River of Lost Bears (23 page)

“What wasn't?”

“You gave Chenoa a real chance to find her own place in the forest.” Yakone kept his gaze fixed on the shore ahead. “She would never have been happy staying with Hakan.”

Grief stabbed Toklo's heart. Was a short glimpse of happiness enough? “We'll never know,” he muttered.

As the rain poured, the river began to churn. Swelling, it thundered past, snatching at the shore. Rain dripped faster through the branches. Before long, Toklo was drenched.

Ahead, Kallik shook raindrops from her muzzle. “We need to stop.”

Lusa slowed beside her, head low, gaze dull.

“Lusa needs a break.” Kallik lifted her snout. “And food.”

Toklo nodded. “You stay here with Lusa. I'll hunt.”

“I'll come with you.” Yakone headed into the forest.

Kallik nudged Lusa toward the shelter of a thick pine. “Don't let Lusa go chasing after any more bear spirits,” Toklo warned Kallik.

Lusa flashed him a look.

Yakone was waiting for him in the shadow of the trees. “Let's split up,” the white bear suggested. Water dripped from every branch, but there was more shelter here than on the shore.

“Okay.” Toklo gazed into the shadows. He smelled the rich, damp scent of prey. His belly rumbled.

As Yakone lumbered away, Toklo followed a scent trail. It led him straight to a raccoon. It was sitting among the roots of a pine, gnawing on a shoot. It didn't even have time to run as Toklo lunged and killed it with a bite. He headed back for the shore and dropped the raccoon at Kallik's paws.

She wrinkled her nose. “Woodland prey.”

Toklo snorted impatiently. “I can catch you a fish if you want.”

Kallik glanced at the river raging past. “Let's wait for the water to calm down. I don't want you washed away—” She stopped, her gaze flicking toward Lusa.

“It's okay,” Lusa grunted. “We can't ignore the river forever.”

Yakone pushed his way through bracken upstream and bounded onto the shore. A fat grouse dangled between his jaws; a root, wedged behind it, stuck out from the side of his mouth. He picked his way across the loose rocks and laid the grouse beside the raccoon. The root tumbled after it and landed on the warm prey. “It smelled sweet.” Yakone nosed the root toward Lusa. “I thought you might like it.”

Lusa took it, her eyes brightening. “Thank you.”

Toklo felt his shoulders loosen. Was Lusa starting to feel better? He rested on his haunches and watched her nibble the root. Yakone settled beside Kallik and tore a chunk from the grouse. Toklo bit into the raccoon, savoring the taste. It had been moons since he'd tasted raccoon. The flavor brought memories flooding. Oka had caught a raccoon once and shared it with him and Tobi. She'd nudged Toklo away as she tried to persuade Tobi to eat some. Had she been scared he'd steal his brother's share?

Lusa's growl cut into his thoughts. “Why didn't Ujurak save Chenoa?”

Toklo glanced at Kallik. Did she have an answer? He'd wondered the same thing himself. Ujurak had saved each of them before, one way or another. Why had he let the river take Chenoa?

Kallik dodged his gaze. “I don't know,” she confessed.

“Isn't he watching us anymore?” Lusa persisted.

“Of course he is.” Kallik stared at the grouse in her paws.

Lusa tipped her head on one side. “Perhaps he didn't like her traveling with us.”

Anger flared in Toklo's belly. “Don't be a fish-brain!”

Lusa's eyes widened. “I just wondered if—”

Yakone interrupted. “
I'm
still here, aren't I?”

Toklo blinked at him.

“Ujurak would have stopped me from getting this far if he didn't like other bears traveling with you.” Yakone puffed grouse feathers away from his nose.

“How could he stop you?” Toklo barked. “Ujurak wouldn't hurt a bear!”

“But he didn't save Chenoa,” Lusa fretted. “Perhaps he trusted us to save her ourselves.”

Toklo swallowed. The raccoon flesh scraped his throat and hit his belly hard as stone.

“There was nothing we could have done,” Kallik reminded her.

“Then why didn't
he
save her?”

Kallik touched her nose to Lusa's head. “Ujurak can't save every bear in the world.”

“I'm not asking him to!” Lusa snapped. “Just Chenoa.”

Toklo pushed the rest of the raccoon away. His mind was whirling. Had Ujurak really seen Chenoa struggling and decided not to help her? Toklo's heart burned. Perhaps he hadn't known Ujurak as well as he thought.

The rain eased as they set off again, and slowly the river calmed. They trekked through the day, and by dusk, it was running smoothly once more. And the shore had widened. As they reached a stretch of pebbly beach, Yakone slowed. “Let's stay here for the night.” He gestured with his muzzle to the river. “It looks like a good fishing spot.”

Kallik started snuffling among the boulders at the top of the beach. “I'll get some bracken and make a nest here.”

Toklo sat down, relieved to rest his aching paws. He watched Lusa pad into the shallows and stare at the water washing around her paws. Did she really think Ujurak had let Chenoa die?

Yakone splashed past her and dove into deeper water. A moment later, he surfaced, a fish in his jaws.

Toklo stared at the setting sun. A breeze lifted his fur as it slid behind the trees.

“Don't you want some fish?” Kallik called from the beach.

Toklo shook his head. “Not hungry.”

Kallik curled her lip. She must have noticed that he'd eaten hardly any of the raccoon. But she didn't question him. Instead she lumbered into the forest. She returned quickly with a bundle of bracken in her mouth. Carefully, she used the stalks to line a hollow among the boulders at the top of the beach.

“It's getting dark,” she warned as Lusa and Yakone padded to join her. “Are you coming to sleep, Toklo?”

“In a while.” Toklo watched the clouds tearing open to show the moon. The river raced past, and soon he could hear Yakone snoring. The stars glittered across the sky. Toklo picked out the sparkling needle-prick shapes of Ujurak and his mother. “Are you still watching us?” he whispered. Wind whisked through the trees. “Why did you let Chenoa die?”

Gravel crunched beside him, and fur brushed his pelt. Toklo stiffened as the scent of Ujurak warmed the air.

“Please don't doubt me.”

Toklo jerked around. “Ujurak?” He couldn't see his friend, but he knew he was near.

“I'm sorry Chenoa died,” Ujurak murmured in his ear. “I wish harm to no bear. But I cannot promise that your journey won't be dangerous. Have courage, dear Toklo. You'll get home someday.”

The air suddenly smelled of pine and water once more. Ujurak had gone.

Toklo's pelt bristled.
You didn't tell me why!
He dropped to his belly and thrust his nose on his paws.
Why did you let her die?
Staring at the river, he flexed his claws.
This journey is taking forever. I just want to get home.
Toklo's belly suddenly fluttered with fear.
But what will happen when I get there? Am I leading my friends into more danger?

“Come on, Lusa!” Yakone galloped along the wide beach. “Race me!”

Kallik huffed in Toklo's ear. “It's sweet of him, trying to cheer her up.”

Toklo grunted. “Yeah.” Lusa was ignoring the white bear as he bounced around her encouragingly.

The river had narrowed. It crashed past, churning over rocks. White water foamed, throwing sparkling spray into the sunshine.

Kallik nudged Toklo. “Do
you
want to race?”

Toklo stared ahead. Why wouldn't Ujurak tell him
why
Chenoa had to die? “No, thanks.”

A shriek pierced the air.

Toklo halted. “What was that?”

Kallik was already sniffing. “Flat-faces.”

Toklo jerked around. “Where?” As he spoke, a shape appeared on the river upstream.

Lusa and Yakone hurried toward them. “Flat-faces,” Yakone warned.

Kallik nodded. “We know.”

Lusa pointed to the shape rushing downriver. It bounced over the waves.

Another shape followed, then another, then more. Toklo narrowed his eyes. The flat-faces were riding in brightly colored logs. Each log held one flat-face. Pointed at each end, the logs skidded over the water faster than birds. The flat-faces squealed, waving broad-headed sticks in their hands and dabbing them in the water as they guided their logs past jutting rocks.

A disapproving growl rumbled in Yakone's throat. “What in all the spirits are they doing now?”

“At least they're not killing trees,” Lusa muttered.

Logs carrying small flat-faces scudded toward them. Kallik stared in disbelief. “They've brought their cubs.”

Yakone flicked his nose toward the trees. “Let's get out of sight.”

Toklo nodded and headed upshore. Kallik sprinted after them. “Hurry up!” she barked over her shoulder. Lusa was still on the pebbles, her gaze fixed on the bobbing flat-faces.

“What are you doing?” Toklo barked. Alarm pricked him as the excited squeals of the flat-faces sharpened into terror. He saw one of the brightly colored logs roll sideways as it hit a crosscurrent. It tipped its flat-face cub into the water and slid away. The cub tumbled downstream, flailing and screaming as the churning water battered it. The other flat-faces started shouting and beating the waves with their sticks, trying to get closer to the cub, but the current swept it away too quickly.

Lusa raced to the waterline. “Spirits save it!”

Toklo charged after her. “Stop!” He snapped at her scruff with his teeth and hauled her back before her paws hit the water.

Lusa's eyes brimmed with panic. “Don't let the river kill anyone else!”

Toklo met her gaze. “I won't.” He flicked his muzzle toward Yakone. The white bear had bounded up to him, Kallik at his side. “Stay here, Yakone, and keep Lusa out of the river.” The rapids were fierce. His pelt lifted along his spine. “Kallik, will you come with me?”

Kallik headed for the water. “What's your plan?”

The flat-face cub was being swept closer, squealing.

Toklo flicked his snout toward it. “Grab the cub if you can,” he told Kallik. “Then dump it on the far shore.” Unable to keep pace with the cub, the flat-faces were crashing their logs into the bank opposite. They leaped out and began waving and screaming at the cub in the water. “Can't flat-faces swim?” Toklo growled, wading through the shallows. They weren't even trying to reach their cub.

“I want to help!” Lusa wailed from the shore.

“No!” Toklo roared over his shoulder. “We'll save it, I promise. You don't have the strength for these currents.” Ignoring her protest, he dove into the river, pushing out into the fierce stream. Kallik appeared beside him, her paws churning.

The cub swirled toward them, terror glittering in its wide blue eyes.

Kallik lunged toward it. Toklo fought the rushing tide, ready to help. As he watched, a powerful wave hit the white bear and knocked her sideways. He gasped as Kallik spun away toward a rock that jutted out midstream. Toklo swam after her, but she hit it and bounced away.

“Kallik!” Yakone roared from the shore.

Toklo looked back, searching the foaming water for the flat-face cub. Who should he go after? Kallik or the flat-face cub?

The cub hurtled past. It twirled in the current, then disappeared beneath the waves. Its paws shot up into the air, flailing as it struggled for the surface.

A white pelt flashed downstream. Kallik had reached another rock and was hauling herself out.

The cub!

Toklo dove after it. He felt a fast current catch him and rode it, just as Chenoa had taught him. It swept him past the cub. The cub's face froze in horror as its gaze fixed on him.

Don't be scared of me!
Toklo willed it to understand. “The river's your enemy, not me!” As he roared across the water, the cub flailed harder. On the bank, the flat-faces screamed louder.

Fish-brain! I'll scare him more if I bellow.
Toklo clamped his jaws shut as the river carried him past Kallik. She stared, dazed and dripping, her pelt pink with blood.

Toklo spotted a wide, smooth boulder farther downstream.
No jagged edges!
The cub might be able to grab onto it without getting hurt. Toklo ducked beneath the water and swam for the cub. Nudging it with his muzzle, he steered the cub toward the rock. The cub kicked, but Toklo pushed harder until he slammed against the boulder. He surfaced, gasping for breath. Pain seared his flank.

Relief swamped him as he saw that the cub was pinned to the boulder by the force of the river. It scrabbled at the stone with its forepaws, struggling to climb up. The flat-faces on the bank hollered as Toklo bobbed around the rock. Menace edged their panic.
They think I want to hurt it.
What if they brought firesticks? He had to save the cub quickly.