Smoke Mountain by Erin Hunter Page A

Toklo. ‘It wouldn’t hurt to wait and give them a chance to return.’
    Toklo sighed. ‘Fine.’ He splashed into the stream and started licking his wounds. His fur was green in places where he’d used Ujurak’s herbs; it looked as if moss was trying to grow on his pelt.
    Lusa padded over to the stream beside him and lapped up some of the water. This close to the BlackPath, it tasted sooty and kind of gross, but she was thirsty.
    â€˜I’ll go find us something to eat,’ Toklo said after a while. He heaved himself up and paced away, his shoulders still hunched.
    A bird was chirping in one of the crooked trees, breaking the stillness of the predawn. Lusa breathed in the smell of the grass and the river, knowing that the air would be clogged with flat-face and firebeast scents the closer they moved to the denning place. ‘We will make it, won’t we, Ujurak?’ she said, turning to the little brown bear. ‘We’ll get to the Last Great Wilderness?’
    Ujurak stopped wiping his paws on the grass and looked at her.
    He’s so small
, Lusa thought.
No bigger than me. And younger than I am. Are we crazy to be following him?
    No. There’s something different about Ujurak. There’s a reason we believe in him.
    â€˜I hope so,’ Ujurak said. ‘I hope we’ll get there.’
    â€˜Thanks for agreeing to wait,’ Lusa added.
    â€˜I think you’re right about Kallik,’ Ujurak said, flopping down in the shade of a thorny bush.
    â€˜I think Toklo secretly agrees too,’ Lusa said.
    Ujurak chuffed with laughter. ‘He’s all prickles on the outside, like a porcupine,’ he said. ‘But inside he’s like a snail when you dig it out of its shell.’
    â€˜That’s so true!’ Lusa said. She thought for a second. ‘Wait, what’s a porcupine?’
    A twig crackled behind her, and she spun round. Kallik was standing on the other side of the stream, looking tired and filthy. Mud was caked in the white fur on her paws.
    â€˜Kallik!’ Lusa cried. She leaped out of the water and nuzzled her friend. Kallik pressed her nose into Lusa’s fur, blinking.
    â€˜Where’s Taqqiq?’ Ujurak asked.
    Lusa lifted her head and looked round at the quiet marsh that surrounded them. Kallik was alone.
    â€˜He’s decided to go back to the Melting Sea,’ Kallik said in a very small voice.
    â€˜Oh, Kallik,’ Lusa said. ‘I’m so sorry. I know how much you wanted to be with him.’
    â€˜I thought finding him would make everything all right again,’ Kallik said with a sigh. She dipped her paws in the river, letting muddy rivulets stream away. ‘Now I don’t know what to think. I just know I’ll miss him.’
    Lusa couldn’t pretend that anyone else would miss the surly white bear, but she felt a deep pang of sadness for her friend. ‘Well, I’m pleased that
you
stayed with us,’ she said.
    â€˜Me too,’ Ujurak agreed.
    Toklo padded up with a squirrel dangling from his mouth. His dark eyes went from Lusa to Kallik and then scanned the empty landscape around them. He dropped the squirrel next to Lusa’s damp paws.
    â€˜I’m glad you came back,’ he said, dipping his head to Kallik. ‘I . . . I’m sorry about your brother. I know I . . . I mean, I could have been –’
    â€˜It wasn’t your fault,’ said Kallik. ‘This journey wasn’t for Taqqiq. He belongs with his own friends now.’
    Lusa looked at the warm, shaggy bulk of Toklo beside her. She would be so heartbroken if he left like Taqqiq had. Lusa hoped they didn’t lose anyone else. The ominous shape of Smoke Mountain looming ahead made her feel very small.
    â€˜Let’s keep going,’ Kallik said. ‘I’ll feel better once we’re on our way again.’
    They shared the squirrel and a small fish that Ujurak caught, and then