“Well, if you change your mind, come back,” she said. “I’ll be here.”
Toklo nodded. “I’ll remember that,” he promised. He stretched his head out, and they touched muzzles, briefly but just long enough for him to taste the sweetness of her breath and feel warmth through his fur. He closed his eyes. Why is it so hard to remember what matters most sometimes? He heard a rustle of snow and opened his eyes to see Tikaani walking away, leaving a trail of pawprints on the rocks. Toklo’s heart sank. He would be loyal to his companions whatever happened, but right now it felt as if he were losing a little part of himself.
He headed back toward the cave, carrying the goose, a parting gift from Tikaani. He cast one glance back to see her poised on top of a rock, watching him go. Then he lost sight of her as he rounded a thorn thicket.
He felt encouraged by the discovery that not all the white bears on the island were hostile. But he knew that he had to put Nanulak first. If the younger bear felt so threatened by the white bears that he refused to live on the island, then they had to keep going until they all found somewhere they could live safely.
That’s what I have to do, Toklo decided. But I’m sorry that I won’t see Tikaani again.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kallik
Kallik plodded through the soft snow, glad to stretch her muscles again after the couple of days’ rest in the cave. Toklo had taken the lead, seeming eager to get going, and even Lusa looked brighter, wading determinedly through the snow.
Toklo is himself again, Kallik reflected. I hated when he was so different after we rescued him from the tunnel. Now he’s almost as comfortable here as a white bear, and he’s really good at hunting in snow! She remembered how she and Yakone had tried out the tricks Toklo taught them, catching a goose even bigger than the one Toklo had brought back when they tempted it with seeds.
Maybe because they were all well-fed for once, Kallik felt that the mood had lifted. Even Nanulak was high-spirited, forgetting his fear of white bears as he pestered Toklo for stories about rivers and forests.
But even though he seemed to be himself again, Toklo was quiet today, responding only briefly to Nanulak’s flood of questions. Kallik quickened her pace and caught up with him. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Toklo glanced at her; for a heartbeat his gaze looked unfocused, as if he was expecting to see some other bear. “Yes, I’m fine,” he replied.
For days the bears had caught glimpses of ice glimmering on the horizon ahead of them, and now a tough climb, scrambling among snow and rocks, brought them to the edge of it. It was like a frozen ocean perched on a ridge of mountains. Kallik took in a long, cold breath of air. Ice stretched ahead as far as she could see, broken up by dark rocks that poked through the surface. Wisps of cloud drifted across it.
“It’s so beautiful!” she whispered. “I never dreamed there could be so much ice at the top of a mountain.”
Yakone stood still, his snout raised and his gaze fixed on the expanse of ice. “It’s quite something.”
“Do you think it’s a frozen sea?” Lusa asked, her berry-bright eyes wide with wonder. “We’ve never seen one of those so high up before.”
“There are a lot of things we’ve never seen before,” Toklo pointed out.
“It’s just a stretch of ice,” Nanulak informed them, fluffing out his fur importantly. “There’s no sea underneath it. Sometimes it melts in burn-sky, and there’s nothing underneath but rocks.”
Kallik took a few steps forward, reveling at the feeling of ice beneath her paws again. “It’s worth all the struggles to get up here, just to see this,” she murmured.
“It should be easier going now,” Yakone commented, then looked over at his companions. “At least, it will be for me and Kallik. Sorry, I forget that brown and black bears aren’t used to traveling on ice.”
Toklo took a few exploratory steps out onto the ice sheet. Kallik could see that he was having trouble balancing, just as he had before when they’d crossed the Endless Ice. They had been traveling on land or snow-covered ice for several moons, and Toklo had clearly lost the knack of ice-walking. Nanulak followed him and instantly started slipping, waving his legs around and letting out a high-pitched yelp as he landed hard on his rump.
But his paws are more like mine and Yakone’s than Toklo’s, Kallik thought. He should be able to manage just fine on the ice. Is he trying to act like a brown bear, to be like Toklo?
“Don’t forget that there won’t be any seals under this ice,” Toklo said, retracing his pawsteps to help Nanulak up. “And I can’t imagine hares and foxes making their dens in it. We’ll have to stay near the edge to catch prey, and to find leaves and twigs for Lusa.”
The little black bear stifled a massive yawn. “Yes, please.”
Kallik felt momentarily disappointed. As soon as she’d set eyes on the massive ice sheet, she had longed to explore it.
“We could head across the ice for a little way,” Yakone suggested. “Just me and Kallik, I mean. Some bear ought to check it out, in case there’s anything dangerous.”
“That’s a great idea!” Kallik exclaimed.
But Toklo was looking doubtful. “I don’t like the idea of splitting up.”
“We won’t go far,” Yakone promised.
“Well … okay.” Toklo gave a reluctant nod. “I think I’ll rest for a bit, and then maybe hunt. Lusa, are you going with them?”
“No way! I’ll stay with you and get some sleep…” Her words ended in another huge yawn.
“Nanulak?” Kallik would rather have spent the time alone with Yakone, but she didn’t feel that she could deliberately leave Nanulak behind. “Do you want to come and explore the ice?”
Nanulak gazed at her, a scared look in his eyes. “No, I’m staying with Toklo,” he replied. “There might be white bears up here.” Turning his back on Kallik and Yakone, he followed Toklo back to the edge of the ice and huddled close to his side.
Maybe he doesn’t trust us yet, Kallik thought.
Toklo glanced down at Nanulak and touched him reassuringly on the shoulder. “We’ll meet back here, then,” he said to Kallik. “And for the spirits’ sake, be careful.”
Kallik dipped her head in agreement before turning and heading out across the ice beside Yakone. Exhilaration welled up inside her at the cold, the drifting cloud, and the familiar sensation of gliding across the ice.
“You know,” Yakone said, breaking into her mood, “Nanulak acts like a helpless cub around Toklo. You’d never think that he was nearly as old as us.”
“But he’s just lost his family,” Kallik reminded him. When she remembered how terrible it had felt to lose her mother and Taqqiq, she couldn’t help feeling sympathetic toward Nanulak.
Yakone shrugged. “Whatever. I still think he should be able to look after himself. You and Lusa and Toklo all had to. What’s so special about Nanulak?”
Part of Kallik wanted to agree with Yakone. Nanulak wasn’t the only bear who had suffered loss and hardship. But she still felt a certain protectiveness toward the younger bear. Maybe it’s because I had to leave Kissimi behind, she thought, remembering the tiny white cub she had left with his kin on Star Island. I miss him, and I miss taking care of him, too, even though he would never have survived the journey.
“Let’s run,” Yakone suggested. “I haven’t had a chance to stretch my legs properly for a long time.”
He took off without waiting for Kallik’s response. Pushing thoughts of Nanulak out of her mind, Kallik raced after him. It felt great to run, to feel the smooth, unyielding ice beneath her paws and the cold air flattening her fur to her sides.
This is a good place, she thought. Maybe life would be better here, instead of going back to the Frozen Sea.
Yakone slowed and halted, panting, and turned to Kallik as she caught up with him. “That was great!” he exclaimed. Then he paused for a moment and touched Kallik’s ear with his snout. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You look as if something’s b
othering you.”
“Not really,” Kallik replied. “I was just wondering if we’re doing the right thing, heading back to the Frozen Sea.”
Yakone blinked, surprised. “Why shouldn’t we?”
“It’s just … life will be hard there. The melt season comes earlier and earlier every year. It’s difficult for white bears to find enough food before they have to head for land.”
“I see.” Yakone looked puzzled. “But I thought you wanted to find your brother there.”
“Taqqiq might not even be there!” Kallik burst out, giving voice to her fears for the first time. “And if he is, he might not want to see me,” she added miserably, remembering how hostile Taqqiq had been when she’d met him beside Great Bear Lake.
Yakone pressed himself comfortingly against her side. “If your brother’s that cloud-brained, it’s his loss,” he said. “Besides, you’ve got me now.”
“I know.” Kallik thrust her muzzle into Yakone’s shoulder fur.
“I think we should head for the Frozen Sea,” Yakone went on. “I’d like to see it, when you’ve told me so much about it. And if it doesn’t work out, we don’t have to stay there. We could come back here, or go back to Star Island.”
The tight knot of worry inside Kallik relaxed and dissolved into nothing. “Of course we could. We could go anywhere!”
“And right now we’d better—” Yakone began.
A loud, angry roar interrupted him. Kallik spun around to see a huge white bear pacing across the ice toward them. He was an older, full-grown male with ragged yellow fur; his jaws gaped to show a mouthful of broken teeth.
“Get out! This is my place!” he growled.
“Sorry, but we—” Yakone started to explain.
“I saw you with a brown bear,” the old bear interrupted. “And one of those spirit-forsaken mixtures.”
“Is that a problem?” Yakone asked calmly. “Surely there’s room here for every bear?”
The old male bared his teeth in a snarl. “White bears should be white, and brown bears should be brown. Now, are you going to leave, or am I going to teach you how a real white bear fights?”
“There’s no need for—” Yakone began.
A roar of fury burst from the old male, and he lashed out with one paw, raking his claws down Yakone’s foreleg.
For a moment Kallik froze with shock. What did we do? Yakone was gaping as if he couldn’t believe the old bear’s hostility. A heartbeat later Kallik pulled herself together. She gave Yakone a shove, just as the old bear lashed out at him again. “Don’t talk—run!”
Shoulder to shoulder, she and Yakone fled back across the ice. The old bear let out another roar and galloped after them. When she glanced back over her shoulder, Kallik thought that he was gaining. With his injured leg, Yakone couldn’t move so fast, and Kallik wouldn’t leave him behind.
“I could stop and fight him,” Yakone panted.
“No, cloud-brain! What if you got badly hurt?” Fear welled up inside Kallik. “Then you couldn’t travel.” Though she didn’t look back again, Kallik imagined that she could feel the old bear’s hot breath on her neck. The edge of the ice was in view; Kallik could pick out the shapes of Toklo, Nanulak, and Lusa, but they seemed a long way off.
We shouldn’t lead this bear toward them! she thought desperately. Then she spotted a stretch of broken ice, where jagged shards jutted upward, glinting in the sunlight.
“That way!” she gasped.
With Yakone hard on her paws, Kallik pelted toward the broken ice, then at the last moment veered aside and skirted it. A couple of heartbeats later, a bellow of pain and fury sounded behind her. She risked another glance back to see the old white bear in the middle of the broken stretch. He had obviously charged right into it; now he was limping as he headed for the edge.
Yakone gave her a swift nod. “Good plan!”
As they drew closer to the end of the ice, Nanulak trotted out to meet them. “Toklo caught a goose,” he announced, as proudly as if he had made the catch himself. “We saved some for—”
He broke off with a squeal of protest as Yakone gave him a shove, nearly knocking him off his paws. “Run!”
For the first time Nanulak spotted the old white bear, who still hadn’t given up the chase, though he was lumbering along more slowly now on sore paws.
Nanulak’s eyes widened in horror. “A white bear!” he shrieked. “It’s coming to get me!”
Kallik bundled him off the ice to where Toklo and Lusa were waiting.
“What happened?” Toklo demanded.
“We didn’t do anything!” Kallik replied. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“But Yakone’s hurt,” Lusa objected, blinking worriedly as she gazed at Yakone’s leg, where blood was trickling out of a deep scratch and dropping onto the snow. “And I don’t know where to find herbs up here.”
“I’ll be fine,” Yakone said. “Let’s go.”
Kallik boosted Lusa onto Toklo’s shoulders. Grim-faced, Toklo pushed Nanulak ahead of him, then led the others away at a gallop. Bringing up the rear, Kallik dared to look back, and she realized that the old bear had halted at the edge of the ice.
“Don’t come back!” he roared.
Indignantly Kallik watched as he snatched up the remains of Toklo’s goose. That was ours! she thought, hunger griping in her belly. Suddenly the ice cap that had seemed so welcoming had become a dangerous and frightening place. Kallik couldn’t imagine ever wanting to make her home there.
Nanulak told us the white bears here were dangerous, she reflected sadly. He was sure they were out to get him. And it looks as if he might be right.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Lusa
Lusa sniffed deeply, her nostrils quivering as she picked up the faint scent of lichen. Nanulak had taught her how to detect it through the snow, and now she felt quite proud of herself as she followed the trail. Her jaws watered as she thought of digging down to expose the crunchy flakes.
They had traveled for half a day since the old white bear had chased them away from the ice, and Toklo had decided to stop while it was still light so that Yakone could rest his injured leg. They had managed to find a safe place for a den in the middle of some thorns; Toklo and Kallik had gone hunting, leaving Yakone to keep an eye on Nanulak.
But the lichen scent soon petered out. Lusa snuffled in a circle but couldn’t pick it up again. “I’m not as good at this as I thought,” she muttered aloud. Glancing around, she realized the sun had gone and twilight was gathering. She jumped at a creaking sound under her paws and thoughts of the tasty lichen faded. Trying to ignore her grumbling belly, Lusa began to hurry back toward the den. She had wandered farther than she’d meant to, and she wanted nothing more than to see a friendly face.
But following her own trail back was difficult in the half-light. Rocks and stunted trees cast weird shadows, and she couldn’t see where she was putting her paws. The wind was rising; Lusa could imagine hostile voices in it as it whined over the flat landscape.
Suddenly the snow gave way beneath her; Lusa let out a squeal of alarm as she felt herself sliding into a shallow concealed hollow. She landed with a thump at the bottom, feeling sharp stones underneath the covering of snow.
“Stupid bear!” she scolded herself. “That’s what happens when you try to go too fast.”
A sharp pain stabbed through one of Lusa’s hindpaws when she tried to scramble up. Awkwardly she turned to peer at it and realized that her paw was jammed between a rock and a thick sheet of ice, evidence of a stream that had once flowed here. Lusa tugged hard, but she couldn’t move her foot.
Now what do I do? she wondered, fear surging over her. She wrenched hard at her paw again. The ice sheet must have shifted as she’d broken through it, trapping her. Cold started to seep into Lusa’s fur. She stretched up so she could see over the banks of snow on either side.
“Help!” she called, not sure if any of the others were in ear-shot, or whether they could hear her abo
ve the blustering of the wind. “Toklo! Kallik! Help me!”
But no bear answered her cries. Lusa waited, still struggling vainly to free herself, then called again. “Help me! Over here! I’m stuck! Help!”
Still there was no reply.
They’re bound to find me eventually, Lusa told herself. After all, we found Toklo underground. Only… I wish they’d be quick about it!
Darkness had fallen, and the sky was thickly strewn with glittering stars. Lusa looked up to see Ujurak’s shape and felt reassured, knowing that her friend was watching over her.
Please, Ujurak, she begged silently. Send some bear to find me!
Almost at once she heard the sound of pawsteps approaching through the snow. Glancing around, she spotted a brown bear skirting a thicket of thornbushes a few bearlengths away, his head down as if he was following a scent trail. At first she thought it was Toklo, but as he drew closer, she recognized Nanulak.
“Nanulak!” she called out, her voice shaky with relief. “Nanulak, help me! I’m stuck!”
Nanulak raised his head, looking around as if trying to find the source of the noise.
“Over here!” Lusa shouted, though her voice was almost drowned out by birds shrieking overhead; she wondered if she had disturbed Nanulak’s prey.
Nanulak turned his head, and Lusa was sure he had seen her. “Thank you, Ujurak!” she exclaimed.
But a heartbeat later Nanulak veered away from her and headed back past the thornbushes, picking up the pace until he was running.
Lusa froze with shock. “Nanulak!” she cried. “Nanulak, don’t leave me!”
But he had gone.
Lusa wrenched at her paw in a panic, scraping it against the ice in her efforts to free herself. A flurry of wings sounded overhead; she looked up to see birds circling around her, flying lower and lower, until one of them darted down to peck at her.