The Last Wilderness Page 6

  ‘Are we supposed to let him die in front of us?’ Toklo growled.

  ‘Of course not . . . Lusa, your paws are smallest. Can you reach down Ujurak’s throat?’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  Kallik levered Ujurak’s jaws open with her paws. When she tilted his head back – his eyes didn’t open – she could see the line trailing down his throat, mixed up with scraps of half-chewed seaweed. Lusa tried to squeeze her paw into Ujurak’s mouth, but it was clear right away that she couldn’t reach far enough down his throat to find the hook.

  ‘It’s no use.’ Kallik let Ujurak’s jaws close, and gently drew one paw down the side of his neck. He gave a muffled, rasping cough and then lay still again. Kallik stared hopelessly at Lusa and Toklo. Their friend was dying, and there was nothing they could do. Ujurak would know which herbs might help, maybe even how to get the hook out without hurting him more. But Ujurak couldn’t help himself, and they were useless without him.

  ‘We can’t help him,’ said Lusa, echoing Kallik’s thoughts, ‘but I think the flat-faces would know what to do.’

  ‘Oh, right,’ Toklo grumbled. ‘Like flat-faces would care about a bear.’

  ‘They will!’ Lusa insisted. She sounded so certain that a tiny spark of hope flared up inside Kallik. ‘Back in the Bear Bowl, there were flat-faces who healed bears. They took my mother away and made her better when she was sick.’

  ‘We’re not in the Bear Bowl now, in case you haven’t noticed,’ Toklo pointed out.

  ‘And we don’t know if there are any flat-faces who heal bears here,’ Kallik added, her spark of hope ready to be snuffed out.

  ‘But we know they heal other flat-faces,’ Lusa retorted. ‘Remember the little cub who fell over and cut his leg? Later on we saw him running around, quite well again. That flat-face den where his father took him must be where the flat-face healer lives.’

  ‘And how does that help Ujurak?’ Toklo asked.

  But Kallik had already understood what Lusa meant. ‘If Ujurak can turn into a flat-face –’ she said slowly.

  ‘Then we can take him to the healer,’ Lusa finished, her eyes shining. ‘And the healer will help him.’

  Toklo grunted. ‘He was a flat-face cub when I first met him. But I don’t know if he’ll be able to change now.’

  Kallik nudged Ujurak’s shoulder with her snout. ‘Come on, Ujurak, wake up! You have to be a flat-face.’

  Ujurak didn’t move. Toklo shouldered Kallik aside and gave Ujurak a sharper prod. ‘Wake up!’

  Ujurak moaned faintly and more blood trickled out of his mouth. His eyes flickered open, glazed with pain; he stared at his friends as if he didn’t recognise them. A grating sound came from his throat.

  ‘Don’t try to talk,’ Kallik said, bending over him. ‘You’re hurt. But you have to turn into a flat-face so we can help you.’

  Ujurak blinked slowly, as if he didn’t understand. Kallik peered at him, looking for the first signs of change, but he was definitely still a bear.

  ‘It’s no use, he can’t –’ Toklo began.

  ‘He can and he will.’ Kallik wouldn’t let any of them give up yet. ‘Come on, Ujurak. You know what a flat-face looks like. Please try.’

  ‘You don’t have any fur, and your skin is pink,’ Lusa added, crouching down beside Ujurak on the other side from Kallik. ‘Your face is flat.’

  ‘Don’t worry, we’ll stay close.’ Kallik pressed herself against Ujurak’s flank, feeling the cold of his sea-soaked fur. ‘We won’t let the flat-faces hurt you.’

  A hoarse groan came from Ujurak. Very slowly, Kallik saw his fur start to melt away, until his body was patched with brown and pink. His legs grew thinner, twitching with pain as they transformed. Kallik watched with a mix of pity and wonder as her friend’s forepaws stretched and divided, cramping into claw-shapes. Ujurak let out another cry of pain, higher pitched this time, as his snout shrank and his ears twisted and flattened. At last the remaining patches of brown fur vanished, except for a tangle covering his head.

  Kallik gazed down at the frail flat-face cub lying in front of her with the waves washing around him. He had lost consciousness again in the final stage of his transformation. His breath was faint and shallow. The fishing line still trailed from his mouth, with a froth of pink blood around his face.

  ‘Come on,’ Lusa barked. ‘He’ll die if we don’t get moving.’

  ‘I’ll carry him,’ Kallik offered.

  ‘No, I will.’ Toklo stepped forward, looking stunned. Kallik could understand; Ujurak’s transformations were usually so easy, and he looked as if he enjoyed them. This had been full of pain and had taken every last scrap of his strength.

  ‘OK, Toklo, lie down here,’ Lusa instructed him.

  The grizzly cub obeyed. Together Lusa and Kallik pushed Ujurak on to Toklo’s back. The brown bear rose to his paws with the pink flat-face cub draped over his shoulders; slowly and steadily he set off on the long trek back to the valley where they had seen the flat-face denning place. The sun was sinking, its sullen red gleams piercing through stormy grey clouds. Kallik knew instinctively that they had to get Ujurak to shelter before darkness fell. An injured flat-face cub, with no warm coat of fur, could never survive the cold night. That was the shape Ujurak needed to be in to be healed, but he seemed so vulnerable and frail in it!

  She and Lusa plodded along on either side, ready to catch Ujurak if he started to fall off. Kallik remembered how she and Taqqiq used to ride on their mother Nisa’s back. But that had been fun, one of the games on the ice with her brother that Kallik missed so much. This was more like the time Toklo had carried Lusa on his back after she was struck by the firebeast. They had been so afraid that Lusa would die, and now they were in another desperate race – this time to save Ujurak’s life.

  Ujurak shifted slightly, and Kallik rested her muzzle on his leg to keep him in place. She could feel how cold he was. She had always thought of flat-face skin as pink, but Ujurak was pale as snow, with a blue tinge like ice under the moon. He was still deeply unconscious, his head lolling.

  ‘His spirit is ready to go,’ she whispered in horror.

  ‘He’ll be OK,’ Lusa tried to reassure her. ‘The flat-face healer will know what to do.’

  But Kallik couldn’t share Lusa’s optimism, or her confidence in the skill of flat-faces. She had watched Nisa and Nanuk die, even though she would have given anything to save them. Now Ujurak was fighting for his life.

  As the bears trudged past the lone flat-face hut where they had first seen the cub, the first drops of rain began to fall; within moments it became a downpour. Wind drove it into their faces; their fur was soaked and the caribou trail they were following became a river of mud.

  Toklo let out a growl. ‘This is all we need!’

  The rain was bouncing off Ujurak’s unprotected body, plastering his remaining fur close to his head. Kallik clamped her jaws on a howl of distress. She knew that the fragile cub needed warmth and shelter; instead the rain might be washing away his last chance of life. She couldn’t even see if he was breathing any more.

  When they finally rounded the last curve of the valley and came within sight of the flat-face denning area, there was no one to be seen.

  ‘They’re all keeping dry in their dens,’ Kallik murmured.

  ‘So what do we do with Ujurak?’ Toklo asked. ‘We need to get him into shelter, fast.’

  ‘That’s where the little cub came out,’ Lusa said, pointing with her snout towards one of the wooden dens. ‘The healer must live there.’

  Without replying, Toklo veered from the caribou trail and plodded up to the door of the den. He crouched down; very gently Lusa and Kallik pulled Ujurak off his back and let him lie on the ground in front of the door. Kallik realised that he was still breathing, but his breath seemed shallow and quick.

  ‘Come on,’ Toklo said, rising to his paws again. ‘Let’s get out of here. We don’t want the flat-faces to spot us.’

  He bounded off towar
d the shelter of a rocky outcrop at the edge of the caribou trail. Lusa raced after him. Before she joined them, Kallik let out a long, low-pitched howl.

  ‘Help! Our friend is hurt! Come, quickly!’

  Then, without looking back, she followed the others. As soon as she reached the rock where the others were hiding, Kallik poked her head out of cover to see what was happening. The door of the flat-face den stayed closed.

  ‘What if the flat-face isn’t there?’ she whispered to Lusa, who was peering out beside her.

  ‘He is. He’s got to be!’ The small black bear spat each word out through gritted teeth.

  Still there was no movement from inside the den. Pain gripped Kallik’s belly as she saw how small and vulnerable Ujurak looked, huddled on the ground with rain running down his bare, pale skin.

  Silaluk! Kallik prayed. Do something, please! Ujurak can’t die!

  CHAPTER TEN:

  Lusa

  Lusa peered out from the shelter of the rock and across the open ground to where Ujurak’s limp body lay motionless in front of the closed door, the rain beating down on him. Come on, flat-face! Where are you?

  Beside her she could feel tension quivering through Kallik; her friend’s gaze was fixed on the door as if she was willing it to open. Behind her, Toklo’s voice came in a soft, wordless grumble.

  We’ve done everything we can, Lusa thought. It’s up to the flat-faces now.

  A sharp sound came from the flat-face denning place; every hair on Lusa’s pelt prickled as the door of another den swung open and the grey-furred flat-face came out. He strode across the open space towards his own den and stopped abruptly when he spotted Ujurak lying in front of the door. Stooping down, he laid one of his paws on Ujurak’s chest. Then he raised his head and glanced around; Lusa found it hard to read flat-face expressions, but she thought he looked confused.

  ‘Take him inside!’ Toklo growled behind her. ‘Why are you messing around like that?’

  For a moment Lusa wondered if the flat-face was going to leave Ujurak there, dying in the rain. Did flat-faces care for strangers who weren’t part of their herd? Then she let out a gasp of relief as the flat-face slid his forelimbs underneath Ujurak and lifted him up. He pushed the door open with one shoulder, carried Ujurak inside the den, and shut the door behind them.

  ‘There!’ Kallik exclaimed with satisfaction. ‘He’ll be OK now, won’t he, Lusa?’

  It was Toklo who replied, ‘I don’t know. I still don’t trust flat-faces.’

  His doubts couldn’t quench the hope Lusa had begun to feel as soon as the flat-face took Ujurak in. ‘These flat-faces aren’t like that. Ujurak said so,’ she reminded him. ‘He said they had animal spirits.’

  ‘That’s just a load of cloudfluff,’ Toklo retorted.

  Lusa guessed Toklo just didn’t want to allow himself to hope in case they lost Ujurak after all. She pressed herself comfortingly against his side, wishing she could give him some of her trust.

  ‘The flat-faces in the Bear Bowl looked after us,’ she told him. ‘I told you they took care of my mother when she was sick? She was so ill, I thought she was going to die. But when they brought her back she was well again, just the same as always.’

  ‘The flat-face wouldn’t have taken Ujurak in if he didn’t want to care for him,’ Kallik added hopefully.

  Toklo just grunted.

  Lusa stared at the closed door of the healer’s den, wishing she knew what was going on inside. She thought about her dream on Smoke Mountain, when her mother had come to her and told her that she had to save the wild. When she woke, Ujurak had known all about it.

  They had never spoken about the dream since, but Lusa had known from that moment that Ujurak was even more special than they realised. The spirits wouldn’t let him die. The whole of the wild needed him too much.

  Closing her eyes, Lusa tried to send out a message to Ujurak. The flat-faces will look after you, she told him, hoping that he could hear her. We’ll wait for you until you’re better, so we can keep going to save the wild.

  Lusa felt new strength welling up inside her like a mountain spring. Somehow she knew that Ujurak would receive her message. Letting out a long sigh, she opened her eyes again. ‘I’m starving!’ she announced. It seemed as if days had passed since they had persuaded Ujurak to join the flock of geese in the hope of catching one of them. ‘What about you?’

  Toklo nodded. ‘We need to hunt,’ he murmured reluctantly, ‘but –’

  ‘But we can’t go off and leave Ujurak,’ Kallik finished for him. ‘Not when we don’t know if he’s going to be OK.’

  As the bears glanced uncertainly at one another, Lusa raised her snout and sniffed. She could pick up whiffs of interesting scents, and she realised how quiet the denning place was, with all the flat-faces indoors because of the rain.

  She gave Kallik a friendly shove with one paw. ‘Don’t worry. Flat-face dens are always good for a few scraps of food, if you know where to look.’

  Toklo frowned. ‘I’d rather hunt our own prey.’

  ‘No, Lusa’s right,’ Kallik said. ‘This will be easier, and we can stay close to Ujurak.’

  Toklo shrugged. ‘OK. But don’t blame me if the flat-faces catch us.’

  By now twilight was gathering. The rain still hissed down around them, and the doors to the flat-face dens stayed firmly closed. Cautious, but still confident, Lusa led the way across the denning area, looking for the shiny containers full of rubbish that flat-faces always kept at the back of their dens.

  The faint sound of music and flat-face voices came from the bigger den that the healer had left. Lusa crept up to a lighted window and peered inside. Rows of flat-faces sat at tables, with little piles of meat in front of them. They were talking loudly and baring their teeth at one another in a friendly way.

  As one of the flat-faces rose to his feet, Lusa drew back into the shadows, shoving Toklo and Kallik away from the window. A moment later the flat-face opened the door and stepped out, pulling a pelt over his head, and ran across the rainswept ground to another den in a distant corner.

  ‘Let’s get on with it!’ Toklo hissed in her ear. ‘They’ll spot us if we hang around here.’

  Lusa knew he was right. She set off again, still looking for the flat-face rubbish containers. To her surprise, she couldn’t see any. ‘What do they do with their rubbish?’ she muttered angrily. ‘Don’t they know there are hungry bears around here?’

  As they came to the end of a row of flat-face dens, Toklo halted, sniffing at the air. ‘What’s that?’ he asked.

  Lusa joined him and took a deep sniff. The most delicious smells tickled her nostrils; they seemed to be coming from a small den a little way from the end of the row. ‘We’ve got to have some of that!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘Be careful,’ Kallik warned her as she padded up to Lusa’s side. ‘There’s the smell of fire too. It could be dangerous.’

  ‘I’ll be fine.’

  Before either of her friends could object, Lusa gave a swift glance around to check that no flat-faces had appeared, then trotted up to the door of the small den. She gave the door a push, but it wouldn’t open. Frustrated, she glared at it, then noticed a gleam of silver between the edge of the door and the frame. Something there was holding the door shut.

  Squeezing her paw into the gap, Lusa gave the silver thing an experimental prod. There was a clicking sound; she almost lost her balance as the door swung inward. Smoke surged out of the doorway, while the delicious scents grew stronger still.

  Lusa looked back to where her friends were waiting a few bearlengths away. ‘Keep watch for flat-faces!’ she called.

  Then she slipped through the doorway into the small den. The air was full of smoke, stinging her eyes, but the smell guided her forward until she could make out long strips of meat hanging from wooden beams under the roof.

  What’s the meat doing there? Lusa wondered. I’ll never understand flat-faces!

  Rearing up on her hind legs, she manage
d to snag the end of one of the strips with an outstretched paw and pull it to the ground. Encouraged by her success, she tugged down a second piece. Grabbing them in her jaws, she raced out of the den and back to her friends.

  ‘Lusa, you’re brilliant!’ Kallik exclaimed.

  Toklo still had an air of nagging anxiety, which the sight of the meat didn’t banish. ‘Better take it back to the rocks. The flat-faces might spot us if we stay here.’ He spun round to lead the way without waiting for a response.

  Lusa hurried after him, dragging the long strips of meat, expecting at any moment to hear flat-faces shouting behind her. But everything was quiet.

  ‘Here, eat,’ she said, dropping the meat in the shelter of the rock.

  Kallik seized on one end of a strip, chewing eagerly, but Toklo still hung back. He was peering round the side of the rock at the healer’s den.

  Lusa gave him a gentle shove. ‘Come on, eat. We won’t be any use to Ujurak if we’re weak from hunger.’

  Toklo nodded reluctantly and settled down to gnaw at the other strip of meat. ‘Caribou,’ he muttered after a mouthful or two. ‘Tastes a bit weird, but it’s good. Thanks, Lusa.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’

  Lusa crouched down to eat her own share, enjoying the rich, tangy taste of the caribou meat. But she couldn’t help noticing that Toklo was still brooding, pausing every few moments to listen and glance around, as if he was desperate for any sign that would tell him what was happening to Ujurak.

  ‘I know what we can do,’ she said when she and her friends had finished eating. ‘Follow me.’

  Kallik and Toklo exchanged a puzzled look, but they followed Lusa out from behind the rocks. The rain was easing off, but by now it was full night, and the doors of the flat-face dens stayed closed as Lusa led the way around the edges of the open space, clinging to the shadows. They froze as another flat-face left the big den and sprinted past them, barely two bearlengths away. He had his head down against the last flurries of rain and didn’t spot the bears crouching in the shelter of a projecting roof.