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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

‘Now open your mouth,’ the female said as she bent over him again. ‘Let me have a look.’

Obediently Ujurak made his jaws gape as wide as he could.

‘What happened to you, young man?’ she asked.

‘I ate a fishhook,’ Ujurak rasped.

The woman’s eyes opened wide with surprise. ‘You did, did you? Hang on a minute.’

She left the room, and returned a moment later with a male flat-face; he was short, for a flat-face, and his head-fur was grey and wispy. ‘Let’s see your throat, Ujurak,’ he said.

Ujurak opened his mouth again, and the male flatface peered into it with a tiny, bright light on the end of a stick. ‘It’s healing well,’ he said after a few moments. ‘Did they give you any medicine for it in Arctic Village?’

‘Yes, a lot.’ Ujurak wanted to make sure that these flat-faces knew how well the healer had looked after him. ‘I was asleep some of the time, so I don’t know everything that Tiinchuu did. But I remember echinacea for the infection, and elderberry for fever.’

The male nodded, his eyes bright with interest. ‘Good. Very good. Anything else?’

‘There were little white things called pills. I had to swallow them with water.’

The flat-face nodded again. ‘I think we’ll give you some more of those pills,’ he said. Turning to the female, he added a few words Ujurak didn’t understand.

What does he mean? Ujurak wondered as both the flat-faces went out, leaving him alone. But he was too exhausted to worry for long. For a few moments he struggled to keep his eyes open, but the bed was so comfortable that he gradually relaxed and sank into sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Kallik

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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

Kallik

Kallik opened her eyes and peered out blearily across the mountain slope. She still felt exhausted; her muscles shrieked a protest when she tried to move, and her belly cramped with hunger. Her pelt pricked with fear, but there were no threats nearby, nothing but the empty ridge and the lonely cries of birds.

Managing to sit up, she looked around and saw Lusa lying close by her, mud streaking her black pelt. She was so still that Kallik’s heart began to pound in panic, until she spotted the gentle rise and fall of her friend’s chest.

Seeing her, Kallik remembered the terror of the day before, when flat-faces had carried Ujurak away in the metal bird, ignoring Lusa when she had tried to stop them.

‘You were very brave, my friend,’ she whispered, nosing Lusa’s shoulder. ‘But it didn’t do any good.’

She remembered their frantic chase, scrambling up the mountain slope with the metal bird high above and falling further behind with every desperate pawstep, until at last they lost sight of it.

‘Ujurak . . .’ Kallik murmured. ‘What are they doing with you? Will we ever see you again?’

Lusa stirred, then sat up with a gasp.