Smoke Mountain Read Online Free Page A

stayed away from the big bear’s enormous paws. Each paw was nearly the size of Lusa’s head. If this bear had had any strength left, he could have knocked her out with a single blow, and he wouldn’t even have to try very hard. But he had no strength left. She could tell that from the scent of him, from his sunken frame and dull eyes.
    â€˜What happened to you?’ she whispered.
    Qopuk drew a long, raspy, clattery breath, like claws scraping across bark. ‘Death,’ he grunted. ‘Death . . . so far from the ice.’
    Lusa felt as though freezing water were running under her skin. ‘Death? What do you mean?’
    â€˜I’m dying,’ Qopuk rasped. ‘All my life I wanted to get there, but now it’s too late.’
    â€˜No,’ Lusa protested. ‘Don’t say that! We’ll help you. Ujurak knows all about herbs that will makeyou feel better, and I can fetch food for you. And some nice soft grass to lie on.’ She sniffed the crushed undergrowth beneath the old bear. It smelled like he’d been lying there for a moon.
    â€˜It won’t help.’ The old bear’s eyes closed and he sighed.
    â€˜But we can try,’ Lusa insisted. ‘What do you want?’
    Qopuk tried to twist his head towards the lake, but his fur snagged in the brambles and he winced, then lay still. He opened his mouth a little and his tongue pushed forward again.
    â€˜Water?’ Lusa guessed. ‘Ujurak, can you get him some water?’
    Ujurak’s eyes were full of pain as he gazed at the wounded bear. Without a word, he turned and padded down to the lakeshore.
    â€˜We should just let him die,’ Taqqiq growled. ‘He’d let us die if he had a choice.’
    â€˜We don’t know that,’ Lusa pointed out. ‘And if there’s anything we can do to help him, we must do it.’
    Taqqiq scratched the ground, leaving deep furrows in the dirt. ‘It’s not our problem,’ he snarled.
    â€˜Toklo doesn’t mind if I help Qopuk,’ Lusa said challengingly. ‘Right, Toklo?’
    The brown bear cub glowered at Taqqiq. ‘Do what you like,’ he growled. ‘I’m going hunting.’ He turned round and stamped off into the trees.
    Ujurak came back from the lake, carrying a bundle of soaked moss between his jaws. He dropped it into Lusa’s outstretched paws.
    â€˜Here,’ Lusa said, dribbling some of the water into Qopuk’s mouth. His jaws twitched open as she pressed the moss to his dry snout. He licked it gratefully, his tongue nearly brushing her paws. Lusa forced herself not to think about the giant teeth that were only a clawslength from her fur.
Not thinking about it. Not thinking about it. Not thinking about big . . . giant . . .
enormous
teeth . . .
    Qopuk stopped licking up the moisture, and Lusa gave the moss back to Ujurak. The old white bear stared up at the tangled branches above his head, outlined against the sharp blue sky. ‘The Longest Day,’ he murmured. ‘Am I almost there?’
    â€˜Oh – you were travelling to the lake?’ Lusa guessed. ‘That’s where we just came from.’
    â€˜No.’ Qopuk shook his head. ‘I’m on a journey . . .but I thought I would try to go to the gathering. Only I got lost . . .’
    â€˜The ceremony was yesterday,’ said Kallik. ‘I’m sorry. You missed it.’
    â€˜So what?’ Taqqiq grunted. ‘You didn’t miss anything. Blah, blah, fat old bears muttering about spirits and how much they miss the ice. Blah, bl–’
    Lusa shot Taqqiq a stern glance and the white bear shut up.
    â€˜It would have been my last gathering,’ the old bear rasped. ‘I wanted so much . . . to tell them . . . what I learned.’
    â€˜Right, I bet that would be
fascinating
,’ Taqqiq said. ‘Lots of old stories about
fishing
and how much better everything was when you were a cub.