Lusa sniffed and picked up the bear’s scent all around her—old scents as well as new. She had walked straight into his territory. I was so busy looking for wolves that I must have missed his scratch marks on the trees. Turning, she ran as quietly as she could away from the big grizzly and his territory. Fortunately, he had gone in the opposite direction from where she wanted to go. The strong scent of the leaves still clung to her fur, and she thought that her legs would never stop shaking, but she kept on heading downhill.

Before long Lusa spotted the glint of the river through the trees and emerged onto the bank. Dipping her snout into the water for a drink, she felt her confidence begin to return. She followed the bank through the forest, more cautious now as she kept a lookout for bears and wolves. Her ears pricked, and she picked up the sound of firebeasts long before she came to the BlackPath. It ran straight through the trees and crossed the river by a bridge before vanishing into the forest on the other side.

I know how to deal with this, Lusa thought, as she ducked behind a bush and waited while several firebeasts growled past in both directions. Even though the firebeasts didn’t seem able to get down onto the riverbank where she was, she didn’t want to risk being seen. When everything was quiet, Lusa burst out of her hiding place and ran swiftly under the bridge, not pausing until the BlackPath was safely behind her. Even more confident, she marched on.

As the day wore on, the land flattened out, opening up into a wide valley with the river running along the bottom. Lusa began to hear more scuffling in the undergrowth from tiny forest animals, and more birdsong in the trees. Maybe that means the wolves don’t come here.

The sun went down, casting long shadows across the landscape. In the gathering darkness the river looked eerie, like a long black snake slipping along with glints of starlight on its surface. A fluttering on the ground startled Lusa, and she slammed her paw down to discover that she had caught a bird. It looked so small that it was barely able to fly, and Lusa crunched it down in a couple of mouthfuls. “Thank you, spirits, for this prey,” she whispered.

When it was too dark to see where she was putting her paws, Lusa found a hollow place among the roots of a huge tree, then remembered her promise to Toklo and climbed until she came to a fork between the trunk and a large branch, where she could curl up to sleep. At first anxiety kept her awake as she wondered what the others were doing. Yakone, just hold on. Give me a chance to find something that will help you.