“Here,” he said, dropping his prey at her paws. “I caught it just for you.” Awkwardly he added, “You deserve to be looked after.”
Gratitude overwhelmed Kallik so that she hardly knew what to say. “Thank you,” she whispered, stretching forward so that she could touch noses with Yakone.
Then something made her fur prickle; she jumped back when she saw Nanulak watching them, his eyes dark and unreadable.
Kallik lost count of the number of days they spent trekking back to the middle of the island, though she knew it was taking far less time than their struggle toward the sea. Finally they stood on the rim of the little valley where they had found Nanulak, and gazed down. Fresh snow had fallen since they left, but it was softer than before, and not as deep; it was also trampled with the pawprints of white and brown bears.
Well, here we are, Kallik thought. Now what?
She glanced around for Yakone, but he had disappeared once again. Kallik spotted his tracks leading farther along the edge of the valley and vanishing behind a jutting rock. A worm of uneasiness twisted in her belly at the thought that he had gone exploring on his own.
We don’t know what danger might be waiting for us here.
“I don’t like it here,” Nanulak said, echoing Kallik’s apprehension. “How long are we supposed to stay?”
“I don’t know,” Toklo admitted. He was standing next to Kallik and Lusa, staring down into the valley as if the mess of bear tracks down there might tell him something. “I can’t see why Ujurak sent us back here,” he added to Kallik in a lower voice. “There’s nothing to find.”
Kallik nodded. “I’ve been thinking,” she began. “I can’t help wondering why the white bears attacked Nanulak. If white bears and brown bears can live so closely that they have cubs together, why would they turn on each other?”
Toklo shrugged. “Maybe there wasn’t enough prey to go around,” he guessed. “That’s why Nanulak’s family drove him away.”
Kallik wasn’t sure. She peered intently down into the valley again, studying the rocky slopes, the snow, and the boulders that littered the valley floor. There must be a sign down there. Something to tell us what we have to do now. Ujurak wouldn’t have sent us back here if it wasn’t important.
Suddenly she realized that Yakone had reappeared and was bounding along the top of the valley toward her. There was urgency in his face, but he didn’t speak until he reached Kallik and the others.
“White bears!” he panted. “Several of them, over there.” He jerked his muzzle in the direction he had come from.
“No!” Nanulak whimpered, pressing himself against Toklo’s side. “They’ll find me and kill me. I knew we should never have come.”
“Did they see you?” Toklo asked Yakone.
The white bear shook his head. “No. But maybe we should get out of here.”
“Without finding out why Ujurak sent us?” Lusa argued.
Kallik understood her friend’s reluctance, but she didn’t want to stay near the valley if it meant a fight with white bears. “We’re supposed to be finding Nanulak’s family,” she argued. “But they’re not here. I vote we find somewhere close by to hide, and come back when the white bears are gone.”
“Good idea,” Toklo said. “We—”
“No!” Nanulak exclaimed. “I’ll be brave, Toklo. You were right. I should face up to my enemies.”
Kallik saw her own surprise reflected in Toklo’s eyes. Why should Nanulak suddenly change his mind?
Toklo stared down at Nanulak. “You want to confront these white bears?”
Nanulak nodded vigorously. “I want revenge!” he insisted. “I want those white bears to pay for what they did to me. You’ll do it for me, won’t you, Toklo?”
Kallik could tell that Toklo was uneasy; he hesitated for a long time before replying.
“How can you be sure these are the same bears?” he asked eventually. “You haven’t even seen them.”
“The bears who attacked me lived around here,” Nanulak replied. “They must be the same.”
Toklo exchanged a glance with Kallik, still clearly uncertain.
“You said you would help me!” Nanulak reminded him.
Toklo nodded. “All right. But we need to get a good look at these bears first. I’m not fighting them if they’re not the ones who attacked you.”
Nanulak looked sulky, as if he wasn’t satisfied with Toklo’s answer, but he said nothing more.
“Yakone, show us where you saw the bears,” Toklo said.
The white bear led the way back along the valley’s rim. Rounding the heap of boulders, Kallik saw a confused mass of tracks leading into the distance, but no sign of any white bears.
“They’re gone!” Nanulak exclaimed. “Come on, we have to follow them!”
Kallik thought how strange it was that he sounded determined to find the bears, when up until now he had been so desperate to avoid them. She spotted Lusa giving him a surprised look, too, as if she was wondering what was going through Nanulak’s mind.
Toklo took the lead as they followed the tracks away from the valley, across a narrow frozen stream, and up a steep slope beyond. Reaching the top of the slope, Kallik spotted a group of white bears heading away from them, trekking across a shallow dip beyond the ridge. A huge male was in the lead, followed by two younger bears, a male and a female, with a very old she-bear bringing up the rear.
“Well?” Toklo asked. “Do you recognize them?”
“Yes.” Nanulak’s eyes were full of anger. “That big bear—he’s the one who attacked me!”
“Are you sure?” Lusa asked, looking worried.
Kallik shared her anxiety. The white male was far bigger than Toklo, and he looked tough. She didn’t know if Toklo could beat him in a fight.
“I’m sure!” Nanulak snarled. “Do you think I could ever forget what that bear did to me? He’s a vicious bully, and he deserves to die!”
Kallik shivered. Something about this didn’t feel right.
“Okay, let’s go for it.” Toklo squared his shoulders and headed after the group of white bears.
Kallik and the others followed. Kallik noticed that Nanulak was keeping well to the rear, where the white bears wouldn’t spot him right away.
Lusa was trotting beside Kallik. “Do you think this is why Ujurak sent us back?” she whispered. “To take revenge?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t sound like Ujurak at all.”
Kallik had to agree with her, but there was nothing she could do to stop the fight now. Toklo had given his word to Nanulak.
“Hey! You there!” Toklo roared as they began to catch up to the white bears. “Wait!”
The white bears halted and turned to stare at them. For a moment Kallik thought that Nanulak had disappeared, until she spotted him hiding behind a boulder, peering around it to get a good view without being seen.
As Toklo approached, the biggest white bear signed to his companions to stay where they were, and strode out to face Toklo. He had a wary look, as if he was ready for trouble. Kallik exchanged a glance with Yakone. Without needing to speak, the two of them began circling in opposite directions, to place themselves between the big white male and the bears with him.
This is going to be a fight between two bears, Kallik thought determinedly. This bear’s friends aren’t going to help him against Toklo, not if Yakone and I have anything to do with it.
“What do you want?” the male bear asked.
“You.” Toklo halted, his snout thrust out aggressively. “I heard you’ve been attacking smaller bears. But now you’ve got me to deal with.”
“What?” The white bear sounded startled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t attacked any bear.”
“You would say that,” Toklo sneered. “You’re a coward. You’re too scared to face up to a bear your own size.”
“You’re not my own size.” The white bear loomed over Toklo, and his voice deepened to an angry growl. “But no bear calls me a
coward. If you want a fight, you can have it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Toklo
Toklo braced himself, holding the white bear’s gaze. How did I get here? he wondered. He didn’t want to fight. He knew that if he was injured, it would make their journey much harder. And yet he also knew that Nanulak was watching.
Maybe this is my destiny, he thought. Maybe I’m here to teach this white bear that he can’t bully bears smaller and weaker than himself.
He tried to imagine Ujurak by his side, supporting him and urging him on, but he had no sense of his friend’s presence. You brought us back here, he thought, so now where are you?
While he hesitated, the white bear let out a roar and lunged at him. Toklo ducked under his outstretched paws and rammed his head hard into the white bear’s belly. Dodging aside, he felt a violent blow on his shoulder, and for a heartbeat his whole leg went numb. He almost lost his balance, and in that moment the white bear was upon him.
Toklo flinched as his opponent raked his claws along his side. Staggering, he aimed a blow at his shoulder, but his claws passed harmlessly through the white pelt. He saw scarlet drops of blood spatter on the snow. While he was still off balance, the white bear gave him a hefty shove; Toklo barely managed to stay on his paws.
“You can’t win,” the white bear growled. “Get out of here, or I’ll rip your pelt off!”
Toklo lurched to his hindpaws and advanced on the white bear, his forepaws splayed out and his jaws gaping as he roared a challenge. He dropped forward onto the white bear’s shoulders, slashing his claws over and over again, feeling a savage satisfaction as they dug into flesh.
The white bear let out a yelp of pain. Suddenly he went limp, dropping Toklo to the ground and rolling on top of him. Crushed, half smothered in white fur, Toklo struggled to throw him off. His senses were reeling, the world beginning to dissolve into sparkling darkness. With a massive effort, Toklo brought up his hindpaws and battered at the white bear’s belly. He caught a glimpse of dripping jaws and sharp white fangs as the white bear lunged for his throat.
Summoning all his strength, Toklo dragged himself from underneath the white bear. The hot reek of blood was in his nose, and blood was trickling into his eyes from a scratch on his forehead. Panting, he realized that he would have to finish the fight quickly.
“Come on, fish-breath!” he taunted. “Is that all you’ve got?”
The white bear sprang at him again. Toklo slipped to one side, landing a couple of good blows on his enemy’s rump. The white bear turned to strike back, but he wasn’t fast enough. Toklo charged into him from the other side, carrying him off his paws. Leaping on top of him, he held him down with one paw across his throat, while he bared his teeth, ready to rip at his flesh.
“Had enough?” he snarled.
The white bear nodded. “You win,” he rasped, blinking blood out of his eyes. “You fight well.”
Toklo relaxed his grip, intending to let the white bear stand up, but before he could, he heard Nanulak shriek.
“Don’t let him go! Kill him!”
At the sound of Nanulak’s voice, the white bear let out a gasp. He turned his head to see Nanulak running up, his lips drawn back in a snarl and a gloating look in his eyes. Toklo hardly recognized him.
“Kill him!” Nanulak repeated.
Toklo opened his jaws, but the white bear spoke first.
“Nanulak! Son!”
“What?” Toklo staggered back. “Nanulak, this white bear is your father?”
“No!” Nanulak spat the word out. “He’s nothing to me. I’m a brown bear now.”
The white bear staggered to his paws and shook the snow from his pelt. His eyes were full of sorrow. “I am his father,” he told Toklo. “His mother is a brown bear. We love Nanulak very much, but he—”
“You never loved me!” Nanulak growled. “You never understood me. My mother kept telling me that I was different and special because I was half white bear. But I’m not! I won’t be! I’m a brown bear.”
The white bear shook his massive head, scattering lumps of snow and scarlet drops onto the ground. “I don’t understand this,” he said. “Who are these bears? Where have you been? We all thought you were dead!”
“As if you care!” Nanulak sneered.
“You know we care.” The white bear’s voice was quiet. “Your mother and your half brother and sister have been looking for you. So have I, and my white-bear kin here were helping me. We were worried about you.”
“What?” Lusa bounded up behind Nanulak, gazing at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. “You told us your family drove you away!”
Nanulak’s father glanced at her, looking faintly surprised at the sight of a black bear. “None of us would do that,” he said. “We took care of Nanulak while he was with us. Until now we’ve been grieving for him.”
Toklo felt as though the white bear’s words were clawing into his heart, more painful than any of his wounds from the fight. Kallik and Yakone padded up, with the other white bears behind them.
Nanulak didn’t stop staring at his father with hatred in his eyes. “You know nothing about me!” Suddenly he whirled to confront Toklo. “I thought you were going to help me,” he snarled. “But you let me down. I wanted you to kill him for me!”
Toklo blinked through the blood clotting in the fur around his eyes. “You lied to me,” he said hoarsely. “Over and over again. You told me your family had driven you away. You told me this bear had attacked you. You would have made me kill your own father!”
Nanulak flattened his ears, fury giving way to confusion. “But we’re friends, Toklo. We’re both brown bears, right? Isn’t that what friends do for each other?”
Toklo felt a surge of anger rise in his belly. Nanulak can’t even see that what he did is wrong! “Friends tell each other the truth,” he growled. “Instead you used me. You’re no friend of mine.”
“But … we’re going to travel together,” Nanulak stammered. “We’re going to find territories side by side. You said so.”
“I made that promise to another bear,” Toklo murmured, sorrow welling up inside him. “A bear who really did need me. Not one who lied to me and tried to make me kill an innocent bear. An innocent bear who is his father.”
Nanulak took a pace back. “I get it now,” he said, his voice hardening again. “You’re against me, like all the others, because I’m half white bear and half brown.”
“That’s not true,” Toklo said.
“He’s always been like this.” It was the younger male white bear who spoke. “Right from when we were little cubs. My sister and I tried to play with him, but he never wanted anything to do with us.”
The young she-bear nodded. “He always went off by himself instead.”
Nanulak raked the group of white bears with a cold gaze. “You’re all against me,” he hissed. “It’s not my fault that I’m half white and half brown.”
The old white she-bear stepped forward until she stood in front of Nanulak, looking down at him. She was scrawny with age, and her fur was patchy, but Toklo could see wisdom in her cloudy eyes. She reminded him of Aga, the ancient she-bear on Star Island.
“No bear cares about that but you,” she told Nanulak.
“It’s true.” Nanulak’s father padded to his son’s side and bent his head to touch his shoulder with his muzzle, only to leave the movement unfinished. “Your mother and I love each other,” he said. “And we want to love you. Can’t you let us?”
Nanulak turned a look of freezing contempt on his father. “I don’t care about you,” he snarled. “I’m better than any of you. I’ll live alone, like a true brown bear. Will you travel with me, Toklo? You promised, remember? Just you and me, brown bears together.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Toklo
Toklo stood rigid, unable to reply. He wondered if Nanulak really meant what he was saying. After all that’s happened, does he really think I’ll leave my friends and go with him?
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Before he managed to find words, a yelp came from behind him.
“Nanulak!”
Toklo spun around to see three brown bears approaching over the rim of the valley: a full-grown she-bear and two cubs about his own age. One of the white bears was with them.
It was the she-bear who had called out. She raced down the slope and thrust her way through the crowd of bears until she stood facing Nanulak.
“My son!” she cried. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
Toklo exchanged a shocked glance with Lusa and Kallik. Here was more proof that Nanulak’s brown-bear family had never driven him away.
“You let your mother think you were dead,” Lusa hissed. “How could you do that?”
Nanulak whirled around to look at her, his teeth bared in a snarl. “You have no right to question me, you … you black bear! You don’t even belong here, but they all accept you, more than they’ve ever accepted me!”
“I’ve always accepted you,” Nanulak’s mother said.
“Didn’t you care that you made your mother grieve for you?” Kallik asked. “Did you really hate her so much?”
“Yes!” Nanulak’s voice had risen to a shriek. “She betrayed me! I didn’t ask to be half a bear, not white and not brown.”
Nanulak’s mother shook her head. “But your father and I were so proud to have you. You are not the only bear like this on the island. How can you hate us for having you?”
Nanulak let out a yelp of rage. “I hate you! And I hate them!” he growled, jerking his head at his fully brown half brother and sister. His voice suddenly shaking, he added, “I just wanted to be one type of bear.”
“You are one type of bear,” his mother responded. “You are yourself. You are my son, and I love you. We are your family, and always will be.”
Suddenly Toklo understood what Ujurak had meant when he’d said, Remember what truly matters. Family was the most important thing in the world, but it didn’t have to be the family you were born into. He and the others had created a family for themselves: this ragtag band of bears, thrown together by luck or by the spirits, yet trusting one another with their lives.