“Let us leave here now!”

Their frightened voices and heavy footsteps grow fainter as they move away.

Perhaps it would be safe for me to come out and continue home. But perhaps not. I make my way down the steep trail until I come to the place where I can crawl through the bushes to the Four Bears. I lean against the nearest of the bears, feeling its comforting presence. Even though I have no blanket, the night is not cold and I close my eyes, certain the old stones will guard me.

The next thing I know, a hand is grasping my shoulder, shaking me.

“Uwohali, Uwohali?”

I open my eyes. The bright daylight filtering in through the trees that arch overhead blind me for a moment. Where am I? Then I remember. I am at the Four Bears. The one who just pulled me out of sleep must have been my friend Yugi. Who else knows this secret place?

But to my great surprise, as my eyes focus, I see that it is not Yugi at all. It is a grown man, a large man with a wide face and dark eyebrows that join in the middle. I blink my eyes twice before I recognize him. It is my uncle White Raven.

“Are you badly hurt?” White Raven asks me in his deep voice, squinting at me as he speaks, his broad face showing a look of concern.

His words confuse me.

“What? No? Why do you ask that?”

Then I feel the stiffness on the right side of my face. I lift my hand to my cheek and it is painful to the touch. Something dry is stuck to my face all the way down to my neck. Blood. The knife that was thrown at me didn’t miss me after all. It must have been so sharp that when it grazed my cheek I didn’t feel it cut me.

“Hold still.”

My uncle keeps his left hand on my shoulder as he explores the side of my face gently. Then he settles back on his heels.

“Just a small cut,” he says. “I thought it might be something worse. But it bled so freely that your whole face on this side is caked with blood. Did you catch it on a sharp twig? And why did you spend the night here? Your mother was worried and came to my house to ask me to help find you.”

“How did you find me here?” I ask.

White Raven chuckles. “Who told you about this place to begin with? Your mother, yes? And who do you suppose showed your mother how to find our Four Bears but her older brothers? Now, what happened?”