The two white bears settled down at the top of the hole, alert for every creak and shift of snow. Beneath them the mother bear nuzzled her cubs and licked them all over, fluffing up their fur. At last she looked up at Kallik and Yakone.

“I’m feeling better,” she announced. “I think I could try getting out now.”

“Okay,” Kallik said. “Let us take the cubs first.”

With Kallik’s help the two cubs scrambled out of the hole. Yas was strong enough to walk now, and Kallik led them both along the path of branches to make sure they reached the edge of the avalanche safely. Then she returned to Yakone and the mother bear. Looking down into the hole, Kallik saw that the she-bear had risen to her paws.

“Stand back,” she said. “I’m going to climb out.”

Kallik and Yakone retreated a bearlength and heard scrabbling sounds as the mother bear clambered upward. Her head and her forepaws appeared out of the hole; Yakone stepped forward and bent over to grab her by the neck and pull.

But at the same time the snow began to shift again. The hole started to collapse inward, while the mother bear was only halfway out. Kallik leaped forward, but the branch path broke beneath her paws and she found herself floundering in loose snow. Finally reaching the brown bear, she boosted her upward and shoved her toward the edge of the devastation.

“Go! Go!” she roared.

Kallik caught a glimpse of Yakone guiding the she-bear onto the remains of the branch path; he was gazing back at her with a look of horror in his eyes.

“Go!” Kallik repeated.

Her roar was cut off as a falling boulder struck her and carried her off her paws. Struggling to regain her balance, she was dragged down in a fresh storm of snow and earth and uprooted trees. She heard Yakone roar, “Kallik!” but in a moment she couldn’t see him anymore.

Paws flailing, Kallik slid down with the avalanche. She was sinking into the snow when she slammed into a tree that was wedged across the flow. Desperately she sank her claws into it and clung there, her eyes tightly shut, as the rest of the world slid past her like thunder.

At last the movement stopped and silence fell, broken only by Yakone’s voice. “Kallik! Kallik, are you okay?”

Dazed and bruised all over, Kallik opened her eyes. Across a sea of snow and rocks and branches, she saw Yakone standing with the brown bear family beside him.

“Stay there!” Yakone called. “I’m coming to get you.”

“No!” Kallik didn’t want to put him in danger. “I can make it.”