When the old bear had disappeared into the shadows, Toklo turned back to his friends. “You’d better get some more sleep,” he told them. “I’ll take first watch against the wolves.”

“But surely wolves wouldn’t take on all four of us,” Kallik said. “It’s the brown bear Maniitok told us about that worries me. He sounds like he could be trouble.”

Toklo didn’t agree. He’d fought bears before, and won—but he’d never taken on a whole pack of wolves. “Don’t worry,” he reassured Kallik and the others. “Let’s deal with one thing at a time.”

Lusa butted him affectionately with her head. “Old Grizzly should be more worried about you,” she teased.

She curled up among the ferns and wrapped her paws over her nose. Kallik and Yakone settled down together and were soon asleep.

Toklo noticed that Yakone’s breathing was still too fast and irregular, even though his eyes had been brighter after food and water. His scent was sharp and rank, and Toklo knew his wound must be infected. He hoped Lusa’s herbs would start working soon. The same plants must grow all over, right?

As he sat watching over his friends, Toklo heard a drawn-out howl in the distance. A chorus of howls answered, slicing through the still night air and echoing around the hills. He stiffened.

Wolves!

Toklo thought about how far he had traveled, how long it had taken him to find his home again. Now that he was here, he wasn’t going to give it up to creatures that didn’t even belong.

“This forest is territory for brown bears, not wolves,” he muttered.

Chapter Three - Kallik

CHAPTER THREE

Kallik

Kallik sat watching the sky grow lighter, the boughs above her head taking shape against the clouds. Beside her the other bears still slept. Lusa was curled into a ball, her ears twitching as she dreamed. Toklo sprawled among the ferns, snoring gently. Closest to Kallik, Yakone was deeply unconscious, his breath rasping.

Lusa had taken the watch after Toklo, waking Kallik toward the end of the night. As dawn broke the air was cool and damp, with white tendrils of mist coiling around the trees. The forest was utterly silent, except for the faint creak of branches and the babbling of the stream. Kallik was grateful for the coolness, but she still felt smothered underneath the trees. I can’t even see the sunrise, she grumbled to herself. Traveling beside the Big River had been easier, because the wide stretch of water had given her the sense of space and escape she craved, but now she felt penned in on all sides. She longed for the open spaces of the ice, with the horizon a skylength away on all sides.