomed up around her, rising out of the drift like snow that had come to life. Lusa’s legs felt numb with cold, and stiff from keeping still for so long. She could barely move, and she saw that her friends were having the same trouble.
We should be running while we have the chance, she thought. The flat-faces could come back at any moment.
But she felt so tired and cold, she didn’t think she could ever run again.
“This is no good,” Yakone muttered at last, flexing his legs. “We’ll be caught for sure if we stay here.”
“Do you think we don’t know that?” Toklo snapped back at him.
“Then let’s go,” Yakone urged. “We’re strong, we can do this. You know we can.”
“I’m not sure anymore.” Kallik sounded exhausted. “Just give us a bit more time.”
“That’s time we might not have,” Yakone responded, looking down the slope to where the flat-faces were gathering.
Lusa followed his gaze. So far none of the flat-faces seemed to have spotted them, but she was uncomfortable about how her pelt and Toklo’s would stand out against the snow.
“We have to move,” Yakone repeated, his voice rougher now. “Kallik, come on. Toklo, you’re not telling me that a brown bear is giving up?”
Toklo let out a low growl from deep in his throat. “I never give up, fish-breath!”
“Then move, now!” Yakone snarled. “All of you, move!”
First Kallik, then Toklo, began stumbling up the slope away from the drift where they had taken refuge. Lusa struggled after them, aware that Yakone was padding by her side, his fur brushing hers.
At first their progress was slow on frozen paws, but gradually they managed to pick up speed. As they climbed higher the ground grew steeper; sometimes the coating of snow was thin, just enough to hide the sharp rocks below. Almost with every pawstep Lusa would stub her paws on hidden boulders, or topple into drifts left in hidden hollows. Every time, Yakone was there, tirelessly hauling her out and shoving her upward. Lusa flashed him a look of gratitude, but she had no breath to speak, or do anything except force her paws to keep moving.
At last Lusa heaved her
self up to a narrow ledge where Toklo and Kallik were waiting for her to catch up. Her throat seemed to burn as she gulped in air. Dizzy with hunger and fear, she didn’t think she could take another pawstep.
“Please,” she gasped. “I’ve got to rest for a bit.”
Kallik gave her shoulder a comforting nuzzle. “I know. I’m just as scared and exhausted as you are, but we have to keep going.”
Lusa nodded, glad that she wasn’t alone. Somehow she managed to find the strength to keep going, farther and farther up the mountain, until the sun sank below the horizon and twilight gathered on the slopes.
Halting briefly, they looked back down the mountain to see lights appearing, illuminating the rows of firebeasts. Shouts drifted up from the flat-faces as they climbed into the firebeasts’ bellies. The firebeasts woke up, their glaring eyes angling across the snow, and grumbled away, out of sight.
Lusa breathed a sigh of relief that she was up here in the open air instead of trapped in the shiny belly of the firebeast, no matter what she had thought earlier. “Are we safe?” she whispered.
“I think so,” Kallik responded.
“But we can’t rest yet,” Yakone warned them. “The no-claws might be back tomorrow. We need to get right away from here.”
For once Toklo didn’t argue, just turned his face to the upward slope and began scrambling up to the next ledge.
Full darkness fell and the moon appeared. The bears kept climbing, hauling themselves from one rocky outcrop to the next. As the stars began to appear, Lusa looked for Ujurak’s constellation, but she was too dizzy and tired to make out his shape.
If he’s watching, I hope he’s proud of us for escaping, she thought.
Lusa thought that her paws were about to drop off by the time Toklo halted. “We have to stop and rest,” he announced. “It’s too dark to see properly, and the mountain is getting steeper. We could fall off at any moment.”
None of them, even Yakone, tried to argue.
“We’ll hunt when dawn comes,” Toklo added, limping toward a sheltered spot behind a huge boulder.
The others huddled down beside him. Lusa was shivering with cold, and her belly rumbled with hunger, but she was comforted by the thought that at least they were safe.
But what will happen after the Melting Sea? she wondered. Will Toklo and I be able to survive together, without the others? Are two bears easier to catch than four?
CHAPTER SIX
Kallik
A paw jabbing into her side woke Kallik. It was still night, but in the moonlight she could make out Yakone lying beside her. He was striking out with his paws and muttering disjointedly; Kallik leaned closer to make out what he was saying.
“Spirit-cursed no-claws! They’re chasing us … they’ll catch us! Nowhere to hide …”
Kallik rested her paw on Yakone’s shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. “Wake up, Yakone! It’s okay. The no-claws are gone.”
Yakone’s eyes blinked open. “Wha’?” he gulped.
“We’re safe now,” Kallik told him. “You saved us, with that great idea of hiding in the snowdrift.”
Yakone grunted and rose to his paws, shaking the loose snow from his pelt. Padding around the side of the boulder where they had been sleeping, he gazed down into the valley. A few no-claw lights still showed there, glittering in the darkness like stars that had fallen to the ground.
“I won’t feel safe until we’re well away from here,” he growled, anger in his voice. “This place is full of no-claws who want to hurt us. What have we ever done to them? They should show us more respect.”
“It was scary,” Kallik agreed, “but it’s over now. We’ll soon leave those no-claws way behind.”
“I can’t wait to get to the Melting Sea,” Yakone responded. “Then maybe we can get on with our lives in peace.”
Kallik realized with dismay that he was assuming there would be no no-claws near the Melting Sea. Yakone had lived all his life until now on Star Island, where there weren’t many no-claws, and those who were there left the white bears alone. He had probably never imagined there could be so many no-claws in the world.
“There are still some no-claws near the Melting Sea,” she began, not quite sure how much to tell Yakone. She didn’t want to tell him about the huge denning areas, swarming with no-claws and their firebeasts. She remembered how the no-claws had captured her and taken her to a huge den made of white stone, and how she had been carried in a metal bird that fell out of the sky in a storm of flame. Her belly churned as she pictured Nanuk, the she-bear who had taken care of her, dying among the wreckage of twisted metal.
What if we’re captured again?
Guilt washed over Kallik like a cold wave as she wondered whether she had done the right thing by bringing Yakone with her. On Star Island he had food, family, and safety. I can’t promise him any of those things.
“Hi.” Toklo’s voice came from behind Kallik; she turned to see the brown bear lumbering out from behind the boulder. “I couldn’t sleep either.” Standing beside Yakone and gazing down the mountainside, he added, “I’d forgotten what it was like to travel through places with so many flat-faces. Maybe we should travel by night instead.”
“That’s a great idea!” Kallik told him. “Should we go now?”
“Let’s,” Yakone agreed. “Then we’ll get to the Melting Sea even faster.”
But reaching the Melting Sea wasn’t the first thing on Kallik’s mind. Her paws just itched to be moving, to give them all something to do. There’s no point in just standing here worrying.
“I’ll wake Lusa,” she said.
Padding back behind the boulder, she found the black bear curled up in the snow with her paws over her nose. It took a long time to prod her awake.
“What’s the matter?” Lusa asked, puzzled. “Are the flat-faces coming after us again?”
“No,” Kallik replied. “We just think it’s best to get away from here as quickly as we can.”
“Okay.” Lusa’s jaws stretched in a huge yawn, and she scooped up a pawful of snow to rub over her face.
Kallik realized Lusa must still be tired from the frantic chase the day before, but the black bear said nothing more and looked cheerful enough as she padded behind Toklo when they set out up the mountain.
A chilly wind was blowing as Kallik and her friends climbed higher, flattening their fur to their sides and whirling loose snow from the surface into their faces. The moon shone out fitfully as the wind drove the clouds across the sky. The changing light and shadow made it hard for Kallik to know where it was safe to put her paws, and she could see the others were having the same trouble.
Lusa slipped sideways into a drift and floundered about helplessly until Yakone leaned over, gripped her scruff in his teeth as if she was a cub, and hauled her out.
“Thanks!” Lusa gasped.
“You can ride on my shoulders if you like,” Yakone offered.
“No!” Lusa sounded indignant. “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, okay.” There was an edge to Yakone’s tone, and Kallik wondered if Lusa had offended him. “Tell me if you change your mind.”
“I’m starving,” Toklo complained when they had trudged on a few more bearlengths. “Kallik, do you know if there’s anything to eat up here?”
“How would I know?” Kallik retorted. “I’ve never been this way before. I—”
She broke off with a squeal of alarm as the ground gave way beneath her paws. She had lost concentration for a couple of heartbeats, and now she was sliding downward in a flurry of snow. A moment later she hit the ground with a thump that jarred every bone in her body.
Kallik gasped to catch her breath and shook the snow out of her ears. Glancing around, she realized she had fallen into a narrow crevice. On both sides and in front of her, sheer stone walls stretched up above her head. Looking up, she could just make out Yakone’s pale head as he peered down at her; Lusa and Toklo were dark shapes by his side.
“Help me! Get me o
ut!” Kallik shouted.
Icy fear was creeping through her as she realized that she would never be able to climb the rock face. There was nowhere on the surface for her claws to grip, and the crevice was so narrow that she was almost wedged between the walls.
“Kallik, are you hurt?” Lusa called down to her.
“No,” Kallik replied. “But I’m stuck down here. I can’t get out!”
“Kallik, don’t panic.” Yakone’s voice sounded strong and calm. “Behind you there’s a slope leading up to the top. If you can’t turn around, you’ll have to back up.”
Relief made Kallik’s legs shake for a moment, but she forced herself to take careful pawsteps backward, feeling loose grit and snowmelt beneath her pads. Soon she realized that the path was sloping upward, just as Yakone had said. Now and again she slipped on icy patches, but at last she felt the wind again, ruffling her fur. Toklo and Yakone were beside her, steadying her as she emerged from the crevasse.
“Thank the spirits!” she exclaimed. “I thought I was stuck there for good.”
Another fit of shivering seized her as she wondered what it would have been like if she hadn’t been able to climb out. Her friends would have had to leave her there. She would have heard their pawsteps and their voices dying away....
No. I won’t think of that.
“Are you okay?” Yakone asked her anxiously.
“I’m fine,” she told him, blinking at him. “Let’s keep going. But we need to be really careful.”
Hauling herself to the top of the next ridge, Kallik saw a flatter stretch of ground in front of her, covered with unbroken snow that gleamed silver in the moonlight.
“That looks easier,” Toklo grunted.
“But that doesn’t mean we can be careless,” Kallik reminded him, still shaken from the ground giving way under her paws.
Toklo gave her a brusque nod and strode out across the open ground. Kallik and the others followed. The snow was soft and deep; within moments Lusa was struggling, sliding into drifts every few paces, and Yakone stayed close to her to drag her out.