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

flashing over the spilled logs. “How could any bear save her from this?”
    Tibik flinched. Sheena looked at him, a sob shuddering through her, then she swept him close with a paw andsheltered him beneath her belly. “I’m glad you aren’t hurt,” she murmured thickly. “We’ll take Hala back to camp and give her a proper burial where her spirit will be safe.”
    Lusa heard more firebeasts. This time, it was not the distant, steady rumbling. Their growling was getting louder. They were coming this way. “We must hurry,” she told Yakone. “We have to get everyone away from here.”
    Kallik pricked her ears. “Firebeasts?”
    â€œThey’ll be coming to collect this one,” Lusa guessed.
    Sheena leaned into the gap and gently picked up Hala’s body, then walked slowly toward the trees, Tibik pressing against her, and laid the dead cub—hardly more than a bloody scrap of fur—on the grass.
    â€œRudi’s over here.” Lusa ignored the pain twisting in her heart. They didn’t have much time. She climbed the log pile and poked her paw between the logs that trapped the old bear.
    Yakone sniffed around the edge of the pile, his gaze flicking over the trunks. “If we move this one first,” he told Kallik, “the others should stay where they are.”
    Kallik nodded. “Then we can move the two underneath,” she suggested. “It should make a big enough gap for him to squeeze out.” She turned to Lusa. “Is he wounded?”
    â€œJust a few scratches, I think.” Lusa hoped it was true. The firebeasts were rumbling closer, and she hadn’t even found Miki. Her heart lurched. They had to get these bears away from here first.
    She went over to Ossi. “How’s Hashi?” The fresh moss wasalready stained with the old bear’s blood. Ossi’s face was stiff with worry.
    Behind Lusa, wood creaked as Yakone and Kallik began to shift the logs. Kallik grunted with effort. Yakone called through gritted teeth, “One more heave!”
    The log clattered noisily as it rolled away from the pile. Lusa spun around, alarmed. But the white bears had pushed it safely away from the group of dazed and injured black bears. Yakone reached a massive paw between two logs and began to heave away a second trunk.
    The firebeast’s growling grew louder.
    â€œHow is Chula going to make the journey?” Lusa looked at the injured she-bear, whose leg still stuck out stiffly.
    â€œI’ll carry her,” Ossi growled.
    â€œWhat about Hashi?” Lusa fretted. “He can’t walk.”
    Ossi nodded toward Yakone and Kallik as they moved the last log clear. “Would your white bear friends carry him?” Was that an edge in his growl? Did Ossi resent their help? Lusa’s pelt prickled. But she held her tongue. Getting everyone away safely was more important than how Ossi felt about white bears.
    â€œRudi!” Chula gasped with relief as the old bear hauled himself out from the logs. Shakily, he limped from the pile and slithered onto the grass.
    Lusa ran over to him. “Where are you hurt?”
    â€œWhere aren’t I hurt?” Rudi grunted, shaking out his pelt. His eye was swollen and tufts of fur stuck out along his flanks. He lifted a paw and shook it, then limped toward Chula. “Areyou okay?” He sniffed at the leaves wrapping her leg. “What’s all this?”
    â€œLusa did it,” Chula explained. “It’s helped to ease the pain.”
    Yakone lifted his snout. “The firebeasts are close,” he warned. “We should leave.”
    Ossi left Hashi and hurried to Chula’s side. “Come on.” He crouched down. “Climb on my back.”
    â€œAre you sure you can carry me?”
    â€œAs long as you haven’t been gorging on berries all the way here.”
    Grunting, Chula heaved herself onto her brother’s back and clung