Read Online The Melting Sea by Erin Hunter - Free Book Online

it?” Kallik asked. The gully opened up several bearlengths above their heads, across the slope where Yakone had discovered the loose rocks under the snow.
    â€œLook there,” Yakone replied, pointing with one paw. “Where the snow is lumpy? There must be boulders or maybe bushes under there, and that would give our paws something to grip.”
    â€œThen let’s go!” Lusa said, giving a little bounce.
    Kallik admired her cheerfulness, even though she must be almost exhausted by the difficult journey with little sleep. Her own resolve strengthened. “Okay. Follow me.”
    She set out into the snow, following the line Yakone had indicated. The snow-covered lumps turned out to be tough little thornbushes growing close to the ground. The thorns dug into their paws and the branches rasped against their sides, but at least it was possible to haul themselves upward from one bush to the next until they reached the mouth of the gully.
    Yakone had been right about the stream. Its course was marked by a line where the snow was smoother. Toklo scraped away some of the snow to reveal an icy covering, which he broke with one blow of his paw. He plunged his snout into the hole he had made and took a long drink.
    â€œThat was good,” he said as he raised his head again, shaking water drops from his muzzle. “All we need now is a fat hare or two, and we can walk for days!”
    But as Kallik led the way up the gully, there was no sign of prey. Her belly grumbled, but she ignored it and concentrated on the climb. Though the gully was steep, the ground underpaw was fairly smooth, and they made good progress.
    Looking back over her shoulder, Kallik saw her friends following her in single file. I hope Ujurak is watching us , she thought. The fears she had felt about traveling without Ujurak were slowly fading, as pride in how they were managing the journey took over. “I trust you,” she whispered to Ujurak, hoping he could hear her. “If we get into trouble, I know you’ll be with us.”
    The sun had climbed high in the sky by the time the gully came to an end in a low wall of rock. Sharp, jutting stones made a path for the bears to climb to the top. Ahead of her, Kallik saw a stretch of level ground, many bearlengths wide, with yet another mountain slope at the far side.
    â€œThis would be a good place to stop,” Toklo panted, clambering up beside her. “We need to hunt and rest for a bit.”
    Kallik and the others agreed. While Lusa began digging through the snow in search of roots and grass, the three bigger bears separated to look for prey.
    Following the line of the stream, which meandered across the level ground from a frozen waterfall on the mountainside ahead, Kallik spotted bird prints in the snow. Raising her muzzle, she sniffed the air, and the scent she picked up flooded her jaws with water.
    Goose!
    Glancing around, she saw nothing at first, so she padded forward on silent paws, trying to pinpoint where the scent was coming from. A heap of boulders blocked her view ahead, and as she crept around them, she spotted several geese poking about in the snow at the edge of the stream.
    Kallik paused. The thrill of the hunt was rushing through her, but she knew she mustn’t let herself get careless. She shifted slightly to make sure she was downwind of her prey and picked out a goose at the edge of the group: It was the closest to her, and had its back turned.
    Pawstep by stealthy pawstep, Kallik crept up on the goose. When she was within a bearlength of her quarry, one of the other geese spotted her; it let out a raucous cry of alarm and took to the air in a flurry of wings. The rest of the geese followed. But Kallik was already leaping, batting her goose out of the air with a slap of one forepaw. The goose fell to the ground, wings flapping helplessly. Kallik severed its neck with another swift blow.
    Triumph filled her as she picked the goose up in her jaws and