The Melting Sea Page 15

  I trust her … but I hope we don’t meet any more flat-faces. We don’t want to end up in that big white den!

  The bears crept through the flat-face dens, keeping to the narrow paths and avoiding BlackPaths where firebeasts cast their shining eyes through the darkness.

  Toklo jumped, startled, as loud barking came from the den they were passing, and Shila shrank away with a whimper of fear. Lusa was braced as if she was expecting to fight, while Kallik and Yakone gazed around, pinpointing the source of the threat.

  “They must be shut inside,” Lusa said with a sigh of relief, when the barking continued but no dogs appeared.

  “Then let’s get moving,” Toklo responded, “before the flat-faces come out to see what’s making them bark.”

  Kallik nodded, loping away at a faster pace, and the rest of the bears followed. At last they emerged from the narrow path and found themselves facing a vast expanse of darkness. Wind blew into their faces, bringing a stronger tang of the sea.

  “The end of the denning place!” Lusa said, blowing out a gusty breath of relief.

  As they stood beside the last flat-face den, staring into the night, Toklo felt a tremor of anxiety. Out there was the Melting Sea, Kallik’s home, the place where they would have to say good-bye. Suddenly, even though he was desperate to get away from the flat-face dens, Toklo didn’t want to take a single step farther.

  But Kallik and Yakone were already striding away over the rough land, their pads leaving a trail in the thin, dirty layer of snow that covered the ground. Shila stumbled along in their pawsteps. Toklo exchanged a glance with Lusa, guessing that the black bear felt just as he did, and set out after them.

  Away from the shelter of the dens, the biting wind buffeted his fur. Lusa stayed close to Toklo for shelter as they walked, trudging through the darkness until the lights of the flat-face place were no more than tiny twinkles in the distance.

  “Let’s rest,” Lusa suggested as they paused to look back. “I think my paws will wear away if we go any farther tonight.”

  Her friends murmured agreement. Toklo looked around for a possible place to make a den, but there was nothing but the flat plain stretching away on every side. With no other choice, the bears huddled together in a heap. Warmed by Lusa on one side and Kallik on the other, Toklo finally managed to sink into sleep.

  The grumbling roar of a firebeast woke Toklo. Dawn was long past; the sun had climbed high in a pale blue sky smudged with wisps of cloud. His friends were stirring sleepily, as if they, too, had been disturbed by the noise.

  Toklo sprang to his paws, snarling in mingled fear and anger. Several bearlengths away he saw a huge white firebeast, crawling slowly toward him. It halted for a moment, as if his challenge had startled it, then crept forward again.

  Lusa got up and peered curiously at the firebeast. “There’s something wrong,” she said, stiffening. “That firebeast isn’t on a BlackPath!”

  Toklo stared. “You’re right. Come on, we have to get out of here!”

  “I saw those firebeasts last time I was here.” Kallik spoke around a huge yawn. “I don’t think they’re dangerous.”

  Toklo snorted. “Do you want to wait around to find out?”

  Kallik thought for a heartbeat. “No. Come on, Shila. Let’s get out of here.”

  With Kallik in the lead, the bears started to run. To Toklo’s surprise, the firebeast kept pace with them, rumbling along without coming any nearer, but not falling back, either.

  Spinning around, Toklo halted and bellowed at the firebeast. “Maybe we should stand and fight,” he suggested. “Yakone, are you ready?”

  “Right here.” The white male came to stand beside him.

  “Don’t be cloud-brained!” Kallik exclaimed. “We can’t fight a whole firebeast. It’s huge!”

  Shila was shrinking away, mute and wide-eyed with terror. Toklo knew she wouldn’t fight, and Lusa was too small to make much of a mark on a firebeast. It would be up to him, Kallik, and Yakone.

  “Hey, look over here!” Lusa called out. She was peering ahead, and raised one paw to point. “There’s a gully up ahead. We can scramble across it, and the firebeast won’t be able to follow us.”

  “Good thinking, Lusa!” Toklo told her.

  Glancing warily at the firebeast, the bears hurried across the tussocky grass and slid down the steep side of the gully. The far side was even steeper; Toklo and the white bears clambered up easily, but as Lusa drew close to the top, her hindpaws slipped and she began to slide back, her forepaws scrabbling helplessly. Toklo leaned over and grabbed the scruff of her neck to haul her upward.

  “Thanks!” Lusa gasped as she flopped down on the flat ground at the other side.

  Toklo gazed at the firebeast. It rumbled up to the edge of the gully, then stopped. “Great!” he said with satisfaction. “We’ve escaped.”

  The bears carried on. Lusa kept casting glances back at the firebeast, and after a few moments she prodded Toklo with one paw. “Look!”

  Toklo turned. To his horror the firebeast had traveled farther along the gully and had found a place to cross, bumping down on a shallower slope and bumping back up again with a deep roar.

  “I’ll say this for it,” Yakone muttered. “It doesn’t give up easily.”

  “What’s going on?” Toklo demanded, slapping one paw against the ground in anger. “Is it hunting us?”

  “I can’t see any firesticks,” Kallik said doubtfully.

  “Look, there are flat-faces inside!” Lusa took a step or two toward the firebeast, clearly fascinated. “They’re staring through those shiny gaps and pointing at us!”

  “Oh, no! There’s another one!” Shila was staring across the plain, back toward the distant flat-face dens.

  Toklo followed her gaze. A second white firebeast had emerged from the denning place and was roaring across the plain toward them, moving much faster than the first one.

  “Two of them stalking us!” Shila went on, quivering with fear. “We can’t let them catch us again!”

  Kallik watched the second firebeast for a moment, then gave a decisive nod. “There’s nothing else to do,” she said. “We’ll have to go out onto the ice.”

  Toklo stared out at the sea, which was only a few bear-lengths away. The ice looked a long way off, across the black, choppy water.

  “Will we make it that far?” he asked. “Is the ice safe?”

  “Safer than we are here,” Kallik replied tensely.

  Toklo could see that she was reluctant to leave the land, but with two firebeasts bearing down on them, it might be the only solution.

  “I’m up for it!” Lusa said bravely.

  Shila nodded. “We have no choice. We can’t be captured by no-claws.”

  Together the bears crunched their way across the strip of pebbles at the edge of the sea and launched themselves into the waves. The cold almost took Toklo’s breath away. The salt tang was in his nostrils as the water sucked at his legs and belly and fur.

  I know we have to do this … but I wish we didn’t have so far to swim.

  The three white bears were forging slightly ahead. Toklo looked around for Lusa and spotted her close by, striking out boldly with paws that churned the water. He swam to her side, grabbing her by the scruff as a wave broke over her head.

  “I’m fine!” she gasped.

  As they drew away from the shore, Toklo glanced over his shoulder. Both firebeasts had halted at the edge of the water and crouched there, growling.

  Ha! Toklo thought triumphantly, just before he took in a mouthful of water. His triumph faded as he spluttered and spat, and turned to face forward again.

  Soon the water was very deep. Toklo remembered the orca that had killed Kallik’s mother; Kallik was looking grim and worried, and Toklo guessed she was thinking the same thing.

  This may be her home, but she has so many unhappy memories....

  Shila was swimming confidently, pulling herself along in the water. She seemed like a different bea
r here than the nervous creature she had been on land. Kallik and Yakone swam strongly, too, but Toklo began to feel himself tiring. Beside him, Lusa’s strokes had weakened, and Toklo kept an even closer eye on her, ready to grab her if she sank.

  But soon Toklo felt so exhausted that he was ready to sink himself. Every stroke took a vast effort. Lusa was even worse, looking barely able to force herself through the waves.

  Just as Toklo felt as if he couldn’t swim any farther, the ice shelf loomed up above his head. Yakone was already boosting Shila out of the water, and then he scrambled out himself and leaned over to grip Lusa by the scruff as her head went under. When he had hauled her out, the white male helped Toklo, then turned to Kallik, who was still swimming strongly at the edge of the ice.

  Toklo stood next to his friends, catching his breath after the long swim. Behind him, the ice stretched away forever. Ahead, the land was a smudge across the sea. The firebeasts were too small to make out.

  We’re safe … but we’re not on land anymore.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Lusa

  Lusa’s legs felt wobbly after the long swim. She wanted to lie down and go to sleep, but she knew that she couldn’t stop yet. I have to find the strength to go on.

  Kallik padded over and looked down at her. “Are you okay, Lusa? I can carry you if you want.”

  Lusa was tempted to say yes, but she remembered how Kallik had started to fuss over her.

  “I’m fine,” she insisted, finding the trickle of energy she needed. “Where do we go next?”

  Kallik raised her head and began sniffing the air. But before she could settle on a direction, Shila spoke decisively. “This way.”

  As the white she-bear strode purposefully across the ice, Lusa and Toklo exchanged a puzzled glance. What made her so determined all of a sudden? Lusa wondered.

  There was nothing to do but follow.

  Lusa could see Kallik’s excitement rising as she traveled farther into the expanse of ice.

  “It’s so good to be home!” she exclaimed. “This is the ice where I was born.” Padding past a seal hole, she added, “That seal hole could be where I caught my first prey!”

  Lusa was impressed. “Really?”

  Kallik let out a snort of amusement. “No. Even I couldn’t recognize my first seal hole. But I know we are close to where Taqqiq and I grew up. I can feel it in the ice.” Her amusement died, and for a moment she looked worried. “I just hope Taqqiq is here, too.”

  Yakone paused beside the seal hole. “Why don’t we hunt here?” he suggested.

  “No, no,” Shila said; Lusa thought she sounded almost aggressive. “We can’t stop here. We have to keep going.”

  Toklo turned to face Shila with a challenging expression. “What aren’t you telling us?” he demanded.

  Shila wouldn’t meet his gaze. One of her forepaws scraped awkwardly at the ice. “Nothing, honestly,” she responded. “It’s just that … well, there are a lot of white bears around here, and there probably won’t be any seals to catch at that hole.”

  Toklo let out a low growl, clearly not convinced.

  I wish they would stop and hunt, Lusa thought longingly. Then I could take a rest!

  Before Toklo could argue with Shila, Kallik touched his shoulder with one paw. “Come on,” she said. “There’ll be plenty more seal holes.”

  As the bears plodded on, with Shila still in the lead, Lusa noticed that it was getting harder to see into the distance. After a moment, she realized that mist was gathering around them; soon it was so thick that they could barely see a bearlength ahead. Daylight was fading, too, the sun’s warmth vanishing; Lusa shivered as the icy fog soaked into her fur.

  Shila’s pace slowed, and she began glancing around nervously.

  “What’s the matter now?” Toklo grunted.

  The white she-bear let out a snort of brittle laughter. “Nothing. Just that we might fall into a seal hole if we don’t watch out.”

  Oh, yeah, sure, Lusa thought, her suspicions of Shila rising. Like we can’t see our own paws!

  A few pawsteps farther on, Lusa jumped at the sound of deep bellowing that echoed across the ice. Then she let out her breath in a puff of relief. It’s only white bears.

  But to her surprise, Shila had halted, gazing around her with wide, terrified eyes. Why is she so scared? Lusa wondered. Doesn’t she recognize her own kin?

  Padding across to Toklo, she murmured into the brown bear’s ear. “What’s gotten into Shila? Just what is going on?”

  Toklo shook his head; he didn’t reply, but his eyes were wary as he looked at the white she-bear.

  “I think we should stop and rest, now that we can’t see,” Kallik said. “There’s no point in walking around in circles.”

  Staring through the foggy twilight, Lusa spotted a heap of snow a few bearlengths away. Yakone had seen it, too, and led the way over to it. He and Kallik began scraping out a rough den.

  “I wish we’d hunted earlier,” Toklo muttered to Lusa. “It’s too late now.”

  “Me too,” Lusa responded. I’m so hungry that I’d even be thankful for a few mouthfuls of seal!

  Her belly was rumbling as she snuggled into the den between Toklo and Kallik, but she was so exhausted that her hunger couldn’t keep her awake. Even her growing anxiety about Shila faded as she lost consciousness.

  Sunlight glittered on the ice as Lusa raced across it, beside Toklo and Kallik. Ahead of them, Ujurak was running: He kept changing shape from a brown bear to a white and then to a black bear. Then his fur dissolved into feathers and he lifted off the ground in goose shape, letting out a harsh, lonely cry. But just as Lusa began to despair of keeping pace with his wings, he glided down to the surface of the ice again. His form swelled and grew darker; antlers sprouted from his head, and he clicked off across the ice on the narrow hooves of a caribou. His strides lengthened and grew faster until he was only a dot on the horizon.

  “Ujurak, don’t leave us!” Lusa cried out.

  The dot began to grow bigger again, but as Lusa drew closer, she saw that Ujurak had changed again. Now he waited for them in the shape of a flat-face cub, covered in bright pelts. The cub’s mouth opened, but instead of the thin cry of a flat-face, the deep growl of a bear came from his jaws.

  Lusa flinched. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Ujurak growled again, louder this time, and Lusa’s eyes flicked open. At first she thought she was still staring into the chilly fog. Then as she became fully awake she saw that the sun was up; the whiteness in front of her took shape, and she realized that their den was surrounded by white bears.

  Six of them! Spirits, they’re big....

  Her friends were already awake, staring in dismay at the hostile glares of the newcomers. As Lusa tried to struggle to her paws, Toklo hissed at her, “Stay still!”

  Obeying him, Lusa let her gaze travel from one white bear to the next. Hang on, she thought. I recognize that one.… It’s Salik, from Great Bear Lake! And that one … Manik.

  “Hey, Iqaluk!” It was Salik who spoke, nudging the white bear next to him. “A brown bear and a black bear. What are they doing on the ice?”

  “They’ve no business here,” Iqaluk growled.

  Iqaluk … Lusa recognized that name, too. Her heart sinking, she realized that they had been found by the group of young males who’d been terrorizing the other bears who had gathered at the lake, and had even stolen a black bear cub from the forest.

  But that means …

  Lusa scanned the rest of the bears, her heart pounding. Beside her, Kallik was quivering like a leaf about to fall off its branch. Following her gaze, Lusa gulped.

  At the same moment, Kallik gasped, “Taqqiq!” Leaping forward, her voice full of joy, she yelped, “I found you!”

  Taqqiq looked stunned, his eyes bulging as he took a step back.

  Before he could speak, Iqaluk shoved Kallik aside. “What are you doing, seal-brain?” he snarled.

  “That’s my brothe
r,” Kallik retorted, standing up to the huge male. “And this is our home! Don’t you remember me, from Great Bear Lake?”

  “I remember you,” Salik sneered, pushing his way forward. “You tried to persuade Taqqiq to go on some fish-headed journey to a place that doesn’t exist. Luckily, he came to his senses and came back.”

  “But we did find the Endless Ice!” Kallik protested. “It’s true!”

  “What are you doing back here, then?” Manik demanded.

  As Kallik faced the male bears, Lusa heard a whimper of fear behind her and realized that Shila was still cowering inside the den. “Are you okay?” Lusa asked, ducking back to her side.

  Shila shivered. “Don’t make them angry!” she pleaded. “Let’s just go.”

  Lusa heard Salik’s voice outside the den. “Get out of here. This is our territory.”

  “Yeah.” That was Taqqiq. “I never asked you to come find me. Like Salik says, this is our place.”

  “We have every right to be here,” Toklo growled.

  “I don’t think so, brown bear,” another of the newcomers snarled. “What’s the matter, did you get lost?”

  “Make it easy for yourselves,” Manik said. “Leave before we make you.”

  “We mean it, Kallik,” Taqqiq added. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  Lusa backed out of the den again to see Kallik still facing the white bears, with Yakone at her shoulder. “White bears don’t have territories,” she argued. “You’re just trying to push us around.”

  “We have territories now.” Salik pushed his snout into Kallik’s face. “Or haven’t you noticed that there’s not enough ice to go around? Challenge us if you want,” he added smugly, “but the bears we found here before discovered that was a very bad idea.”

  For the first time Lusa noticed that the pile of snow where they had sheltered had once been a den. It had been crushed into destruction by gigantic paws with sharp claws. In the growing light of morning she made out blood spattered on the snow.

  No …

  Her heart thudding even harder, Lusa leaned in toward Toklo, feeling very small and vulnerable.

  Without warning, Manik suddenly leaped forward, out of the group of his friends. “You want to fight?” he challenged Toklo.