Panting and terrified, Lusa crouched among the thorns until her legs stopped shaking. Then she flicked dirt from her pelt and trudged on, forcing her way through dense, prickly undergrowth. The air tasted different now, thicker, smokier, and the trees here were smaller and more spindly. Before long they thinned out and stopped, and Lusa found herself staring at the outskirts of the flat-face denning place. The dens here all looked alike: flat-topped gray buildings separated by narrow BlackPaths. Their unnaturally straight lines made Lusa uneasy, and the blank windows looked as if they were staring at her.

Some huge shiny mesh reared up between Lusa and the dens, forming a barrier that stretched several bearlengths above her head. Sharp stones dug into Lusa’s paws as she padded cautiously toward it. Before she reached the barrier, the roar of a firebeast made her dart back into the cover of the nearest trees. Peering out from behind a trunk, she spotted more firebeasts zooming past on the other side of the mesh. They didn’t slow down, so Lusa guessed they hadn’t seen her. But even if she could climb over the shiny mesh, more firebeasts might come, and there would be no way of hiding out there.

Suddenly Lusa felt very small. This was such a bee-brained idea! I can’t even get into the flat-face place, so how will I ever find the healing den?

Chapter Six - Toklo

CHAPTER SIX

Toklo

Toklo looked down at Yakone, suppressing a sigh. After Lusa left the day before, he and Kallik had half carried, half pushed the white bear into a hollow screened by bushes and brambles; the makeshift den was the best they could come up with. Yakone was sleeping deeply, but he didn’t seem comfortable. His breathing was quick and shallow, and heat was rising from his fur. A foul stink came from his injured paw, in spite of the fresh leaves Kallik had wrapped it in.

He’s so sick, Toklo thought despairingly. Perhaps he would rather be left in peace to slip away.

But then Toklo felt the tug of friendship between him and Yakone, and remembered all the times the white bear had helped him—had helped all of them on the journey that was never his own.

No. I won’t give up trying to save Yakone!

A rustle in the bushes alerted Toklo, and he glanced up to see Kallik pushing her way into the den. A small hare dangled from her jaws.

“I know it’s a little thing,” she said apologetically as she dropped her catch at Toklo’s paws. “But it’s all I could find.”

Toklo shrugged. “It’s because of the wolves that there’s hardly any prey around here.”