Smoke Mountain

by Erin Hunter

  ‘Let’s get moving,’ Toklo growled. He could hear one of the firebeasts by the den rumbling. The further they could get from that den and this BlackPath, the better Toklo would feel.

  Lusa slid down the tree to join them as they all padded out of the woods. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked Toklo quietly.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said with a wince, feeling a stab of pain in his shoulder. A trickle of blood was running down his neck, but he didn’t want to stop and lick his wounds. He didn’t want Taqqiq to know that he was hurt. The white bear cub was pacing along briskly, as if he couldn’t feel any of the marks Toklo had left on him.

  Toklo was also determined to stay in front. He didn’t want Taqqiq getting any ideas about who could lead this group. That meant he had to trot faster than he wanted to, to stay ahead of the white bear cub, but he pressed on, ignoring his aching muscles.

  He stopped at the edge of the BlackPath, waiting for everyone to catch up. One of the enormous firebeasts whipped by, bellowing and roaring the way they always did. Toklo had to shield his eyes from the bright light blazing from the firebeast’s eyes. They were able to light up the ground in front of him, like a harsh yellow stream that picked out the BlackPath as clearly as day. How do they do that? he wondered.

  Ujurak bumped him lightly as they stood there, and Toklo knew that his friend was trying to tell him that he wasn’t mad at him for jumping on Taqqiq.

  ‘Can you turn into a firebeast?’ Lusa suddenly asked Ujurak. ‘That would be amazing! Then you could tell us what they’re thinking and what they eat – gosh, I hope it’s not bears – and why they stay on the BlackPaths all the time and how to keep really, really far away from them and –’

  ‘Oh, shush,’ Taqqiq snapped. ‘Don’t encourage him. We don’t want a firebeast appearing in the middle of us.’

  Toklo hated agreeing with him, but he did not want to see Ujurak turn into a firebeast either.

  ‘I–I don’t think I can anyway,’ Ujurak said, thinking it over. ‘It’s like . . . it’s as if they’re not really alive. I can’t get any life-feeling from them at all.’

  ‘Not alive!’ Taqqiq barked. ‘Well, that’s plain stupid, isn’t it? Obviously they’re alive! They run and roar and attack just like bears do!’

  ‘Not just like bears do,’ Ujurak said. ‘I don’t know how to explain it.’

  ‘Well, I’m still not afraid of them!’ Taqqiq announced. He bounded out on to the BlackPath and trotted to the other side.

  ‘Come on,’ Toklo said to the others. He sniffed the BlackPath carefully and listened with an ear close to the ground. He couldn’t hear any rumbling.

  ‘Lusa, you first,’ he said.

  Lusa set one paw cautiously on the BlackPath, and then, taking a deep breath, she sprinted across at full speed. She tumbled into a patch of weeds and lay there, catching her breath. She covered her nose with her paws. ‘I really hate BlackPaths,’ she called back. ‘They smell horrible! And you can always tell that firebeasts have killed other animals there. They’re like paths of death. I wish the spirits could get rid of them!’

  Taqqiq snorted. ‘Like any spirits have that kind of power.’ He shifted his paws at the edge of the hard black earth.

  ‘Wait a moment,’ Toklo warned Ujurak and Kallik. ‘I think a firebeast is coming.’ He could feel the earth quivering under his paws. The bear cubs ducked back into the bushes. Toklo saw Kallik’s eyes gleaming in the light from the firebeast’s eyes as it hurtled past.

  ‘All right, come on!’ he called once it was gone.

  Ujurak, Kallik and Toklo bolted out of the bushes. Ujurak made it across first, and Lusa butted him happily with her head.

  Toklo kept an eye on Kallik; he wasn’t sure how many BlackPaths she’d crossed when she was travelling alone, or whether this one would frighten her. He was pleased to see that she ran steadily beside him, barely flinching when a firebeast roared in the distance.

  They stumbled on to the grass on the far side, rejoining the others.

  ‘Good job,’ Toklo said to Kallik. ‘You stayed so calm. I suppose you’re really one of us now.’

  ‘What about Taqqiq?’ she asked. ‘Is he one of us too?’

  Toklo didn’t answer. He wanted to be patient, for the sake of the others, but the wounds on his shoulder ached, and anger still burned inside him when he looked at Taqqiq. No matter what the others said, Toklo would never believe that Taqqiq belonged with them.

  He stared past Kallik and blinked in shock. Ahead of them, half a skylength away, lay a whole cluster of flat-face dens, burning with sharp yellow lights like firebeasts’ eyes. The dens had been partly hidden by a dip in the land, but now he could see that an entire denning place lay between the cubs and the Big River.

  He’d thought the big firebeasts and their noisy den and dogs were the worst danger they’d face before the river . . . but it was only the beginning.

  CHAPTER EIGHT:

  Kallik

  Night had fallen completely now, although the sky was still glowing from the lights of the no-claw dens up ahead. Kallik blinked and squinted, trying to see into the distance beyond the dens. Smoke Mountain was just a ridge of black blotting out half the sky.

  Toklo led the way along the stream to a spot with a few trees and several scrubby bushes. Kallik’s stomach growled. She watched Lusa snap a branch off one of the bushes and try to chew on it.

  ‘Blech,’ Lusa said, spitting out bits of bark.

  ‘Let’s stay here for the night,’ Toklo suggested. ‘We should rest. We can head towards the flat-face dens in the morning.’ From the way he stood on three legs, with one hind leg crooked under his belly, Kallik guessed he was hurting. She felt a stab of guilt: were his injuries from the dogs or Taqqiq? Either way, her brother was responsible. Part of her didn’t want to face the no-claw dens in daylight, but she also didn’t want to argue with Toklo when he perhaps needed rest more than any of them.

  Lusa flopped down on the grass immediately. Within moments she was snoring. Taqqiq shambled off to curl up by himself, his shaggy white shoulders hunched. He shot angry glares at all of them. Kallik could tell that he was still seething about the fight and the Ujurak secret they’d all been keeping from him.

  Toklo waded into the stream, gingerly washing his paws in the cool, flowing water. Kallik followed him, guessing that he was trying to clean the wounds her brother had inflicted. In a way, Toklo was as bad as Taqqiq: too proud to admit that he was hurt and might need help.

  Ujurak emerged from the shadows with a bundle of herbs in his mouth. He dropped them on the bank near Toklo. ‘For you,’ he said quietly to the brown bear cub. ‘Rub them on the cuts after you’ve finished washing.’

  Toklo made a rough grumbling noise and shot an angry glance at Taqqiq. Kallik looked from Toklo to her brother, Taqqiq. She thought how alike they were: two stubborn, troubled bears trying to survive in a world that seemed to be against them. Couldn’t they see it too?

  As Ujurak began nosing Toklo’s fur, examining his wounds, Kallik dragged herself up on to the grass and lay down close to Taqqiq, but not touching him. She didn’t know if he’d like it if she tried to curl up together, the way they had when they were younger. But she wanted to be as close to him as possible.

  The bright lights from the denning place up ahead turned the night sky pale orange over the river. Kallik could just make out a scattering of stars twinkling far, far away in the heavens. She didn’t feel close to the ice spirits now. The hot air crackled like the sky before a storm. Kallik’s fur felt heavy and prickly. She wriggled and shifted, trying to get comfortable, but it was hard to fall asleep, despite being so tired that her paws felt like stones. The glow from the dens was always there beyond her closed eyes.

  Giving up trying to sleep, Kallik rolled over and stared up at the sky, searching for the tiny stars glittering like faraway pieces of ice. She wondered if her mother could see Kallik and Taqqiq from wherever she was. Was Nisa proud that Kallik had found her brother? She wondered if Nisa wou
ld be sad about how mean Taqqiq had become. This hostile, angry bear was so different from the little cub she’d been raising. It worried Kallik that Taqqiq couldn’t see how amazing Ujurak was.

  Her thoughts were muddled as she finally drifted into sleep. She dreamed of dogs and geese and Ujurak turning into a firebeast, his fur covered in hard, shiny stuff and eyes glowing in that bright, eerie, terrifying way.

  The light woke Kallik early, bringing the too-short night to an end. The sun was already climbing over the trees, shining into her eyes. A few stars were still sparkling in the sky, and a chill morning dew sparkled on the grass. She could feel a warm body pressed against her back, and she lay still for a long moment, just being happy that she wasn’t alone any more.

  The other cub grunted and shifted. One paw flopped sideways so Kallik could see Taqqiq’s white fur. Feeling warm and cosy for the first time in moons, even though they were sleeping on a patch of grass out in the open, Kallik snuggled closer to him.

  ‘Hrrrrft,’ Taqqiq mumbled. ‘Hrrrmmmble.’

  Those were his waking-up noises – she remembered them from their BirthDen. Oh, Taqqiq, she wailed silently. What happened to you? Why did you have to change so much?

  With a long yawn, Taqqiq rolled away from her. She sat up and watched him stretch, reaching each paw out as far as he could. He shook out his fur and glanced around. The other three bears were still asleep.

  Taqqiq gave Kallik a bright-eyed look. ‘Want to go hunting?’

  ‘Really? Out here?’

  ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Just the two of us. Like old times.’

  Not like old times, Kallik thought. Back then we had Mother to show us what to do. But she didn’t want to remind him of Nisa. Bounding to her paws, she sniffed the air. ‘Where shall we start?’

  ‘Follow me,’ he said. He turned his back on the denning place in the distance and began to walk back the way they’d come last night, but swerving away from the stream to avoid the BlackPath. He walked quickly, as if his wounds had healed overnight.

  Kallik’s paws felt light as air as she trotted after him. She was hunting with her brother again! Maybe things would be different now. Maybe he really wanted to change, starting with catching food for all of them. Perhaps Taqqiq even wanted to apologise to Toklo for hurting him. Hmmm, maybe he won’t change that much.

  She sniffed at the bushes they went past, trying to catch a scent of prey, but Taqqiq barely paused. His eyes were focused on the distant edge of the sky. He seemed to be trotting faster the further they went.

  ‘I think I smelled something,’ she said, panting, then stopped and lifted her nose. ‘I think it was a rabbit. Did you smell it?’

  Taqqiq swung his head around but didn’t stop walking. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Anyway, it’s too open out here. We won’t catch anything. We should keep going and find some better cover.’

  Kallik thought he was wrong – she was sure she smelled rabbit – but she didn’t want to argue with him when he was finally being nice, so she scrambled to keep up with him.

  ‘Remember hunting for seals?’ Taqqiq said over his shoulder. ‘Nothing tastes better in the whole world. All these little land animals are nowhere near as satisfying. Remember how fast Mother was? I thought I’d never be that big or that fast. But I bet I could keep pace with her now!’

  ‘I bet you could too,’ Kallik agreed. ‘I haven’t eaten seal in so long. Not since . . .’

  They both fell silent, remembering their last meal with their mother.

  ‘If you’re right, and the sea-ice does come back,’ Taqqiq said, ‘I’ll catch you lots and lots of seals.’

  Kallik hoped she could catch her own seals too, but she nosed him gratefully. ‘That’ll be much better than berries and birds’ eggs.’

  ‘I tried to swipe a bird’s egg once,’ Taqqiq said. ‘I nearly got pecked to death!’

  ‘Me too!’ Kallik cried. ‘I didn’t know birds had such sharp muzzles! It was awful. My head hurt for ages afterwards.’

  ‘One time I found some food inside a firebeast,’ Taqqiq told her. ‘That’s how I met Salik. We were both trying to figure out how to get the food out without waking up the firebeast. That’s when we learned that they sleep so deeply.’ He paused. ‘I know you didn’t like Salik, but I didn’t want to travel by myself. Not when I thought you and Nisa were dead.’

  ‘I understand,’ Kallik said. ‘Really I do. I was lonely too.’

  ‘At least you knew I was alive somewhere,’ Taqqiq said. ‘I was sure you were dead. I thought I was completely alone.’

  ‘I would have done the same thing you did,’ Kallik said. Although maybe not with Salik. ‘I wish I’d met other bears who would let me travel with them. Actually, I did, but . . . she died.’

  ‘What happened to her?’ asked Taqqiq.

  Kallik told him about Nanuk and the metal bird that had carried them, and how it had crashed out of the sky in flames. It was so lovely to have someone she could talk to – her own brother, blood of her blood, someone who knew the same BirthDen stories she did. She forgot all about hunting, until her paws stumbled in a small bog and she stopped to look around.

  The BlackPath, the no-claw dens and the stream were out of sight, far behind them. A bleak plain of scrubby bushes stretched around their paws.

  ‘Wow, look how far we’ve come,’ Kallik said. ‘We should go back.’ She started to turn around, but Taqqiq jumped in front of her and blocked her way.

  ‘What if we didn’t?’ he said. ‘Great Bear Lake is only a day or two in this direction – we could get there much faster without all those other cubs holding us back. We could find the white bears again and travel with them to the Melting Sea, where we used to live.’

  Kallik stared at him in surprise. ‘But what about the Place of Endless Ice? Don’t you remember all the things Nisa told us about it?’

  ‘I do remember,’ Taqqiq said, ‘but what if those were just stories? She also told us about stars with bird names chasing one another in circles. You don’t think that’s real, do you?’

  ‘Of course I do!’ Kallik cried. ‘The Great Bear, Silaluk, is always watching over us. Even during burn-sky, while the hunters are chasing her. And the Place of Endless Ice is real, Taqqiq – I’ve heard about it from lots of other bears.’ Well, a few.

  Taqqiq snorted. ‘Old bears with seal-holes in their brains. Even if it does exist, how do you know you’ll ever find it? What makes you trust these bears you want to travel with? They aren’t interested in finding a place that’s made of ice and snow.’ He stepped towards her, his eyes pleading. ‘We don’t belong with brown and black bears, Kallik. And we definitely don’t belong with freaky shape-changing bears that might not even be bears at all.’

  ‘Ujurak has the heart and spirit of a bear!’ Kallik protested. ‘As much as any of us, if not more.’

  ‘You barely know him!’ Taqqiq snarled. ‘You barely know any of them, but you want to risk your life and run off into the wilderness with them instead of going home, where you belong, with your own kind?’

  Kallik struggled to find the right words for what she was feeling. It did sound crazy when Taqqiq said it that way. But she knew . . . she knew that this was the path to the place where the bear spirits danced. She knew she was meant to go there, and she knew she should go with these bears. How could she explain that if Taqqiq didn’t feel it himself?

  ‘Please, Kallik,’ Taqqiq said, and his eyes were gentle now, and pleading. ‘Come with me. It’ll be like it was before. We’ll go back to where we were born and hunt seals together and tell stories about Mother, and it’ll be the way it should be. Besides, you’ve come this far already. We may as well keep going to Great Bear Lake.’

  ‘Because you tricked me!’ Kallik said, anger flaring in her chest. ‘You knew I wouldn’t come with you if you told me what we were doing!’ She looked around, fighting back panic. Their trail was disappearing fast into the marshy ground. What if she couldn’t find her way back to the others?

  ‘
But you should come with me,’ Taqqiq insisted. ‘You should be with other white bears – with me.’

  Kallik thought about her mother’s stories and the light in Nisa’s eyes when she talked about the Everlasting Ice. Nisa had believed that they would need to travel there some day, because the ice was melting earlier every year. Surely she would want Kallik to go in search of it?

  But then, Nisa’s spirit had been guiding her to Taqqiq all this time. Kallik had heard her voice and seen her shape in dreams and fog and reflections. What if her mother did want them to stay together? Did that mean Kallik had to return to the Melting Sea?

  Please send me another sign, Kallik begged. She stretched her head up to look at the sky, wishing an ice spirit would come down and tell her what to do.

  Suddenly she gasped. One of the ice spots was still visible in the dawn sky. But it wasn’t an ordinary star. It was blinking, like an eye opening and closing. And it was moving.

  ‘Taqqiq, look!’ she said, standing up on her hind legs to stare at it. The flickering star was definitely moving . . . and it was moving away from Great Bear Lake and the Melting Sea. The strange blinking light headed steadily towards the Big River and the Last Great Wilderness, the same way Ujurak was leading them.

  ‘It has to be a sign,’ Kallik said, dropping to all paws again. ‘Don’t you see, Taqqiq? The spirits want us to go on with the other bears. I think . . . I think it’s Nisa sending me a message. She doesn’t want me to go back to the Melting Sea.’

  Taqqiq sighed. ‘I think you’re wrong. It just looks like a star to me; I don’t care if it is moving. But there’s nothing I can say, is there?’

  Kallik’s fur felt heavy with her sadness. ‘And there’s no way I can convince you.’

  Taqqiq shook his head. ‘I’m going home,’ he said. ‘I want to be with other white bears.’

  ‘And I have to keep going,’ she said. ‘I have to find the Place of Endless Ice.’ Her claws sank into the damp earth underpaw. ‘Oh, Taqqiq! I don’t want to lose you again!’

  Taqqiq stretched forward and bumped her nose with his. ‘But this time you know that I’m alive – and I know you are too. I’ll be OK, I promise.’