River of Lost Bears (10 page)

“You're thinking of your own belly, not Lusa's,” Chenoa growled, following.

“That's not true.” The scent of charred meat drew him on. His mouth watered. “Lusa needs cheering up.”

The scent was stronger than ever, meat and fire mingling. Toklo slowed as the BlackPath curved through the trees. He glimpsed something white fluttering between the trunks. Curious, he crept forward, until he could see a pelt-den in a clearing beside the BlackPath. He'd seen pelt-dens before. Flat-faces used them to shelter in. Growling with frustration, Toklo halted.

“There's only one reason flat-faces make pelt-dens in the woods,” Chenoa spoke up, nodding toward the den. “They're hunters. Which means they'll have firesticks. Which means we should get out of here.”

“Wait.” Toklo spotted a fire outside the den. A lump of meat dangled over the flames. They hissed and sparked as juice dripped from the meat. “I can grab it before anyone sees me.” He bounded across the BlackPath.

“No!” Chenoa grabbed at his flank.

Toklo turned on her. “Let go!”

The black bear's eyes were white-rimmed with fear, every hair on her pelt bristling. “Don't go. Please!”

“I won't be long.” Toklo headed for the fire. A single swipe and he'd be back in the forest with a delicious treat for Lusa.

“Toklo! No!” Chenoa roared at the top of her voice.

Toklo froze.
You fish-brain!
Now the flat-faces would know they were here!

Yelps sounded from the white den, and two flat-faces burst out. Toklo recognized the firesticks they were carrying at once. Spinning so fast his pads burned, he raced back toward Chenoa. “Run!”

The firesticks cracked behind them, splitting the air. Bark sprayed from the tree trunks as Toklo hurled himself into the shelter of the forest. The ground blurred beneath his paws as he pelted up the slope. Brambles ripped his fur. Branches whipped his muzzle. He flattened his ears, relieved to hear Chenoa's pawsteps echoing his. Glancing back, he saw her a few pawsteps behind and kept running as the firesticks crackled.

They burst out of the trees into the scorched clearing.

“We're safe!” Chenoa panted as the firesticks fell silent.

Toklo slowed to a halt. “What in all the spirits made you roar like that?” He glared furiously at Chenoa.

“They could have hurt us!” Chenoa stared back. “Have you never seen a firestick before?”

“Of course I have! But there wouldn't have been any firesticks if you hadn't made all that noise!” Toklo was trembling, not sure if he was angry or scared.

“Do you think flat-faces are fish-brains?” Chenoa hissed. “Do you
really
think you could have snatched the food from their fire without them noticing?”

Toklo loomed over her. “Yes!”

“Then
you're
a fish-brain!”

“At least I'm not a
coward
!”

Chenoa reared up, reaching her muzzle toward Toklo's. “Don't you ever call me a coward!” she spat. “I saved your pelt back there!”

“I didn't need saving!” Toklo snarled.

Chenoa dropped onto all fours, her eyes clouding. “You can't always be right, Toklo,” she murmured. “No one is.”

An image of Tobi flashed in Toklo's mind. His brother lay feeble and dying while he nudged him impatiently.

“Come on, Tobi. Stop being lazy. Come and play with me!”

As the image vanished, a new one appeared: Ujurak dancing into a stone-black sky, scattering trails of stars. Then Nanulak's eyes burned through the darkness, wild and angry.

“You betrayed me!”

Toklo backed away, his fury draining as memories flooded his mind. “No,” he breathed. “I'm not always right.”

As he spoke, he thought he saw a small brown shape stir in the bracken. A familiar scent wreathed around him.
Ujurak?
Toklo whipped around, scanning the forest.

“What is it?” Chenoa caught his eye. “Are you okay? Have you seen something?”

“No.” Toklo steadied his breath, his heart slowing. “I thought I did. But there's nothing there.”

Chenoa stared at him for a moment, then pushed away through the bracken. “Let's get back to the river.”

Toklo followed, sadness tugging at his heart.
I'm not always right.
He watched Chenoa's black pelt as it moved through the sea of brown fronds like a fish. Her shoulders were hunched defensively like the time when Hakan had ripped her ear and sent her packing. With a pang of guilt, Toklo realized that he must have seemed exactly like Hakan when he'd loomed over her just now.

He hurried to catch up to her. “I'm sorry I lost my temper.”

Chenoa didn't look at him. “I'm sorry I made the flat-faces come out of their den. I was scared for you.”

“I can take care of myself,” Toklo promised.

Chenoa paused and met his gaze. “Everyone needs help sometimes, Toklo.”

Toklo jerked away and headed for the river. Keeping a bearlength ahead of Chenoa, he watched his pawsteps as the slope eased toward the shore.

As he passed a crop of boulders jutting up from the forest floor, Chenoa hissed behind him. “Stop!”

He turned. “What?”

Her nose was twitching. “Get behind those rocks!” She nudged him hard in the ribs. “And stay still!”

Toklo bristled. “Why?”

“Hakan's coming!”

“Hakan?” Toklo glimpsed black fur between the trees. “What? Where?”

“Just
hide
!”

Growling, Toklo ducked behind the rocks. Perhaps Chenoa was right. He didn't want to fight Hakan, but he didn't want to back down to the bad-tempered black bear, either. It was better to avoid him.

“What are you doing
here
?” Hakan barked at Chenoa. “I've wasted a day's hunting trailing you!”

“I go where I want,” Chenoa snapped.

Hakan ignored her. “I can smell those other bears,” he growled. “You've been following them, haven't you? You've got no sense of loyalty! Following a bunch of outsiders.”

Toklo's pelt pricked with rage.

He heard Chenoa's voice harden. “Why don't you go back to your territory, Hakan? This is none of your business.”

“And leave you here with them? What kind of brother do you think I am? I'm staying here till I know you're safe.”

“Of
course
you are,” Chenoa snarled scornfully. Then she yelped in shock and pain.

Chenoa!
Toklo dug his claws into the earth to stop himself from leaping out. Cautiously, he straightened and peered over the rocks. Chenoa was crouched on the ground, clutching her snout.

Hakan reared over her. “I hope you haven't been helping them steal prey, because if you have, you'll feel more than my paw on your hide!” Growling, he stomped into the forest.

Toklo darted from his hiding place. Chenoa was hauling herself to her paws. He sniffed her muzzle. There was no sign of blood, but he could feel heat pulsing where Hakan had hit her. “Are you okay?”

“I will be,” Chenoa snuffled.

Fur bristling on his shoulders, Toklo paced in front of her. “You shouldn't have to put up with the way he treats you!”

Chenoa licked her nose. “When our mother died, it broke his heart.”

“What about
your
heart?” Toklo growled. “You lost her, too.”

Chenoa flashed him a look. “I made her
die
, remember?” Without waiting for an answer, she headed for the river.

Toklo swallowed an angry retort. Why was she so willing to take the blame? Couldn't she see that Hakan was just a bully?
Heartbroken?
Hakan was about as heartbroken as a weasel swallowing a chick!

Toklo stalked after Chenoa, a growl rumbling in his throat. He wanted to find Hakan and teach him not to be a bully.
But wouldn't that make me a bully just like him, using my weight to get what I want?
Prickling with frustration, he scrambled over a tussock.
I just want to go home!
The mountains were tugging at him even more strongly now that he'd seen them. There wasn't time to worry about Chenoa and Hakan. She wasn't helpless. Toklo had seen her stand up to Hakan. She was going to have to sort this out herself.

“Look!” Lusa lifted the piece of
squawroot between her paws to show Toklo and Chenoa as she spotted them padding from the trees. “Yakone dug it up.” She took another bite of the tasty flesh, relishing its musky flavor.

Beside her, Yakone lifted his head from the trout he'd been stripping. A small pile of fish lay beside him. Kallik, who'd caught them, was dozing on the rock, letting her pelt dry in the setting sun.

Lusa frowned. Toklo and Chenoa hadn't looked up. She sat up, wincing as her wounded rump brushed the rock. “What's wrong?” She stared at Chenoa's swollen muzzle. Had they been fighting?

“Nothing.” Chenoa stopped beside Lusa. “How are your wounds? Do you need more hornwort?”

“You sound just like Ujurak!” Lusa dropped her squawroot.

Chenoa tipped her head to one side. “You still haven't told me where he is.”

Lusa looked at Kallik, unsure what to say.

Kallik lifted her head and blinked sleepily at Lusa. “Is everything okay?”

“Where's Ujurak?” Chenoa asked again.

Toklo padded away and sat on a rock. “He's dead,” he growled.

Kallik looked around sharply. “No, he's not. Ujurak had to leave us.”

Chenoa looked confused. “So is he dead or isn't he?”

Lusa pictured the huge starry bear who'd come down to fetch Ujurak. That was like dying, wasn't it? But not like
prey
dying. He was still with them. Right? She searched Toklo's face as he scowled into the river.

Kallik nudged a trout toward Chenoa. “Are you hungry?”

Toklo watched the water. “We ate.”

Chenoa sniffed the fish. “Did you catch all this?”

“Yes,” Kallik huffed proudly.

“I didn't think you'd actually
catch
one!” Chenoa exclaimed. “I didn't know white bears could river-fish.”

Kallik's eyes glowed. “You'd be surprised at what we can do.”

Chenoa called to Toklo, “Did you ice-fish when you were on the Endless Ice?”

“Yes.” Toklo didn't look up.
“So?”

Chenoa ignored him. “What's it like on the ice?” she asked Kallik. “Don't you hate being cold all the time?”

Lusa heaved herself to her paws and limped toward Toklo. He looked stiff and unhappy. She stopped beside him and nuzzled close, sheltering in his fur from the brisk wind. “Chenoa's a friendly bear, isn't she?”

“When she's not picking fights.” Toklo felt rigid as a tree against her.

“Did you fight?” Lusa asked.

Toklo sighed. “Not really.”

“Where did she take you?” Lusa was determined to find out why Toklo was so upset.

“A burned hilltop.”

“Burned?”

“A forest fire had killed all the trees,” Toklo explained. “Chenoa wanted me to see beyond the forest.”

“Did you?”

Toklo nodded. “I saw mountains.”

Lusa's belly fluttered. He'd be home soon. Shouldn't he be happy? “Are they close?”

Toklo's shoulders drooped. “No.”

“We've traveled far before,” Lusa reminded him. “It won't be long before we get there, I promise.” She snuggled closer. “You've always managed to do what you set out to do, Toklo. You'll get home. And we'll be with you all the way.”

Toklo grunted softly and curled around her. Feeling safe and warm, Lusa watched him close his eyes. The river washed past, and she stared into the growing darkness. What would happen when they did reach Toklo's home? Kallik and Yakone would return to the ice.