Thank you to Typholius for the reviews!

And sorry it took so long, but I had a hard time getting the feel of the story since it's been about half a year since I read the Seekers series.

Chapter 4

Toklo watched as Lusa climbed over a boulder, which was balanced precariously on the edge of a cliff. These mountains are no good for a black bear. With the ice finally passed, he'd thought that Lusa could have all the leaves and berries she'd wanted. But here we are, stuck on a mountain again. He wondered if this was the same mountain they'd crossed while getting to the Everlasting Ice. Probably not. None of the landscape seemed familiar. But, then again, it had been a long time.

He was so lost in thought he nearly crashed into Kallik. The she-bear roared in surprise as she lost her footing on the edge.

"No!" Yakone, who had stopped in front of her, turned around, alarmed by her cry, and dragged her by the scruff, back to safety. He panted hard, then turned to face Toklo. "What were you thinking? You could have killed her!"

Toklo felt a surge of anger, partly to himself and partly to Yakone. "If you hadn't stopped so suddenly, bee-brain, I wouldn't have bumped into her!"

"But you should have been watching where you were going!" Yakone growled. "If you don't watch your step, we could all go down the cliff the hard way."

"Stop it! Both of you!" Kallik pleaded. "Don't fight now!"

Toklo huffed under his breath. He knew Kallik was right, but Yakone was so full of himself sometimes, Toklo could hardly rein in his temper. "Seal-breath." He muttered.

"Cloud-brain."

"Fish-head."

"Stop it, you two." Kallik ordered. "Let's go."

"What's wrong?" Lusa had turned back and looked at the angry males, blinking in confusion.

Kallik sighed. "Nothing. Come on, let's head on."

The sun was sinking into the horizon when they finally dragged themselves down the mountain into a dense forest.

"Oof!" Lusa flopped down on the ground, panting. "I could sleep for a moon!"

"You must be really tired." Kallik's voice was sympathetic. "Don't worry, we'll go hunt now. You can find something to eat in those bushes."

Lusa tore off a branch from the nearest plant and shoved it into her mouth. "This is the right food for a black bear."

Toklo turned and tasted the air. A rabbit was crouching at the roots of a tree not far away. He crept toward it, putting each paw slowly in front of him. When at last he was close enough, he pounced. The rabbit didn't even have time to react. Toklo broke its neck and carried it back to the others.

"Great catch, Toklo!" Kallik looked up at the sound of his paws. She was chewing vigorously on a bone. "Yakone and I both caught some geese, so you can have that for yourself."

"Great!" Toklo's heart lifted a bit. At least he would go to sleep fully fed for once. He gulped it down, and lay down to sleep, curling up with the others and breathing in the familiar scent of his companions.

"Toklo!" A voice cut through his groggy mind. He raised his head, confused. "Who? What?"

"Toklo!" The voice called again, and Ujurak bounded out of the gray mist. I'm dreaming, he realized. At least it was a good one.

"Ujurak!" Toklo leaped up and bounded over to the smaller brown bear. "I've missed you so much" He nuzzled his friend.

Ujurak's eyes were shining. "Me too!" They were quiet for a moment, each breathing in the bitter-sweet scent of one another.

Suddenly, there was the sound of approaching paw-steps. Toklo looked up, alarmed. A lithe, small animal was padding toward them, its pointed ears twitching.

Toklo turned to Ujurak. "What" he nodded his head toward the creature's direction. "is that?"

"Oh, I brought a friend. She's a cat, called Spottedleaf, and she has news to share." Ujurak's gaze darkened. "Bad news."

"Well?" Toklo snapped. "Tell me. Do the bear spirits want me to go on a suicide quest again?"

Ujurak transformed into a "cat" and mewed to the she-cat, who seemed to be in a bad mood. She kept shooting dark glances at Toklo. Then, Ujurak transformed back as a bear and turned to Toklo. "You remember Shoteka? That brown bear who attacked you on Great Bear Lake?"

Toklo growled. Memories raced through his head. Oka snapping at Shoteka. Shoteka volunteering him for the Longest Day ceremony. The feel of Shoteka's teeth in his pelt…

"Anyway, he's come here for some reason. Spottedleaf here was a cat who used to live here."

Spottedleaf frowned. "Sorry." Ujurak apologized. "She used to live with a group of cats who live here now. They used to live on the other side of the mountain, but flat-faces tore up their home. They live here, but now the Shoteka and his allies came here. They've already killed some cats that belonged to…what was it?" Ujurak looked at Spottedleaf. She pointed at Ujurak's shadow. "Oh, right. Shadowclan. And they're heading to Thunderclan, which used to be Spottedleaf's old clan. She's asking you to help drive them out."

"What?" Toklo growled. "Why us? Why not find some other stupid animal to save them? Why does this kind of thing always happen to me? Why?"

Ujurak sighed. "Because they received a prophecy. Bear in mind, three of them will save you. Bear this in mind."