He and Kallik shared the hare in a few mouthfuls. “I hope you didn’t leave a scent or a blood trail leading here,” Toklo growled to Kallik, knowing how quickly the wolves could pick up the scent of a dead animal.

Kallik glared at him. “What am I, a cub?” she snapped. “I made sure the hare didn’t brush against anything on my way here.”

Toklo bit back a sharp retort. It was too easy to fight, tense as they were with Yakone’s illness and Lusa’s absence. Rising to his paws, he scrambled out of the hollow and thrust his way through the bushes into the open. The forest was washed in scarlet light as the sun went down behind the trees, casting long shadows across the ground. Where’s Lusa? Toklo wondered, with a sudden stab of anxiety. She said she would be back by tonight. Has she gotten lost, looking for this herb place? For a moment Toklo felt a stab of frustration with Lusa for coming up with such a bee-brained plan. But cold fear drove his irritation away. Maybe the wolves got her . . . or that bear called Old Grizzly found her on his territory. Toklo’s pelt bristled.

Padding a few paces forward, he crossed the scent trail Lusa had left when she set out the previous day. Hardly aware of making the decision, he began to follow it. Maybe I’ll meet her on the way back, and I can help her carry the herbs.

But Lusa’s scent was stale and beginning to fade. Toklo struggled to keep track of it, and when he reached a dense bramble thicket woven with aromatic vines, he lost the trail altogether. He sniffed all around the thicket but couldn’t pick up the scent on the other side.

For a while Toklo cast about in one direction, then another, trying to find Lusa’s trail again. Then he realized how much noise he was making, crashing around in the undergrowth of this silent and empty forest. Toklo froze, listening for the approach of danger, but there was nothing. Once he knew he was still alone, he carried on more slowly, heading upward across the mountain slope. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for anymore; he didn’t dare call out to Lusa in case he attracted wolves or other bears.

Eventually the trees thinned out, and he emerged in a meadow. It was covered with grass and small scrubby bushes, with flowers dotted here and there. Toklo stared around, haunted by an unexpected familiarity.

Did I know this place when I was a cub? I think this is where I played with Tobi!

An image flashed into his mind of two brown bear cubs, tumbling together in the grass. That had been one of Tobi’s good days, when he felt strong enough to play. Toklo had pretended to be a mountain goat, and Tobi had chased him.