The Last Wilderness (18 page)

She bunched her muscles, ready to jump in, then hesitated, remembering the huge river they had crossed with Toklo and Ujurak. She had almost drowned then . . . She swallowed nervously.
I’m a black bear
, she reminded herself.
We’re the best
swimmers of all the bears. And this river is nowhere near as wide as the other one
.

But she still couldn’t forget the feeling of the black water closing over her head, her ears roaring with bubbles, and her nose and mouth filling with something that made it impossible to breathe . . . She shivered.

‘What’s the matter?’ Kallik asked. ‘We can find a different way if you want.’

Lusa forced herself to shake her head. ‘I’m fine,’ she insisted. ‘We’ve seen the signs, so we know this is right.’

In her heart she was certain that whoever had sent the signs to Ujurak had also sent this one to her. She had to trust in that power, and accept the guidance.

‘Let’s go!’ she barked.

‘Wait!’ Kallik shouldered Lusa away from the edge of the river.

‘What’s the matter?’ Lusa asked, confused. ‘I’m OK, honestly.’

‘I know,’ Kallik told her; she was keeping herself between Lusa and the river. ‘And I’m willing to give this a try. It’s just . . . well, look at the current. I think if we want to go across the river, it’s no good to swim
straight across. We have to swim as if we want to go upriver. The current will drag us the other way, and we should end up where we want to be.’

‘But won’t crossing like that take longer?’ Lusa asked, impatient to be moving.

‘Yes, and it will be very tiring. But at least we won’t get washed away.’

Lusa studied the fast-flowing water. She imagined a stick floating out from the bank and shooting downstream as soon as it reached the middle of the river where the current was strongest. To reach the shore directly on the other side, the stick would have to start higher up along the bank, to be carried down as well as across. ‘OK, we’ll do it your way,’ she said.

She launched herself into the river, striking out forcefully against the current. Immediately she felt its strong pull, tugging at her legs. But she kept on paddling determinedly, with Kallik swimming at her shoulder, nudging her upstream. Lusa huffed and puffed as she fought the drag of the river, almost swimming sideways as she tried not to get swept away. Gradually they drew closer to the opposite bank.

Just as she was beginning to think that the danger
was over, she heard a yelp from Kallik. ‘Lusa! Watch out!’

Lusa glanced over her shoulder to see a fallen tree branch being carried downstream, turning over and over in the white-tipped water. She was swimming straight into its path.

Pumping her legs desperately, Lusa tried to swim out of the way of the branch, but she was too late. The branch crashed into her and she was sent tumbling down the river, her legs flailing as she tried to stay upright. Her head went under the swirling water. She fought her way back to the surface, but she had lost her sense of direction. All she could see was water bubbling past her snout.

A moment later all the breath was driven out of Lusa’s body as the current flung her against something hard. Half dazed, she realised that she was pinned against the huge rock she had noticed earlier.

‘Kallik! Help!’ she choked out.

Lusa fought against the current, struggling to prise herself away from the rock, but all the terrifying power of the river was trapping her there. There was no escaping the crushing weight of the water. It roared in her ears, nose and mouth; she could feel
her strength draining away by the instant. She tried to breathe and took in a mouthful of water.

I’m going to drown!

Then she felt strong claws fastening to her pelt. Peering through the surge of water, she made out the drenched white shape of Kallik by her side. The white bear was pushing her across the face of the rock. Lusa felt the current gushing around the side as it caught her, and Kallik held on to her as it dragged them both away downriver.

‘Swim!’ Kallik gasped.

For a few moments Lusa was too exhausted to obey. She pawed feebly at the surface, Kallik’s claws keeping her above water. The frothing waves surrounded them, battering over their faces and their backs; Lusa was sure that any moment now they would sink and not come up again.

Then she caught sight of a tree on the bank. Its branches were bathed in golden rays of sunlight. Calm suddenly swept over her, as if some great bear had laid a gentle paw on her head. Somehow she forced her aching legs to begin paddling again, and tried to keep the opposite bank in sight as she struggled across the current.

You told us to cross the river
, she thought.
You won’t let us drown
.

At last, Lusa could feel the scrape of rocks beneath her thrashing paws and managed to stand with the river surging around her shoulders. Kallik gave her a push and guided her to a gap in the rocky bank, where they could scramble up a slope of shale.

Lusa felt as if her body was one huge bruise as she clambered out of the river. Her fur was plastered to her sides, and she shivered in the bright sunshine as she gasped and coughed up mouthfuls of water.

Bending her head, she whispered, ‘Thank you. Thank you . . .’

‘That’s OK,’ Kallik said, pushing her snout into Lusa’s shoulder. ‘You managed fine in the end.’

‘I was thanking the Bear Watcher.’ Lusa staggered into the shade of a bush and collapsed, her sides heaving as she gulped in air. ‘He gave us the signs to lead us across the river. I had to trust the signs to lead us the right way, not somewhere we’d drown.’ She looked up at her friend, who just gave her a confused nod. ‘But thank you too, Kallik. I wouldn’t have made it without you.’

Kallik stumbled to her side and curled up next to
her. ‘I’ll always be here for you, my friend,’ she murmured.

Lusa knew they should get up and continue searching for Ujurak. But the sun was warm on her fur, and the roar of the river faded to a comforting murmur. Kallik was dozing at her side; at last Lusa gave up the struggle to stay awake, and let herself sink into darkness.

S
unlight angling through the trees woke Toklo. He blinked sleepily, then let out a startled yelp and opened his eyes wider. He was staring into Ujurak’s face!

‘Cloud-brain!’ he muttered to himself a moment later. It wasn’t Ujurak’s muzzle he was looking at, just a knot in the trunk of a nearby tree.
It doesn’t even look like Ujurak!
he scoffed, hauling himself out of his den and shaking earth from his pelt.
That’s just the sort of bee-brained thing Lusa would think!

Lusa believed that when bears died, their spirits went into trees. Toklo’s belly lurched.
Ujurak isn’t dead
, he told himself.
That flat-face was making him better
.

To push the thought out of his mind, he rubbed
himself against the knotted bark, giving his pelt a good scratch. His wounds from the previous day’s fight were still painful; his muscles ached and his belly was growling for prey.

Cautiously he sniffed the air.
No sign of that other bear. Good! I taught him a lesson he won’t forget!

Feeling stronger, Toklo looked around. The forest was very quiet, and he wondered where the woodpecker had gone. ‘I wish he’d come back,’ he muttered, and immediately felt foolish.
That’s totally squirrel-brained, missing birds!

But it stops you missing Kallik, Lusa and Ujurak
, a small voice whispered inside his head.

Toklo tried to shake off the thought as if it were a troublesome fly. He struggled to recapture the way he had felt the day before, when the forest was an exciting place to explore, and he was proud to be a bear, marking out his own territory. But somehow he didn’t want to venture any further today.

I’ll stay here and finish off my den
, he decided.

But when he started to scrape at the hole again his claws hurt too much to keep on digging out the hard-packed earth. Frustrated, Toklo paced up and down for a while, trying to decide what to do. His belly was
bawling even louder now, but there didn’t seem to be any prey close by his den.

I’ll go this way
, he said to himself at last, setting out in the opposite direction from the meadow where he had encountered the other bear.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky, he worked his way deeper into the forest, crossing a wooded spur that thrust out from the ridge. A stream tumbled down to the valley bottom, and Toklo splashed through it, grateful for the bubbling water on his sore claws, and its icy coolness when he stopped to quench his thirst. Strength began to return to his muscles as he scrambled up rocks and bounded down slopes covered with lush undergrowth. The trees cast their shade over him, filling the air with the murmuring of their leaves.

He still hadn’t found any prey when he came to another stream where berry bushes were growing close to the water on the other side. As he waded across to the opposite bank he heard a rustling sound among the bushes. Another bear was in his territory!

‘Get out!’ Toklo roared, charging towards it.

He skidded to a stop as a small black bear scrambled
out of the bushes, staring at him with fear in its eyes. It backed away, letting out a terrified whimper, and Toklo took a pace backwards. Suddenly he could see Lusa gazing at him from the dark, frightened eyes of the other bear. Sensing that it wasn’t about to be attacked, the black bear whipped around and fled.

As the little bear scuttled away, a scoffing voice spoke behind Toklo. ‘Ooh! You’re so brave! No black bears in
your
territory!’

Toklo spun around to see the other brown bear emerging from behind a nearby tree.

Wincing inwardly, Toklo let out a growl as he stepped forward. ‘What do
you
want?’ He bared his teeth.
If he wants another fight, he can have one!

But the other bear didn’t move towards him. ‘I’m just exploring,’ he said. ‘Hunting. Watching.’

‘But this is my territory,’ Toklo reminded him.

The brown bear snorted. ‘No, it’s not. I told you, you don’t belong here.’

Rage began to mount inside Toklo. ‘I’ve built a den!’ he protested.

‘What? That little scrape in the earth back there? I thought that was a ground squirrel hole.’ The brown bear’s eyes were gleaming with mockery. ‘Do your
ears fit in? At least your head will be above water if it floods.’

Toklo’s fury overflowed. He leaped forward and the other bear swiped at him with a paw, catching him with a blow on the side of the head. Surprised at the smaller bear’s strength, Toklo stepped back, his ears ringing.

‘There’s more where that came from,’ the intruder growled.

Toklo stared at him. He didn’t want to admit that he was reluctant to start another fight. ‘Can’t we share the territory?’ he blurted out. ‘There’s plenty of prey.’

‘You don’t get it, do you?’ the brown bear huffed scornfully. ‘There’s less prey every season, less territory, and more bears fighting over what’s left. Flat-faces steal more and more, and if we bears try to fight back, they
always win
. This mountain can’t support the bears that were born here, let alone strangers.’

Toklo stared in confusion.
But this is the Last Great Wilderness! There’s supposed to be plenty of prey
.

The brown bear padded up to him and thrust his snout into Toklo’s face.

‘Not even the
mountain
wants you here,’ he snarled. Turning, he headed into the undergrowth without a backward glance.

Glaring furiously after him, Toklo waited for him to get well away, then padded in the direction of his den. The sun had gone; clouds were covering the sky, as dark as the thoughts that were crowding in on Toklo.

When he reached his den, he stood on the edge of the hole and looked down.
The other bear was right
, he thought wretchedly.
That miserable scrape isn’t a den. It’s not even deep enough for a ground squirrel!

But he knew that it wasn’t his den that really troubled him. It wasn’t even the loneliness of living on his own, though it was harder than he had ever imagined. What threw Toklo’s thoughts into turmoil, as if bees were buzzing inside his head, was what the other bear had said about the mountain.

He says the territory is shrinking because of the flat-faces. And that’s exactly what Ujurak has been telling us all along
.

Thinking back to his journey with his friends, he knew that he missed the sense of a shared destiny, the companionship of bears who were prepared to
work together, and not just fight.
I even miss Lusa’s annoying chatter, and the way Ujurak sees signs everywhere!
He felt sorry for the other brown bear, who had no choice but to fight for every pawstep of territory, every mouthful of prey.

But you’re no better now
, he reminded himself, facing up to what he had lost. He felt as if part of his insides had been ripped out.

Ujurak was certain there was a chance to change everything
, Toklo thought, crawling into his inadequate den.
But you threw away your opportunity to be a part of it
.