But the thought of Ujurak had given him strength. “I’ll go find Chogan and confront him,” he murmured aloud. “I’ll tell him who I really am and make him pay for driving out a she-bear and her cubs all those moons ago!”

Tingling with energy now, Toklo ran through the trees. Birds flew up from under his paws, but he ignored them. When he reached the edge of Chogan’s territory, he marched boldly past the scent marks. Striding onward, he began to realize that some things about this part of the forest looked familiar. That spring between those mossy rocks . . . Tobi and I used to drink there. And I remember when lightning blasted that tree. Tobi and I were so scared! And that boulder shaped like an eagle . . . Oka taught us how to stalk rabbits there.

When he was well beyond the boundaries of the territory, Toklo halted. “Chogan!” he roared. “Chogan, where are you?” His words echoed around the forest.

Toklo waited; at last he heard the sound of heavy pawsteps crashing through the undergrowth, and Chogan thrust his way into the open. He halted when he saw Toklo, fixing him with a hostile glare.

“What do you want?” he demanded gruffly. “Get off my territory!”

Toklo ignored the old bear’s challenge. “Did you once know a bear called Oka, who had two cubs?”

Chogan hesitated, and Toklo braced himself in case the old bear preferred to fight instead of talk. But after several moments he replied grudgingly, “Yes, I knew Oka. That was a very long time ago.”

“I was one of her cubs,” Toklo told him. Anger swelled up inside him as he remembered the scene by the river, and how scared he and Tobi had been. “I should have let the wolves tear you apart for what you did to my mother and brother.”

Chogan stared at him in disbelief. “You were one of those cubs?”

“Yes, I’m Toklo. My brother Tobi died because you forced us to leave our home.” As he spoke, Toklo’s rage spilled over and he rushed at Chogan, his paws flailing. “You killed my brother, and sent my mother mad with sadness! Why didn’t you let her stay?”

Chogan blocked Toklo’s attack and swung a powerful forepaw at him, raking his claws down Toklo’s shoulder. Toklo veered away from him, then darted back and caught Chogan a blow on the side of his head, following it up with a scratch down his side before leaping back out of range. Chogan bellowed with fury and reared up on his hindpaws, splaying out his forepaws as he advanced on Toklo.

That’s a move Oka taught me, Toklo thought. I wonder if she learned it from Chogan.

“This is my territory,” Chogan growled. “I share it with no bear. I should never have let Oka give birth here; that was my only mistake.”