Island of Shadows (21 page)

Toklo managed to wedge solid snow
beneath his paws and struggle out of the drift. Blinking ice crystals from his eyes, he saw a white she-bear looking down at him from an outcrop of rock. Her eyes glimmered with amusement.

“Haven't you ever seen a snowdrift before?” she called.

“I'm not used to so much snow,” Toklo replied crossly. “I'm not from around here.”

The white bear jumped gracefully down to a rock on the same level as Toklo. Looking more closely at her, Toklo recognized her as one of the group who had passed by the cave earlier.

“I thought you were one of the brown bears from the other side of the island,” she said.

Toklo's fur tingled as the white bear drew closer, and he braced himself for the hostility Nanulak had warned him about. “No,” he grunted. “I'm just passing through.”

The she-bear blinked in surprise. “We don't get many visitors here.”

Toklo was wary of telling her too much about himself. He didn't want to attract her attention to his friends, especially to Nanulak. For all he knew, these white bears were the ones who had attacked the cub.

“I'm not surprised,” he responded, “if it's impossible to catch prey when it snows.”

“Well, of course you can't hunt in a snowdrift,” the white bear said. “Don't you know anything?” Beckoning him with a jerk of her head, she added, “Come up here; it's easier.”

Toklo still didn't trust the she-bear, but he was glad to get away from the level of the overhang; he was still too close for comfort to the cave where Nanulak and Lusa were hiding. Toklo hauled himself up to stand beside the she-bear. At once he realized that the snow was thinner here; he could feel the rock beneath his paws. The white bear watched him closely; he was conscious of laughter in her eyes as he panted from the effort of climbing.

“I'm Tikaani,” she said.

“I'm Toklo,” he puffed, dipping his head.

“So,” Tikaani went on, “I'd better give you a lesson in hunting, or you'll starve before you get where you're going.”

Though she seemed friendly, Toklo still couldn't shake off his suspicions. “What about your friends?” he asked.

There was a flicker of surprise in Tikaani's eyes, and Toklo wondered whether he should have let slip that he had seen her with the other white bears. Then she shrugged gracefully. “They can hunt for themselves. It's easier to hunt alone, anyway.” Glancing around, she added, “Are you traveling alone?”

“Yes,” Toklo replied quickly. “I… I heard there were brown bears here, so I came to see them, but I don't want to stay here forever.”

The explanation sounded clumsy in his ears, but Tikaani seemed to accept it. Her gaze was focused on the white expanse in front of her. “When the snow's this deep,” she began, “you have to keep to the higher, more exposed ground, where there won't be so many drifts. Trying to hunt below that overhang is the worst thing you could do.”

Toklo nodded.
I already found that out!

“And you can't chase prey when the snow is this deep,” Tikaani went on. “Instead you have to wait, as if you were at a seal hole—though I guess you wouldn't know about those.”

Oh, no?
Toklo thought, though he said nothing.
I know all about catching seals!

“Let's see what we can find,” Tikaani said. She led the way over the rocks, finally halting beside a small hole in the snow. Stretching out her neck, she sniffed carefully. “There's a lemming down there,” she murmured.

“A lemming?” Toklo had never heard of that animal before. From the size of the hole, it couldn't be that big.

“Like the one you were chasing,” Tikaani explained. “Now, don't get too close to the hole, or it might realize we're here. We have to wait for it to come out.”

She settled down beside the hole, and Toklo did the same.
It's
exactly
like waiting for a seal to pop up!

“When it comes, it's yours,” Tikaani added in a low voice. “Make sure you're ready!”

She remained completely still, her gaze fixed on the hole, and Toklo did his best to imitate her as he resigned himself to a long wait even though there was an itchy place behind one of his ears that he desperately wanted to scratch, and he thought that Tikaani might be able to hear the rumbling of his belly. Suddenly Tikaani looked up and gave him a swift nod.

Has she heard something?
Toklo wondered, impressed.
She must have really good ears!

A moment later the lemming popped its head out of the hole. Toklo waited a heartbeat until it emerged onto the surface of the snow: a small, plump creature with long fur in mottled shades of brown. Then he pounced! He wasn't used to catching anything that tiny, and he thought at first it would slip through his paws. To his relief, he felt his claws sink into it.

I did it!

“Here,” Toklo said, pushing the lemming toward Tikaani with one paw. “It's your prey, really.”

The she-bear shook her head. “Thanks, but you caught it,” she replied. “And I guess you need it more than I do. I'll be able to catch another.” She paused, then added, “Will you be okay now?”

Toklo gave her a grateful nod. “Do you live near here?” he asked her.

“My family moves around,” Tikaani answered. “We come to the mountains in the really bad weather, because there are more places to shelter, and it's easier to hunt on the exposed rocks.” She put her head on one side thoughtfully, then continued, “Would you like to stay with us for a while? My family wouldn't mind, and there's room for you in the den.”

Surprised, Toklo shook his head. This wasn't the hostile reception he'd been expecting based on Nanulak's warnings. “No, thanks, I'll be fine.”
I just wanted to know where you are so we can avoid an attack
, he added silently to himself.

Tikaani shrugged. “Then maybe I'll see you again tomorrow,” she said. “If you're still around?”

“Maybe,” Toklo responded.

He stood still and watched her go, leaping gracefully from rock to rock. Then he picked up the lemming and jumped down again to the level of the cave. His heart was pounding, and he felt hot inside his fur.

What's the matter with me?
He decided that it must be from the tension of knowing that there were white bears around who could attack at any time.
The one I met was pretty nice, but the others might be hostile, like Nanulak said.

Toklo kept a wary eye out as he followed his trail back through the snow, and he checked that no strangers were watching before he ducked back under the overhang and through the gap in the snow that they had made earlier when they'd pushed their way out.

Lusa and Nanulak were hiding in the farthest corner of the cave, their eyes wide with anxiety, gleaming in the half darkness.

“You've got food!” Nanulak exclaimed, edging forward.

“You weren't attacked?” Lusa added.

“No,” Toklo replied. “Everything was fine.” He decided not to tell the others about Tikaani. He didn't think that she was a threat, and he wanted to avoid scaring them with talk of a white bear so close to their cave.

Just then Toklo heard the sound of pawsteps approaching the gap through the snow. He swung around, then relaxed to see Kallik and Yakone; Kallik was carrying a goose.

“You've done well,” he said. “Did you have any problems?”

Yakone shook his head. “We spotted one of those white bears at a distance, but I don't think he noticed us.”

“Good,” Nanulak growled. “I hope we can keep it that way.”

The light outside was ebbing away as Toklo settled down with the others to share the prey. Warmth soaked through his pelt and into his belly as he ate. “Are there many white bears on the island?” he asked Nanulak.

“Too many!” Nanulak snarled. “They're always causing trouble for the brown bears, stealing fresh-caught prey and attacking their cubs.”

Toklo was puzzled. Tikaani had seemed quite friendly when he'd mentioned the other brown bears on the island. And she had been generous with the prey; he couldn't imagine her stealing, or attacking defenseless cubs.

“I wouldn't care if I never saw another white bear,” Nanulak went on. “I'd like it if every last one of them was wiped out!”

Kallik and Yakone exchanged an offended glance; Kallik looked as if she couldn't believe she had just heard that. Yakone was opening his jaws to reply when Lusa stretched out a paw and touched him on the leg, shaking her head. She was blinking unhappily, but she said nothing.

“There's no need to get so worked up,” Toklo said to Nanulak. “You know now that not all white bears are bad, and we'll protect you from the ones that want to hurt you.”

Nanulak snorted. “Would
all
of you fight white bears if they attacked me?”

“It's time we got some sleep,” Lusa interrupted, shoving Nanulak aside so that she could lie down between him and the white bears. “I'm so tired I can't keep my eyes open, and I don't want to listen to any more arguing.”

“I'll sleep next to the entrance,” Toklo volunteered. “If any hostile white bears find us, they'll have to get past me first.”

As he settled down, he heard a disgruntled huff from Nanulak, but then nothing more as the younger bear curled up and wrapped his paws around his nose. Lusa was already snoring.

Kallik and Yakone lay down side by side; Toklo heard Yakone muttering something into Kallik's ear, but he couldn't make out the words.
I really thought Nanulak was learning to get along with Kallik and Yakone
, Toklo mused.
I hope Kallik and Yakone can be patient with him.

The sun dazzled on the surface of the snow the next morning as Toklo set out to hunt again. No more had fallen overnight, and as Toklo started walking, he realized that the drifts had collapsed under their own weight, making it easier to move around.

We'll be able to leave soon
, he thought, and wondered why he felt regretful about that.
Maybe it
would
be better to stay here for a while. The cave is a good place to sleep, and there seems to be plenty of prey, if you know what to look for.

“Hello again!”

The greeting came from a nearby outcrop of rocks, and Toklo spotted Tikaani outlined against the sky. She bounded over to him.

“I hoped I'd see you today,” she confessed.

Shuffling his paws in the snow with embarrassment, Toklo wasn't sure what to say. But if Tikaani noticed his awkwardness, she didn't comment on it.

“I want to show you how to hunt birds. They're trickier because they can fly,” she explained.

Toklo's embarrassment vanished in a spurt of amusement. “You don't say!” he teased.

Tikaani let out a huff of laughter and butted him in the shoulder with her snout. Leaping back, Toklo scooped up a pawful of snow and flicked it at her, then froze, wondering if she would be offended. But Tikaani just flicked snow back at him, the crystals glittering in the sunlight.

Toklo wanted to keep playing like this all day, but a moment later Tikaani was practical again. “Okay, we need to find a special sort of thorn tree,” she said. “Let's try that thicket over there.”

Toklo followed her, and watched her nudge her way through the thorny branches until she could tear a large seed pod from one of the trees. The seeds inside rattled as she tugged it free.

“That won't feed us,” Toklo objected, though he wondered if it might make a tasty snack for Lusa.

“No, silly, it's not for us,” Tikaani responded, rolling her eyes. “Watch.”

Delicately she clawed the seed pod open and scattered the seeds on the snow. Then, beckoning to Toklo to follow her, she withdrew into the shelter of the thorns.

“Now we wait until the seeds tempt a bird down,” she explained. “Remember, pounce where you see shallow snow, not a deep drift to fall into.”

Toklo nodded, wishing he had Tikaani's skill of being able to tell the depth of the snow from just looking at it. As they settled down to wait, Tikaani began heaping snow on top of Toklo.

“Hey, what's that for?” he asked as the cold began to sink into his pelt.

“To hide you, cloud-brain!” Tikaani replied. “Your brown pelt really stands out. When you're on your own, you could try rolling in snow.”

“Okay.”
But I hope a bird comes down quickly.
Toklo had begun to think he would turn into an ice bear when he heard the flutter of wings and a goose landed on the snow. It started to eat the seeds with its back to Tikaani and Toklo.

Both bears leaped in the same heartbeat, but Toklo felt the snow give way under his hindpaws as he took off, and Tikaani reached the prey first, snapping its neck cleanly with a single swipe.

“Yes!” Toklo roared. “Great catch!”