Together Toklo and Aiyanna battled their way through the mass of wolves until they reached the big gray wolf. Aiyanna darted forward and dealt him a blow over one ear. As the wolf turned toward her, snarling, Toklo leaped on him from behind and fastened his fangs in the wolf’s shoulder. Caught between the two bears, the pack leader tore himself free and fled. Dismayed howls rose from the rest of the pack, and though a few of them still fought on, most followed the lead wolf. It didn’t take long for Toklo and Aiyanna to convince the remainder that sticking around was a bad idea.

“Good riddance!” Toklo grunted, delivering a farewell blow to the hindquarters of the last fleeing wolf.

As he stood, chest heaving in the middle of the trampled clearing, Toklo realized that the moon had set and the light of dawn was creeping into the sky. He padded over to Lusa, who had jumped down from the tree, and checked her over for injuries.

“I’m fine,” Lusa assured him, sounding annoyed that he had put her up in the tree to begin with. “What about the old bear?”

Toklo turned to see that Aiyanna was approaching the other brown bear. “Old Grizzly?” she said softly. “Are you hurt?”

Toklo blinked. So this was the ferocious bear Maniitok had told them about. He didn’t look particularly fearsome right now, exhausted and bleeding.

“What are you doing here?” Old Grizzly snapped at Aiyanna, showing his teeth. “This is my territory!”

Toklo let out a long, hissing breath, pushing down an angry response. He was battered and scratched from his battle with the wolves, and his nose was full of the stench of blood and fear. “We’re saving your pelt, you ungrateful old mangefur,” he muttered as he strode over to join Aiyanna.

The she-bear was sniffing at Old Grizzly’s wounds, and he was trying to slap her snout away. “I don’t need your fussing,” he protested. “And don’t call me Old Grizzly. I have a proper name, you know.” Seeing Toklo, he fixed him with a furious glare. “Who are you?” he demanded. “Another trespasser?”

“Come on, Chogan,” Aiyanna said, her tone pleading. “You know you would be wolf prey by now if it wasn’t for us. You should be thanking us.”

The old bear, Chogan, growled something inaudible. Toklo couldn’t make out what he said, but he was sure it wasn’t thanks.

“You know you’re not going to fight us,” Aiyanna went on. “You’re too badly hurt to be fighting anything bigger than a squirrel.”

“You think so? Just try me!” Chogan challenged her.

Aiyanna gave an exasperated sigh. “Why are you always so bad-tempered?” she asked. “You’ve got some older wounds on you, I can see. Why don’t you learn to stay out of trouble?”

Chogan only replied with a snarl.