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Back The Last Wilderness Save as PDF
Chapters (76)
  1. Also By
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Map
  6. Chapter One: Ujurak
  7. CHAPTER ONE:
  8. Chapter Two: Lusa
  9. CHAPTER TWO:
  10. Chapter Three: Toklo
  11. CHAPTER THREE:
  12. Chapter Four: Kallik
  13. CHAPTER FOUR:
  14. Chapter Five: Lusa
  15. CHAPTER FIVE:
  16. Chapter Six: Toklo
  17. CHAPTER SIX:
  18. Chapter Seven: Toklo
  19. CHAPTER SEVEN:
  20. Chapter Eight: Ujurak
  21. CHAPTER EIGHT:
  22. Chapter Nine: Kallik
  23. CHAPTER NINE:
  24. Chapter Ten: Lusa
  25. CHAPTER TEN:
  26. Chapter Eleven: Toklo
  27. CHAPTER ELEVEN:
  28. Chapter Twelve: Ujurak
  29. CHAPTER TWELVE:
  30. Chapter Thirteen: Kallik
  31. CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
  32. Chapter Fourteen: Ujurak
  33. CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
  34. Chapter Fifteen: Toklo
  35. CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
  36. Chapter Sixteen: Kallik
  37. CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
  38. Chapter Seventeen: Ujurak
  39. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
  40. Chapter Eighteen: Lusa
  41. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
  42. Chapter Nineteen: Ujurak
  43. CHAPTER NINETEEN:
  44. Chapter Twenty: Toklo
  45. CHAPTER TWENTY:
  46. Chapter Twenty-One: Ujurak
  47. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
  48. Chapter Twenty-Two: Kallik
  49. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
  50. Chapter Twenty-Three: Lusa
  51. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:
  52. Chapter Twenty-Four: Toklo
  53. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
  54. Chapter Twenty-Five: Lusa
  55. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:
  56. Chapter Twenty-Six: Toklo
  57. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:
  58. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Kallik
  59. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:
  60. Chapter Twenty-Eight: Lusa
  61. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:
  62. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ujurak
  63. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:
  64. Chapter Thirty: Kallik
  65. CHAPTER THIRTY:
  66. Chapter Thirty-One: Toklo
  67. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:
  68. Chapter Thirty-Two: Ujurak
  69. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO:
  70. Chapter Thirty-Three: Ujurak
  71. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE:
  72. Chapter Thirty-Four: Kallik
  73. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR:
  74. About the Author
  75. About the Publisher
  76. Cover

‘Yes, he’s fine now,’ Toklo agreed. With a long sigh he stepped away from the window of the healer’s den, dropping down on to all four paws. ‘Ujurak is safe,’ he said as Lusa and Kallik followed him. ‘His life isn’t in danger any more. It’s time that I followed my own path.’

‘What?’ Lusa’s eyes stretched wide. ‘Last night you said you would stay!’

‘I said “for a while”,’ Toklo reminded her. ‘But now that I know Ujurak’s OK, I can leave. I’m not responsible for him any more.’ Toklo knew he had done more than enough by bringing them this far. Now it was time to do what his mother had said, and live on his own.

‘But . . .’ Lusa’s voice choked. ‘I’ll miss you.’

Kallik padded up and rested her muzzle on the little black bear’s shoulder. ‘A time always comes for parting,’ she murmured. ‘I had to learn that when Taqqiq left. It’s no use trying to hold on to someone when they want to be somewhere else.’ Looking deep into Lusa’s eyes, she added, ‘Let him go.’

Lusa said nothing, her dark eyes still full of misery, but she stepped back and stood at Kallik’s side.

‘Thank you, Kallik,’ Toklo said. His heart ached at the thought of leaving his friends, but he knew this was what he had to do. ‘The spirits go with you both,’ he added.

‘And with you,’ Kallik responded.

Lusa nodded sadly. ‘Goodbye, Toklo.’

Toklo turned and headed off up the caribou trail. At the far side of the flat-face denning area he stopped to look back. Lusa’s black pelt had been swallowed up in the shadows, but he could still see Kallik, gazing steadily after him.

Toklo reared up on his hindpaws for a moment in a final farewell. Then he turned and headed off alone, into the mountains.

Chapter Sixteen: Kallik

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

Kallik

‘I hope Toklo will be OK,’ Kallik murmured when the brown bear had disappeared up the valley.

‘I’m worried about him,’ Lusa whimpered. ‘Why did he have to go off on his own?’

Kallik shrugged. ‘It’s what brown bears do. But I’m going to miss him.’

She turned back to the healer’s den to take another look at Ujurak. But as she pressed her nose to the shiny clear stuff in her efforts to get a better look, the air was split by a terrible clattering noise.

Kallik sprang away from the window. Turning toward the sound, she saw a metal bird hovering further down the valley. It was heading for the denning place. For a few moments it clattered above the dens, its metal wings whirling, then swooped down towards a stretch of open ground.

‘What is it?’ Lusa yelped, her voice shrill with fright.