The Melting Sea (6 page)

Then, as he scanned the mountainside ahead of him, he blinked in confusion. Kallik and Yakone had disappeared.

What's happened to them?
he wondered.
Have they been shot? Are they injured?

“Kallik! Yakone!” he roared, looking around frantically. But the snow-covered slope was empty. There was no sign of his friends; the line of their pawsteps simply stopped, and the snow beyond was unmarked.

“Toklo! Over here!”

Toklo stiffened as he heard Yakone's voice, coming faintly from somewhere ahead.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“See that bump in front of you? We're behind that. We've dug down into a drift.”

“Hurry up and join us,” Kallik added. “Jump as far as you can so that you don't leave a trail of pawprints.”

Toklo was impressed. He got behind Lusa. “I'm going to give you a boost,” he added aloud. “Ready?”

Lusa nodded. Toklo worked his shoulders underneath her and thrust upward, hurling her over the bump. A deep trough of soft snow swallowed her up.

Toklo followed her, landing on the powdery surface and sinking deep, deep down, until his ears and nose and mouth filled up with the white stuff.

Kallik's head suddenly appeared beside him. “Dig down!” she hissed. “It's our only chance!”

Toklo braced himself as if he were about to jump into a river. “Okay, this is it,” he whispered as he started to dig.

Lusa crouched in the snow, hardly
daring to breathe. She knew that it was only a matter of time before the flat-faces discovered them.

“Yakone saw the bump in the hill,” Kallik, beside her, murmured into her ear. “He felt the direction of the wind, and guessed that the best chance of a drift deep enough to hide us would be over here.”

In spite of her fear, Lusa was full of admiration for Yakone. “He was right. He knows so much about snow!” she whispered.
But will it work?
she asked herself.
Is this hiding place good enough?

There was nothing to do but wait. Lusa was so cold that she had to clench her teeth together to stop them from chattering.

“Right now I'd rather be in the belly of the firebeast,” she muttered to herself. “I hated it in there, but at least it didn't freeze the blood in my veins, and I had air to breathe.” She heaved a sigh. “Maybe we should have stayed there until the firebeast woke up and carried us away. We could be far, far away by now, safe from these angry flat-faces with sticks on their hindpaws.”

“Hush!” Toklo hissed. “The flat-faces will hear you.”

Lusa burrowed deeper into the snow.
I wonder how snow-hares manage to live down here without freezing to death
.

She could feel the thud of flat-faces approaching, their pawsteps vibrating through the snow, and hear the hiss of their pawsticks on the surface. They weren't yowling anymore, but walking quietly, murmuring to one another. Lusa could smell their fear, and guessed that they had been scared by Toklo's show of strength earlier.

But not scared enough to stop chasing us. Please just leave us alone!
she thought desperately.

As Lusa tried to breathe, snow got up her nose, and she had to sneeze. The itching got worse with every moment that passed, until she couldn't bear it any longer.

I have to breathe!
she thought.

To her relief, she could hear the flat-faces scrambling away, and the sound of their voices grew fainter.

Lusa exploded out of the snow, sneezing and spitting out the lump of cold stuff that had almost choked her.

The others loomed up around her, rising out of the drift like snow that had come to life. Lusa's legs felt numb with cold, and stiff from keeping still for so long. She could barely move, and she saw that her friends were having the same trouble.

We should be running while we have the chance
, she thought.
The flat-faces could come back at any moment
.

But she felt so tired and cold, she didn't think she could ever run again.

“This is no good,” Yakone muttered at last, flexing his legs. “We'll be caught for sure if we stay here.”

“Do you think we don't know that?” Toklo snapped back at him.

“Then let's go,” Yakone urged. “We're strong, we can do this. You know we can.”

“I'm not sure anymore.” Kallik sounded exhausted. “Just give us a bit more time.”

“That's time we might not have,” Yakone responded, looking down the slope to where the flat-faces were gathering.

Lusa followed his gaze. So far none of the flat-faces seemed to have spotted them, but she was uncomfortable about how her pelt and Toklo's would stand out against the snow.

“We have to move,” Yakone repeated, his voice rougher now. “Kallik, come on. Toklo, you're not telling me that a brown bear is giving up?”

Toklo let out a low growl from deep in his throat. “I never give up, fish-breath!”

“Then
move
, now!” Yakone snarled. “All of you,
move
!”

First Kallik, then Toklo, began stumbling up the slope away from the drift where they had taken refuge. Lusa struggled after them, aware that Yakone was padding by her side, his fur brushing hers.

At first their progress was slow on frozen paws, but gradually they managed to pick up speed. As they climbed higher the ground grew steeper; sometimes the coating of snow was thin, just enough to hide the sharp rocks below. Almost with every pawstep Lusa would stub her paws on hidden boulders, or topple into drifts left in hidden hollows. Every time, Yakone was there, tirelessly hauling her out and shoving her upward. Lusa flashed him a look of gratitude, but she had no breath to speak, or do anything except force her paws to keep moving.

At last Lusa heaved herself up to a narrow ledge where Toklo and Kallik were waiting for her to catch up. Her throat seemed to burn as she gulped in air. Dizzy with hunger and fear, she didn't think she could take another pawstep.

“Please,” she gasped. “I've got to rest for a bit.”

Kallik gave her shoulder a comforting nuzzle. “I know. I'm just as scared and exhausted as you are, but we have to keep going.”

Lusa nodded, glad that she wasn't alone. Somehow she managed to find the strength to keep going, farther and farther up the mountain, until the sun sank below the horizon and twilight gathered on the slopes.

Halting briefly, they looked back down the mountain to see lights appearing, illuminating the rows of firebeasts. Shouts drifted up from the flat-faces as they climbed into the firebeasts' bellies. The firebeasts woke up, their glaring eyes angling across the snow, and grumbled away, out of sight.

Lusa breathed a sigh of relief that she was up here in the open air instead of trapped in the shiny belly of the firebeast, no matter what she had thought earlier. “Are we safe?” she whispered.

“I think so,” Kallik responded.

“But we can't rest yet,” Yakone warned them. “The no-claws might be back tomorrow. We need to get right away from here.”

For once Toklo didn't argue, just turned his face to the upward slope and began scrambling up to the next ledge.

Full darkness fell and the moon appeared. The bears kept climbing, hauling themselves from one rocky outcrop to the next. As the stars began to appear, Lusa looked for Ujurak's constellation, but she was too dizzy and tired to make out his shape.

If he's watching, I hope he's proud of us for escaping
, she thought.

Lusa thought that her paws were about to drop off by the time Toklo halted. “We have to stop and rest,” he announced. “It's too dark to see properly, and the mountain is getting steeper. We could fall off at any moment.”

None of them, even Yakone, tried to argue.

“We'll hunt when dawn comes,” Toklo added, limping toward a sheltered spot behind a huge boulder.

The others huddled down beside him. Lusa was shivering with cold, and her belly rumbled with hunger, but she was comforted by the thought that at least they were safe.

But what will happen after the Melting Sea?
she wondered.
Will Toklo and I be able to survive together, without the others? Are two bears easier to catch than four?

A paw jabbing into her side
woke Kallik. It was still night, but in the moonlight she could make out Yakone lying beside her. He was striking out with his paws and muttering disjointedly; Kallik leaned closer to make out what he was saying.

“Spirit-cursed no-claws! They're chasing us … they'll catch us! Nowhere to hide …”

Kallik rested her paw on Yakone's shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. “Wake up, Yakone! It's okay. The no-claws are gone.”

Yakone's eyes blinked open. “Wha'?” he gulped.

“We're safe now,” Kallik told him. “You saved us, with that great idea of hiding in the snowdrift.”

Yakone grunted and rose to his paws, shaking the loose snow from his pelt. Padding around the side of the boulder where they had been sleeping, he gazed down into the valley. A few no-claw lights still showed there, glittering in the darkness like stars that had fallen to the ground.

“I won't feel safe until we're well away from here,” he growled, anger in his voice. “This place is full of no-claws who want to hurt us. What have we ever done to them? They should show us more respect.”

“It was scary,” Kallik agreed, “but it's over now. We'll soon leave those no-claws way behind.”

“I can't wait to get to the Melting Sea,” Yakone responded. “Then maybe we can get on with our lives in peace.”

Kallik realized with dismay that he was assuming there would be no no-claws near the Melting Sea. Yakone had lived all his life until now on Star Island, where there weren't many no-claws, and those who were there left the white bears alone. He had probably never imagined there could be so many no-claws in the world.

“There are still some no-claws near the Melting Sea,” she began, not quite sure how much to tell Yakone. She didn't want to tell him about the huge denning areas, swarming with no-claws and their firebeasts. She remembered how the no-claws had captured her and taken her to a huge den made of white stone, and how she had been carried in a metal bird that fell out of the sky in a storm of flame. Her belly churned as she pictured Nanuk, the she-bear who had taken care of her, dying among the wreckage of twisted metal.

What if we're captured again?

Guilt washed over Kallik like a cold wave as she wondered whether she had done the right thing by bringing Yakone with her. On Star Island he had food, family, and safety.
I can't promise him any of those things
.

“Hi.” Toklo's voice came from behind Kallik; she turned to see the brown bear lumbering out from behind the boulder. “I couldn't sleep either.” Standing beside Yakone and gazing down the mountainside, he added, “I'd forgotten what it was like to travel through places with so many flat-faces. Maybe we should travel by night instead.”