The Longest Day

  Hattack glared at Toklo. He had made easy work of a young she-bear before a long, fierce fight with an older male that had led him to the final round. Hattack’s ear was bleeding. Perhaps he had torn it on a jagged pebble. But Toklo suspected both bears had used their teeth and claws in the previous fight.

  Toklo squared his shoulders and met Hattack’s burning stare. I can win, Toklo told himself, trying to ignore the doubt tugging in his belly.

  Shesh stepped from the crowd of bears encircling them. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” Hattack growled without looking away.

  Toklo nodded.

  With a jerk of his muzzle, Shesh shooed the others backward. Toklo shifted his paws as the space widened around them. The air seemed to crackle, as though a storm were coming.

  “Begin.”

  At Shesh’s growl, Toklo braced himself for the attack. But Hattack didn’t move. He watched Toklo, a mocking glint in his eyes. Uncertain what to do, Toklo studied his opponent, checking for weakness in a paw or a patch of ruffled fur that might betray a tender spot. Hattack was larger, but only just. Muscles showed beneath his pelt. I have muscles, too. Toklo lowered his head, his heart pounding. I guess it’s up to me to make the first move. Taking a step backward, he fixed his gaze on Hattack’s left shoulder. Satisfaction pricked as Hattack’s gaze momentarily followed his. He thinks he’s guessed what I’m going to do.

  Still staring at Hattack’s shoulder, Toklo lunged around the other side and slammed his paws into Hattack’s flank. He felt Hattack stumble. But Hattack was quick. He jerked around, rearing onto his hind legs. Toklo lifted his forepaws to meet him, and they clashed heavily.

  Toklo staggered, gripping Hattack’s sides with his paws. Pebbles clattered beneath them as they wrestled. Hattack’s hot breath washed his muzzle, then pain seared his cheek as teeth ripped his fur. No claws or teeth! Yanking his head away, Toklo glanced at the watching bears. Had anyone seen that? Outrage surged through him as the other bears leaned forward, eyes bright, growling as they cheered the fighting bears on. Either no one had noticed, or none of them cared now that the trial was about to be decided.

  As his thoughts wandered, Hattack jerked him to one side. Toklo’s weight shifted to a single hindpaw, which twisted painfully beneath him. With a roar, he shoved Hattack away. Hattack reeled backward, surprise showing in his eyes. You didn’t think I was so strong, did you? Toklo dropped onto all fours and shook out his hindpaw, relieved as the pain eased. Then he rushed at Hattack, his cheek still stinging. He met Hattack chest to chest. The heavy thump made them both stagger until Toklo gripped Hattack’s shoulders once more. He felt Hattack’s claws dig hard into his pelt, tearing his flesh. You want to fight dirty? Anger burned in Toklo’s chest, and he prepared to dig his claws in.

  No, Toklo. A whisper sounded in his ear. The scent of Ujurak wreathed around him, taking him by surprise. You are better than that.

  Toklo uncurled his claws. The air shifted around him as though some unseen bear was giving him space.

  His hindpaws are sore and tired. Ujurak’s whisper sounded again. Push him over the sharp stones.

  Toklo glanced at the patch of jagged pebbles behind Hattack and, with a bellow, heaved the brown male toward them. He winced as the rough edges jabbed into his own pads, but he felt Hattack flinch, too. Satisfaction surged through Toklo, giving him fresh energy. Hattack was struggling.

  Be careful. A desperate bear is more dangerous. Ujurak’s voice brushed his ear fur. Toklo broke free of Hattack’s grip, feeling claws scratch his skin as he pulled away. Scowling, Toklo ducked behind him, leading him farther over the jagged pebbles. Around them, the bears shifted to make room as Toklo led the fight closer to the water’s edge. Cold water would make Hattack’s scratched pads sting.

  Hattack spun around. “Are you running away?”

  Toklo backed into the shallows. “Why would I?”

  “You want to fight like a fish?” Hattack splashed into the water with a snarl.

  Get him onto his hindpaws again, Ujurak urged. He’s trying to disguise a limp.

  Hattack reared first. Toklo rose to meet him. They clashed, the lake swirling around their legs. Hattack’s paw slipped on the wet stones. His stumble unbalanced Toklo. Alarm flashed though Toklo as he felt himself topple. Letting go of Hattack, he slammed his paws into the water.

  Hattack thumped onto Toklo’s back and dug sharp claws into his flanks. Toklo staggered under his weight, his paws buckling beneath him. Teeth sank into the back of his neck. Panic flared beneath his fur. Don’t fall! Toklo felt himself start to crumple, pain deafening his thoughts.

  His hindpaw! Ujurak called. It’s weak.

  In a last, desperate move, Toklo swung out a back leg. His paw found Hattack’s. With a vicious kick, he knocked Hattack’s hind leg from beneath him.

  Fur tore from his neck as Hattack fell. Roaring with pain, Toklo turned as Hattack splashed into the water. The great male thrashed like an overturned beetle, waves washing his belly. Fast as lightning, Toklo thrust his paws against Hattack’s shoulder and shoved him down.

  Rage showed in Hattack’s eyes as his face disappeared underwater. Toklo felt him struggle, his snout barely breaking the surface. He held him for a moment. Then he let Hattack go.

  Hattack burst from the water, fury glittering in his gaze. “You fight like a white bear,” he hissed.

  Toklo stared coldly at him. “What a shame you don’t.”

  The others rushed toward them.

  “The winner is Toklo!” Shesh barked.

  “Great fight!”

  “Nice move at the end, Toklo.”

  Toklo felt dizzy as the bears swarmed around him. Hattack shouldered his way through the crowd and lumbered down the beach. Pride swelled in Toklo’s chest. He lifted his muzzle, scanning the faces for Aiyanna’s. He saw her at the edge of the throng, her eyes glowing. Toklo pushed his way toward her.

  “Well done.” Aiyanna pressed her muzzle to his as he reached her.

  He leaned against her, suddenly exhausted. “I won.” He could hardly believe it.

  “You were great.” She nuzzled him again, then pulled away. “You’re bleeding!”

  “Just a bite.”

  Aiyanna’s eyes lit up with outrage. “But Shesh said no teeth or—”

  Toklo blinked at her. “Did you really think Hattack would fight fair?”

  Before she could answer, Shesh’s bark silenced the crowd. “The final trial will take place tomorrow, when the sun is at its height, one day before the Longest Day. It will be a hunting challenge. Get some rest and eat well. Tomorrow we’ll know which bear will lead the Longest Day ceremony!”

  As grunts of excitement rippled through the crowd, Aiyanna guided Toklo away. Exhausted, he let her steer him up the beach and into the shelter of the forest. She led him to a fern-lined scoop between the arching roots of a pine. “Rest here.”

  The scents of Izusa, Wapi, and Yas filled Toklo’s nose. “This is Izusa’s nest,” he objected.

  “And mine,” Aiyanna told him. “But you can stay here while I hunt. You must be hungry.”

  Toklo nodded. Without arguing, he stumbled into the nest and lay down, wincing as his cuts and scratches stung. Closing his eyes, he felt sleep tug at him. “Thank you, Ujurak,” he whispered.

  A few moments later, he felt a tongue lapping a throbbing scratch. He smelled the sharp scent of herbs. “Lusa?” Had she come to heal his wounds? Blearily, he opened his eyes and saw Izusa beside him.

  “Go back to sleep,” she murmured. “I’m just licking herb juice into your cuts.”

  Wapi and Yas leaned over the edge of the nest.

  “I knew he’d win!” Wapi whispered.

  Yas sniffed. “You said Hattack would win, but I told you it would be Toklo. Toklo’s the best.”

  Toklo closed his eyes and let himself drift into sleep.

  A chorus of frightened barks awoke him. He scrambled to his paws, alarm shrilling through his pelt. Izusa was gone. Wapi a
nd Yas, too. A knot of bears was clustered farther up the slope. Toklo ran toward them, fear pushing tiredness away. He could see their fur standing on end.

  “How badly is she hurt?”

  “Was it wolves?”

  Fear sparked in Toklo’s belly. Had Aiyanna been attacked while she was hunting? He pushed his way through the crowd and gazed at the crumpled figure lying at the center.

  Elki. He recognized the cub at once. Muna was crouched beside her, lapping desperately at the bloody wounds that marked her flank. Holata stood over them, his eyes bright with rage. “I’ll kill whoever did this!”

  “Are there wolves here?” Toklo asked. What wolf would be dumb enough to roam a forest full of bears?

  “The white bears must have attacked her!” Wenona snarled.

  “She was nowhere near their shore,” Muna sobbed.

  “Where was she?” Toklo demanded.

  Muna lifted her clouded gaze. “I’m not sure. She said she was going to catch a rabbit. I told her not to wander far.”

  “Where’s Elsu?” Alarm jabbed Toklo’s chest. Elki and Elsu were never far apart. “Is he safe?”

  “I’m here.” Elsu squeezed past his father, trembling as he pressed against Holata’s flank.

  “Were you with her? Did you see what did this?” Toklo prompted.

  Elsu shied away. “I was fishing in the lake.”

  Holata curled his forepaw around his cub. “Leave him alone. He’s had enough of a shock,” he told Toklo. He looked at Elki. “The most important thing now is to make sure Elki is okay.”

  Izusa was picking her way through the crowd, a wad of leaves clamped in her jaws. She ducked down beside Elki and began working sap into the cub’s wounds.

  “This gash is deep.” Muna sniffed at a cut on Elki’s throat, where blood seeped into the fur around her neck.

  Izusa dropped green pulp onto it. “This will help,” she reassured Muna before working it into the cut with gentle laps.

  Elki stirred, moaning.

  “Elki?” Muna leaned closer as the cub half opened her eyes. “What happened? What did this to you?”

  Elki’s eyes flickered and closed again.

  Muna stiffened. “Is she okay?”

  Izusa glanced at the cub’s flank. “Her breathing is steady and strong. She’ll be fine.”

  Toklo turned away. Makya was watching from a distance, Flo and Fala huddled beside her. Suddenly Aiyanna crashed out of a clump of ferns, dragging a young deer. She dropped it when she saw the crowd. “What’s happened?”

  “Something attacked Elki,” Toklo told her.

  He blocked her way as she began to hurry toward the injured cub. “Izusa’s with her. She’s going to be okay.”

  Aiyanna stared at him in horror. “Who would do something like that?”

  Toklo shrugged. “Wolves?” His belly rumbled.

  “You’re hungry.”

  “I haven’t eaten all day.” He grabbed the deer in his jaws and helped Aiyanna haul it toward the nest. They dropped it on the needle-strewn earth and ate.

  Aiyanna’s eyes were wide as she chewed. “I didn’t see any signs of wolves while I was hunting.” She looked puzzled. “Is everyone sure it was a wolf?”

  “We won’t know for sure until Elki wakes up.” Toklo glanced toward the knot of bears. The warm meat in his belly was making him sleepy again. He tried to fight the heaviness in his eyes and pushed himself to his paws.

  Aiyanna must have seen him sway. “Sleep.” She nudged him into the nest. “I’ll check on Elki and see if Izusa needs help.”

  Gratefully, Toklo lay down. He closed his eyes and sleep enfolded him again.

  He dreamed he was on the lakeshore. Darkness hid the forest and mist curled on the water. He looked up, trying to make out the stars, but the sky was dull. Only the moon shone, cold and alone.

  “Toklo.” Ujurak’s voice echoed along the shore. His pelt pricking, Toklo searched the shadows for his friend.

  A shape moved, and Ujurak padded from the darkness. His sleek pelt shone in the moonlight.

  Toklo met his gaze warmly. “Thanks for helping me in the fight.”

  “I didn’t want you to become like Hattack. He is a bear who will always cheat to get what he wants. But nothing is worth having if you have to cheat to get it.” Ujurak’s growl was soft. “Everything you have—friendship, love, respect—you have earned honorably.”

  Happiness flickered in Toklo’s belly for a moment . . . until he saw Ujurak’s eyes darken.

  “You must try to hold on to what you have,” Ujurak warned.

  A cold wind lifted from the lake and billowed through Toklo’s fur. He tried to move closer to Ujurak, but his paws were rooted to the pebbles. His heart quickened. “What’s going to happen?”

  “Never underestimate the power of hatred, Toklo,” Ujurak told him.

  Toklo struggled to hear over the rising wind. “Whose hatred?”

  “You have made enemies, Toklo.” Sadness filled Ujurak’s gaze. “You, Lusa, Kallik, and Yakone have traveled far and ruffled more than one pelt. And now you will have to fight to save what you love.”

  “Fight what?” The wind whipped Toklo’s ears, buffeting his flank. He strained to see Ujurak, but the young bear was fading into the shadows. “Help me, Ujurak!”

  “You must save yourselves. I cannot—” The wind snatched the last of Ujurak’s words away.

  Toklo was left alone on the shore in darkness. Save ourselves. Blood roared in his ears, louder than the wind. From what?

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Kallik

  A hot wind tugged at Kallik’s pelt. The fierceness of it stirred her from sleep. As she opened her eyes, sand whisked into them, whipped up from the stony shore. The other bears were stirring around her. She climbed stiffly to her paws. The dip in the stone where she’d curled for the night had been hard. She hadn’t bothered to line it with moss.

  She’d gone to her nest last night—the nest she and Yakone had built in the shelter of the ridge—but it had been empty and smelled stale. She’d turned away and found a place on the shore near Illa and Kissimi. Curling up tight, she’d tried to ignore the pain in her heart. How strange it was to breathe air that didn’t smell of Yakone. The warm night was all that had enfolded her. She kept hoping that Yakone would come find her, and when he didn’t, she’d felt the same white-hot grief she’d felt when Nisa had been killed.

  Did Yakone miss her, too? Kallik blinked the sand from her eyes and scanned the shore. There he was, lying in the shallows, letting the cool water wash over his back. He stared out across the lake. He’s not even looking for me.

  “Kallik!” Taqqiq was weaving his way through the others toward her. “Kunik and Anarteq are hiding a fish over there.” He nodded toward the rocky outcrop that marked the end of the lake. Beyond, the beach cut into a wooded cove.

  Kallik knew that the last trial was to test the scent skills of the bears. The ability to detect food at a distance was crucial to survival on the ice. She followed her brother’s gaze, wishing that she could feel as excited about the trial as he did. Around her, bears shifted restlessly, murmuring to one another.

  “Aren’t you looking forward to it?” Taqqiq asked.

  “I don’t care about the trial,” Kallik murmured.

  Taqqiq’s gaze darkened. “Haven’t you and Yakone made up yet?”

  “He won’t speak to me.”

  “Have you tried?” Taqqiq looked worried.

  “Every time I approach him, he walks away.”

  “Did you do something wrong?”

  Kallik stared at her brother bleakly. “If I did, I don’t know what it was. I just wanted him to take part in the trials, and he said that he couldn’t because of his injured paw.” She tried to remember exactly what had happened, but the only words that rang in her mind were the words she would never forget. I’m no use to you now. “Then he said it was best if I didn’t go to Star Island with him.”

  Taqqiq’s eyes widened. “H
e didn’t mean it, surely?”

  “That’s what I thought, but he’s been avoiding me ever since.” A lump rose in her throat.

  Taqqiq leaned closer. “You have to speak with him, Kallik. You can’t let him go without finding out why he’s behaving like this. He’s too important to you.”

  Kallik stared at her brother, surprised by his concern. And his wisdom. He was right. Whatever happened, she must speak to Yakone, even if it meant hearing that he didn’t want her anymore.

  Taqqiq touched his nose to her cheek. “You can come back to the Melting Sea with me and Shila.”

  Kallik rested her head against his. “Thank you, Taqqiq.”

  “I’ve changed, Kallik.” Taqqiq pulled away and met her gaze. “I know I’ve done bad stuff in the past, but I’ve learned how important it is to be with the bears you love, and who love you.” He dropped his gaze shyly. “Shila has taught me that.”

  Kallik’s heart swelled with affection. “She’s a great bear, Taqqiq. I’m glad you have her.”

  As she spoke, Shila trotted toward them. “Glad he has who?” Her eyes flashed teasingly.

  “You,” Kallik huffed.

  “Of course.” Shila brushed against Taqqiq as she halted. “Are you ready for the last trial, Kallik? Taqqiq says you have a good sense of smell.”

  “She’ll probably win,” Taqqiq chuffed.

  “If she does, she’ll lead the Longest Day ceremony.” Shila met her gaze happily.

  “If Taqqiq wins, he’ll lead it,” Kallik pointed out.

  Taqqiq shrugged. “I don’t mind who wins. I’m just looking forward to going home.” He glanced at Shila. “Perhaps next time we come to the gathering, we’ll bring our cubs.” Shila nuzzled his cheek with her nose.

  Along the shore, Kunik and Anarteq were climbing back across the jagged rocks.

  “The fish is hidden!” Kunik called.