BooksBarbecue
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

‘I was thanking the Bear Watcher.’ Lusa staggered into the shade of a bush and collapsed, her sides heaving as she gulped in air. ‘He gave us the signs to lead us across the river. I had to trust the signs to lead us the right way, not somewhere we’d drown.’ She looked up at her friend, who just gave her a confused nod. ‘But thank you too, Kallik. I wouldn’t have made it without you.’

Kallik stumbled to her side and curled up next to her. ‘I’ll always be here for you, my friend,’ she murmured.

Lusa knew they should get up and continue searching for Ujurak. But the sun was warm on her fur, and the roar of the river faded to a comforting murmur. Kallik was dozing at her side; at last Lusa gave up the struggle to stay awake, and let herself sink into darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Toklo

image

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:

Toklo

Sunlight angling through the trees woke Toklo. He blinked sleepily, then let out a startled yelp and opened his eyes wider. He was staring into Ujurak’s face!

‘Cloud-brain!’ he muttered to himself a moment later. It wasn’t Ujurak’s muzzle he was looking at, just a knot in the trunk of a nearby tree. It doesn’t even look like Ujurak! he scoffed, hauling himself out of his den and shaking earth from his pelt. That’s just the sort of bee-brained thing Lusa would think!

Lusa believed that when bears died, their spirits went into trees. Toklo’s belly lurched. Ujurak isn’t dead, he told himself. That flat-face was making him better.

To push the thought out of his mind, he rubbed himself against the knotted bark, giving his pelt a good scratch. His wounds from the previous day’s fight were still painful; his muscles ached and his belly was growling for prey.

Cautiously he sniffed the air. No sign of that other bear. Good! I taught him a lesson he won’t forget!

Feeling stronger, Toklo looked around. The forest was very quiet, and he wondered where the woodpecker had gone. ‘I wish he’d come back,’ he muttered, and immediately felt foolish. That’s totally squirrel-brained, missing birds!

But it stops you missing Kallik, Lusa and Ujurak, a small voice whispered inside his head.

Toklo tried to shake off the thought as if it were a troublesome fly. He struggled to recapture the way he had felt the day before, when the forest was an exciting place to explore, and he was proud to be a bear, marking out his own territory. But somehow he didn’t want to venture any further today.

I’ll stay here and finish off my den, he decided.