Smoke Mountain (16 page)

Following Ujurak, she padded out of the rain. The cave was dry, and big enough for all of them. Its cold stone walls were covered in patches of moss and messy remnants of birds' nests. Toklo collapsed to the sandy floor as soon as he stepped inside. Kallik and Ujurak gently slid Lusa off him and on to the hard sand.

Toklo bent over Lusa, sniffing her. Ujurak crouched on her other side, studying the wide gash in Lusa's back leg and the bleeding scratches in her side. All of them were covered in mud from nose to tail.

Toklo looked up at Kallik, his eyes bleak. ‘I know this smell,' he said. ‘My brother, Tobi, smelled like this before he died.'

Kallik shook her head. They couldn't lose Lusa, not here, not like this. ‘But . . . we brought her so far,' she whispered. ‘You carried her all this way . . . and she came so far by herself . . .' She knew that
what she was saying didn't make sense. A bear could die at any moment, especially on a journey as dangerous as this one. And the gash in Lusa's leg looked as bad as the wounds on Nanuk after the metal bird crashed.

But it still shouldn't be Lusa. It
couldn't
be Lusa. The little black bear had come further than any of them: from a life in the Bear Bowl to being in the wild. It wasn't fair.

‘I know this smell,' Toklo said again.

Kallik lay down next to Lusa and snuggled close to her, ignoring the sticky warmth of the black cub's blood trickling from her cuts and grazes into Kallik's fur. ‘No,' she murmured. ‘No, Lusa. You can't die.'

‘She isn't dead yet,' Ujurak said quietly. ‘Come on, Toklo. We'll go look for herbs. I'm going to try to heal her.'

Toklo followed him without arguing. Left alone in the cave with Lusa, Kallik listened to the patter of raindrops and the blowing wind outside. She wanted to have hope, but part of her knew that Toklo was right. She knew this smell too. It was the same smell Nanuk had before
she
died.

‘Kallik!' Toklo called from outside the cave.

She pushed herself upright again and dragged her paws to the mouth of the cave. Toklo and Ujurak were staring up at the low-hanging clouds above them. The mist had parted for a moment, revealing sharp black peaks looming overhead.

Kallik turned to look back down where they had come from. They were much higher than she'd realised. Far below, the Big River twisted across the landscape like a flat brown snake.

All around them, dark wisps of smoke hung in the mist, as if they'd risen from the rocks themselves.

Toklo's dark eyes met hers. ‘We're on Smoke Mountain.'

F
luffy, sun-filled clouds scudded across the bright blue sky, carried by the warm breeze. Leaves rustled in the trees, and the scent of blueberries and pears hung in the air. Far in the distance, the chatter of flat-face voices sounded like laughing birds.

Lusa blinked. Bark scraped under her paws, and she twisted around to see that she was perched on the highest branch of a tree.

A very familiar-looking tree.

Lusa caught her breath. She had seen the winding stone paths below her before, and the enclosures full of odd-looking animals. The funny ones were called monkeys, and the leggy pink birds were flamingos.

She was sitting in the tallest tree of the Forest, back in the Bear Bowl.

Quickly she scrambled off the branch and climbed down the tree. Every bump and twist of the branches and bark seemed to fit naturally into her paws. At the bottom of the tree she jumped off and turned round.

She was surrounded by black bears. Not just any black bears – her family.

‘Lusa!' Yogi cried. He charged forward and knocked her over. They rolled on the grass, batting at each other with their paws. He felt heavier to Lusa, but she was bigger now too. She ducked under one of his paws and popped up behind him, tumbling him on to his back.

‘Ha!' she cried, pouncing on him triumphantly. ‘I win!'

‘No fair!' Yogi said. ‘You used wild bear tricks on me.'

Lusa shrugged. ‘I'm a wild bear now,' she said. ‘I'm allowed to.'

‘You
are
a wild bear,' Stella said admiringly, poking Lusa in the side with her nose. ‘You even smell like a wild bear.'

‘Do I?' Lusa asked. She didn't know her smell had changed.

‘And you weigh as much as
four
wild bears,' Yogi protested, wriggling underneath her. Lusa hopped off and poked him playfully.

‘Oh, little blackberry,' Ashia said, pacing up and burying her nose in Lusa's fur. ‘We miss you so much.'

‘I miss you too,' Lusa said, cuddling close to her mother. ‘The wild is
so big
! You'd never believe it!'

‘I know it is,' Lusa's father, King, rumbled. He'd been born in the wild. He stalked in a circle around Lusa and Ashia, sniffing suspiciously. Ashia ignored him, licking Lusa's ears.

‘You're so thin,' Lusa's mother fretted. ‘What have you been eating? Do you get enough sleep?'

‘Not nearly,' Lusa admitted. ‘But I've met the most wonderful friends. Yogi, guess what? I'm travelling with grizzlies!'

His mouth dropped open. ‘No way! Brown bears? And they haven't eaten you yet?'

‘No, they like me!' Lusa said. ‘And they're not that bad, actually. Well, they don't smell as nice as black bears.' She leaned into her mother, inhaling the warm honey-berry-milk scent of her. ‘And guess what else? My best friend is a white bear! She's not
nearly
as
grumpy as the ones in the Bear Bowl. I like her very much. We're going to the Last Great Wilderness.'

Suddenly Lusa stopped. The bears around her seemed to freeze, and even the wind fell still. She blinked, looking around at their staring faces.

‘Except . . . I'm not going to make it,' she whispered. She knew what was happening. She wasn't really back in the Bear Bowl.

She was dying.

There was a pause as the other bears gazed at her. Finally King shook his greying pelt. ‘You'd better make it,' he said sternly. ‘I won't have the legends say that a brown bear and a white bear got to the place where the spirits dance, but the black bear gave up halfway!'

‘Legends?' Lusa echoed.

‘Stella tells stories about you all the time already,' Yogi chimed in.

The she-bear nodded. ‘You're much more interesting than my “Old Bear in the tree” story,' she said. ‘I can't believe you really escaped! King thought you were dead.'

‘But I knew you weren't,' Ashia said, nuzzling Lusa.

‘I'm sorry, Mother,' Lusa said. ‘I think I am.'
She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the leaves and feeling the wind brush her fur. ‘I'm going to join the bear spirits in the trees.' She fought to sound brave. ‘I must be here to say goodbye to you.' She hoped her tree would be something big and beautiful, maybe with blossoms on it, like the one she'd seen when she first reached the wild.

King growled, but it was Ashia who spoke.

‘No, little blackberry,' she said. ‘It is not your time yet.'

Lusa felt the vision wobble, as if the Bear Bowl might disappear if she closed her eyes for too long. ‘What do you mean?' she asked. ‘I can feel them calling me – the tree bears.'

‘Don't listen to them!' Yogi blurted. ‘Don't you go to them, Lusa! Tell them you're not ready yet!'

‘There's something important you still have to do,' Ashia said.

‘Me?' Lusa asked. ‘What is it?'

‘You must save the wild.'

Lusa gazed up at her mother, then at the other bears. They were watching her intently, as if they all knew what that meant.

‘I don't understand,' Lusa said. ‘Save the wild?
From what? I'm only looking for a place to live safely with my friends.'

‘No,' Ashia said, shaking her head. She stepped away from Lusa. Her eyes were sad but hopeful. ‘You must save the wild.'

‘Wait,' Lusa said. The bears and the Bowl behind them were starting to fade and get fuzzy. ‘Don't go yet. Tell me what that means! I don't understand!' She tried to force her eyes open, to keep her family in front of her, but finally she had to blink.

When she opened them again, the Bear Bowl was gone. The sunshine, the warmth, and the breeze were gone. Yogi, Stella, Ashia and King – all gone. Lusa was lying on damp, scratchy sand. Stone walls curved overhead. The sound of rain reached her from somewhere nearby, mingled with the dark smell of smoke and snow.

Ujurak was bending over her. Lusa felt a pang of longing for her family. She missed cuddling with Ashia, playing with Yogi, listening to Stella's stories – even getting growled at by King.

Ujurak saw her eyes open, and his face lit up. ‘You're alive!'

‘Ujurak,' Lusa whispered hoarsely. ‘I had a dream.'

‘Shhh, just rest,' he said.

She felt as if it were terribly urgent to tell him about it, even though her throat hurt when she spoke. ‘It was so strange,' she said. ‘I thought I was going to die, and then my mother told me –'

‘You must save the wild,' Ujurak said. ‘I know. I've had that dream too.' He pressed a mixture of herbs on to her leg.

‘Ow!'

Lusa tried to wriggle around to see it and felt a fierce slashing pain all through her body. Just then, paws thudded on the cave floor as Kallik and Toklo galloped in.

‘You're awake!' Kallik cried. ‘Lusa, you're alive!'

Kallik's face went blurry as Lusa's eyes drooped shut. When she opened them again, her friends were still there, but she must have fallen asleep for a while. The light from outside was different, and the sound of the rain had ebbed.

Kallik crept closer and offered Lusa a pawful of wet moss. Lusa lapped up the moisture gratefully. Her mouth felt dry as bark.

‘You scared us
so much
,' Kallik said. ‘I'm so glad you woke up.'

Toklo just stared at her.

‘Where are we?' Lusa asked. The last thing she remembered was running away from flat-faces by the Big River.

Toklo and Kallik exchanged uneasy glances. ‘We're on Smoke Mountain,' Kallik said. ‘We couldn't stay by the river. We have to go this way instead.'

Lusa shivered, which made her wound flare with pain. She couldn't stop herself from letting out a small whimper. All three of her friends looked concerned.

‘It's OK,' Lusa squeaked, trying to be brave. ‘I'm OK.' She'd never felt anything as bad as this pain in her whole life. She could barely breathe without wanting to shriek with agony. She couldn't imagine walking ever again.

‘We'll rest here until you're better,' Toklo said gruffly. He pawed at his nose, avoiding her eyes. ‘Glad you're OK. Come on, Kallik; let's go hunting.' He shuffled to the front of the cave and ducked out into the rain.

‘Toklo thought you were going to die,' Kallik whispered. ‘He carried you all the way up here from the river.'

‘He did?' Lusa said. Ujurak nodded.

‘Kallik!' Toklo called.

‘We'll be back soon,' Kallik promised. ‘With food! I hope!' She turned and bounded out of the cave to join Toklo.

‘Rest now,' Ujurak said. ‘Save your strength.'

‘So that I'll be strong enough to save the wild?' Lusa asked, half joking, but when Ujurak simply nodded before padding away, she felt too weak to ask again. Lusa's vision grew blurry. What exactly was she supposed to save the wild from, anyway? Her head started to swim, and she let her eyelids droop and her muzzle rest on her paws. Her sleep was fitful and broken, and she woke in the half dark of the cave several times, confused and upset, her head filled with fading dream images – rivers with no fish, starving bears, burned forests and fallen trees, and water that made animals sick.
Save the wild
, she thought. She couldn't even run away from flat-faces without getting hurt. What was a little bear cub like her supposed to do?