Island of Shadows by Erin Hunter Read Free Book Online

them. A wave broke over her, soaking her fur. Her paws slipped, and she clawed helplessly at the smooth surface of the ice. She breathed in the stink of oil.
    â€œHelp!” she called again.
    She felt something bump against her ice floe and let out a squeal of panic. Then she saw Yakone in the water, swimming strongly and pushing her chunk of ice with his muzzle. He propelled it through the tossing waves until it nudged against a more solid stretch, where Toklo and Kallik were waiting.
    Lusa jumped off the ice floe, landed awkwardly, and crouched shivering in the snow.
    Kallik bent over her. “Are you okay?”
    â€œI think so,” Lusa croaked.
    Yakone heaved himself out of the water and gave himself a good shake, then padded over to Lusa and touched her shoulder with his muzzle. “Okay now?”
    Lusa nodded. “Thank you, Yakone. That was really brave.”
    Kallik was looking at the white male with shining eyes, while Toklo ducked his head, half embarrassed.
    â€œYeah, it was great,” he grunted. “Thanks, Yakone. Lusa’s an annoying little chatterbox, but I’d be sorry if we lost her.”
    The firebeast was still grinding past, shouldering its way through the ice. Suddenly more ice chips spurted up around the bears’ paws; Lusa hadn’t heard the crack above the thundering roar of the firebeast, but she could see two flat-faces leaning over the side now, their firesticks pointing toward her and her friends.
    â€œWe’ve got to get out of here,” Toklo said roughly. “Fast!”

CHAPTER FIVE
Toklo
    Toklo looked around, wrenching his head so fast that his neck hurt. There was nowhere on the ice to take cover from the flat-faces and their firesticks. The ice they were standing on was beginning to split, dark cracks running across it. Toklo could feel it shuddering beneath his paws. His heart pounded as he imagined the huge firebeast swerving to come after them.
    â€œSwim!” Yakone roared suddenly. “We’ve got to swim!”
    He was pointing across the channel through the ice that the firebeast had left behind it. Toklo stared in disbelief at the churning water with the sheen of oil on its surface, and the chunks of ice that tossed and crashed against one another.
    â€œYakone’s right,” Kallik said, as another shot from the firesticks whined over the bears’ heads. “We need to get to the other side of the firebeast, away from the firesticks.”
    Toklo understood. But it wasn’t as easy as the white bears seemed to think. “Lusa can’t swim that far,” he objected, glancing down at the shivering black bear. “She’s exhausted already. I’m not leaving her.”
    Lusa raised her head. “I’ll be okay,” she insisted, but her voice was shaking.
    â€œSure you will,” Kallik said. “We’ll help you.”
    â€œToklo, just go!” Yakone growled.
    Toklo knew this was no time for argument. Bounding over the crumbling ice, he plunged into the water and struck out strongly for the other side of the channel. Glancing back, he saw that Lusa was swimming with Kallik on one side of her and Yakone on the other.
    If there are bear spirits in these waters, help us now! he begged.
    The firebeast loomed above him. It was moving away, but Toklo couldn’t help expecting it to change direction at any moment and come roaring back to swallow them. At least they were out of the flat-faces’ line of fire.
    And there won’t be any orca , he thought. The firebeast will have scared anything away for skylengths!
    His paws paddling frantically, Toklo reached the other side of the channel and tried to scramble out of the water. At first the ice broke away under his weight, and the sea surged around him as he flopped back into it. Fighting back panic, he kept going, breaking a new channel until at last he reached a place where the ice was thick enough to support him. He hauled himself