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Back The Last Wilderness
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

But Ujurak didn’t follow her. Instead he sneaked along the line of dens until he reached the big one where the gathering was taking place. He edged open the door and listened for a moment. ‘Wait for me,’ he whispered.

‘No!’ Lusa gasped as she watched Ujurak slip inside and close the door behind him.

Kallik shot a horrified glance at Lusa. ‘What is he doing?’

‘I don’t know.’ Lusa’s frustrated growl was quite unlike her. ‘I think being a flat-face has turned his brain to fluff.’

Swinging around, she headed for the rocks where they had hidden before. Kallik bounded after her, huffing out her breath in relief as they reached the shadows they cast, out of sight of the flat-faces.

‘We can’t leave him there,’ she whispered.

Lusa nodded. ‘I know. But we can’t get him out without being seen. All we can do is wait.’

Chapter Seventeen: Ujurak

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

Ujurak

Ujurak closed the door of the big den behind him and slipped into the shadows. Waves of heat and cold swept over him, and he was afraid he was going to be sick. The wooden floor felt hard and cold under his bare feet, and he pulled his blanket closer around him.

The den was one big room with a raised platform at one end. Three flat-faces in black clothes were seated there, along with three of the villagers. Tiinchuu the healer was one of them; Ujurak hadn’t seen the other male flat-face or the female before.

Benches were set out in the main part of the room, below the platform. More of the village people were sitting there, with a few younger males on their feet, leaning against the wall; they were all so intent on the platform that no one had noticed the arrival of Ujurak. He thought he caught a flicker in Tiinchuu’s glance, as if the healer had spotted him lurking there, but he didn’t give Ujurak away.

One of the strangers rose to his feet, a fistful of papers in one hand. ‘This is our proposition,’ he began. ‘You know that there are vast reserves of oil underneath the Coastal Plain. The company I represent wants to drill for it, and they’re prepared to offer you a fair price for the rights.’

His voice was quiet and he smiled as he talked. Ujurak thought that he looked kind. It sounded as if he was offering something that the villagers would want. So why had Tiinchuu looked so grim when he left his den to come to this meeting?

‘We’ll give you more money than you’ve ever seen in your lives,’ one of the other visitors added.

The villagers glanced at one another and murmured to their neighbours, hiding their mouths with their hands. Ujurak could see that most of them didn’t like the idea. They kept repeating the word ‘oil’ as if it was something important.