Island of Shadows (13 page)

Are you here, Ujurak?
she asked silently.
We need you. Please come and help us.

She longed to see the star-bear in some form, but there was nothing else alive in the tunnels that could possibly be Ujurak.

There's just the three of us
, Lusa thought. Then she gave herself a shake.
Just the three of us, and Toklo.

Toklo let out a groan and
opened his eyes. At first everything was dark, and terror washed over him as he stared into the blackness.
Am I blind? Oh, spirits, no!

Then gradually he began to make out his surroundings. He was lying on a flat earth floor, half buried in dirt and small stones and melting snow. Looking up, he saw the hole above his head, and beyond that the night sky.

What happened?
he wondered.
What am I doing down here?

Then he remembered. He and his friends had crossed the BlackPath, and he had bounded forward into the wilderness, eager to get away from the flat-faces and everything they made. The last thing he could recall was the ground giving way under his paws.

“I fell,” he mumbled to himself. “Through that hole and right down here.” Toklo blinked up at the hole, bewilderment rushing through him like an eddying stream.
They wouldn't have left me down here.
“Hey, Lusa! Kallik!”

Moving his head sent pain clawing through it, and every muscle in his body shrieked in protest as he staggered to his paws and shook the snow and earth from his pelt.

“Lusa!” Toklo roared as loudly as he could. “Kallik!”

The only response was more snow dislodging from the edges of the hole and spattering on top of his head. Toklo backed away from the shower. If the snow above him collapsed completely, he could be crushed under it.

“I'd better move,” he muttered.

Peering around, he saw a dark tunnel leading away in both directions. The sides were lined by flat pieces of wood, and more thick strips of wood supported the roof, though where he had been lying the wood strips had fallen away. The harsh tang of firebeasts was stronger than ever down here.

“Flat-faces!” he said with a snort of disgust. “This is one of their places. The sooner I'm out of here, the better.”

In one direction the tunnel sloped upward, giving Toklo hope that it would soon lead to a way out. He began to pad along it, his paws unsteady at first until his muscles loosened up and the throbbing in his head began to die away.

His mouth felt as dry as a shriveled leaf, and in the dim light he spotted droplets of moisture clinging to the walls of the tunnel. Stretching out his tongue he licked some of them, wincing at the harsh taste that reminded him of firebeasts.

I'd give anything for a long drink of clean water!

The last of the light faded completely as he moved away from the hole, leaving him in total darkness. He felt a stab of fear at the thought of stumbling around in the pitch-black tunnels until he was too weak to go on, but he forced it down.

There
must
be a way out!

His hopes were raised when he felt a faint breeze blowing into his face, and a glimmer of light showed in front of him. Pain stabbed through his muscles as he broke into a shambling run, only to halt in frustration when he came to a place where the tunnels forked. A trickle of light came from a narrow crack in the roof, just enough to show him the two passages leading away from him. One looked bigger than the other, and still led upward; that was where the breeze was coming from. Toklo plunged into it, almost certain now that he was close to the surface and a way out.

But the tunnel went on without a break, farther and farther into the darkness. The upward slope leveled out, and the passage seemed to grow narrower, so that Toklo kept bumping into the walls. Bruised and confused, he was finding it harder and harder to make his paws move.

“I've got to sleep for a bit,” he told himself, with a pang of fear that he might never wake up. “Then I'll feel stronger, and I'll soon find a way out.”

But as he slumped to the floor and huddled against the passage wall, he had to admit that he didn't really believe it.

A scratching noise woke Toklo. He started up, his heart thumping. For a moment he couldn't remember where he was. Then he realized that he could see: A thin ray of light angled down from a gap in the roof. The sight brought back the memory of his fall and his struggle through the tunnels. He had no idea of how long he had been sleeping.

In one direction the passage stretched away into darkness. In the other it was partly blocked by a pile of rocks and earth. The scratching noise was coming from the other side of the blockage.

“Kallik? Lusa?” Toklo's voice was hoarse. “Is that you?”

There was no reply. Despair surged over Toklo. For a moment he had been certain that his friends had found him.

Scratch. Scratch.

Toklo froze. If it wasn't Kallik and Lusa on the other side of the rockfall, what was it? He tried to sniff it out, but the harsh firebeast tang overwhelmed everything.

Scratch.

Toklo shivered at the sound of small, scrabbling claws.
What sort of creature lives here in the dark?

Then he shook his head, annoyed with himself.
Stop being ridiculous! You're still a strong brown bear, even if you are underground. And the tunnel's a tight fit, so whatever's there is probably smaller than you.

Hunger was grumbling in his belly. Water flooded his jaws at the thought that the unseen creature might be prey. He began scrambling over the rockfall, flinching as the sharp stones bit into his pads, and let himself slide down on the other side.

Something white flickered in the near darkness. Toklo made out the shape of an Arctic hare, limping away from him as if it was sick or injured.

It probably fell down here, just like me
, he thought, launching himself after it.

His scrapes and bruises, and the suffocating dark of the tunnels, made his movements stiff and clumsy. The hare let out a squeal of terror and dove away down the passage, but there was just enough light for Toklo to pursue it, guided by its pale pelt. He swiped at it with a paw, missed, and forced his aching legs into a leap that brought him down on top of it. Scrambling up, Toklo kept one paw firmly clamped down on the hare, but it was dead, its neck broken.

“Call yourself a hunter?” Toklo muttered, glad that his friends hadn't seen the awkward catch. Then he crouched down beside his prey and devoured it in a few ravenous bites. He didn't let himself think about the possibility that it could be Ujurak. If Ujurak decided to visit him down here, he wouldn't be stupid enough to come in the shape of prey, not when Toklo had no other source of food.

The hare meat seemed to lie heavily in Toklo's belly, but the food refreshed him, and his legs felt stronger as he set out again along the passage. Blundering along in the darkness, he realized that the tunnel was rising again. He gradually became aware that he could hear something beyond the padding of his own paws: a low, rumbling sound, like distant thunder, except that it grew louder and softer again, then died into silence, without any pattern that he could work out.

Suddenly Toklo realized what he was hearing.

Firebeasts!

Somehow he must have found his way back to the Black-Path that he and the others had crossed before he fell down the hole. By now the sound was almost overhead.

More light was leaking into the tunnel from a jagged hole a few bearlengths ahead of Toklo. Padding along until he stood underneath it, Toklo saw that another rockfall had opened up a gap, breaking away some of the wooden strips that shored up the roof. Beyond it he could see the night sky. The gap looked too small for him to squeeze through, but Toklo's paws were tingling at the thought of climbing back into the open air.

I can't take another pawstep down in these horrible tunnels! Not without doing my best to get out.

Clambering up on the pile of earth and rocks that had fallen from the roof, Toklo reared unsteadily onto his hindpaws and sank the claws of his forepaws into one of the wooden strips. Grunting with effort, he hauled himself up and thrust his head and then his shoulders through the gap.

A thundering roar sounded as he broke out into the open, and blinding light angled over him. Firebeasts were sweeping up and down the BlackPath; he had surfaced a paw's width from the edge.

But Toklo couldn't wait for the noise and light to die away. The wood he was clinging to wobbled under his weight. He had to use all his strength to force his way out of the hole before it collapsed. Sharp rocks and splinters of wood dug into his sides as he heaved himself upward. His hindpaws scrabbled for a grip on the wood, and he groped with his forepaws at the edge of the hole.

“Nearly there …” he panted.

Then he heard the roar of another approaching firebeast. It grew and grew, louder and louder, until it seemed to fill the whole world. Its glaring eyes were fixed on Toklo, and its round black paws pounded the BlackPath.

A shudder ran through the wooden strip that was supporting Toklo. He let out a roar of alarm as it gave way, and he crashed back into the tunnel in a shower of earth and rocks. Pain clawed through Toklo's head, and he choked on soil. Debris was pinning him to the floor of the passage.

As his senses spun away, he remembered how Oka had buried his brother, Tobi, under sticks and earth.

That's the right way for brown bears
, he thought muzzily.
Maybe this is how I'm meant to die after all….

Kallik halted, angling her ears forward.
A faint roaring seemed to be coming from farther down the tunnel. “I can hear firebeasts!” she exclaimed.

“Then we must be close to the BlackPath!” Though it was too dark for Kallik to see the small black bear, Lusa's voice betrayed her excitement. “And that's not far from where Toklo fell in!”

“Let's hurry,” Yakone's deeper voice rumbled.

Kallik strained all her senses as she bounded down the tunnel. She hated the dark passages more and more with every breath she took. She had never felt so far from her mother or the endless sky. But she refused to give up. Somewhere in the darkness Toklo was lying injured, or searching desperately for a way out. She wouldn't abandon him.

Just ahead the passage divided once again, but this time Kallik had some sound to guide her, and she made for one of the openings with scarcely a heartbeat's hesitation.

“Yes!” Lusa panted, scurrying just behind her. “I can smell new dust this way. Some of the rocks must have fallen.”

Kallik drew in the air, though she hardly broke stride to check the scent. “You're right,” she replied. “And I think there's a trace of bear.”

“Toklo!” Lusa exclaimed happily. “We've found him!”

Kallik wasn't so sure, but her hope mounted as the sounds of firebeasts and the new scents grew clearer. A cold wind was blowing down the passage into their faces. This was surely the way out—and somewhere close by there was a bear.

It has to be Toklo! It has to!