With Toklo in the lead they set out again, until they came to a part of the forest where the undergrowth grew too dense to force their way through. Is Toklo going to walk the whole length of the mountains? Lusa wondered irritably, tugging herself away from a bramble tendril that had snagged her fur. “Don’t you think we should stop for the night?” she asked aloud.

Toklo stopped trying to force a passage through the thickly growing thorns. He looked around, blinking, and seemed to realize for the first time that the sun was setting; the little light that seeped through the covering branches had turned to scarlet.

“I suppose so,” he said grudgingly. “We need to find a place for a den.”

To Lusa’s relief it wasn’t long before she spotted a thicket of vines. At least there’s nothing here that’s going to prick me! She and Toklo hollowed out a makeshift den among the twining stems, turning around to make a space big enough to lie down in.

“It seems so quiet without Kallik and Yakone,” Lusa remarked as she curled up to sleep.

Toklo let out a snort. “At least it’s easier to find food and shelter without them.”

You don’t mean that, Lusa thought, gazing affectionately at the brown bear. You miss them just as much as I do. Looking up through the vine branches, she gazed at the stars until she found Arcturus. “I hope Kallik is watching you, too,” she whispered to the bright star. “And Ujurak, I hope you’re watching over all of us.”

Chapter Fifteen - Toklo

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Toklo

Toklo stumbled through dense fog, so thick that he couldn’t even see his own paws. Voices echoed around him, calling his name. Sometimes he thought the voice was Kallik’s or Yakone’s, sometimes Tobi’s or Ujurak’s, and sometimes all of them together. Bewildered, he swung around, trying to figure which direction the sounds were coming from.

“Where are you?” he called. “I can’t find you!”

He was still staggering along in confusion when something slammed into him from behind. Barely managing to stay on his paws, he turned to see Nanulak, the half-brown, half-white bear they had met on the Island of Shadows.

“You!” Nanulak growled, his eyes on fire with rage. “It’s all your fault!” He reared up on his hind legs and batted at Toklo with his forepaws.

“What’s all my fault?” Toklo tried to block Nanulak’s blows, but he didn’t want to hurt the smaller bear. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“No bears like me!” Nanulak snarled, ripping his claws through the pelt on Toklo’s shoulder. “No bears want me, and it’s all your fault! You said I could stay with you.”