River of Lost Bears (20 page)

Yakone nodded and began wading into the river.

Upstream, flat-faces started hooting and pointing. Toklo ignored them. “Then head for the second rock there.” With a flick of his muzzle, he showed Kallik a boulder farther out.

“I see it.” Kallik headed into the water. “We'll stay one boulder ahead of you until we reach the far shore. That way we can swim back if you need us.”

“Go on, Lusa,” Toklo urged. But the black bear was already following Chenoa into the river. Toklo waded after them. He pushed off into the stream, his belly tightening as he felt the heavy pull of the current. It was stronger than he'd expected. The falls were dragging greedily at the river, hungry for more spray, more roaring water.

Yakone and Kallik were already plowing toward the second boulder. Chenoa reached the first and hauled herself out. She turned and grabbed Lusa's scruff, helping her onto the stone.

Toklo reached them a moment later, relieved to escape the current. “You're doing well,” he told Chenoa and Lusa.

“The current's strong, but it's not impossible.” Lusa studied the next boulder. Yakone and Kallik were swimming past it, heading for a rock farther upstream. The water was growing choppy around them. Currents clashed as rocks broke up the flow. Branches and leaves bobbed past, caught in the stream and carried over the falls.

“Come on.” Chenoa plunged in and followed the white bears.

Lusa blinked at Toklo, water dripping from her ears. “Which boulder are we aiming for?”

Toklo nodded to the nearest, but Chenoa was swimming around it, pushing on after Kallik and Yakone.

Toklo's heart quickened. What was she doing? She should rest before tackling the difficult water. “Come on.” He plunged in and swam after her, looking back to make sure Lusa was on his tail.

Lusa splashed into the river after him and swam to his side as he moved steadily through the water. A broken branch flashed past, missing them by a muzzlelength. “Chenoa's heading for the wrong rock,” Lusa puffed.

“Let's catch up with her.” Toklo pushed harder, making sure Lusa stayed close. Her pelt brushed his. He could hear her spluttering. “There's a rock soon,” he promised.

A jagged boulder rose from the white water upstream from Chenoa. Toklo headed for it, calling to the black she-bear, “Over here!” Her head jerked around and followed his gaze toward the rock. Turning, she headed toward it.

The water frothed as the currents grew more chaotic, pulling this way and that like wolves fighting over prey. Kallik and Yakone had reached a boulder near the far shore. Toklo pushed on for the jagged rock in the middle of the river. Chenoa was almost there, her paws sending up spray as she fought the tumbling water. Toklo reached it, slapping out a paw and heaving himself out of the water. He turned and grabbed Lusa. As he pulled her close, Chenoa caught up and nosed Lusa onto the rock.

“Thanks—”

Chenoa's head jerked backward as a branch bounced past her. It crashed into her hind legs and dragged her away from the rock. Her bark choked into silence. She spun away with a yelp and vanished under the water.

Toklo leaned forward in horror.

“Chenoa!” Lusa gasped.

Chenoa fought her way to the surface, paws flailing, eyes glazed with shock. There was no strength in her paddling, no sense of balance as she rolled over and ducked underwater again. The river tossed her one way, then the other, as it swept her closer to the waterfall.

Lusa stiffened beside Toklo, eyes wide. “The stick hurt her!”

Panic pounded in his ears.
What can I do?
Chenoa was too far away to reach if he stayed where he was. But the currents would be just as strong for him if he tried to swim after her. He crouched on the edge of the rock, staring wildly.

Suddenly, Lusa lunged past him.

“No!” Toklo sank his claws into her pelt. “You can't go after her! You might be swept over!”

She stared at him. “What about Chenoa?”

He scanned the water, heart lurching. “Where is she?”

Kallik's bellow sounded from the far boulder. “Chenoa!”

Toklo whipped around, almost losing his footing on the rock. A black head was bobbing at the edge of the waterfall on the far side of the river. Paws thrashed against the rush of water for a moment, then disappeared.

Toklo stared, his belly hollowing, as Chenoa vanished over the edge.

“She's gone!” Kallik's breath stopped as
water splashed over the boulders onto her paws. This wasn't supposed to happen.

We were only crossing the river!

Yakone shifted beside her. “Chenoa?” He was staring at the empty space where the black bear's head had appeared a moment before she was swept, flailing, over the edge. “Chenoa!” His voice rose to a roar before he plunged into the river.

Kallik gasped, her breath flooding back. “Yakone! It's too late!” She stared, stiff with shock as Yakone swam toward the falls. “It'll drag you over, too! Come back!”

“Yakone!” Toklo howled. “Don't be a fish-brain!”

The current swept Yakone closer to Toklo's boulder. Fear flashed in the white bear's eyes. The current had grabbed him. He struggled against the water.

Don't let him fall!
Kallik pleaded with the spirits.

As Yakone thrashed, Toklo leaned out and grabbed for his pelt. He caught Yakone's scruff in his teeth and threw his weight backward, trying to pull him out of the river.

Don't let go!
Kallik's heart pressed in her throat.

Toklo heaved and Yakone flailed. Suddenly, a wave threw him against Toklo's rock, and with Toklo's teeth still locked in his fur, he managed to haul himself out of the water. Kallik stared, numb with shock.

Toklo bellowed at her, “Get to the far shore! We'll climb down and find Chenoa!”

Does he think she might have survived?
Kallik froze for a moment, trying to picture a small black shape falling through the water and splashing harmlessly into the river below. Chenoa was an excellent swimmer. Maybe it was possible that she had been washed up, winded but unhurt, on the shore below the cliffs. Toklo was right; they had to go look for her! Kallik dove from her rock and swam for the shore. Jaws clenched, she reached the bank and waded out.

She turned and saw that Toklo was moving swiftly through the water toward her. Yakone followed, Lusa's scruff in his jaws. The small black bear held her head above the waves as Yakone carried her through the rapids, struggling free as soon as her paws reached the riverbed.

“We have to get down there and find her!” Lusa raced past Kallik.

“We will,” Kallik promised. She glanced past Lusa to Toklo. He was staggering from the river, hollow-eyed. Yakone shook the water from his pelt as he padded through the shallows.

Lusa hurried for the cliff edge.

“Wait!” Kallik caught up with her. She peered down. On this side of the river, the forest reached the waterfall. Trees clung to the sheer cliff, while rocky soil edged the steep slope. It looked as though the forest was sliding into the gorge. In fact, the presence of roots and soft earth would make for an easier climb than the slippery rocks on the other side.
It's a good sign!
Kallik told herself.
Chenoa must be down there alive!

Lusa began to climb down, threading herself through the branches. Kallik lowered herself after her, hindpaws first, hanging on to a branch and letting her pads slide over crumbling earth until they reached solid rock. She let herself drop onto the ledge, then slithered down, reaching again with her legs until she felt a stiff branch blocking her way. Clinging onto brambles, she called down to Lusa, “Are you okay?” She could just make out Lusa's small shape sliding from branch to rock, sending earth showering down.

“Yes!” Lusa called without stopping.

“Slow down!” Kallik warned.

“Chenoa needs us!” Lusa barked back.

Kallik stared at the relentless wall of water, pounding into the pool at the bottom, then looked up. Grit sprayed her muzzle. She blinked it away and saw Yakone's white pelt heading toward her. Toklo was above him, his claws stripping bark as he skidded downward.

Kallik started moving. Climbing down was much quicker than climbing up. Grabbing a branch, she let her haunches drop. As her hindpaws bumped down the cliff face, the branch dipped and lurched in her claws. Kallik gasped in terror as it cracked and broke. She dropped, heavy as a deer carcass. Stone scraped her pelt as she thumped down the rocks. She hit a ledge with a jolt. Grunting with shock, she grabbed for branches and steadied herself.
Thank the spirits!
Catching her breath, she slid gently down onto a boulder sticking out below. Bracken brushed her cheek as she scrambled tail-first down the last few bearlengths. She could see Lusa though a haze of spray, already racing over the rocky shore.

“Can you see her?” Kallik bellowed over the roar of water.

“Not yet!” Lusa waded through the shallows.

There was no sign of a black pelt among the mossy boulders edging the pool. Kallik felt a tingle of hope. “She must be farther downstream.”

Yakone landed heavily beside her. His pelt was stained with mud and stuck with pine needles. Toklo leaped down from the lowest ledge and stared across the water.

“We can't see her,” Kallik told him.

Yakone glanced at Kallik, his gaze dark. “Do you think she survived the fall?”

Kallik flinched. She didn't want to answer that right now, when the water was crashing down beside them loud as thunder, heavy as rocks. Instead, she followed Toklo as he clambered past the boulders to where the pool flowed over a ridge and became a river once more. Lusa was a few pawsteps ahead, her head swinging back and forth as she searched the shore.

“Chenoa! Chenoa!” Panic edged her cry.

Kallik brushed past Toklo and caught up to Lusa, who was stumbling, eyes glazed. Tufts stuck from her pelt where brambles had snagged her. Kallik smelled blood. Lusa's pads were leaving red stains on the rocks. Kallik pressed against her, propping her up as she staggered along the river.

Yakone padded into the shallows. Nostrils twitching, he passed Kallik, Lusa, and Toklo and launched himself into the river. Swimming fast, letting the current carry him, he pulled ahead, his head turning as he scoured the edges. As the walls of the gorge gave way once more to forest, he turned and headed toward the riverbank. Emerging from the water, he padded ashore.

Kallik's pelt pricked along her spine. Yakone had seen something. His nostrils were twitching and his ears were flat. He was heading toward boulders, where a dark shape was wedged in the shallows.

“Chenoa?” Kallik quickened her pace.

Lusa bounded forward. “Chenoa!” She reached Yakone first. “Chenoa!”

“Wait!” Toklo darted after her, pulling her back.

Kallik's heart lurched as she saw the dark shape. A sodden pelt lay half in, half out of the water. The river tugged at Chenoa's limp paws, making it look as if she was trying to swim away.

“Wake up!” Lusa struggled free from Toklo. She crouched beside Chenoa, nudging desperately at her cheek. “We're here now! You'll be okay!”

Kallik saw a deep gash above Chenoa's closed eyes. The blood had been washed away, leaving the flesh clean and pink. Kallik hoped that the blow had come quickly, stunning Chenoa before she could feel any pain.

Toklo reached his paw out and pulled at Lusa's shoulder. She shook him off. “Chenoa! Wake up!”

“Leave her.” Kallik nudged Toklo away. She raised her eyes, meeting Yakone's gaze as he stood in the shallows. He stared back darkly.

“Wake up, Chenoa! We've found you! You're safe now!” Lusa's agonized cry rang around the walls of the gorge.

Toklo leaned forward. “There's nothing we can do to help her, Lusa.”

Lusa turned on him, eyes blazing. “You should have let me go after her!” She was trembling. “She always rescued me! Why didn't you let me rescue her?”