Free The Last Wilderness by Erin Hunter Page B

thought.
His paws are very small, and much nimbler than ours. Maybe Lusa was right to bring Ujurak here, after all
.
    Then the flat-face healer moved, and Toklo got a clear view of Ujurak for the first time. Still in his flatface shape, he lay on his back in a flat-face nest, partly covered by pelts.
    ‘He looks dead!’ Kallik whispered, her voice horrified.
    Toklo didn’t reply, but his belly clenched and he gritted his teeth to stop himself from howling aloud. Ujurak lay so still; his flat-face skin was a sickly grey. His eyes were closed, and Toklo couldn’t tell if he was breathing.
    ‘He’s not dead,’ Lusa said reassuringly. ‘The flatface wouldn’t be trying to help him if he was.’
    Toklo found it hard to believe her. What did flat-faces know? Besides, if Ujurak wasn’t dead now, he might die soon, and there was nothing Toklo could do. He hated the feeling of helplessness; like the geese that scattered when he tried to creep up on them,everything that was happening was flying out of his control.
    Just briefly, when he had hunted the caribou alone, he had been at peace. Now he felt as though nothing would ever go right. One thought kept nagging at him, refusing to leave him alone:
It was my fault Ujurak turned into a goose. If I hadn’t had that dumb idea
. . .
    Hot panic flooded through him. His heart thudded as he remembered the guilt he had felt over Tobi’s death and the way Oka had abandoned him; he knew he couldn’t carry the weight of that guilt again.
    No, it
wasn’t
my fault
, Toklo told himself.
It
wasn’t
my fault
.
    Gradually his heart steadied and the scorching terror ebbed away.
I’m not Ujurak’s mother
, he told himself.
It’s not my responsibility to keep him safe
.
    He remembered the last time Ujurak had been injured, when the firebeast had struck him as they crossed the bridge on the way to Great Bear Lake. Then Toklo had felt as if he were the star-bear in the loneliest, darkest part of the sky. He had failed to protect Ujurak; he had felt utterly worthless.
    Not this time
, Toklo asserted, taking a few deepbreaths.
Ujurak should be able to take care of himself. Why is he so stupid? Why does he always get into trouble?
    Suddenly a faint choking sound came from inside the den. Toklo caught his breath. ‘That was Ujurak!’ he exclaimed. ‘He’s not dead.’
    The old flat-face bent over Ujurak again. A silver claw-shape flashed in his hand. Toklo’s belly clenched with anxiety as Ujurak’s limbs spasmed and his skinny flat-face arms flailed. Then the Ujurak-cub relaxed, and the flat-face healer straightened up, stretching out a hand to smooth back Ujurak’s tangle of head-fur.
    Glancing away from the window, Toklo saw the moon hanging over the forested mountain slopes. Longing gripped him, sharp as a wolf’s fangs.
That’s where I belong
. Endless forests were the right place for a brown bear; that was where he should be, not hiding here in the shadows, on the fringe of a flatface denning area.
    Toklo’s mind flew back to when he and Tobi were tiny cubs, still living in their BirthDen with Oka. He recalled the very first time Oka had taught them how to hunt.
    ‘See this stick?’ she had said, dropping it in front ofthem. ‘I want you to pretend it’s a hare. What are you going to do?’
    ‘Chase it?’ Tobi guessed, his eyes sparkling.
    A pang passed through Toklo as he remembered that there had been a time when Tobi hadn’t been so ill. Even though he wasn’t as strong as Toklo, none of them had realised how sickly he was. Oka hadn’t been so anxious about him, and Toklo had been able to love him without being irritated by his weakness.
    ‘That’s dumb, squirrel-brain!’ Toklo had replied to his brother. ‘You can’t chase a stick. This is what
I’m
going to do!’
    Toklo leaped on the stick and sank his teeth into it, shaking it from side to side and finally dropping it at Oka’s paws. ‘I killed it, didn’t I?’ he yelped.
    ‘You did,’ Oka growled