The Last Wilderness Read Online Free PDF Page B

going to the ice?’ she asked the she-bear.
    ‘Not yet,’ the she-bear answered. ‘I’ll wait until my cubs are stronger first.’
    Kallik eyed the two cubs. They looked strong to her already, plump and healthy, so different from the wretchedly thin bears she had seen on the shore of the Melting Sea and at Great Bear Lake. With their mother to take care of them, they were sure to reach the ice soon.
    Longingly Kallik gazed out at the ice again. Its pull was overwhelming; her ears filled with the murmurings of the ice-spirits, the sound of ice crystals forming in the water. The ice seemed to have drawn closer already. Kallik felt as if she could stretch out her snout and touch it. Her paws carried her into the sea; she could feel the cold touch of the waves as they lapped around her legs. Her excitement rising, she waded deeper into the icy water.
    Then she halted abruptly as a huge paw rested on her back. ‘Wait, little one,’ came the voice of the mother bear. ‘The ice will soon return.’
    The whispering of the spirits faded, drowned by the cries of seabirds and the rush of wind in Kallik’s ears. She became aware once more of the wide stretch of open sea that separated her from the ice.
    Kallik wrenched herself free from the lure of the ice. She was standing several bearlengths from the shore, the waves washing against her belly fur. Beside her, the she-bear watched her with worried bright eyes.
    ‘Sorry,’ Kallik said hoarsely, beginning to head back to shore. ‘You’re right. I’ll wait.’ Wading out of the sea, she shook water from her pelt and dipped her head to the mother bear. ‘Thank you.’
    ‘You’re welcome, young one,’ the mother bear replied. ‘Maybe we will meet again, on the ice.’
    ‘I hope so,’ Kallik replied.
    Calling her cubs to her, the mother bear trudged off along the shore. With one more curious stare at Kallik, the cubs followed, their stubby tails bobbing as they scampered over the stones. Kallik glanced across to where Lusa and Ujurak were stillpeering anxiously from behind the bush.
    ‘Are you OK?’ Lusa called.
    ‘Fine,’ Kallik replied, plodding up the beach to join them.
    Their concern for her filled her with warmth, but she knew that however much she loved them, the pull of the ice was stronger. For the first time, she realised that when the ice came close enough to the shore, she would be able to leave them without regret.
    My path is different from theirs
, she told herself.
Soon I must go where they can’t follow
.



CHAPTER FIVE:
Lusa
    L usa, Kallik and Ujurak turned back towards the low hills. Lusa kept close to Kallik’s side and her anxiety gradually ebbed away. For a few heart-stopping moments she had thought that her friend was going to leave her forever and swim out towards the glittering ice on the horizon. Relief had flooded over her when Kallik had turned back.
    But she’ll go as soon as the ice reaches the shore
, a small inner voice nagged at her.
    Lusa pushed the thought away. She would deal with parting from Kallik when it happened, and not before. For a while they wandered along, following the line of the shore. Ujurak bounded down to the water’s edge to sniff at a piece of wood washed up on the pebbles, only to bounce out of the way as a biggerwave surged in and swirled around his paws.
    ‘I’m soaked!’ he exclaimed, trotting back towards his friends, scattering shining water drops from his fur.
    Kallik nudged his shoulder with her snout. ‘Now do you know how wonderful it is to have your paws in the ocean?’
    Ujurak wrinkled his nose. ‘The water doesn’t taste very nice,’ he commented, licking droplets from his muzzle.
    Kallik snorted. ‘You don’t have to drink it!’
    Gradually they veered inland, heading back towards the hills, stopping where the pebbly beach gave way to scrub so they could strip a thornbush of its berries. Halfway through her second mouthful, Lusa realised she could hear a tremendous rattling and clacking