River of Lost Bears (32 page)

Cowards! Why don't you come and fight? You're like vultures, waiting to pick our bones.
She growled.
You won't have him!

The coyote watched her, unmoving.

I would fight you right now!
Lusa leaped to her paws.
But you cowards don't come close enough! You'll only come near if Yakone dies!

She paused.

If Yakone dies …

She hurried back to the nest. Yakone was awake. “How are you?” She leaned and sniffed his paw. The wound was dry and smelled of hornwort.

“Not bad,” he rumbled. He blinked at her, his eyes weary but clear after a night's rest.

“Does your paw hurt?”

Yakone drew it closer to his chest. “It feels like it's on fire.”

Lusa nudged his cheek with her nose, her heart twisting with pity. “I wish I could stop the pain.”

“Lusa?” Toklo snapped awake. “Where are the coyotes?”

“It's okay, Toklo.” Lusa glanced over her shoulder. “I'm just checking on Yakone.”

Yakone hauled himself to his paws.
“Coyotes?”
He swung his head around, scanning the gorge. “Where?”

Toklo stood up and shook out his pelt. “We saw some in the area yesterday.” He stretched slowly. “Nothing to worry about.” He gave Lusa a warning glance.

“We're just keeping a lookout,” she told Yakone. She padded away from the nest. “Toklo?” She willed him to follow, relieved when he did.

“I've had an idea,” she whispered. She glanced back at Yakone. He was sniffing his injured paw.

Kallik stirred beside the white bear. She stretched her muzzle closer to his. “How's your wound?”

“It's stopped bleeding,” Yakone told her.

As Yakone lapped at it gingerly, Kallik looked up at Lusa. “Where are you two going? Is everything okay?” Heaving herself to her paws, she padded toward them.

“Lusa's got an idea.” Toklo narrowed his eyes. “What is it?”

Lusa waited for Kallik to reach them. “We need to get those coyotes out in the open, right?” she whispered. “Close enough for us to fight them.”

Kallik shook her head. “They won't come near unless—” She paused. “Unless one of us is dead.”

Lusa met her gaze. “So, let's make that happen.”

“Make that happen?” Kallik stared at
Lusa. “What do you mean?” A chill ran through her pelt.

“Not
really
make it happen.” Lusa's eyes were bright. “But if Yakone
pretended
to be dead, then the coyotes—”

Kallik cut her off. “No way!” The thought made her quiver. Yakone was too badly hurt! How could Lusa even think of pretending he was dead? The coyotes would be on him like flies on a wound. They'd eat him alive!

Toklo leaned closer. “How would it work, Lusa?”

Kallik stared at him in disbelief. “You're not actually thinking of doing this?”

“We won't let them hurt him,” Lusa insisted. “But if we could just get them to come sniffing around him, it would give us a chance to chase them away.”

Kallik glanced at the coyotes, milling at the top of the cliff. She could hear them whimpering with excitement. Her pelt bristled as she imagined them closing in on Yakone. “He's not strong enough.”

“He doesn't need to be,” Lusa pressed. “
We'll
do the fighting.”

“He can't do it!” Kallik showed her teeth. “He'll be
bait
!”

Toklo gazed at her steadily. “We can't keep moving with the coyotes tracking us. How will Yakone have a chance to heal? Isn't it better to lure them out and fight them? If we chase them off, we can move at our own speed, without watching our backs. Right now, we can't even hunt properly. We're scared to take our eyes off one another.”

“And that's no good for Yakone,” Lusa added. “He needs good food and rest to get better. He'll never get that while they're tracking us.”

Kallik's head swam. “So you're saying he
has
to play dead for the coyotes.”

“It will be his choice,” Toklo told her.

Kallik flexed her claws. “You know he's too brave to say no.”

Toklo gazed at her steadily. “If you don't want us to ask him, then we won't.”

Kallik turned to watch Yakone. He had limped down to the stream to drink and was leaning over the water, lapping. She had to ask him. He'd never forgive her if she didn't give him a chance to help them.

Lusa shifted her paws. “What do you think?”

Kallik growled quietly. “I'll ask him,” she agreed. Toklo was right. The coyotes would keep chasing them until Yakone collapsed from exhaustion. This was the only way they'd get rid of them. She caught Lusa's eye. “But we can't leave him long enough for the coyotes to hurt him.”

“We won't,” Lusa promised.

Toklo puffed out his chest. “I'll fight to the death to protect him.”

Kallik took a breath. She knew Toklo meant it, and her heart lifted. But how could she ask Yakone to lie still while the coyotes closed in? She could picture their jaws snapping beside his pelt. They'd be close enough to really hurt him. They might even kill him. She shuddered.

“It's okay if he says no,” Toklo said.

Of course he won't say no.
Paws heavy, Kallik padded to the nest.

Yakone had returned to the soft leaves and was inspecting his paw again. It was dripping from the stream. His wound gaped, red and raw.

“Yakone?”

He didn't look up. “It's a bit of a mess,” he huffed.

Kallik padded closer. “Yakone.”

“What?” His gaze darkened as it met hers. “What's wrong?”

Kallik sat down. “Can you see the coyotes at the top of the cliff?”

Yakone jerked his head up, blinking. “Toklo mentioned coyotes. Are they the same ones?”

Kallik nodded. “They've been following us since you hurt your paw.”

“I wondered what the foul stench was,” Yakone muttered. “I thought it was Lusa's herbs.”

“This is serious!” Kallik growled.

Yakone frowned. “You think I don't know that?” He held up his paw. “This is what they're following, isn't it? It's my trail of blood that they're tracking.”

Kallik's throat tightened. “No one's blaming you.”

“
I
am,” Yakone snapped. “If I'd looked where I was going, I wouldn't be in this mess.” He closed his eyes. “I've put you all in danger.”

Kallik turned as paws rattled the pebbles behind her.

“We take care of one another.” Toklo stopped at her side. “If one of us is hurt, the others protect them and help them heal.”

Yakone's gaze flashed. “But I'm
not
one of you, am I?”

Kallik bristled. “Of course you are! You swam after Chenoa. You found roots for Lusa. You've learned to hunt like a brown bear.”

Yakone dropped his gaze. “But now I'm a burden.”

“Do you want to help us?” Toklo asked briskly.

“Yes.” Yakone shifted on his rump.

“We need to shake off the coyotes.”

Yakone leaned forward. “How?”

“We need to draw them out,” Toklo explained. “But they won't come close until they think you're dead.”

Kallik sat beside Yakone. Her chest tightened. “You don't have to do this.”

“No, you don't,” Toklo agreed. “But if you pretend to be dead, long enough to bring the coyotes to you, we can take them by surprise. Once they see we're ready to fight to protect you, they'll back off.”

Yakone's pelt spiked up. “You want me to lie down like dead prey.”

“Just long enough to bring the coyotes close.” Kallik was suddenly aware how frail Yakone looked, his eyes clouded with pain, his pelt ungroomed. Was it fair to ask him to put himself in any more danger?

Yakone looked at Toklo. Then his gaze flicked to Kallik and rested on her for a moment. Kallik gazed back at him. Every hair on her pelt trembled at what they were asking him to do.

“Okay,” he growled at last. “We can't let them hunt us anymore. I'll do what I have to do.”

Kallik pressed against him, nuzzling his cheek. “I won't let them hurt you,” she murmured. “I promise.”

The stones on the shore crackled as Lusa charged toward them. She was holding a wad of hornwort in her jaws. She dropped it and looked expectantly at Kallik.

Kallik guessed what she was thinking. “We asked him.”

Yakone cleared his throat. “I'll do it.”

Lusa nodded and began to chew the hornwort into pulp. “What's the plan?” she asked, green pulp dripping down her muzzle.

Toklo gazed along the gorge. Trees crowded the end, where the cliffs gave way to forest. “We'll need cover,” he murmured thoughtfully.

“So we lead them along the gorge?” Kallik offered.

“Yakone can collapse near the end, in the open.”

Lusa spat the pulp onto Yakone's paw. “And we can hide in the trees!”

“Exactly,” Toklo agreed. “When the coyotes come sniffing, we'll be ready for them.”

Lusa began licking pulp into Yakone's wound. Kallik watched him grit his teeth against the pain. “Do you think the coyotes will fall for it?” she asked.

“It's up to you to make it look real,” Yakone hissed. “You'll have to act like I've really died.”

“We know how to grieve,” Toklo growled bitterly.

Kallik felt sick.

Toklo stared Yakone straight in the eyes. “This won't be easy for you,” he admitted. “But we'll attack as soon as the coyotes are distracted.”

As Yakone's eyes flashed with fear, Kallik pressed harder against him.
Spirits, protect him!

He lifted his muzzle. “When do we do this?”

“Now,” Toklo decided. “The sooner we chase them off, the sooner we can hunt properly.”

Kallik was aware of the hollowness in her belly, but she couldn't imagine being able to swallow anything. Fear clouded her thoughts. She wasn't ready! What if the coyotes hurt Yakone before they could save him?

But Yakone was already on his paws. “Come on.” He began to limp along the gorge. Toklo hurried and pressed against him.

Kallik slid in on his other side. “Are they watching?” she asked Lusa.

Lusa glanced up. “Like hawks.”

Kallik didn't dare look back. She couldn't believe they were going to do this. But it was the best chance they had of shaking the coyotes. As they neared the woods, she tasted the sourness of sap. She longed for the cool, clean taste of ice. The walls of the gorge gradually shrank away, swallowed by forest slopes, and the stream widened and deepened, cutting a broad path through the pebbles.

“We do it here.” Toklo gave the order though gritted teeth. Thick bushes rolled from the tree line a few bearlengths away. Kallik saw with a spark of relief that there was plenty of cover. They wouldn't have to go far from Yakone.

She glanced at Lusa from the corner of her eye. “Are they following us?”

Lusa circled nervously. “They're climbing down the cliff path.”

Toklo scuffed his paws roughly over the pebbles. “Leave as much scent as you can,” he hissed. “If we make it strong here, the coyotes won't notice our smell when we're hiding.”

Kallik rubbed her pads across the stones.

“Ready, Yakone?” Toklo kept his gaze fixed forward.

“Ready,” Yakone hissed. With a gasp, he staggered.

Kallik jumped away, shocked. This
was
just a trick, wasn't it? She stared in horror as Yakone dropped to his knees, then collapsed on his side.