The Adventure Begins by Chocolatemeerkat (beautiful books to read .TXT) 📕

Sillack crouched down, her mouth watering with the scent of a hare closeby. She kept her ears pricked as she dragged herself across the freezing cold snow, ignoring her mother's cries from the bridge not too far away. "Sillack!" She rasped.
Despite the fact Sillack was cold, the cub continued to hunt down the hare. She hadn't seen proper live prey for half a moon. Instead, she and her mother had survived on berries and grass. This had become a very dull diet to Sillack, and she was desperate to catch a proper meal.
"Sillack!" Her mother cried again, sounding more anxious. "Just leave it!"
Why is she being so bee-brained? Sillack thought to herself. I mean, this is the first prey we've seen in ages!                                                                                                                                                Ignoring her mother, Sillack continued to track the hare.
Just as she was about to pounce, the hare spun around and darted away in fright when it saw Sillack. The cub groaned in annoyence and returned to her mother, kicking the pebbles in her path. She sat down and rubbed her body against her mother's soft white pelt. "When will we move on, Nesa?"
"When I am strong enough, then we will leave for the mountains. I promise you." Nesa replied. Sillack groaned slightly. Nesa had been ill for a long time, since after she had given birth. The cub feared for her mother's life, but these past few days have been difficult. Nesa had grown so weak, she could barely move. Sillack knew that she was vundrable without her mother. With males on the prowl wherever they went, Nesa had been there to fight them off. But now Sillack realised that this wouldn't happen forever. She would have to fend for herself some day, and then for her own cubs if she wished to have any.
"Let's return to the birth den." Nesa decided. "I have a hunch that there are flat-faces out here with deathsticks."
Sillack nodded her head and scampered ahead. She had always loved to run along with the cool breeze ruffling her white pelt and the birds flying overhead. But then she felt a pang of guilt seeing Nesa struggling on her own. Slowly, she padded back over and nudged the large female bear along. "Nesa," The cub started. "when will I leave you?"
Nesa stopped plodding along and gave her a long, hard glare. Sillack hadn't realised that she had deeply offended her mother. Instead of telling her off, Nesa just sighed. "You cubs. Desperate to leave your poor old mothers."
"I-I didn't mean that..." Sillack stammered, taking a small step back. "I was just wondering." Nesa shook her head and rasped her tongue over Sillack's ear. "I know, little one. Come along then, you can race ahead. If you're good, I'll find us some berries."
Why does she think I'll disobey her? I never have! I have always done what Nesa has said! Sillack thought to herself angrily. She then rushed back in the lead and found her birth den. Nesa had been driven away from the ice and snow before Sillack was born, so they had to settle for the forest life. But they had heard from passing bears that the ice was melting rapidly, and time was running out for the polar bears. So sometimes Sillack was thankful that she lived in the forest, and not on the melting ice.
Just as she settled down in the silent den, a small face appeared in the entrance. It was Nesa, carrying a branch of berries in her jaws. She dropped it and crawled in. "I found it whilst I was walking along. Some squirrel nearly took it, but I stopped them."
"Why didn't you just kill the squirrel?" Sillack sighed, sounding like it was all simple. "You just let prey escape to another bear now."
"Then why don't you go an catch something?" Nesa hissed angrily, pointing her nuzzle towards the entrance above. "There's plenty of proper prey out there!"
Sillack wimpered unhappily and crawled out, half upset and half angry. She had been told to leave the den, and her mother refused to catch actual live prey.
Why did she not catch the squirrel? I don't get it!

"Thief! Give that back!"
Rapanack was running through the forest, a small rabbit dangling from his jaws. He had stolen from another bear, but this time had been caught. Normally, he was sneaky and able to get away with it. But unfortuantly for him, the grizzly had come back to his territory too soon.
"Get back here, cub!" The grizzly roared furiously. Rapanack knew that he would have to stop soon, because he couldn't run on much longer. His pads were bleeding and his legs ached. But he couldn't let the grizzly outrun him. Unless he wished to join the sprits early.
Just as Rapanack was about to give up, he saw a small gap between some tall rocks. That grizzly will never get past! Now I can escape and eat in peace! He thought to himself. With all the speed within him, Rapanack darted towards the rocks. The grizzly followed, but then he skidded to a halt when the cub squeezed through the gap. He stood up on his hind legs and roared angrily. "You're dead, cub!"
Rapanack sat down beside a small tree and ate up the prey, savouring every single bite. His wounds stung horribly, but he could do nothing about that.
Suddenly, there was a rustling nearby. Rapanack pricked his ears up and groaned. "Come out and kill me." He said grumpily. But the rustling stopped. Rapanack guessed that the thing in the bushes had retreated. So, he got back to his stolen meal hungrily.
When he had finshed, Rapanack was back on the move. He liked living alone, as no one was around to tell him what to do. But he missed a companion's company.
Wait, what am I thinking? Brown bears travel alone! He then a pang of guilt in his heart. But Illian wouldn't have wanted me to be alone at such a young age.                                                                               Illian was Rapanack's mother. She had told him many stories about the sprits that lived in the lake. They brought the good bears salmon straight to their paws, and the bad bears nothing. Every time they went hunting in the river for salmon, Illian would always catch something. She was a great hunter as well as a great mother to Rapanack. They had always lived in peace. Until flat-faces came to the forest. They had come with their deathsticks, and they were here to drive all the grizzles away from the forest. Illian refused, and so did several other bears. So the flat-faces started killing them instead. They tried to kill Rapanack when he hunted too close to their dens, but Illian saved him and sacrifised her life to save the cub's.
I hate flat-faces. One day, when I'm big, I'll kill them all so we can live in peace without them destroying us. Rapanack thought angrily, clawing at the ground. He made little claw marks in the earth, pretending it was a tree, and he was marking his territory. He just wished that he had his own territory, busting with prey. And he would be one of the most powerful bears around, attacking anyone who dared to intrude. Like that grizzly who had been chasing him.
Remembering that he was in the real world, Rapanack padded along, dead leaves crunching under his paws noisly. He hated the fact he was still a cub and not a fully-grown male. I wonder if my father is still alive... He thought randomly, but then his eyes flashed angrily. I haven't got time to worry about a father! I hope not to be one!                                                                                                                                      Rapanack had always said to Illian that he didn't want to take a mate, but the she-bear had told him "You'll change your mind soon enough. I certainly did."
Grumpily, Rapanack travelled onwards, his eyes resting on a mountain. I'll stop there and rest. Then, I'll continue tomorrow. He thought as he padded through the forest. If I get there.

Basheem's eyes fixed on a small rabbit, which was nibbling on grass close to the flat-face dens. The flat-faces didn't approve of rabbits coming too close to their territory, or they would fire their deathsticks. Basheem feared this time, but he stayed out of the way when that happened.
Hunger clawed at his belly as he edged closer towards the rabbit, his mouth watering with the scent of it. Still silent, Basheem approached it, pounced, and caught it. He gave it a swift death blow and took it back to a tree nearby. Thankfully, no flat-faces had caught him hunting so close to the dens.
One day, I'll go and find a proper forest with proper prey. The prey here is too dry or stringy. Basheem thought to himself. It's not fair that I have to live here whilist other, greedy bears are eating all the prey!                                                                                                                                            Basheem had been born beside a BlackPath, where his mother had been forced to live. He never knew her name, because she never told him. All that he knew was that she was a long way away. Basicly, he had been abandoned because his mother was fed up of Basheem complaning that he was hungry all the time. Prey had been scarce, and the sun had made all the berries dry up. So Basheem had lived here all by himself for several moons, raiding flat-face cans and killing the animals that intruded.
Remembering that he was hungry still, Basheem decided to go and find something in one of the flat-face cans. He had a large selection, but the wisest way was to pick one when the flat-face's weren't in their dens. Unfortuantly, it seemed that they were all in. So, Basheem went over to the quietest den and sniffed around the can. He could smell meat, and some other strange things. Carefully, he started to pull the lid off. It made a loud noise when it hit the ground, but no flat-faces came.
Basheem nosed through the food, desperate to find something he