The Last Wilderness Read Online Free PDF Page A

unlikely they would ever meet again. That part of her life had to be frozen deep inside her, locked in a block of ice. But at least now she knew that her brother was alive and that he could fend for himself.
    ‘Goodbye, Taqqiq.’ She whispered the words to the empty air. ‘May the spirits be with you.’
    Exhaustion swept over her, and her eyes felt heavy. She closed them again, letting herself sink back into sleep. In her dreams she bounded tirelessly across the ice while her mother’s face shone down on her from the sky, her eyes filled with love.
    When Kallik next woke, the ice-spirits had faded from the sky and a red band of mist hung over the horizon. The other bears were already awake and had padded down to the water’s edge, black shapes outlined against the milky light. Kallik rose to her paws, gave her pelt a shake, and headed over to join them.
    Toklo stood in the river with the water flowingaround his legs, staring intently at the surface. Lusa and Ujurak were both crouched on the bank, each gnawing at a fish.
    Lusa looked up as Kallik approached her; fish scales were clinging to the fur around her jaws. ‘Toklo caught a fish for me,’ she announced. ‘He’ll catch one for you if you like.’
    Before Kallik could protest that she could catch her own, Toklo plunged his snout into the river and pulled out a glossy salmon. He tossed it to the bank, where it gasped and thrashed in front of Kallik’s paws. She planted one paw on it and bit it hard behind its head to kill it quickly.
    ‘You can have this one if you want,’ she told Toklo, looking up.
    ‘No, you have it,’ Toklo said. ‘I can catch another.’
    Kallik hesitated. She didn’t want Toklo to think that she couldn’t find her own food. But she could see how proud he was to be providing for his friends. Besides, the smell of the fish was too enticing for her to wait for long. ‘Thanks!’ she said, squatting down to eat.
    The fish was plump and succulent, its scent and taste bringing Kallik’s dreams of the ice and oceanback to her mind. ‘I have to go to the ocean today,’ she announced.
    ‘What?’ Toklo glanced up from studying the current. ‘Have you got bees in your brain? We’re heading into the hills, remember? Lusa wants to check out the forest.’
    ‘I know. I’m sorry,’ Kallik said. ‘But the ocean is my home, just like the forest is yours.’ Her voice quavered. ‘And I haven’t seen it for so long.’
    Lusa gulped down the mouthful she was chewing. ‘I understand. I’ll come with you,’ she said. ‘We can go to the forest tomorrow.’
    ‘I’ll come too,’ Ujurak added quietly.
    Toklo waded out of the river with another fish in his jaws and crouched down to feed, tearing into the flesh with enormous bites.
    ‘Toklo, are you coming to the ocean with us?’ Lusa asked.
    Toklo blinked at her, almost as if he hadn’t heard the question. ‘No, I don’t think so,’ he replied at last. ‘I want to check out the caribou.’
    Lusa flashed a swift glance at Kallik.
    Is this where we say goodbye?
Kallik wondered.
    ‘OK,’ Lusa said. Kallik thought she was trying tosound cheerful, and not succeeding very well. ‘I guess this is it, then. I . . . I hope you find a good place to make your territory.’
    ‘Don’t be such a fluff-brain,’ Toklo mumbled around a mouthful of fish. ‘I’m not going anywhere. I’ll see you later.’
    ‘Oh – I mean, great!’ Lusa’s eyes brightened as she bounced to her paws.
    Leaving Toklo to finish eating, Kallik, Lusa and Ujurak waded across the river and followed along the bank as it wound gently down to the plain. Kallik’s paws tingled. She felt as if every step was leading her closer to the ice: the ground smelled of it, and she could taste it in the pool of water where they stopped briefly for a drink.
    As the view opened up and they could see the plain once more, they disturbed a flock of snow geese. The birds went whirling up into the sky, filling the air with the