The Last Wilderness Read Free Page A

‘Come on, let’s go to the shore. I want to dip my paws in the sea!’
    Toklo lifted his dripping snout from the pool. ‘You mean you want the water to freeze your fur off?’ he teased.
    ‘Cold is
good
,’ Kallik insisted. ‘Please come! I really want to go down to the sea today.’
    ‘Come on, Toklo,’ Lusa put in. She could see the longing in Kallik’s eyes. ‘It’ll be fun.’
    Toklo shrugged. ‘OK. It’s not like we have anything else to do.’
    The bears set off with Kallik leading the way, her pace quickening as they neared the glimmering line of the ocean. The wind grew stronger as the land flattened in front of them, sweeping in from the sea with a spatter of sleet that stung Lusa’s eyes.
    Kallik still kept on going, her head lowered into the blast, but Toklo stumbled to a halt, and after a moment’s hesitation Lusa and Ujurak joined him.
    ‘Hey, Kallik!’ Toklo called out. ‘We can’t go down to the sea now. This wind is too cold. And it’s blowing my fur off.’
    Kallik paused, looking back over her shoulder. ‘The wind is great!’ she protested. ‘Can’t you smell the ice in it?’
    ‘But we’re not like you,’ Lusa told Kallik. ‘The ice isn’t our home. Let’s stay here in the hills for a while, until the weather’s better.’
    ‘But –’ Kallik began.
    She broke off as Lusa touched one paw to her shoulder. ‘Just for now,’ Lusa whispered. She knew what was going to happen: the bears would split up, each finding their own perfect place to live, and she might never see the others again. They had reached the end of their journey, but Lusa didn’t want it to be the end of their friendship too. ‘Wait until the ice comes back,’ she pleaded.
    Kallik hesitated, then gave a reluctant nod. Lusa saw her glance longingly back at the sea before she followed her friends toward the hills once more.
    There weren’t many trees in this direction, Lusa noticed sadly, but there were plenty of low-growing bushes and outcrops of rock that could provide shelter from the freezing wind. The caribou grazed on the tough moorland grass, throwing up their heads and snorting with dismay as the four bears padded past.
    ‘They’re really restless,’ Lusa commented. ‘I wonder if something’s disturbed them.’
    ‘
We’ve
disturbed them,’ Toklo responded, baring his teeth.
    ‘No, I think it’s something else,’ Kallik murmured.
    The whole herd was shifting like waves rolling over a beach, but they didn’t seem to be going in any particular direction. They would feed for a while, then raise their heads, pace away for a few bearlengths, then settle to feed again. A weird clicking noise came from them every time they moved.
    ‘What’s that funny noise they’re making?’ Lusa asked.
    ‘They do it every time they walk.’ Ujurak eyed the caribou with interest, distracted from the uneasy brooding that had worried Lusa earlier.
    ‘It’s coming from their feet!’ Kallik exclaimed, after watching for a moment longer. She raised oneof her paws and flexed it curiously. ‘Why do caribou’s feet click when bears’ don’t?’
    ‘Who cares?’ Toklo asked. ‘Maybe it’s so we can creep up on our prey without them noticing. Their prey is
grass
. You don’t have to sneak up on grass.’
    They wandered on, while the sun hauled itself almost to the height of the mountains before it slowly began to sink again. Days didn’t last long here – not like when they’d been by Great Bear Lake, where the sun had barely dipped below the horizon before rising again.
    ‘Hey, Toklo!’ Lusa called. ‘How do you like the idea of sinking your teeth into a caribou? We’d never be hungry again!’
    Toklo halted and scanned the nearest of the herd with a gleam in his eye. ‘No, I already said they’re too big . . .’ he muttered. His claws scraped the ground as if he was imagining how it would feel to rake them across a caribou’s hide.
    ‘I think you could do it,’ Ujurak told him.
    Toklo