The Last Wilderness Read online

  Other books by Erin Hunter

  SEEKERS

  Book One: The Quest Begins

  Book Two: Great Bear Lake

  Book Three: Smoke Mountain

  MANGA: Toklo’s Story

  WARRIORS

  Book One: Into the Wild

  Book Two: Fire and Ice

  Book Three: Forest of Secrets

  Book Four: Rising Storm

  Book Five: A Dangerous Path

  Book Six: The Darkest Hour

  WARRIORS: THE NEW PROPHECY

  Book One: Midnight

  Book Two: Moonrise

  Book Three: Dawn

  Book Four: Starlight

  Book Five: Twilight

  Book Six: Sunset

  WARRIORS: POWER OF THREE

  Book One: The Sight

  Book Two: Dark River

  Book Three: Outcast

  Book Four: Eclipse

  Book Five: Long Shadows

  Book Six: Sunrise

  WARRIORS: OMEN OF THE STARS

  Book One: The Fourth Apprentice

  WARRIORS MANGA

  Book One: The Lost Warrior

  Book Two: Warrior’s Refuge

  Book Three: Warrior’s Return

  The Rise of Scourge

  Tigerstar and Sasha #1: Into the Woods

  Tigerstar and Sasha #2: Escape from the Forest

  Tigerstar and Sasha #3: Return to the Clans

  Ravenpaw’s Path #1: Shattered Peace

  WARRIORS SPECIALS

  Warriors Super Edition: Firestar’s Quest

  Warriors Field Guide: Secrets of the Clans

  Warriors: Cats of the Clans

  Warriors: Code of the Clans

  ERIN HUNTER

  First published in Great Britain 2010

  by Egmont UK Limited

  239 Kensington High Street

  London W8 6SA

  Text copyright © 2010 Working Partners Limited

  The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted

  First e-book edition 2011

  ISBN 978 1 7803 1030 5

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  www.egmont.co.uk

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Also By

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter One: Ujurak

  Chapter Two: Lusa

  Chapter Three: Toklo

  Chapter Four: Kallik

  Chapter Five: Lusa

  Chapter Six: Toklo

  Chapter Seven: Toklo

  Chapter Eight: Ujurak

  Chapter Nine: Kallik

  Chapter Ten: Lusa

  Chapter Eleven: Toklo

  Chapter Twelve: Ujurak

  Chapter Thirteen: Kallik

  Chapter Fourteen: Ujurak

  Chapter Fifteen: Toklo

  Chapter Sixteen: Kallik

  Chapter Seventeen: Ujurak

  Chapter Eighteen: Lusa

  Chapter Nineteen: Ujurak

  Chapter Twenty: Toklo

  Chapter Twenty-One: Ujurak

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Kallik

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Lusa

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Toklo

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Lusa

  Chapter Twenty-Six: Toklo

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Kallik

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Lusa

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ujurak

  Chapter Thirty: Kallik

  Chapter Thirty-One: Toklo

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Ujurak

  Chapter Thirty-Three: Ujurak

  Chapter Thirty-Four: Kallik

  About the Author

  About the Publisher

  With special thanks to Cherith Baldry

  The Bears’ Journey: Bear View

  The Bears’ Journey: Human View

  CHAPTER ONE:

  Ujurak

  Wind buffeted Ujurak’s fur as he plunged down the mountain slope towards the rolling foothills below, where the caribou were grazing.

  It was late burn-sky, and after the recent rains the air was filled with delicious smells. Ujurak drew them in with every breath: scents of prey, of green growing plants, and underlying it all the salt tang of the sea.

  As he bounded down the slope he glanced round at his friends. The white bear Kallik raced beside him, her stride as smooth as flowing water, her twitching nose sniffing the air. After so many moons of travelling through dark forests and over sunbaked rocks, Ujurak wondered if she could smell the sea-ice at last, the smell of her home.

  He heard a whoomph and glanced back just in time to see the black bear Lusa tripping over her own paws in her haste to keep up. She rolled several bearlengths before scrambling up and continuing to pelt downward. She was the smallest of the four bears by a lot now, and she seemed to run two strides for every one of theirs, but she was never outpaced for long.

  And charging ahead, his tufty ears flattened by the wind, was the brown bear Toklo – always out in front, always the first. Warmth welled up inside Ujurak. Toklo had trusted him enough to come with him all this way, so far that Ujurak could hardly remember the mountains where he had met Toklo and then Lusa. Suddenly he wanted to be able to remember every pawstep, picture every day they had spent walking, walking, walking, all the way to the edge of the world.

  Because finally they had reached their journey’s end. They’d found the Last Wilderness.

  Down on the grassy hills, the caribou raised their heads as the bears hurtled towards them.

  ‘Watch out!’ Ujurak snarled. ‘Here we come!’

  Toklo glanced over his shoulder. ‘They’re too big to hunt, feather-brain!’ he called.

  Ujurak huffed at him. He wasn’t really going to hunt the giant caribou; strong as he was, he knew he was still small enough to run right under the bellies of the longest-legged creatures. He was just enjoying the feeling of unstoppable running, his paws skimming over the grass with a satisfying hiss, the fur along his flanks slicked down and rippling in the breeze he had created.

  They had reached the foothills now, swerving down the gently swollen slopes until they rushed straight into the herd of grazing caribou. Close up, the horned beasts were huge, and they swung their heavy heads to glance lazily at the bears, unafraid of Ujurak and his companions. There were so many of them, Ujurak couldn’t see to the other side of the herd once he was on their level. All he could see was a forest of legs as thin as sticks, topped with pale, hairy bellies. The caribou’s pelts gave off a powerful musky scent that made Ujurak puff and wrinkle his nose.

  Toklo darted to one side and led the bears out of the herd, sending the caribou scattering. The valley opened up in front of them again, and Ujurak blinked in the bright sunshine. A vast green plain unrolled at his paws, dotted here and there with clumps of dark spiky grass with still, silvery water just visible between the stalks. Through his wind-watering eyes, Ujurak could see patches of white where flocks of geese had landed to feed in the damp grassland.

  This is the wilderness Qopuk promised us. Enough to feed us all, space for every bear, no sign of flat-faces or firebeasts or BlackPaths . . .

  Ujurak felt a sharp pain in his belly. The journey through Smoke Mountain had been a hard one, with little prey, and the sight of the geese awakened his hunger. He swallowed as his mouth filled with saliva. The grass blurred beneath his front paws as he pushed himself faster, thinking of nothing but a meal of tas
ty, plump goose . . . Then Ujurak felt his legs tingling and saw his forelegs begin to lengthen and grow thinner; his pelt prickled as his brown fur transformed into a rough grey pelt.

  Wolf!

  His snout grew longer and he could feel his vision narrowing, the edges darkening as he focused on a single flock of geese on the plain. One flock. The sounds around him faded to insignificance and all he could hear was the geese directly in front of him honking and yakking, their noise growing louder and louder.

  His stride lengthened. He felt swift; as he raced past Toklo he thought he heard the brown bear growl. But the sound seemed to come from far away. It meant nothing to Ujurak. The hot reek of the geese engulfed his senses. His tongue lolled as he pinpointed his prey: a fat white bird feeding at the edge of the flock. One goose. He could almost feel his teeth sinking through its feathers, crunching its bones. He smelled its blood and heard its heartbeat.

  Kill . . . one bite into warm prey . . . then feed.

  The plain whirled past him in a blur, his paws hardly seeming to touch the marshy ground. He reached the edge of the flock; the birds flew up in a storm of flapping wings and terrified squawking. Snarling, Ujurak leaped on his chosen prey. His fangs closed on its neck. He shook the goose. It battered him with its wings, then went limp.

  Ujurak proudly lifted his head with his prey dangling from his mouth. Feed now . . . taste blood . . . But something was gnawing at his mind. He couldn’t eat yet. Reluctantly he turned and began trotting back the way he had come.

  Ujurak felt his rangy wolf body begin to swell and thicken; brown fur replaced the shaggy grey pelt, and his footsteps grew heavier. His heartbeat slowed as the wolf’s hunger for blood died away.

  Gradually he began to notice the plain around him again. The flock of geese were settling a little way off, their raucous cries fading. Ujurak could hear the rattle of wind in the reeds and the splashing paws of an Arctic fox as it darted from one clump of bushes to another. He blinked in confusion as he saw three other bears approaching him, just coming off the foothills on to the plain. Black, brown, white . . . he felt that they ought to be familiar. Why can’t I remember who they are?

  ‘Ujurak!’ The small black bear bounded forward to meet him. ‘That was a great catch!’

  ‘Uh . . . thanks . . . Lusa.’ Ujurak’s confusion vanished as he stood in front of her and dropped the prey at Lusa’s paws. Of course he knew who she was, and the other two bears padding up to him were his friends Toklo and Kallik. The long legs he had as a wolf had rapidly outdistanced them. ‘Come and share,’ he invited them.

  Toklo growled his thanks as he tore off a part of the goose and retired a couple of paces to flop down and eat the newkill. Ujurak waited for the she-bears to take their share before he settled down to eat too. The goose was a fat one, and there was enough to share among all of them. It tasted delicious, warm in Ujurak’s belly.

  ‘Thish ish – mmmm – won-erful!’ Kallik said, chewing enthusiastically. She raised her head and sniffed at the air. ‘Can you smell the ice? Soon the sea will freeze closer to shore, and I’ll be able to get back to the white bears’ feeding grounds.’

  ‘But . . . there’s no . . . shelter . . . on the ice,’ Lusa objected, her mouth full of juicy meat. ‘The wind will blow you into the sea.’

  ‘No, we dig dens in the snow,’ Kallik explained. ‘Then we curl up together, and it’s so cosy!’ Ujurak saw a shadow of sadness creep into her eyes, and he wondered if she was remembering her old life with her brother and mother. Kallik blinked, and the shadow vanished. ‘And we hunt for seals through holes in the ice. You’ve never tasted anything as delicious as seal!’

  ‘I’ll settle for the brown earth under my paws, and the prey I can catch on it.’ Toklo jerked his head toward a distant ridge that was thickly covered with trees. Ujurak could see birds wheeling over it and sensed the throbbing life of small animals under the branches. ‘That’s the best sort of place for brown bears – right, Ujurak?’

  ‘Right,’ Ujurak replied.

  ‘Look at all those trees,’ Lusa said, pawing a feather from her muzzle. Her dark eyes sparkled with anticipation as she looked across at the tree-clad ridge. ‘I love sleeping in the branches, with the sound of the wind and the bear spirits close by.’

  Toklo tore off another mouthful of goose flesh. ‘What – mmm – I like about . . . this . . . place,’ he said, gulping it down and swiping his tongue around his jaws, ‘is no flat-faces. No BlackPaths. No firebeasts. No flat-face dens.’

  ‘Just open land and sea, wherever you look,’ Kallik said.

  ‘And all the prey we can eat,’ Toklo added.

  Lusa sprang to her paws. ‘What should we do next?’ she asked. ‘I want to find a tree to spend the night.’

  ‘Let’s rest for a bit.’ Toklo batted a paw at the eager little bear. ‘There’s plenty of time.’

  Ujurak finished eating his share. He was enjoying listening to his friends as they chattered excitedly about their new home. He had brought them here, to a place where they could be safe and well fed and away from flat-faces for the rest of their lives. He was licking his paws, feeling his belly full of warm meat, when a soft voice sounded inside his head. He stiffened as it whispered: Not the end.

  Ujurak lifted his head, his pelt prickling as if it were crawling with ants. He quietly rose to his paws and stepped away from his friends, pretending to drink from a pool of water. He flattened his ears and listened in case the voice came again.

  He had heard this voice before.

  Many moons ago it had spoken to him one cold night under a blaze of stars. Follow the Pathway Star, it had said, and when he had looked up he had seen one star twinkling more brightly than the rest. He had chosen to ignore the voice at first. But it had whispered to him in the quiet moments as he curled up to sleep and before he rose in the morning. You will not travel alone, it had told him.

  ‘What do you mean? There’s nobody here.’ Ujurak had looked around, seeing nothing but the forest stretching into shadow, as if he were the only bear in the world. They will find you, the voice promised. Then he met the brown bear Toklo, and his question was answered. He’d started to listen to the voice after that. If ever he had doubted the journey they were making, the voice inside his head urged him on, soft and insistent. Over time, he’d thought he’d figured out who it was, reaching to the edge of his memory, the very first things he could remember.

  Ujurak lapped the ice-cold water from the pool. Above, a single star glimmered faintly in the dusky grey-blue sky. Not the end, the voice whispered again.

  I don’t understand! Ujurak protested silently, gazing up at the Pathway Star.

  Then, over the mountains, he saw a tiny black dot moving in the sky – no, there were three black dots. They moved closer, following the line of the ridge, and he could hear a distant buzzing. The dots grew bigger and he saw the flash of evening sunlight on hard silver. Metal birds, he thought with alarm. He glanced back at his companions. They hadn’t noticed the dots in the sky. They were too busy arguing about which was better to live in, trees or caves.

  Ujurak watched the metal birds fly away into the distance. The clatter of their wings faded, echoing on the still air. Ujurak’s fur prickled. Metal birds were flat-face things – firebeasts of the air. So what were they doing here? Like Toklo had said about this place: No firebeasts. No flat-faces.

  Ujurak looked at his friends again. Lusa cuffed Toklo, pretending to be angry with him when he said that trees were too full of twigs to be comfortable. They looked so happy. Ujurak felt his heart pounding in his chest.

  But I have brought them here – to this place, he told the voice inside his head. There is nowhere left to go.

  Not the end, said the voice.

  Then what am I supposed to do? Ujurak begged.

  He listened for an answer. But all Ujurak could hear was the sound of the wind in the long grasses and the call of a gull.

  CHAPTER TWO:

  Lusa

  Lusa
stood at the top of a grassy hill, gazing across the plain. A cold wind flattened her fur against her face and made her eyes water. It brought with it the scent of ice and fish. In the distance she could just make out the white edge of the ocean. Shivering, she thought of the ice that Kallik longed for so much. That wasn’t where she belonged – her home was here, among the trees and the long, sheltering grass.

  ‘We’ve made it!’ she murmured.

  Her quest was at an end! She had come through all the dangers and hardships of the journey, and now she was safe here with her friends, a truly wild black bear at last.

  The sun was rising, throwing Lusa’s shadow out beside her. The night before, after feasting on the goose that Ujurak had caught, they had made their dens at the edge of a patch of stunted thornbushes. Lusa felt rested and energetic after spending the night among the gently tossing branches, knowing her friends were sleeping below.

  ‘Hey! Fluff-brain!’ Toklo bounded up beside her, butting her gently in the shoulder with his snout. ‘Are you dreaming, or what? I’ve called you three times!’

  ‘Sorry,’ Lusa replied, playfully pushing Toklo in return. He was so much bigger than her, it was like trying to shift Smoke Mountain.

  ‘I’ve caught a couple of hares for us,’ Toklo went on. ‘But if you don’t want your share, we can eat it for you.’

  ‘Don’t you dare!’ Lusa yelped.

  Toklo loped off toward the bottom of the rise where Kallik and Ujurak were waiting beside his newkill. Lusa followed, puffing as she tried to keep up. They had grown fast over the last moon, and Lusa was more than a head smaller than the others now – with Kallik the biggest of all of them.

  When they had finished eating, Lusa cleaned her face with her paws and sat up straight, feeling the wind tug at her ears. ‘What should we do now?’ she wondered out loud.

  Toklo shrugged. ‘We’ve arrived, haven’t we? We can do whatever we want.’

  ‘Then we should explore!’ Lusa decided. If this was her new home, she wanted to know every pawstep, every scent, every bush where berries grew.