Seekers #6: Spirits in the Stars by Erin Hunter Read Free Book Online Page B

was right.

Chapter Five
    Kallik
    Kallik felt sorry for Lusa as she watched the small black bear trying to defend herself. Whether she was right about the seal or not, she was only trying to help.
    “Well, the rest of us are going to look for the seal hunting ground, and when we find it, we’ll catch some prey,” Toklo growled, thrusting his snout aggressively at Lusa. “If you don’t want to eat it, you can keep your mouth shut and stay away. I’m not going to gnaw frozen twigs, even if that’s good enough for you.”
    He marched off, following the seal track in the snow, then halted and looked back over his shoulder. “Are you coming or not? I think that if we follow this track back, it will lead us to the place where that white bear caught the seal.”
    “Okay.” Ujurak set off, trotting in Toklo’s wake.
    Kallik exchanged a sympathetic glance with Lusa before following, aware that the smaller bear was trailing unhappily behind.
    She herself was feeling optimistic. Toklo thought that with so many white bears on the island there would be competition for prey, but Kallik didn’t think he was right. So far they had seen plenty of prey, enough to support a good number of bears.
    She wondered whether this place was still part of the Endless Ice. It certainly felt as cold as it did on the frozen sea. She reveled in the frosty air as she followed Toklo along the track of bear pawprints and seal blood.
    “Look, I can see the pawprints the white bear made when she ran away,” Lusa said after a while. She was sounding more cheerful again, as if she was putting the quarrel behind her.
    Kallik padded over to see. The pawprints were clearer here, undisturbed by blood or the marks of where the seal was dragged through the snow. A feeling of uneasiness crept up on Kallik as she looked at them.
    “There’s something wrong here,” she said to Lusa. “The prints are uneven, as if she was stumbling through the snow. What was the matter with her?”
    Lusa shrugged, unable to reply, though Kallik saw that her friend was looking uneasy, too. They followed the prints, heading in the same direction as the seal track a bearlength or so away. The tracks led to a jumble of boulders at the edge of the cliff. From here it looked as if the ground fell away to the shore.
    “This is where the seals come from,” Toklo grunted in satisfaction.
    He quickened his pace and rounded the boulders, until he halted with a huff of astonishment. Kallik hurried forward to find out what he had seen. Peering around Toklo’s massive shoulder, she saw the white she-bear, slumped on her side in the snow.
    For a moment Kallik tensed, half expecting the strange bear to leap up and attack. Then she realized that the bear was hardly conscious; she let out a long moan, and her paws scrabbled feebly in the snow.
    Brushing past Toklo, Kallik went up to her. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is there anything we can do to help you?”
    The white bear groaned again, struggling to breathe. “My belly . . . it’s on fire.”
    Kallik leaned her head against the white bear’s shoulder, trying to offer comfort, but the other bear jerked away from her, snapping her sharp teeth.
    “Leave me alone,” she growled. “I won’t let you hurt my baby.”
    Kallik backed away, staring in surprise. As the white bear moved, she revealed a tiny cub trying to suckle from her belly. Its eyes were still closed, and its hair was so fine that it looked almost bald.
    So tiny! Kallik marveled. It must be newborn .
    “We won’t touch your cub,” Lusa said gently, padding up to stand beside Kallik.
    The she-bear’s only reply was a hostile snarl that turned to a groan as she clawed at her belly. The cub whimpered and tried to burrow deeper into its mother’s fur.
    “Do you live with those other bears?” Toklo asked. “Where are your dens?”
    The sick she-bear glared at him. “Why would I tell you?”
    “We’re not here to do any harm,” Kallik tried to reassure