The Melting Sea (4 page)

Kallik stood facing the hills across
the ice and took in deep breaths through her nose.

“I can smell the land!” she announced, excitement bubbling up inside her like a clear spring.

Daylight was seeping over the ice, and after the terrible fog of the previous day the sky was clear. Her companions were staggering to their paws, stiff after a night spent huddled against the ice ridge.

“Let's go!” Kallik urged them. “It's not far now.” Without waiting to see if the others were following her, she took off at a run toward the hills.

“Hey!” Yakone shouted after her. “We should hunt first.”

Kallik halted and looked back, waiting for the reddish-pelted bear to catch up with her. “There won't be any seal holes here,” she told him as he approached. “All the seals will have been frightened away by the no-claw firebeasts. Besides, the ice is too thick and jagged for seal holes.”

Yakone cast an uneasy glance around him. “This sure is weird ice,” he muttered.

“Let's just get to land,” Toklo said, coming up with Lusa in time to hear the last few words. “We can hunt there.”

The sun appeared above the horizon, dazzling onto the ice as the bears hurried on. Kallik's excitement grew as they labored over the last stretch of lumpy ice and at last ran onto a pebbly, snow-covered shore.

“Thank the spirits!” Lusa exclaimed. “I started to think we'd never get here.”

Kallik halted at the edge of the ice, taking more deep sniffs of the air. “I'm sure the Melting Sea is nearby!” she declared.

“We'll hunt first, then head for it,” Toklo decided.

Kallik's paws itched to keep going. Now that they were so close, she couldn't wait to continue her journey.
I want to show Yakone my home! And maybe Taqqiq will be there
.

Painful memories flooded over Kallik as she recalled how her brother had started to travel with them, but then left them to go back to Great Bear Lake. She had never managed to shake off the feeling that she had betrayed him by staying with her friends.

What if he didn't survive on his own? What if those horrible bears he was hanging out with got him into serious trouble? They could have been attacked by bigger bears! And maybe Taqqiq would blame me, because I abandoned him
.

Kallik started at the touch of a snout on her shoulder and turned to see Yakone standing beside her. “What's wrong?” he asked.

As she looked into his kind face, Kallik's worries suddenly seemed much less important. “I'm fine,” she assured him. “Just trying to remember the route to the Melting Sea.”

“I can smell sea-ice,” Yakone said.

Kallik nodded; she could smell it, too, and not just the ice they had recently crossed. Farther away, she could pick up the saltwater tang where the ice had started to break up. But somehow her paws were pulling her in a different direction, away from the sea and across the hills that guarded the shore.

“We can follow the coastline,” Yakone continued. “We can hunt seals and swim. It'll be great!”

For a moment Kallik was tempted to agree. She so wanted to live the life of a white bear with Yakone. But then her gaze fell on Lusa.

“She's not meant to be traveling on ice,” she murmured, angling her ears toward the black bear. “We need to stay inland, and take a route over the mountains instead. It'll be quicker and more direct than following the coastline anyway.”

As she spoke she spotted a flash of impatience in Yakone's eyes. “It's great that you think about your friends,” he began, “but you have to put yourself first. We'll find food more easily if we follow the shore, even if it is a longer route.”

With a sinking feeling, Kallik wondered if Yakone would ever realize the strength of the bond that had grown up between her, Lusa, and Toklo. “They aren't just my friends, they're my family,” she insisted. “If you can't understand that, then … then maybe we're always going to fight.”

Yakone looked startled, as if he hadn't understood how strong Kallik's feelings were. He was silent for a moment, as Kallik gazed anxiously at him.
Would he really make me pick between him and Lusa and Toklo? How could I possibly choose?

But Yakone's eyes were warm with affection as he gazed back at her. “I want to be with you,” he told her. “Even if it means going over mountains.” Bending his head, he gently licked her ears. “Don't worry. We can handle everything together.”

Kallik was touched by his kindness, but still unsure that Yakone really understood her attachment to the other bears.
And why would he?
she asked herself.
He's grown up with white bears. He never even knew that other kinds of bears existed until we came to Star Island
.

She knew that Yakone was a decent bear, and kind, and loyal to her.
I'm so glad to have him with us
. And she also knew that he had forged genuine friendships with Lusa and Toklo.
But he always puts me first, and even though he's important to me, I just don't feel the same way about him
.

“Hey!” A shout from Toklo interrupted Kallik's musings. “Do you want to eat or not?”

His question made Kallik realize how hungry she was; they had eaten nothing since the caribou two days before. Spinning around, she saw Toklo bounding toward her with a goose dangling from his jaws. Lusa was trotting after him.

“Wow, great catch!” Kallik exclaimed.

“Not really,” Toklo mumbled around a mouthful of feathers. “I think there was something wrong with its wing. It couldn't fly and it's really skinny.”

“But it's better than nothing,” Lusa declared.

When they had divided up the goose, Toklo looked up from the few mouthfuls of stringy meat. “Which way now?” he asked Kallik.

“Over the mountains,” she replied, hoping that Toklo wouldn't question her decision.
He's a brown bear
, she thought hopefully.
He won't want to travel along the sea-ice, any more than Lusa
.

To her relief, Toklo just gave her a brusque nod. Once they had finished eating, he took the lead, heading inland. The mountains loomed up in the distance, jagged peaks without even a tree to break the expanse of snow-covered slopes.

Kallik noticed how quiet Lusa was, her head down as she trudged across the frozen white waste. “Cheer up,” Kallik said, falling into step beside her. “It should be easier for you, instead of trekking across the sea-ice.”

Lusa heaved a sigh; she didn't look as grateful as Kallik had hoped. “I'm tired out, my paws are still bleeding from crossing that rough ice, and my belly aches,” she complained.

“I'm sorry,” Kallik sympathized with her, touching her briefly on the shoulder with her muzzle. “We'll be at the Melting Sea soon!”

Lusa halted and faced her, fixing her with a stricken gaze. “But I don't want to get to the Melting Sea!” she whispered. “That's where we'll split up.”

Kallik stared back at her.
Lusa's right!
Her longing to go home was taking them closer and closer to the place where they would separate. Suddenly her paws seemed heavier, not so eager to carry her onward. Gazing at the mountains ahead, she wondered how much longer they had left together.

“Come on!” Toklo had realized that Lusa and Kallik had dropped back, and glanced over his shoulder with an irritated look on his face. “My paws are freezing. And I've just spotted some bushes ahead. They might give us a chance at prey, and there'll be leaves for you, too, Lusa.”

“I'll come with you,” Yakone offered instantly.

The two male bears bounded off, leaving Kallik and Lusa to follow more slowly. Kallik realized that Yakone was trying to reassure her that now the decision had been made, he was happy to travel through the mountains. Gratitude swept over her like a warm breeze.

The bushes Toklo had found grew in a wide, shallow dip in the ground, with a frozen pool at the bottom. When Lusa and Kallik approached, Toklo was already creeping up to a twisted thornbush, its branches straggling over the water. Suddenly a white-furred lemming shot out from underneath the bush, scurrying across the open ground and right under Lusa's paws. With a squeak of surprise, the black bear swatted it, and it fell to the ground and lay still.

“Awesome!” Kallik exclaimed.

Looking more cheerful, Lusa gave a snort of amusement. “Just think what Toklo would have said if I'd missed!”

Meanwhile, Yakone appeared from the other side of the bushes with a snow-hare in his jaws. “Toklo was right,” he said with satisfaction as he dropped the hare at Kallik's paws. “This is a good place for prey.”

Alerted by the sound of more small creatures scuttling in the undergrowth, Kallik joined Toklo by the bushes. Soon they had flushed out two more lemmings, and settled down with Yakone to eat their catch, while Lusa stripped leaves from the bushes.

Kallik felt energy flowing back into her body as she ate. For the first time since the caribou her belly wasn't cramped with hunger, and she felt as if she could run all the way to the Melting Sea.

When they set out again, they traveled easily over the level ground. Lusa had perked up at last, seeming more like her old, cheerful self. Even when the ground began to slope up toward the foothills, they still kept up the same brisk pace.

We're all strong and fit
, Kallik thought, her confidence growing with every pawstep.
We're used to this, after all the skylengths we've walked. We've traveled through places far more challenging than this
.

Then she looked ahead, to where the mountains were drawing steadily closer, and caught herself, suddenly afraid that they were moving too fast.
The journey will be over too quickly, and then we'll have to split up
.

She cast a glance at Yakone, who was padding along beside her. Once again she thought how glad she was to have him, and how much she longed to show him her home. Being left alone again once she reached the Melting Sea would have been terrifying.

But what about Toklo and Lusa? Who will they have to keep them company when they reach their homes?

Now the mountains seemed to be rushing to meet them, as fast as a no-claw firebeast. As the icy peaks loomed above their heads, Toklo halted.

“Let's stop for the night,” he suggested. “We need to tackle those slopes in daylight.”

Kallik agreed, relieved that for a while at least they could delay crossing the mountains. When they had curled up together under a jutting rock surrounded by thick bushes, she lay awake for a while, listening to the quiet breathing of her companions.

What will it be like, when I don't have this anymore?

Kallik was jolted awake from a confusing dream of breaking ice and the gaping jaws of orca. At first she wasn't sure what had roused her; all she could hear was a weird hissing noise, almost like wind sweeping across the ice.

“But it's not the wind,” she muttered.

Then a loud shriek split the air, and Kallik recognized that sound at once.
No-claws!
Panicking, she leaped to her paws and reared up to peer over the bushes that surrounded their temporary den.

Kallik gaped as no-claws in brightly colored pelts swept toward her down the snowy slopes. They had long, flat sticks fastened to their hindpaws and carried smaller sticks in their forepaws. The hissing noise came from the long sticks as the no-claws slid over the snow.

More no-claws—without the strange pawsticks—were lining up on either side, shrieking and howling as the no-claws with sticks whisked by. Kallik's heart began to pound as she realized they were all heading straight for the den.

Dropping back beneath the bushes, she saw that her three friends were waking, clumsy and confused by the noise outside.

“No-claw attack!” she gasped, prodding Yakone in the side to wake him properly and get him moving. “They're coming to get us!”

Toklo gave a disbelieving grunt; then his eyes widened as he peered out from behind the bushes. “Great spirits!”

Lusa and Yakone joined him to look out, and Kallik braced herself for a fight. But the no-claws with pawsticks whizzed past without even looking at them, and the rest of the crowd followed.

“They missed us,” Toklo grunted. “Typical stupid flat-faces.”

“Why have they got sticks fastened to their paws?” Lusa asked. “Are they trying to escape from the flat-faces howling at them?”

“Who knows?” Toklo snapped. “Why do flat-faces do anything?”

“We've got to get out of here,” Yakone said.

Toklo glanced out again, then turned back to his three companions. “Okay, this is the plan,” he said. “There are more flat-faces on their way down. After they pass us, we'll leap out and run. The other flat-faces will be so busy watching, they won't notice us.”

Let's hope not
, Kallik thought.

“When I say ‘Now!' follow me—fast,” Toklo added.