River of Lost Bears (7 page)

“We circle the prey like wolves,” she explained.

He nodded, catching on. “Then move in for the kill.” He looked thoughtful. “Toklo and Lusa are better at running through the forest,” he mused. “Kallik and I could wait there.” He nodded to a gap in a long stretch of brambles. “You could drive it toward us, and we'll attack as it races through.”

“Good plan.” Toklo signaled to Lusa with his muzzle. “Come on.”

As they stalked away, Kallik felt a rush of pride. “How did you think of that?” she asked Yakone.

His eyes twinkled. “I guess prey is prey. Getting it to run the way you want is the same on ice and land.” He headed for the brambles and crouched on one side of the gap.

Kallik ducked down on the other. Bushes swished in the distance, and hooves thrummed the earth. “It's coming.” She bunched her muscles, ready to spring as the ground trembled beneath her. She flattened herself harder against the earth, aware of how white their pelts looked in the gloom of the forest. What if the deer spotted them?

The brambles crackled beside her. Deer musk washed her nose. Its pelt blurred before her eyes as it leaped through the gap. She lunged for it, cursing as a root caught her hindpaw. With a cough, she collapsed onto her belly. Yakone dashed away. He charged after the fleeing deer, swerving with ease around a clump of tall knapweed. Kallik watched, wide-eyed. He ran as though he'd hunted in forests all his life. With a roar, he leaped, stretching out his forepaws to grab the deer and bring it down.

As Kallik scrambled to her paws, Toklo and Lusa charged through the gap in the brambles.

“Great catch!” Toklo skidded to a halt where Yakone was standing proudly over the dead deer.

Lusa circled Yakone and his catch. “You're a natural!”

Yakone's eyes shone. “I guess instinct took over.”

Toklo nudged him. “You're turning into a brown bear.”

Yakone glanced over his shoulder at his grubby pelt. “I'm even changing color,” he remarked.

Kallik touched her nose to his cheek. Perhaps they would get used to the forest after all.

By the time they'd finished eating, the sun had dipped below the horizon.

“It's too dark to go on.” Kallik licked blood from her muzzle.

Lusa's eyelids drooped. “I'm sleepy.”

“We can rest here and start up again at dawn.” Toklo glanced at his companions across the deer carcass. “Okay?”

“Fine with me.” Yakone stretched and got to his paws. He wandered back toward the swathe of brambles where they'd waited for the deer.

Kallik heaved herself up, drowsy from the meal, and followed Yakone. Lusa stumbled after her sleepily. Behind them, Toklo was hardly more than a shadow in the darkness. Kallik heard earth spattering the ground.
He must be kicking dirt over the remains of the deer, hoping to disguise the scent.
They didn't want to attract other predators when they were sleeping.

Yakone lay down beside the bramble. Lusa curled into a ball close by, tucking her nose under her paw. Kallik yawned and settled onto the soft earth. She rested her muzzle on Yakone's back. As his breath grew shallow with sleep, she gazed into the shadows. The ice was never this dark. Even on the cloudiest night, it still glowed, as though it remembered moonlight.

Toklo lumbered from the shadows, reeking of leaf-sap. “I scattered muskroot, to hide the smell of blood.” He sat down beside Kallik.

She closed her eyes. “How long till we reach the river again?” she asked with a yawn.

“I don't know.” The pine needles rustled as Toklo settled down to sleep. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“Good.” Kallik imagined Ujurak overhead, shining beside his mother. “Sleep well,” she murmured.

A strange scent woke her. The warm tang of another animal. She lifted her head and blinked in the darkness. Heart quickening, she tried to adjust to the gloom, but the forest shadows made it impossible to see. She felt Toklo stir beside her.

“Did you hear something?” he whispered.

“I
smelled
something.” Kallik licked her lips, gathering scent. There was definitely a warm, breathing body close by. “Is it Hakan?”

Toklo's nose snuffled. “No.”

“Chenoa?”

“No.”

The scent was getting stronger. Kallik's ear twitched as she heard pawsteps. Slowly, silently, she got to her paws. She tried to see her companions in the gloom, but she could only make out the white shape of Yakone's pelt.

Toklo stood up. “It must be something after the carcass.”

“Another bear?” As Kallik spoke, pawsteps scurried in the shadows.

Behind us!
Jerking around, she tried desperately to see through the gloom. Fur brushed the earth. Tainted breath turned the air sour.

“Toklo?” Shapes were moving around them, fast.

She yelped as teeth pressed through her fur and sank into her flesh. With a roar she reared, swiping at the creature that had bitten her. Her claws hit fur.
Too rough for a bear. Wolf?
But the creature was small. And vicious. Another leaped at her, burying its teeth in her flank. She staggered and lost her balance.

“Wolverines!” Toklo roared, and the ground shook as he stumbled under the attack.

“What's happening?” Lusa's panicked yelp sounded from the darkness.

Yakone's pelt flashed past Kallik. “We're being attacked!”

Kallik flailed as she fell, trying to shake off the wolverines. They were tearing at her pelt. She struggled to get up, but her hindpaws slipped into the bramble, where countless thorns snagged her fur. She rolled, trying to knock her attackers away, but they swarmed over her. She glimpsed Yakone beyond the brambles. Toklo bellowed several bearlengths away. The wolverines had separated them. Kallik tore her hind leg free with a grunt. She pushed up, desperate to get on her paws, but a wolverine clambered over her shoulder and sank its teeth in her throat.

Shock sliced through her as she collapsed to the ground. She kicked out, finding only brambles with her paws. The wolverine snarled at her throat, ripping harder at her flesh. Rage surged through Kallik. With a mighty heave, she tore free of the wolverine and hauled herself to her paws. Turning, she swiped with claws spread, catching her attacker with a blow that sent it flying.

She glimpsed fur darting through the darkness. Something moved at the corner of her eye, and she slammed her paws down. A wolverine collapsed under her blow. With a yelp, it struggled free and raced away howling into the shadows. Turning, Kallik spotted another slippery pelt and lunged at it, snapping with her jaws. She felt fur between her teeth and hauled the wolverine high into the air before tossing it away.

“Kallik?” Toklo's voice sounded nearby.

“I'm okay!” she called back. “Yakone?”

An angry roar rang through the trees. “Run, you coward!” Yakone sounded triumphant.

Another wolverine raced away into the woods. Kallik turned, scanning the ground. “Have we chased them away?”

Toklo's eyes glittered beside her. “I think so.”

Yakone bounded toward them. “What
were
they?”

“Wolverines,” Toklo growled. “They don't usually attack in packs.”

Kallik's heart lurched. “Where's Lusa?”

“Lusa!” Toklo called into the darkness.

Fear flared in Kallik's chest. “Can you see her, Toklo?”

“No.”

Oh spirits, give us light!
Kallik stared into the night-black forest. “Lusa, where are you?”

Lusa pelted through the forest. Pawsteps
thrummed after her. She glanced back through the shadows, horrified to see eyes glinting a bearlength behind.
Three pairs of yellow eyes!
Three wolverines!

She'd woken to find herself under attack and bolted out of pure terror.
Why did I run? Why didn't I stay with the others?
Panic roared in her ears. If she doubled back, could she make it to the others before they caught her?
No.
The wolverines would cut her off if she turned.

Lusa scanned the trees, straining to see through the darkness. A pine tree towered ahead. If she could make it up the stretch of trunk to the branches, she'd be safe! She sprang into the air and clung to the bark with her front claws. Scrabbling upward, she hauled herself onto the lowest branch and glanced down.

The wolverines were swarming up after her.

They can climb! Spirits, save me!

Lusa pulled herself higher. Balanced on her hindpaws on a branch, she reached above her head and swung onto the next. A wolverine snapped at her rump. Yelping, she scrambled higher. The wolverines clamored below her, teeth bared. Their greedy eyes shone in the darkness. They weren't going to give up easily.

Lusa clung on tight. Her claws ached. She reached for a higher pawhold, but her legs slipped beneath her, weak from running. She flopped onto the branch.
Send me strength before the wolverines reach me!
She peered through the shadows, wondering if she could make it to the next tree, but its tips hardly grazed the closest branch. She'd never make the jump.

“Toklo! Kallik!” she howled into the trees.

An owl screeched overhead, but there was no reply from her friends. How far had she run? She searched the trunk for the face of a bear spirit. There was nothing but bark. She was completely alone, apart from the animals trying to drag her out of the tree.

Hot breath grazed her hind legs as the wolverines stretched hungrily up. Lusa kicked out, and her paw hit something. Glancing down, she saw one of the wolverines tumble off the trunk, and she heard the thump as it hit the forest floor. A second later a sharp bite scorched her rump as teeth clamped deep into her flesh. She felt the agonizing weight of a wolverine hanging from her. Shrieking, she fought to kick it off, but it clung like a burr.

Pain seared through her, red-hot and unbearable. Roaring, she struggled, too terrified to look down. Then she felt her flesh tear. With a tortured yelp, she glanced at her rump.

The wolverine had gone! Something had torn it away, taking a chunk of her with it. Half-blind with agony, Lusa struggled to see what had happened. A dark shape moved below her. Lusa heard the snarl of a bear.

Toklo?

No, she couldn't smell his scent.

Another bear!

Lusa froze. Was it attacking her, too?

Bark ripped beneath fierce claws as the bear hauled itself higher. Another wolverine yelped and disappeared. A thick-furred paw swung beneath Lusa, and the last wolverine fell, squealing, to the ground.

Lusa closed her eyes and hung on to her branch. Would the bear keep climbing until it was high enough to reach her?

“It's okay,” a voice barked below her. “They're gone. It's safe to come down.”

Lusa clung on harder. “Who are you?”

“Chenoa.”

Relief flooded Lusa. Hakan's sister! Toklo had met her before.

“Are you Lusa?”

“How did you know?” Lusa slowly eased herself downward.

“I just guessed.” The black bear backed away from the tree as Lusa slid onto the forest floor.

Lusa's wounded rump stung furiously. “Thank you,” she whispered, her voice shaking.

Chenoa sniffed her. “Are you okay?”

“I think so.” Lusa swallowed against the pain. “You came just in time.” She stared at Chenoa. “You were so
brave
!”

“Lusa!” Kallik's panicked call sounded through the trees. A moment later the white bear crashed through a swathe of bracken. “There you are!” She raced over and pressed her muzzle against Lusa's cheek. “What happened?”

“They chased me up a tree.” Lusa pressed against Kallik, relieved to feel the warmth of her thick, white fur.

Toklo pushed through the undergrowth, Yakone on his heels. “Is she okay?”

Lusa couldn't stop trembling. “They were dragging me down when Chenoa saved me.”