Island of Shadows by Erin Hunter Read Free Book Online Page B

withered and died.
    Curled up to sleep in the open, Toklo felt a furry body huddling next to him. A warm tongue rasped busily over his wound. He half opened his eyes to see who it was, but it was too dark to make out more than a humped shape beside him. He let out a grunt of gratitude, then gave a long sigh as he relaxed. The gentle licking continued until he drifted into sleep.
    When Toklo woke next morning, it was already light, and the cloud cover overhead was beginning to break up. Lusa was sitting next to him, thoughtfully washing her paws. She glanced over at Toklo as he sat up in alarm.
    â€œWhere are Kallik and Yakone?” he asked.
    â€œThey went to see if they could find some prey,” Lusa responded calmly. “Look, they’re coming back.”
    Glancing around, Toklo spotted the two white bears trekking over the ice toward them. Shame swept over him; obviously his companions had let him sleep so he could rest his wound. It felt much better already, enough for him to be able to help the others hunt.
    â€œHey, Lusa,” he began awkwardly. “Thanks for lying beside me last night, licking my wound.”
    Lusa looked surprised. “I didn’t. I went straight to sleep.”
    Kallik and Yakone came up in time to hear the exchange. Kallik was carrying a huge fish in her jaws.
    â€œYou must have dreamed it,” she said, dropping her catch at Toklo’s paws.
    â€œI’m glad it was a good dream,” Lusa added, with an affectionate look at Toklo.
    Toklo shrugged. “Good catch, Kallik. That’s a nice change from seal.”
    But as all four bears crowded around the fish to eat their share, Toklo couldn’t shake the memory of what had happened during the night. He knew he hadn’t dreamed it.
    Some bear came and helped me, because I was cold and my shoulder was aching.
    He swallowed the last gulp of fish and drew away from the others, looking up into the sky, which grew brighter as the clouds cleared away.
    â€œWas it you, Ujurak?” he whispered, feeling a bit foolish to be talking to the air, but hoping that his friend’s starry ears could hear him.

CHAPTER SIX
Kallik
    Anxiety, sharp as an orca’s tooth , nagged at Kallik as the bears set off again. She could tell that Lusa was weakening, however much the black bear tried to hide it. She could see pain in the smaller bear’s eyes and knew that her belly was still aching, too. When Kallik looked around, she could see nothing but the wastes of endless ice.
    When are we going to find land?
    â€œAre you okay?” Yakone asked, coming to pad alongside her. “You look worried.”
    â€œI am worried, about Lusa,” Kallik explained. “This isn’t the right place for her.”
    â€œBut she traveled as far as Star Island,” Yakone pointed out. “She should be able to get home again, right?”
    â€œIt’s not as simple as that,” Kallik replied. She glanced across to where Lusa was trudging along beside Toklo. They hadn’t been moving long, but already Lusa’s paws were dragging, as if walking was a massive effort for her. And Toklo was limping; Kallik guessed that his wounded shoulder had stiffened overnight, even though the skin had already started to heal. “For one thing,” she went on, “we’re not going back the same way we came. The ice here all looks the same, and I have no idea where we are.”
    Yakone looked puzzled. “You found your way before.”
    â€œBut Ujurak was with us then.”
    Yakone’s blank look made Kallik realize that this was no explanation at all, as far as he was concerned. “Ujurak was … special.” She looked for the words that would make her friend understand. “Sometimes he seemed so young and inexperienced, as if he’d just stepped out of his BirthDen. And at other times he was so wise. When we were with him, we were often lost, but somehow he always seemed to know where