Toklo wondered if the big grizzly had killed the rabbit. He glanced around before he crouched in front of it and gulped it down in a few famished bites. It wasn’t enough to soothe the pangs of his hunger, and as he was nuzzling around among the debris to see if he had missed any scraps, the sky seemed to open up and the rain fell down ever harder than before.

‘Great spirits!’ Toklo groaned. ‘Have you got a grudge against me, or what?’

In the last of the light he spotted a hollow under the roots of a tree a few bearlengths away. Limping over to it on three legs, he crammed himself into the narrow space, laid his nose on his paws, and thank-fully let himself slip into unconsciousness.

Water dripping on his nose roused Toklo. Blinking, he lifted his head to see that grey daylight had returned to the forest. Water pattered from every leaf and twig, but the rain had stopped.

Toklo let out a low moan. Every muscle in his body protested as he dragged himself out of the den under the roots and tried to stand. Pain shot along his spine as he put his injured leg to the ground. His fur was still wet from the rain and sticky from the black stuff that had seeped from the tube; the stench of it caught in his throat. Even the rain hadn’t washed it away.

I can’t go on yet, he told himself. I need to rest.

Moving slowly, every step an effort, he clambered to the top of a boulder and looked around. Through the trees in one direction he caught a glimpse of the BlackPath with the silvery tube beside it, and heard the distant snarls of firebeasts. There was nothing else to tell him where he might be.

I hope I’m not in another bear’s territory, he thought, remembering the abandoned rabbit from the previous night. He might even have crossed back into the territory of the big grizzly who had driven him off the day before. I can’t fight or run in this state.

He dozed on top of the boulder, gradually warming up as his fur dried out and an occasional gleam of sunlight began to pierce the cloud cover and slide through the branches above his head. Near sunhigh, he summoned the energy to climb down and scrape himself against the trunk of a tree, getting rid of the worst of the foul-smelling stuff that was sticking to his pelt. To his relief, it came off more easily now that it was dry and hard.

Moving around had eased some of the stiffness in his injured leg. It wasn’t as painful now, but Toklo was still doubtful about trying to travel any distance on it. He spent the rest of the day wandering close to the boulder, finding some berry bushes that helped to quiet his rumbling belly.