Toklo hesitated, and for a moment Lusa was afraid that he would baulk and start arguing again. Instead he swung around with a huff of annoyance and loped after Kallik.

Lusa set off after them. As they reached the opposite side of the river they heard the firebeast’s growl start up again and it started to roll towards them. The bears crouched by the side of the BlackPath, panting with fear, until it had gone past.

‘There!’ Lusa exclaimed, letting out her breath in a huge huff. ‘Wasn’t that easier than a long swim?’

‘You were great, Lusa,’ Kallik said. Toklo just grunted.

Feeling a little encouraged, Lusa led the way towards the flat-face denning place. Now they were crossing a wide flat plain, dotted with small pools of water reflecting the last of the daylight. Toklo lapped at the nearest one, then backed away, making a face and retching. ‘Don’t touch the water,’ he warned the others, swiping his tongue around his jaws. ‘It tastes disgusting.’

As darkness fell, Lusa began to realise how tired she was. Her paws were sore and her mouth was parched with thirst, but there was no water fit to drink. She wanted to howl with hunger. The rabbit she had shared with Kallik the day before was no more than a distant memory. But she didn’t want to take the time to hunt, and in any case, she hadn’t seen any prey in this barren landscape, not even a bush where they might scavenge a few berries. Besides, the overpowering smell of firebeasts meant they couldn’t scent anything even if they tried.

‘I just hope Ujurak will appreciate what we’re going through,’ she heard Toklo mutter.

Now and again a huge firebeast would sweep past them, its hard yellow eyes cutting through the gathering darkness. At least they could see them coming from a long way off. There was nowhere to hide – no trees or ridges of rock or even a thornbush – so they would huddle together by the side of the BlackPath until the firebeast had disappeared.

‘They don’t seem to take any notice of us at all,’ Kallik remarked when a particularly big one had passed by.

‘That’s a good thing,’ Toklo agreed. He had stayed on his paws, gazing up at the flare with a disgusted expression on his face. ‘This is hopeless,’ he added. ‘This isn’t the right place for bears to be, and it gets worse with every pawstep.’

‘Maybe we should go back,’ Kallik suggested in a small voice, ‘and let Ujurak come to find us.’

‘That’s bee-brained,’ Lusa retorted, though she touched Kallik’s shoulder affectionately with her snout to soften the harshness of her words. ‘We don’t know that Ujurak can come and find us. He might still be ill, or the flat-faces might be keeping him prisoner. Even if he can get away, he won’t know where to look for us.’