Smoke Mountain (25 page)

She began to run. She could tell that the no-claws hadn't seen her, because they kept going in the wrong direction, creeping around on the far side of the stream.

What about Lusa and Toklo? Would they make it to the trees? She stretched out her neck and ran.

Spirits, protect them, please
. . .

L
usa's paws skidded on loose pebbles as she scrambled behind the rocks, her heart rattling in her chest. She didn't know where Kallik had gone. One moment the white bear had been shoving her along, and the next moment she was tearing off in a different direction.

The windswept boulders and mountain peaks formed a path of shadows at the edge of the valley, concealing Lusa as she sprinted forward. Up ahead she could see the clump of trees Toklo had pointed out – but before she could get there, she had to cross back through an open space.

Lusa didn't stop to think. She shot out of the rocks and ran, wild with fear, desperate to reach the trees. If she could just feel their branches surrounding her,
the leaves brushing her fur, she knew she'd be safe. The bear spirits didn't want her to die. They'd save her from the flat-faces and firesticks. She'd nearly died already, and they wouldn't let her. She had to save the wild!

She heard a shout behind her. A flat-face had seen her!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She felt whizzing death pellets fly past her fur.

Lusa squeaked with terror. She was nearly there! The trees were only a bearlength away!

Bang!

An explosion of pain blossomed at the top of her shoulder and she stumbled, but she didn't stop running. She didn't even let out a howl; she bit back her yelp, forcing her paws to keep pushing forward, carrying her towards the trees. She didn't want the flat-faces to know they'd hit her. If they knew she was wounded, they'd think she was weak. And right now, Lusa had to be strong.

With a massive leap, she launched herself at the first tree. Her instincts took over as her back claws dug into the bark. She bounded up the tree the way her father, King, had taught her, fast and nimble
and determined.
I'm a black bear! No one can climb like us!

She knew that just being in a tree wouldn't keep her safe. Firesticks could kill her as easily from the ground while she sat up in the branches like a dazed squirrel. She had to keep going. Lusa thought of Miki and the other bear cubs she'd met at the Longest Day gathering. She could jump from tree to tree the way they did, and that might make it harder for the flat-faces to follow her.

She didn't waste time worrying about whether she could do it. As she reached the topmost branch, she scouted ahead for a strong-looking branch on the next tree only a short distance away. Her fear gave her extra strength as she jumped, and she barely felt the pain rippling through her shoulder.

Bang!
went the firesticks again.
Bang!
This time they sounded further away, but it didn't make her feel any better. Lusa's pelt trembled with terror and fury. Those flat-faces were shooting at
her friends
!

Her paws wobbled a little as she leaped to the next tree, and she had to wrap her forelegs tightly around the branch to make sure she didn't fall. Leaves tickled her nose as she scrambled up several
branches. She fell into a rhythm: check branch, launch, close eyes, land, balance. Even in the shadows of the forest, she could sense the shapes of the trees in front of her. She felt as if the bear spirits were calling to her, reaching out and catching her as she jumped.

She stopped halfway up a pine tree and perched for a moment, listening. Everything was silent. There were no more firesticks going off, no flat-faces shouting, no cries for help from her friends. She didn't know whether that was a good or a bad sign. What had happened to them?
They could have been caught while you ran away
, she thought, her fur prickling with shame.
But we all ran away. Wasn't that the idea?
She started to climb, getting as high as she could.
At least I didn't hold anyone back. That's something.

At the top of the tree she wrapped her paws around the trunk and peered out at the valley. Nothing was moving out there. Only the last fading rays of the moon slipped through the clouds to flicker across the grass. There were no bears – not even slumped on the ground, bleeding and dying from the firesticks. Toklo and Kallik must have
made it to the trees. Maybe they were already waiting for her at the pine tree, worrying about her.

As she scrambled back down the tree, she heard the firebeast roar in the distance, out of sight beyond the trees. She froze, straining her ears. The hunters sounded like they were whooping. A few more shots rang out. Had they found the others?

Lusa's paws were quaking, but she forced herself to climb up again. The whoops and rumbling were getting fainter. From the top she spotted the firebeast bumping away up the valley, moonlight gleaming on its flanks.

Have they gone?

Are we safe?

Lusa persuaded her paws to let go of the tree and clambered down to the ground. She raced through the trees, searching for her friends.

‘Please be safe,' she whispered. ‘Please be alive.'

What if she was the only one who made it? Would she have to find the Last Great Wilderness by herself?

Don't think about that
, she ordered herself.
You're not alone. They will be here
.

Lusa paused to catch her breath. The trees were
silent all around her. Pain shot along her shoulder as she flexed her front leg. Her fur felt hot and sticky; she hoped the pellet wasn't inside her.

Something moved in the bushes.

Lusa froze. ‘Toklo?' she whispered. ‘Kallik? Ujurak?' She braced herself to escape up the nearest tree.

A white furry head, streaked with mud, poked out of the bushes.

‘Lusa!' Kallik cried. ‘You made it!' She leaped out of the undergrowth and raced up to Lusa, huffing in relief.

‘You're all muddy!' Lusa said. ‘Did you fall and hurt yourself? Are you all right?'

‘I was hiding my fur,' Kallik explained, craning her neck to look at the thick mud caking her white fur. ‘I suppose it worked. I lost the no-claws back there.'

‘Have you seen Toklo or Ujurak?' Lusa asked.

Kallik looked up. Lusa followed her gaze up to the sky and saw an owl plummeting out of the clouds. It dived towards them, and for a moment Lusa thought it might crash headlong into the ground, but at the last moment it veered up again and landed neatly on its claws. Fur and whiskers and a wet black nose
sprouted from the feathers, and soon Ujurak was standing in a cloud of feather fluff, shaking his pelt.

‘Oh, Ujurak, I'm so glad you're all right,' Lusa said, pressing against his comfortingly warm side.

He stared at his paws. ‘Changing into a bird to escape is a cowardly thing to do,' he said.

‘That's stupid,' Kallik said, sounding like Toklo for a moment. ‘If the rest of us could do it, don't you think we would?'

‘In a heartbeat!' Lusa agreed. ‘Without even thinking about it! I'd have wings and be gone before the flat-faces could even find the noses on their flat faces!'

‘Toklo wouldn't,' Ujurak said glumly. ‘He'll fight anything as a bear, and be proud of it.'

Lusa and Kallik exchanged uneasy glances. ‘You don't think he tried to fight them, do you?' Lusa asked. ‘To protect us?'

They all glanced around at the quiet forest.

Where was Toklo?

T
oklo watched Ujurak take off into the sky on snowy white feathers, then turned to race after Lusa. He saw Kallik pelting away across the grass; there was nothing he could do to help her. She was already the fastest bear of all of them. But Lusa might need protecting.

He spotted her running towards the boulders that lined the valley and chased after her. The hot, burning smell of the firebeast was in his nose, and he stumbled on rocks that he thought were shadows. His muscles screamed with agony as he drove his paws into the ground.

Suddenly the firebeast roared across his path. The blazing light in its eyes blinded him, and Toklo skidded to a halt. One of the hunters gave a yell,
and Toklo heard the bang of a firestick.

He couldn't get to Lusa. The best he could do was lead the flat-faces away. Toklo turned and fled across the valley in the opposite direction. The light had dazzled his eyes and he shook his head as he ran, trying to see clearly again. Blinking, he spotted long, marshy grass ahead of him and ran for it.

Toklo's paws crashed through tussocks as he ploughed through the long, brittle grass, shouldering tall reeds out of his way. He growled with frustration as prickly weeds caught on his fur. With a violent wrench, he tore himself free and dived into a clump of thick grass. Hidden by the tall reeds, he lay still with his belly fur in the mud, listening. Was he being followed?

He sniffed deeply and a powerful, pungent smell filled his nostrils. To his dismay, he realised he was lying in a patch of wild garlic. He'd crushed the plants under his paws, and now the smell was all over him. He couldn't pick up any other scents; the odour of garlic was too strong.

He couldn't smell the flat-faces coming. They could be right behind him and he wouldn't know.

Something went
crack!
behind him and he jumped,
peering into the shadows. Should he stay here, or should he run for it?

He crawled backwards, deeper into the grass, letting the long stems close around him. Maybe he could sneak away without being noticed. He wasn't sure how well the flat-faces could smell, but if they used their noses for hunting, it wouldn't do them much good now that he smelled so strongly of garlic, disguising his bear scent.

Toklo crept through the grass, wincing at the splash of marshy puddles under his paws. He stayed close to the ground, hoping to blend into the knobbly, shapeless shadows around him. Across the open valley plain ahead of him, he could see the grove of pine trees. There was no sign of Lusa or Ujurak, but he spotted Kallik racing towards the trees with a pair of hunters right behind her.

Toklo leaned forward, trying desperately to smell anything over the stench of garlic. Suddenly a strong whiff of something hit his nose: a sour, stale smell . . .

Flat-faces!

Toklo whirled, ready to run.

A giant shiny cobweb flew towards him and
knocked him to the ground. His paws became tangled in barbed vines that scraped his face as well as he thrashed and fought.

He was caught in a flat-face trap!

D
im grey morning light slowly spread across the valley as Kallik and the others waited. Lusa climbed up the tree to see if she could see Toklo coming. Ujurak paced around the trunk, looking more and more agitated as he clawed the earth and bared his teeth.

Kallik didn't know what to do. Her stomach churned with worry. Should they go on without Toklo? If he was dead . . . it wouldn't be safe to go look for him, because they'd be putting all their lives at risk.