Biting back an irritated reply, Lusa slid underneath the firesnake and poked her nose out on the far side to see what the flat-faces were doing. The two who were examining the firesnake were only a few bearlengths away, while farther up the SilverPath the firesnake was still drinking from the long silver tendril.

Kallik gave Lusa a poke in the shoulder. “Get under here!” she hissed. “They’ll see you if you stick your head out like that.”

Lusa drew back, hardly daring to breathe as the flat-faces drew closer. All she could see now were their hind legs and their clomping paws. At least they don’t seem to have firesticks, she thought, feeling slightly relieved. But she knew that if the flat-faces spotted her and her friends, their roars of alarm would alert the firesnake. And then what would it do to us?

“There’s slimy black stuff down here,” Kallik muttered, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “I don’t want it on my pelt.”

“Hush!” Toklo hissed. “It’s better than getting caught by flat-faces!”

Moments slid by in the gloom under the firesnake’s belly as the four bears huddled together. The flat-faces had halted nearby; Lusa didn’t know what they were doing, but she heard faint tapping sounds as they rapped the side of the firesnake with their naked pink paws. Then her heart thumped with terror as one of them stooped down and peered under the snake’s belly. He wasn’t looking in their direction, but as soon as he turned his head, he would see them.

The other bears had spotted the flat-face, too. Without a word they all began scrabbling frantically backward until they were clear of the firesnake and could stand up, panting and casting desperate glances around for cover. Lusa felt her belly churning with fear and knew they were all quivering on the edge of panic.

Kallik raised a paw and pointed to a stand of scrubby trees across a narrow stretch of open ground. “We’ll have to hide there,” she puffed. “If we don’t, they’ll spot us for sure.”

Lusa gazed at the trees. Kallik was right; they were thick enough and far enough away to give them the cover they needed, but she wasn’t sure that they should leave the SilverPath. “What if the firesnake starts to move again?” she asked nervously. “We might not be able to get back to it in time.”

“I know,” Toklo growled, glancing back over his shoulder at the flat-faces, who were coming closer still. “But we’ve got no choice. Yakone, can you make it?”

“I’m fine,” he rasped.