Smoke Mountain Read Online Free
Author: Erin Hunter
lake. Heâd have to sniff around the trees to see if he could find prey there instead.
His sharp ears caught a new sound â somethingnearly lost under the growling and babbling of his noisy companions. He lifted his head and froze.
âWhat is it, Toklo?â Kallik asked.
Lusa had been dabbling one of her paws in the water, but she stopped moving. Her ears, the biggest of any of the bearsâ, went up. Beside her, Ujurak glanced around, searching the bushes.
âShh,â Toklo hissed.
âWhy?â Taqqiq grunted. âI donât hear anything.â
âAnything but yourself,â Toklo muttered. There it was again â a low moan, deep and guttural. This time Lusa heard it too. She gave Toklo a wide-eyed look. He nodded at a large clump of prickly bushes not far from the edge of the lake. He was sure that was where the sound had come from.
Lusa took a step back, her fur bristling along her back. âShould we run?â she whispered.
It could be anything
, Toklo thought. It could be a wolf like the ones that had chased them on the Sky Ridge. Or another enormous grizzly like Shoteka, waiting to attack them.
Then again, it could also be prey.
Taqqiq leaped to his paws. âWell,
Iâm
not a frightened mouse, like the rest of you.â He stompedover to the thicket and swatted aside the branches in his way.
âWait!â Toklo barked, but it was too late. With his broad shoulders and sharp claws, Taqqiq cleared a path straight to the middle of the thicket.
And there, lying in a tangle of brambles, was an enormous white bear.
CHAPTER THREE:
Lusa
L usa gasped and dug her front paws into the pebbles to stop herself from fleeing up the nearest tree. The full-grown white bears at Great Bear Lake had been huge, but this one seemed even bigger. Or perhaps she was just used to Taqqiq and Kallikâs size â which was still too big for a cub, in Lusaâs opinion. For a heartbeat she wondered if this was the bear sheâd seen from the top of the tree, but that one had been a female with a cub, while this one was a giant male. A giant, scary male.
But the strange white bear didnât leap up and attack them. He didnât open his jaws and snarl at them with his enormous teeth. He whimpered with pain as he slowly scooted his head around to look at them. His dark eyes looked fuzzy and unfocused, asif he could barely see the cubs, and his fur was filthy and matted. He looked worn out . . . old and tired. His eyes drooped and his long blue-black tongue flopped out between his teeth as he panted and groaned. Streaks of mud had turned his white muzzle brownish grey.
Lusa felt a stab of pity for the old bear. She remembered the same dull, defeated look in the eyes of another bear: Oka, Tokloâs mother. This white bear didnât have any fight left in him. Lusa hadnât been able to do anything for Oka. She had lain beside her on the other side of the fence the night before the flat-faces took her away, but she hadnât been able to touch her, or fetch food for her, or do anything to fill the gaping hole left by the loss of both her cubs. Maybe there was something she could do to help this bear.
She padded closer, nosing past Taqqiq. The white cub was staring in shock at what he had uncovered.
âLusa, be careful,â Toklo growled behind her.
âItâs all right,â she whispered. She crouched beside the strange bearâs head and sniffed him. He smelled horrible, like rotting fish and hot, grimy fur. Lusa tried not to wrinkle her nose. She didnât want tomake him feel worse than he already did.
âHello,â she said. âIâm Lusa. Who are you?â
The older bear blinked at her. âI . . . Iâm Qopuk,â he wheezed. His eyes rolled sideways to stare at Taqqiq. The white cub shuffled his paws and backed away. Behind him, the other three bear cubs were peering into the thicket. Kallik edged forward first, but she
His sharp ears caught a new sound â somethingnearly lost under the growling and babbling of his noisy companions. He lifted his head and froze.
âWhat is it, Toklo?â Kallik asked.
Lusa had been dabbling one of her paws in the water, but she stopped moving. Her ears, the biggest of any of the bearsâ, went up. Beside her, Ujurak glanced around, searching the bushes.
âShh,â Toklo hissed.
âWhy?â Taqqiq grunted. âI donât hear anything.â
âAnything but yourself,â Toklo muttered. There it was again â a low moan, deep and guttural. This time Lusa heard it too. She gave Toklo a wide-eyed look. He nodded at a large clump of prickly bushes not far from the edge of the lake. He was sure that was where the sound had come from.
Lusa took a step back, her fur bristling along her back. âShould we run?â she whispered.
It could be anything
, Toklo thought. It could be a wolf like the ones that had chased them on the Sky Ridge. Or another enormous grizzly like Shoteka, waiting to attack them.
Then again, it could also be prey.
Taqqiq leaped to his paws. âWell,
Iâm
not a frightened mouse, like the rest of you.â He stompedover to the thicket and swatted aside the branches in his way.
âWait!â Toklo barked, but it was too late. With his broad shoulders and sharp claws, Taqqiq cleared a path straight to the middle of the thicket.
And there, lying in a tangle of brambles, was an enormous white bear.
CHAPTER THREE:
Lusa
L usa gasped and dug her front paws into the pebbles to stop herself from fleeing up the nearest tree. The full-grown white bears at Great Bear Lake had been huge, but this one seemed even bigger. Or perhaps she was just used to Taqqiq and Kallikâs size â which was still too big for a cub, in Lusaâs opinion. For a heartbeat she wondered if this was the bear sheâd seen from the top of the tree, but that one had been a female with a cub, while this one was a giant male. A giant, scary male.
But the strange white bear didnât leap up and attack them. He didnât open his jaws and snarl at them with his enormous teeth. He whimpered with pain as he slowly scooted his head around to look at them. His dark eyes looked fuzzy and unfocused, asif he could barely see the cubs, and his fur was filthy and matted. He looked worn out . . . old and tired. His eyes drooped and his long blue-black tongue flopped out between his teeth as he panted and groaned. Streaks of mud had turned his white muzzle brownish grey.
Lusa felt a stab of pity for the old bear. She remembered the same dull, defeated look in the eyes of another bear: Oka, Tokloâs mother. This white bear didnât have any fight left in him. Lusa hadnât been able to do anything for Oka. She had lain beside her on the other side of the fence the night before the flat-faces took her away, but she hadnât been able to touch her, or fetch food for her, or do anything to fill the gaping hole left by the loss of both her cubs. Maybe there was something she could do to help this bear.
She padded closer, nosing past Taqqiq. The white cub was staring in shock at what he had uncovered.
âLusa, be careful,â Toklo growled behind her.
âItâs all right,â she whispered. She crouched beside the strange bearâs head and sniffed him. He smelled horrible, like rotting fish and hot, grimy fur. Lusa tried not to wrinkle her nose. She didnât want tomake him feel worse than he already did.
âHello,â she said. âIâm Lusa. Who are you?â
The older bear blinked at her. âI . . . Iâm Qopuk,â he wheezed. His eyes rolled sideways to stare at Taqqiq. The white cub shuffled his paws and backed away. Behind him, the other three bear cubs were peering into the thicket. Kallik edged forward first, but she
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