Where they had first come down from the mountains, so many days ago, the plain had been full of life. But in this place it was barren, crisscrossed by BlackPaths and dotted here and there with flat-face dens. The structures were odd shapes, some square, some long and flat, others round, some with odd bits of metal sticking out of them. They seemed to have been set down on the plain in a jumble, or in some weird flat-face order that didn’t make sense to Kallik. Beyond them she could see the pale gleam of a river, with a BlackPath stretching across it, and beyond that the misty outline of what might be a flat-face denning area.

Kallik’s hope died as she gazed at the distant gleam of the ocean; she felt cut off from it by all the flat-face muddle in between. ‘If Ujurak’s here, we’ll never find him,’ she said despairingly.

‘We have to try.’ Lusa’s voice was stubborn. ‘We –’

She broke off at the sound of a familiar clatter and buzz; Kallik spotted a metal bird like the one that had taken Ujurak flying along the line of the coast and swooping down somewhere on the far side of the denning place.

‘Look!’ she yelped as it sank out of sight. ‘That must be where the metal birds have their nest.’

‘Then that’s where we have to start looking!’ Lusa gave a little bounce. ‘Come on!’

‘It’s a long way,’ Kallik said doubtfully. ‘We’ll have to cross the river to get there.’

‘We’ll worry about that when we get there,’ Lusa replied.

She led the way down the slope towards the flat-face place. Kallik couldn’t share her eagerness, but she followed anyway.

Sunhigh was past by the time they reached the bottom of the ridge. Open ground separated them from the nearest BlackPath, a stretch of sparse, brittle grass dotted with clumps of thornbushes.

Kallik halted and raised her snout, sniffing the air. There was a strong reek that reminded her of firebeasts, though it wasn’t quite the same. ‘What’s that smell?’

Lusa shook her head. ‘I don’t know, but it’s disgusting, whatever it is.’

She padded forward a few paces and gazed across the barren landscape towards the BlackPath and the strange flat-face structures beyond. ‘We’ve got to have a plan,’ she muttered.

Now that they were down on the plain, the flat-face dens looked even bigger.

‘I don’t see how we can plan,’ Kallik said. ‘We don’t know what we’re going to find. All we can do is look for the metal birds’ nest and see if there are any clues there.’

‘Well, that’s sort of a plan,’ Lusa said. ‘Come on.’