Lusa stared at the closed door of the healer’s den, wishing she knew what was going on inside. She thought about her dream on Smoke Mountain, when her mother had come to her and told her that she had to save the wild. When she woke, Ujurak had known all about it.

They had never spoken about the dream since, but Lusa had known from that moment that Ujurak was even more special than they realised. The spirits wouldn’t let him die. The whole of the wild needed him too much.

Closing her eyes, Lusa tried to send out a message to Ujurak. The flat-faces will look after you, she told him, hoping that he could hear her. We’ll wait for you until you’re better, so we can keep going to save the wild.

Lusa felt new strength welling up inside her like a mountain spring. Somehow she knew that Ujurak would receive her message. Letting out a long sigh, she opened her eyes again. ‘I’m starving!’ she announced. It seemed as if days had passed since they had persuaded Ujurak to join the flock of geese in the hope of catching one of them. ‘What about you?’

Toklo nodded. ‘We need to hunt,’ he murmured reluctantly, ‘but –’

‘But we can’t go off and leave Ujurak,’ Kallik finished for him. ‘Not when we don’t know if he’s going to be OK.’

As the bears glanced uncertainly at one another, Lusa raised her snout and sniffed. She could pick up whiffs of interesting scents, and she realised how quiet the denning place was, with all the flat-faces indoors because of the rain.

She gave Kallik a friendly shove with one paw. ‘Don’t worry. Flat-face dens are always good for a few scraps of food, if you know where to look.’

Toklo frowned. ‘I’d rather hunt our own prey.’

‘No, Lusa’s right,’ Kallik said. ‘This will be easier, and we can stay close to Ujurak.’

Toklo shrugged. ‘OK. But don’t blame me if the flat-faces catch us.’

By now twilight was gathering. The rain still hissed down around them, and the doors to the flat-face dens stayed firmly closed. Cautious, but still confident, Lusa led the way across the denning area, looking for the shiny containers full of rubbish that flat-faces always kept at the back of their dens.

The faint sound of music and flat-face voices came from the bigger den that the healer had left. Lusa crept up to a lighted window and peered inside. Rows of flat-faces sat at tables, with little piles of meat in front of them. They were talking loudly and baring their teeth at one another in a friendly way.