Read Online The Longest Day by Erin Hunter - Free Book Online

Skidding to a halt beside the plant, she plucked a mouthful of petals and held them gently between her teeth as she raced back to Ossi.
    Tibik was sniffing among the spilled logs. Won’t Hala’s scent be in the forest? The thought flashed through Lusa’s mind for amoment before she reached Hashi. Hooking the petals from her mouth with her claws, she worked them between Hashi’s teeth. The old bear had lost consciousness again. Easing his mouth open, Lusa tucked the flowers beneath his tongue. She looked at Ossi. “Has the bleeding stopped?”
    Ossi nodded toward the wound. “Almost.” His paws were scarlet.
    Suddenly Hashi gasped, his chest heaving. Lusa froze. Were the petals working, or was he getting worse? She put her paw to the old bear’s chest, hollow with fear as she felt him shudder. Froth bubbled at his lips.
    Have I poisoned him?
    In a heartbeat the old bear relaxed. His chest began to rise and fall in a slow, steady rhythm. Lusa put her ear to his flank and heard his heart beating away. I did it, Ujurak! She listened for the rumble of firebeasts. They were still far away.
    â€œCan you keep holding the wound while I check on Chula?” Lusa asked. She remembered the wide, soft leaves she’d seen. They would ease the pain in Chula’s crushed leg if she wrapped them around it.
    Ossi glanced at Tibik, who was sniffing more frantically among the logs. “What about Hala?”
    â€œWe’ll find her once I’ve seen to Chula.” There was so much to do! But someone had to press Hashi’s wound, and Chula was in pain. Surely a lost cub could wait a few more moments?
    Lusa plunged back into the woods, heading for the patch of soft green leaves. She tore off as many as she could carry in her jaws and ran back to Chula. “How are you feeling?” she askedgently, dropping the leaves beside the she-bear.
    Chula was sitting up with her injured hindleg sticking out awkwardly. “I’m okay,” she grunted.
    Working carefully, Lusa wrapped wide leaves around her leg, making a thick dressing. Then she reached for the wet moss that Ossi had left beside Chula and squeezed it over the leaves. Lusa hoped that the leaves would give out their healing sap faster if they were damp. “It should start to feel better soon,” she promised.
    Chula’s gaze was on Hashi. “He hasn’t moved,” she murmured.
    Lusa didn’t know what to say. The old black bear was badly wounded.
    â€œHala!” Tibik’s bark made her turn. The cub was scrabbling at the logs, his pelt ruffled with panic. “Hala!”
    Lusa raced toward him. As she neared, she saw black fur beneath the pile. “I thought she was in the woods!” she gasped.
    â€œShe didn’t run!” Tibik wailed, tugging at a piece of wood. “I thought she was behind me, but she never ran!”
    Lusa shoved her paws beneath the narrow trunk and helped Tibik heave it clear. They began working at another. The logs here were hardly more than branches, slender enough to lift, and they hauled a second piece away. Clearing log after log, they made a space in the pile.
    Lusa stared into it and felt her heart shatter.
    â€œHala!” Tibik jumped into the gap and crouched beside the crushed body of his sister. “Hala! Wake up!”
    Lusa could see that the she-cub was dead. There was alreadystiffness in her small paws. Her dull eyes stared blankly at the logs that had killed her.
    â€œTibik,” she whispered. “There’s nothing we can do for her now.”
    â€œShe can’t be dead!” Tibik looked up at Lusa, panic-stricken. “She was alive just now! We shared blueberries and played chase.” His gaze clouded. “What will my mother say? I should have made sure Hala was with me!”
    â€œThis is not your fault,” Lusa told him. “Firebeasts move quicker than bears. You did well to escape. Your mother will understand that.