Breaking out of the brambles on the other side of the thicket, he led the way uphill once again. Glancing back, Lusa saw that the wolves were still sniffing around their sleeping place. Her heart was pounding, and her head spun with a mixture of weariness and terror. All she could think of was the way the coyotes had chased them onto the firesnake, never giving up the pursuit until the fearsome silver creature had carried them out of reach.

But there aren’t any firesnakes here. And why were the wolves even chasing them? They didn’t have any prey the wolves would want!

Lusa helped Kallik guide Yakone’s wavering steps as they followed Toklo up the hill. But she knew it wouldn’t be long before the wolves were on their trail. As they approached the summit, the slope grew steeper, and they had to haul Yakone upward again, leaving his paws to drag in the dust. Lusa winced when she saw smears of blood left behind on the stones.

At the top of the ridge Toklo halted, gazing out across the next stretch of forest to where an exposed cliff reared up in front of them, its surface silver in the moonlight. “I know that place,” he said. “Come on—and hurry!”

He veered aside and plunged into a steep ravine that opened up in front of his paws. Loose pebbles covered the ground, and Lusa had to grab Yakone’s fur in her teeth and hang on to him to stop him from slipping down the steep slope. Kallik walked in front of him, supporting most of his weight, while Toklo called out a warning if there were rifts and potholes in the track.

Bushes and trees lined the sides of the ravine, cutting off most of the moonlight, and it was even harder for the bears to keep their footing in the dark. Lusa kept her ears pricked for the sounds of howling behind them, though she couldn’t hear anything except their own pawsteps and labored breathing. Then gradually she began to hear the sound of water running fast over stones. The ravine opened up slightly, the bushes giving way to bare rock with a few straggling thorns pushing their way through. In the moonlight Lusa saw a stream running along the bottom of the ravine, its surface glinting in the silver light.

“We need to wade along in the water,” Toklo said. “It’ll hide our scent.”