The Burning Horizon by Erin Hunter Page B

Lusa,” he huffed. “She’s the best at climbing.”
    Kallik felt a renewed pang of loss as she watched Toklo heaving himself slowly from branch to branch and remembered how nimbly Lusa could bound up a tree trunk.
    A moment later Toklo’s voice came down in a joyful bellow.“Caribou! We’ve found the caribou! Ujurak said we had to track them down in order to find Lusa!”
    For a moment Kallik could hardly believe it. Can it really be that easy?
    Toklo half fell, half scrambled down from the tree, and the bears set off again, heading in the direction of the caribou herd. The floor of the plateau was littered with stones and bigger boulders, and here and there were pools of ice. Kallik sniffed the air; it was much colder here, and a thin wind ruffled their fur, tasting of ice and stone.
    â€œThis is better,” she said, beginning to feel more hopeful at the familiar tang.
    â€œYeah.” Yakone’s voice was full of satisfaction. “It almost feels like home.”
    The bears picked up their pace until the caribou came into sight. The herd was heading away from them, with stragglers pausing to graze. The sound of their clicking feet carried faintly on the wind.
    â€œSo where’s Lusa?” Toklo asked, halting and gazing around.
    Yakone raised his head and let out a mighty bellow. “Lusa! Lusa!”
    His roar echoed around the plateau, but no small black bear emerged from among the rocks.
    Toklo clawed at the ground in frustration. “She should be here! Something isn’t right.”
    Kallik fought back despair and tried to focus on what was important: finding Lusa. “Toklo, what did Ujurak say exactly?” she asked.
    Toklo hesitated, clearly deep in thought. “He told me to look for the place where the caribou walk,” he replied at last. “And he said we should find the caribou. But we’ve done that, and Lusa isn’t here!”
    â€œThen Ujurak didn’t actually say that Lusa would be with the caribou?” Kallik persisted. When Toklo shook his head, understanding began to grow inside her. “Don’t you see, Toklo? This is a sign, like the ones Ujurak followed before.” Turning to Yakone, she explained quickly, “Ujurak was always good at spotting signs, like the shape of trees or the position of rocks, that told us which way to go.”
    Toklo huffed out a breath. “So the caribou are another sign, showing us which way to go. If we want to find Lusa, we have to follow the caribou!”
    â€œWell, that shouldn’t be too hard,” said Yakone. “We can hardly lose a herd that size!”
    â€œLet’s go!” Kallik urged.
    She took the lead as they set out, picking up the pace again so that they drew closer to the herd. But as they emerged from the gap between two huge boulders, Toklo stopped, his gaze fixed on an outlier of the herd that was tearing at the leaves of a spiky bush. He swiped his tongue around his jaws.
    â€œDon’t even think about it,” Kallik warned him. “If we try to hunt, we could spook the whole herd. They might stampede in the wrong direction.”
    Toklo heaved a long sigh. “I suppose you’re right. But I really want to sink my teeth into a nice fat caribou.”
    â€œYou’ll just have to keep wanting,” Kallik retorted sharply.“For now, these caribou aren’t prey. They’re our guides.”
    â€œSo where are they leading us?” Yakone asked.
    Kallik shook her head in confusion. “I have no idea. But it must be where Lusa is, and that’s good enough for me. I trust Ujurak.”
    The bears padded along in the wake of the caribou, keeping their distance so as not to spook the herd.
    â€œIt’s a good thing we’re downwind of them,” Toklo commented.
    The landscape gradually changed, the flat plateau surrounded now by mountains, the topmost ridges still streaked with snow. Between two of the peaks