The Burning Horizon (2 page)

Yakone set his mouth determinedly. Toklo could see that he wasn't going to let his wounded paw hold him back.

“Don't fuss. I'll be fine,” he growled.

Kallik opened her jaws as if she was about to protest, then closed them again without speaking, though she still looked uneasy.

To prove his words, Yakone dug his forepaws into cracks in the rock and scrabbled with his hindpaws to push himself upward. Kallik gave him a shove from behind to help him on his way, then followed. Once Toklo was sure they could manage, he began hauling himself up the cliff, tearing at the vegetation as he struggled to find pawholds. His claws were clogged with mashed-up leaves and his fur felt full of grit by the time he stood beside his friends at the top.

“Made it!” he grunted with satisfaction.

From the top of the cliff the ground fell away in a much shallower slope, covered with grass. At the bottom Toklo could see a lush growth of ferns, and he caught glimpses of a narrow stream winding its way among the clumps.

“Water!” he exclaimed, realizing for the first time how thirsty he was. “Come on!”

Lusa outran him as he galloped toward the stream, but the small black bear was so eager to reach the water that she tripped and went rolling head over paws down the slope. At the bottom she bounced up, pieces of leaf and twig clinging to her fur, and plunged her snout into the stream.

Toklo joined her, followed a few moments later by Kallik and Yakone. Kallik was matching her pace to Yakone's, whose limp seemed worse after the scramble up the rocks. Toklo knew that the white male's injured paw must be painful. The wound looked red and swollen, and blood was still trickling out, but neither of the white bears complained, just bent over the stream and drank thirstily.

“Yakone, are you okay?” Toklo asked. “Do you need to rest your paw?”

Yakone looked up, droplets of water spinning away from his muzzle. “My paw is fine,” he said.

Toklo knew he was just being brave.
I know he worries about holding us back.
But Yakone clearly didn't want sympathy, so he said no more.

Lusa finished drinking and glanced around at her three friends. “You know, there aren't any other bears like us,” she said.

Toklo gave her an affectionate nudge. “So you've met all the other bears in the world?” he teased her. “When did that happen?”

Lusa batted at him with one paw. “No, listen. Toklo, I know that what you really want is to stay here in the mountains on your own territory, and yet you drag yourself away from it for your friends. Kallik and Yakone left the Melting Sea for us. We've had help from flat-faces, like when Ujurak swallowed that fishhook, and we've traveled on a firesnake. How many other bears could say that?”

Toklo nodded reluctantly. He understood Lusa's point, but he wasn't sure that their choices had been the right ones. The two white bears looked grubby and exhausted, and Lusa was thinner and smaller than the other black bears they had met on their way.
Is it because she's been traveling for so long?

As he was wondering whether they could afford a short rest, Toklo picked up a new scent on the air. His neck fur rose in apprehension as he lifted his snout for a good long sniff.

It smells like wolves . . . but not quite the same. Are we in danger?

“Keep still,” he ordered in a low voice.

He sank down into the vegetation with the others beside him, all of them sniffing now. Toklo could make out only one scent, and after a few moments he spotted an animal slinking along the line of trees.

Not a wolf—a coyote!

Lusa let out a gasp of alarm, while Kallik and Yakone stiffened, their fur bristling. The creature seemed unaware of them. It was prowling along at a deliberate pace, its nose down
and its gaze fixed on the ground, making Toklo think it was on its own hunt. Memories of how they had been tracked by the pack of fierce coyotes flashed back into his mind, but he squashed his fears down.

This coyote is alone, and it doesn't look like it's after us. It's hunting something else.

Thinking about hunting made Toklo realize how hungry he was.
I'd love to know what the coyote found,
he thought.
I haven't caught a sniff of prey all day.
“It might lead us to some food,” he whispered to Kallik, who was closest to him. “Just one coyote and four of us—it should be easy!”

“Maybe.” A gleam of humor woke in Kallik's eyes.

“So what's the plan?” Lusa asked.

“I think we should follow it,” Yakone suggested. “Let it make the catch, and then we snatch the prey.”

Kallik nodded. “Good idea.”

“Okay, so we spread out,” Toklo said. “That way if it runs off with its prey, one of us will be there to grab it.”

The four bears rose to their paws and padded through the trees as quietly as they could, forming a wide ring around the coyote.

The stupid thing doesn't even know we're here,
Toklo thought.
It's totally focused on its hunt.

Watching Yakone limp through the undergrowth, a dark memory assailed Toklo of how the coyote pack had followed the trail of blood from his injured paw, relentlessly tracking them down.
This coyote could do just the same, given half a chance. But he's alone,
he reminded himself.
We'll be okay.

By now Toklo had spotted the coyote's prey: a pika, a furry creature a little smaller than a rabbit. He signaled to the others to keep well back so as not to spook the little animal, and concentrate on tracking the coyote. He was enjoying the practice of putting his paws down silently, making sure that he didn't brush against the undergrowth.

He spotted Kallik maneuvering so that she stayed upwind of the coyote and crouching down to slide underneath a low branch. He could see from the glimmer in her eyes that she was enjoying this, too.

Wry amusement bubbled up inside Toklo as he watched the coyote snuffling along the pika's scent trail. All its attention was still focused on its prey. As it drew closer to the pika, Toklo signaled to his friends again, jerking his head for them to move inward, tightening the circle.

We don't want to lose it now.

The pika stopped to nibble something on the ground underneath a juniper bush, and that was when the coyote sprang, snapping its jaws shut on the pika's neck.

Before the coyote could take a mouthful of its prey, the bears leaped forward. Toklo let out a roar, hoping to scare it off. The coyote looked up, wide-eyed with alarm, then snatched up the pika and tried to dart away.

Kallik plunged forward and raked her claws along the coyote's side. “Drop it, mangefur!” she snarled.

The coyote let out a yelp of terror. For a moment it froze, expecting Kallik to deal it a killing blow. But she stepped aside and the coyote fled, leaving the pika behind.

Toklo padded up and gave the pika a sniff. “It's not much for four hungry bears.”

“Three,” Lusa said, beginning to grub happily in the ground among the ferns. “There are plenty of roots here for me.”

Even divided among three, the pika did no more than take the edge off their hunger.

“Should we hunt some more?” Kallik suggested.

Toklo shook his head. “Look through the trees,” he said. “There's another cliff ahead. And there'll be fallen trees, ravines, rocks. . . . We need to keep walking while it's still daylight.”

Kallik gave Yakone a glance. “Are you worried Yakone will have trouble with the terrain?” she asked Toklo. “He'll be fine.”

Yakone nodded. “You don't need to worry about me.”

“I'm not,” Toklo told him, not sure he was being entirely truthful. “But we'll walk at your pace, no faster. Let's go.”

Another hard scramble brought the bears to the top of the next cliff and into a stretch of land where the trees were interspersed with wide-open spaces covered in long grass. With little shade, it was harder than ever to keep going. Toklo could see that the white bears were beginning to stagger, their chests heaving with each breath.

But we have to keep moving, or we'll never get to Great Bear Lake in time.

His belly still rumbling after his share of the pika, Toklo kept sniffing the air as he padded along. He had just picked up a warm prey-scent when he heard a startled yelp from Kallik.
A hare had jumped up from the grass right under her paws. Instinctively Kallik lashed out, and the hare dropped limply to the ground.

“Great catch!” Yakone praised her.

“I didn't do anything,” Kallik said, looking dazed. “It was right there. How could I have missed it?”

“Maybe Ujurak sent it,” Lusa suggested.

“Maybe,” Toklo agreed. “Thank you, spirits, whoever you are.”

Kallik picked up her prey and headed for the next clump of trees, which cast a welcome patch of shade. Gathering around, they all shared the hare.

When he had filled his belly, Toklo felt sleepy. The shadows were lengthening as the sun slid down the sky, and he was tempted to stay where they were for the night. He knew that none of the others would argue if he suggested it.

No,
he thought, stifling a yawn.
We can manage another skylength before nightfall.

They kept walking even after the sun had gone down, though light still lingered in the sky, until Toklo realized that none of them could go another pawstep. He halted at the edge of a hollow among the roots of a pine tree, with bushes overhanging it.

“Let's rest,” he said. “This will make a good den.”

Lusa puffed out a breath. “Thank Arcturus! My paws are falling off.”

She slid down into the hollow. Kallik and Yakone followed,
careful not to squash her. Toklo hesitated for a moment, wondering if he ought to keep watch.

But I'm so exhausted, if anything crept up on us, I wouldn't have the strength to fight.

He clambered down into the den to join the others, wriggling to make space for himself. In the dim light he could see Lusa with her paws wrapped over her nose, and Kallik and Yakone lying close together, already snoring. With a sigh of relief, Toklo let himself slide into sleep.

Toklo woke and stirred in the temporary den, then stretched his jaws in a vast yawn. Poking his head out from under the bushes, he saw that the sky was paling toward dawn. Dew glimmered on the grass, and shreds of mist drifted among the trees. The air smelled clear and fresh.

His three companions were still sleeping, their bellies still comfortably rounded from Kallik's hare. This would be the third sunrise since the bears had set out from the Sky Ridge, and there had been more prey after that.

Leaving the others undisturbed, Toklo heaved himself out of the den and padded toward the edge of the trees to look out across the open grassland. All around him mountains rolled endlessly away, wooded slopes giving way to bare rock. Some of the summits shone white where snow still lay unmelted.

It's like we're the only living things in the whole world!

The thought had barely crossed Toklo's mind when a flock of birds flapped noisily out of the trees above his head, and
immediately after a long screech ripped through the air, followed by a harsh rumble that throbbed in Toklo's ears.

Toklo's shoulder fur began to rise, though he knew the sound was only a firesnake racing through the trees along an unseen SilverPath. “I know it can't reach us up here,” he grumbled aloud, “but it doesn't belong here, and I don't like it!” He shuddered at the memory of their journey on the firesnake, the speed and noise and the reek of flat-face stuff.

He turned his focus back to the mountains. Somewhere far ahead, beyond the rolling hills, was Great Bear Lake, where all the other bears would be traveling for the Longest Day. Toklo had made the journey before, but everything was different now.

I was so young then, so lost and angry and frightened. I didn't even know where I was going; I just knew that I had to leave the place where Oka lived because of her grief and her rage. Meeting Lusa and Ujurak was the best thing that could have happened to me. I wasn't lonely anymore, and they gave me something to live for.

A pang of grief pierced Toklo as he thought about Ujurak.
Is he watching me right now?
Looking up, he could see one or two stars still glimmering in the dawn sky, but he couldn't make out his friend's star-shape.

Toklo asked himself whether Ujurak would have told him to stay in his newly won territory. Lusa probably would have been fine traveling to the Longest Day Gathering with Kallik and Yakone, and they could have helped her to find a new home before heading off to find their own. And Kallik and
Yakone would always have each other, so no bear would be left alone.

There'll come a time when I have to make the long journey back here by myself.

Toklo's belly churned as he realized that by choosing to travel once again with his companions, he was putting off the inevitable separation.

A familiar voice echoed in his mind. “Perhaps it's fitting that the final part of your journey, to claim your own territory, should be alone, like a true brown bear?”

Toklo caught his breath. Turning, he saw a small, dark-furred bear standing beside him. “Ujurak!” he exclaimed.

“After all,” Ujurak continued, as if they were in the middle of a conversation, “won't you get more respect at the Sky Ridge if the other bears know you as ‘the wanderer'? The bear of all territories, the bear who has seen more of the world than any of them will be able to imagine?”

“Maybe . . .” Toklo murmured.

“Other brown bears will look upon you as fierce
and
wise,” Ujurak said, “but only if you make it to Great Bear Lake, to the gathering. Nothing is more important than that right now. For Lusa, and for you.”

Toklo put his head on one side. “What do you mean? Is something going to happen to me at the lake?”

“I can't say,” Ujurak replied. “It's something you must discover for yourself. But trust me, it's vital for you to get there.”