The Burning Horizon by Erin Hunter

others. . . .
    But her head hurt so much, and she didn’t even have the strength to raise a paw. Everything around her was blurred, and with a long sigh Lusa let herself slip into the waiting shadows. As she drifted into sleep, she heard a bear roar at the very edge of her hearing. She tried to stir, but the darkness tugged at her limbs and dragged her down. . . .

CHAPTER FIVE
Toklo
    Rock-hard paws slammed into Toklo on all sides. Vines clung to his legs, and the air throbbed with the screeches of mules and the yells of the flat-face with the firestick. In the chaos he had lost sight of the other bears.
    Enough!
    Toklo braced himself, standing solidly on all four paws. Drawing air into his lungs, he let out a massive bellow.
    The mules scattered, panic-stricken, scrabbling and screeching as they tried to get away from him. He spotted Yakone through the shifting mass of bodies; the white bear was untangling a vine that was wrapped around Kallik’s legs. There was no sign of Lusa, but Toklo guessed that she must be hidden somewhere among the mules. “This way!” he roared.
    Toklo saw Kallik break away, but Yakone was blocked by a huge black mule. Teeth snapping, eyes rolling, it lashed out at him with sharp paws. Yakone tried to dodge around it, but it charged at him and he tripped over a trailing vine. The mule’s flailing hooves kicked him hard in the side.
    Realizing that Yakone wasn’t following her, Kallik veered back, while Toklo halted and roared again with all his strength. The black mule by Yakone panicked even more, sidestepping so that Yakone could scramble to his paws and flee.
    With both white bears now hard on his paws, Toklo charged into the bushes at the far side of the trail. Well, that was a disaster, he thought sourly.
    Hearing the others crashing through the undergrowth behind him, he plunged deeper into the bushes, the shouts of the flat-faces and whinnies of the mules fading behind him as he forced his way through. Toklo’s ears were ringing, he felt battered, and every hair on his pelt was on end. He halted, panting, in a clearing surrounded by dense trees and waited for the others to catch up with him.
    Within moments, Kallik and Yakone pushed their way into the open. Yakone was limping, but Toklo noticed with relief that his injured paw wasn’t bleeding.
    â€œWhere’s Lusa?” he asked when the black bear didn’t follow the two white bears out of the undergrowth.
    Kallik and Yakone gazed around in bewilderment. “I thought she was with you,” Kallik said.
    Toklo shook his head. “She must be around here somewhere,” he said, trying to ignore the first faint stirrings of anxiety. “I didn’t see her out there. Let’s wait for her here and give her a chance to catch up.”
    Both white bears flopped down with huffs of relief and began checking each other over for injuries.
    â€œAre you both okay?” Toklo asked them. “Are you hurt?”
    Kallik raised a paw to rub the side of her head; Toklo saw that one of her eyes was almost closed. “I got knocked over when a mule ran into me, but the pain’s not so bad now,” she replied. “I think I’m okay. Yakone, I saw you take a bad kick.”
    â€œStupid mule,” Yakone growled. “But it’s nothing. Don’t worry.” He began to lick Kallik’s damaged eye, drawing his tongue across it with strong, gentle strokes.
    Toklo sat beside them, noticing for the first time a gash in one of his forelegs. His pelt around it was matted with blood, but the bleeding had stopped. He felt as if every inch of him was covered with bumps and scrapes, but as he flexed his muscles he realized he wasn’t badly hurt. “We need Lusa here to find the right kind of herbs for healing,” he murmured.
    Where is she? His anxiety returned, stronger now, like a claw striking deep into his belly. Raising his head, he listened for the sound of