Great Bear Lake Read Free Page A

replied. “I’m not even sure exactly where we’re going. But there are signs I can read, and they tell me that up here we’re on the right path.”
    Toklo rolled his eyes. Bears looked for places where they would be safe, and where there was plenty to eat. Anything else was just cobwebs and moonshine. So why are you following him? a small voice inside him asked; Toklo did his best to ignore it.
    â€œWhat sort of signs?” Lusa persisted.
    Ujurak’s eyes were puzzled. “They could be anything…a tree, the scent of water, the way moss grows on a rock…I don’t really know how I know, but I understand what I have to do. And most of all, I follow the Pathway Star.”
    â€œThe Pathway Star!” Lusa started as if a snake had reared up in front of her. “Do you mean the Bear Watcher? He helped me when I was looking for Toklo.”
    Toklo stifled a snort of contempt.
    Ujurak turned to face the Sky Ridge. “Even when the star is hidden in the sky, I can feel it there, tugging at my fur….” His voice died away.
    â€œI’ve felt that, too, exactly the same!” Lusa responded with an excited little bounce. “Maybe we were following the same star! Maybe I was meant to come on this journey, and that’s why I was able to find Toklo.”
    â€œAnd maybe both of you have bees in your brain,” Toklo interrupted. His fur felt hot with resentment at the way the two cubs were digging up things in common—things that he knew were nonsense. The only thing they had in common wasthat they spent too much time dreaming. He knew which star they were talking about, but it wasn’t leading them anywhere. It lived alone, circled by hostile stars that wouldn’t let it rest. He knew how that felt, too.
    â€œAre we going to stand here until we start to grow moss?”
    Ujurak gave him an affectionate poke with his snout. “No, we’re going now.” He began to lead the way along the ridge.
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    Though Toklo had been uneasy about Ujurak’s choice of path, in the days that followed he grew more used to the vast stretches of land spread out on either side of their mountain trail, and the feeling of wind buffeting his fur with nothing but the wide sky overhead. His big worry was the shortage of prey; they lived on roots and insects grubbed up from the scant soil between the boulders, or now and again berries from thornbushes rooted in cracks. Pangs of hunger gripped Toklo’s belly from morning to night. At least the black bear didn’t complain, but then she was smaller than he was, so she didn’t need to eat as much anyway.
    Several sunrises into their journey, when the moon had swelled to twice the size it had been when they left the forest behind, the path led them onto a narrow ledge; sheer, spiky rocks stretched upward on one side, while the ground fell away in a dizzying precipice on the other. Toklo led the way. Glancing behind to check on the others, he noticed that Lusa had dropped back a few paces. She was staring up at the sky.
    â€œWhat’s that bird up there?” she called, tilting her muzzletoward the small dark brown shape hovering far above.
    â€œA golden eagle,” Ujurak replied. “I turned into one once, when we were hunting a goat. I caught it, too.”
    â€œYou mean that bird’s big enough to catch a goat?” Lusa gasped, still gazing up at the distant shape of the eagle. “It looks so tiny!”
    â€œThat’s because it’s a long way away, butterfly-brain,” Toklo cut in. “Up close, it’s big enough to catch nosy, chattering black bear cubs.”
    Lusa stared at him, her eyes huge, as if she weren’t sure if he meant what he said. Then she relaxed. “You would be racing for cover if there was any danger,” she pointed out. “If it’s big enough to catch me, it’s big enough to hurt you. We’re all safe as long as the eagle stays