The Melting Sea (24 page)

Kallik had volunteered to keep first watch for Salik and his vicious group of bears, but instead she was looking up at the stars, seeking Ujurak. She felt as though her heart was breaking; she couldn't believe that everything had gone so wrong. White bears turning against one another. The Melting Sea turning into water before burn-sky had even begun. What else had changed?

Ujurak, did you know what I would find when I came home?

Kallik jumped as Yakone's white shape emerged from the pile of snow. “Do you mind having some company?” he asked.

Shaking her head, Kallik leaned against his warm pelt. It felt so good to have him there. “I was so excited to bring you back here,” she told him, “back to where Taqqiq and I were born. But the ice is melting too fast, the bears are suffering more than ever, and Taqqiq and his friends are endangering lives with their greed and bullying. Nothing's right here,” she finished with a sigh.

Yakone touched her ear sympathetically with the tip of his muzzle. “I know how you feel,” he soothed her. “But we've traveled this far. We can do more than just watch what Taqqiq and the others are doing.”

His strong, determined voice comforted Kallik, but she still felt overwhelmed by her terrible discovery about her brother. “Maybe I shouldn't have come back,” she murmured.

“Of course you should have,” Yakone responded. “You wanted to find Taqqiq, and you did! I'm so proud of you.”

Kallik opened her eyes to see Toklo standing in front of her, muzzle raised to sniff the air. She had slept at last, tucked against Yakone's warm side; now he and the rest of her companions were waking, too. On the horizon a reddish glow showed her where the sun would rise.

“We need to plan what to do next,” Toklo announced.

“No.” Yakone heaved himself to his paws. “First we need to find food. We can't do anything to help Shila if we're weak from hunger. I'll go.”

Toklo grunted agreement, and Yakone padded off into the distance; Kallik lost sight of him as the growing light dazzled off the ice.

Sooner than she expected, Yakone was back, dragging a seal behind him.

“Wow, that was quick!” Kallik exclaimed. “Great job.”

Yakone nodded acknowledgment as he dropped the seal in front of her. “Too bad it's not bigger.”

Looking more closely, Kallik could see that the seal was young and skinny. Trying to hide her disappointment, she realized how slim the pickings were, even out on the ice.
Times really are hard
.

But no bear complained as they gathered around the seal to eat, tearing off chunks of the oily flesh. Kallik noticed that Lusa was only picking at her share; worry stabbed into her belly as she realized again how hard the black bear found it to live on the ice.

We need to get Lusa back to land, but that means saying good-bye to her and Toklo
, Kallik thought, deep sadness piercing her like thorns.
I can't bear the idea of losing my best friends....

“So,” Toklo continued as the bears were finishing up the last of the seal, “the way I see it, the first thing to do is to find Sakari and the cubs.”

Shila flashed him a grateful glance. Kallik thought that she looked calmer today, as if she was determined to keep fighting, whatever it took.

Rising to her paws, Shila studied the ice around her and lifted her muzzle to scent the air. A mist had risen while they ate, though to Kallik's relief it wasn't as thick a fog as the day before. She shifted her paws impatiently as she waited for Shila to make a decision.

Finally, Shila pointed ahead. “This way.”

As they trudged across the ice, Kallik deliberately padded alongside Lusa, half expecting the little black bear to need help.

“It's so amazing,” Lusa began, “how you white bears can find your way across the ice when it's just … white nothingness. I mean, we black bears steer by landmarks like rocks and trees and bushes. But there's nothing like that here. Just ice and snow, and that's changing all the time.”

“But there are loads of landmarks,” Kallik protested. “There's the shape and color of the ice, and the feel of it. There are scents on the wind, and the sound the wind makes as it crosses the Melting Sea.”

Lusa let out a little snort of laughter. “You mean like … that bit of ice,” she began, pointing with one paw, “is different from that bit?” She paused for a moment and sniffed. “It all smells the same to me.”

“Look,” Kallik said, pointing in her turn. “The ice there has a greenish tinge, right? And over there it's white; that tells me that just there it's thicker. It's really easy when you know how. And as for scent … there's not only ice on the wind. There's …” She raised her snout and took in a long sniff, then froze with horror. “I smell bears!” she exclaimed. “It's Taqqiq!”

Spinning around, Kallik peered back the way they had come, to see several white bears in the distance, their shapes almost hidden in the mist. “Salik and his friends are following us,” she reported tersely.

“Keep walking,” Toklo said, with a glance back to confirm what Kallik said. “They know we know they're there, but we can't do anything about it while they're so far away.”

“But we could be leading them straight to my family,” Shila objected.

“That's a risk we have to take,” Toklo replied.

As Toklo spoke, Kallik noticed that Yakone was bracing himself, ready for a fight.
I can't believe how lucky we are to have him on our side
, she thought.
He's never even met the bears from the Melting Sea before, but already he's willing to fight for them
.

Picking up the pace a little, they headed onward across the ice. Though they passed seal holes, no bear suggested stopping to hunt; they didn't want Salik and the others to catch up with them.

The hazy sun was rising toward midday when Kallik spotted more white shapes through the mist. As they drew closer, she made out two young females: One was crouching motionless beside a seal hole, while the other stood a little way off, alert as if she was on guard.

When she saw Kallik and her friends approaching, she strode over to meet them, her eyes glaring hostility. But then her gaze flickered into confusion as she spotted Toklo and Lusa.

“Get off the ice!” she snarled. “There's not even enough food for white bears here.”

“It's okay, they're with me,” Shila said, shouldering her way to the front of the group. “Have you seen Sakari and her cubs?”

“Yes, they were over there,” the she-bear replied, jerking her muzzle in the direction the bears had been traveling.

“Oh, thank the spirits!” Shila exclaimed, her voice full of relief. “And thank you. I was afraid I'd never find them.”

The she-bear let out a dismissive snort. “Now let us hunt in peace!”

“She's so angry!” Kallik murmured as she and her companions padded on.

“It's because the ice is melting too soon,” Shila told her. “Burn-sky hasn't even started yet, and we're already hungry.”

Poor Taqqiq
, Kallik thought, though she said nothing out loud.
He made the long journey back from Great Bear Lake, but even the Melting Sea can't look after him
.

The journey continued until every bear was stumbling from tiredness. Kallik was wondering whether she should ask for a rest when Shila halted, her muzzle raised.

“I can smell something!” she announced.

Hesitating briefly to sniff the air again, she ran across the ice and dived into a pile of ravaged snow. For a moment she burrowed into it, throwing up a fountain of glittering crystals, then stood still and turned back toward Kallik and the others.

“My family was here,” she said hoarsely. “But the den's destroyed … smashed up. And my family is gone!” She staggered as the full shock of her discovery hit her like a blow from a falling rock.

Kallik padded up to her, averting her eyes in horror as she spotted streaks of blood on the snow.

“My little brothers …” Shila whispered. “I can still scent them.”

“We need to dig right down,” Yakone said, coming to join them. “Just to be sure that they're not here.”

“Good idea,” Toklo grunted.

All the bears, even Lusa, began scraping at the mound of snow. As Kallik dug, she was aware that the scent of bears was growing stronger, and she uncovered a scrap or two of white fur. But there was no sign of Sakari, Pakak, or Tonraq.

Kallik's heart lurched.
Maybe we
will
find Sakari and the cubs here … dead and buried under the snow
. Panic and horror were building up inside her until she felt she was going to burst.
Why must bears keep dying?

As Kallik went on digging, she heard pawsteps on the ice and looked up to see that Salik and his friends had appeared and were watching from a distance.

“Looking for something?” Iqaluk sneered.

Shila scrambled out of the heap of snow. Letting out a furious growl, she flung herself on Salik. “You killed my family!”

Instantly the white bears swarmed around Shila, pummeling her away from Salik. Kallik let out a cry of protest and heard Lusa gasp in horror. Toklo started forward, but Iqaluk and one of the others turned on him and forced him back, growling and raking at him with their claws.

Salik and the rest of the gang struck at Shila with heavy blows of their paws, sending her flying through the air. She landed on the ice with a yelp, and the bears loomed over her, snarling.

For a moment Kallik stared in disbelief.
What kind of bear has Taqqiq become?

A red mist descended over Kallik's eyes, and her fury erupted. Racing across the ice, she flung herself on Taqqiq; her brother staggered backward, barely keeping his balance.

“Murderer!” Kallik snarled, her muzzle a paw's width from his eyes. “I wish I'd never found you again! I searched for so long, I never stopped thinking about you, but I'm ashamed that you're my brother. Cub-killer!”

Striking out with her forepaws, she raked her claws across Taqqiq's shoulders and tried to bury her teeth in his throat. Taken by surprise, Taqqiq struggled to fight back, snapping at the air.

Kallik was dimly aware that Taqqiq's friends were standing around, but they didn't interfere in the fight.

“Wow, what a dangerous bear!” Salik's tone was heavy with sarcasm. “You've got a hard job there, Taqqiq.”

“Yeah, protect us from that crazy bear,” Iqaluk added. “We're trembling in our fur.”

“No wonder you left her and came back to us,” Manik said.

Kallik hardly noticed Taqqiq's attempts to bite her. “What would our mother think?” she growled. “Nisa's spirit is stuck up there in the sky, watching you, and she must hate you just as much as I do!”

Taqqiq sank down onto the ice; blood from his shoulder where Kallik had scraped him trickled down and spread into the snow. Kallik was dimly aware that Yakone had thrust himself between her and her brother, while Toklo was nudging her away.

“You've made your point,” Toklo said. “Now leave him.”

Kallik turned away from Toklo. She didn't try to attack Taqqiq again but stood gazing at him, trying to put all her hatred and contempt into her gaze. “I wish you were dead!” she hissed.

Toklo was shocked by Kallik's strength
and the force of her rage. Stepping up to her again, he nudged her away from Taqqiq, over to where Shila and Lusa were standing, watching with huge, horrified eyes. Shila was holding one paw off the ice, injured from where she had been thrown by the other bears.

“He deserves to die,” Kallik muttered, though she didn't resist Toklo anymore as he moved her away from her brother.

Toklo and the others huddled together as the young males ambled away; apart from Taqqiq, who was still dripping blood as he went, they didn't look at all upset.

Once they had faded into the mist, Toklo turned back to his companions. Evaluating Shila's injuries, he guessed she had wrenched her shoulder and found it painful to put her paw to the ground. But worse than that was the stunned shock in her eyes.