Smoke Mountain by Erin Hunter Page B

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 would 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.
    â€˜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?’
    â€˜Really? Out here?’
    â€˜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?’
    â€˜Follow me,’ he said. He turned his back on thedenning 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.