I just wish Yakone was right, Kallik thought as they trudged on. He wouldn’t be sick if we’d stayed on the ice. There are no flat-face traps there.

By sunhigh Kallik was starting to stagger, too. Even the shade from the trees wasn’t enough to protect her and Yakone from the stifling heat. The moist scents of earth and leaves made her feel as if she couldn’t get her breath. Grass and brambles twined around her paws as if they were deliberately trying to trip her. Yakone stumbled and let out a groan of pain as he stubbed his injured paw against a root.

Kallik halted. “I’m sorry,” she said to the others, “but Yakone and I have to rest. We can’t keep going when it’s so warm.”

“But it’s not really hot at all,” Toklo began to object. “We need to—”

“I could do with a rest, too.” Lusa padded up and stood beside Kallik. There was a stubborn gleam in her dark eyes.

“Okay, fine.” Toklo’s shoulders sagged, and he cast a worried look at Yakone.

Kallik could read his thoughts. Toklo was afraid that Yakone would hold them back and put them all in danger if the wolves or the dangerous bear they’d been warned about attacked. He wanted to get clear of this part of the forest before any hostile bears or wolves found them. But she knew they wouldn’t make it much farther without letting Yakone rest.

“Just for a little while,” she said.

Yakone had already sunk down beneath a tree, his breath fast and shallow, his eyes closed. Kallik settled down beside him, waving one paw through the air to give him a bit of cooling breeze and keep the flies away from his wound.

Toklo paced restlessly, trying to keep an eye on all directions at once. Lusa sat nearby but soon started to fidget; Kallik could tell that she had only asked for a rest because she could see how badly Yakone needed one.

After a few moments, Lusa rose to her paws again. “I’m going to look for herbs,” she announced. “There should be something around here that will be good for Yakone.”

“No, you’re not wandering off by yourself,” Toklo said instantly.

“But—” Lusa began to argue, then broke off as Kallik got up, too.

“I’ll go with her,” Kallik told Toklo, determined not to let the brown bear order them all around. “If you’ll keep an eye on Yakone,” she added.

Toklo glanced at the sick white bear lying motionless beneath the tree, then back at Lusa. “Okay, but don’t go too far,” he warned.