Yakone set off toward the trees, shambling awkwardly on three paws. Lusa could hear his breath hissing through his gritted teeth, and knew how much pain he must be in, but he kept going. Kallik and Toklo flanked him, supporting him as much as they could. Lusa followed, feeling terribly exposed as she crossed the bare, dusty ground, expecting at any moment to hear shouts from the flat-faces, telling them they had been seen.

But all was quiet as they reached the trees and plunged into the brittle grass. Yakone slumped down with a groan, while Toklo peered around a tree trunk to see what was going on. After a moment he let out a snort. “Look at that!”

Lusa wriggled up beside him. The flat-faces were crawling underneath the firesnake, right in where the bears had been hiding moments before. A shiver ran through her as she imagined what would have happened if they hadn’t moved in time.

“What are they doing?” she asked. “Do they think the firesnake is bleeding from its belly? Is that what that black stuff was?”

She felt Kallik’s warm breath near her ear as the white bear looked over her shoulder. “I don’t know, but if the firesnake moves, they’ll be crushed,” she murmured.

The air tingled with mounting tension as the bears watched the flat-faces emerge from beneath the firesnake. They straightened up on their hind paws and shouted something to their kin farther up the SilverPath.

“It seems like the firesnake is okay,” Kallik commented.

The flat-faces loped alongside the firesnake until they reached its head; then they swung themselves inside it.

“We’ve got to get back,” Toklo growled. “Now!”

As the bears burst out of the clump of trees, the firesnake let out a loud shriek. Before the echoes had died away, it gave a shudder all along its length, then started to drag itself very slowly along the SilverPath.

“Hurry!” Lusa gasped, glancing back to where Yakone was limping, his injured paw held awkwardly off the ground. Kallik was trying to help him, giving him her shoulder to lean on, and they were moving as fast as they could, but the firesnake was already gathering speed, and they were still only halfway there.

Toklo bounded ahead and clambered onto the firesnake’s back. “Come on!” he called urgently.

Is he so anxious to reach the mountains that he would leave us here? Lusa wondered, joining Yakone on his other side and trying to give him a boost.

At last they reached the side of the firesnake. The round silver paws began rattling faster and faster over the shining lines. Lusa tried not to think about what would happen if her fur got caught, dragging her down. . . .

“Come on!” Toklo barked again from above her head.