The next morning, the Beetles prepared to head back.
Dolen pointed east. “The road carries on that way for twenty klicks or so,” he said. “We saw your Constructs heading that direction. But they weren’t on the Ribbon, and we’ll have made better time. I reckon you’ll catch them in a day or so.”
Rieka nodded. “Thank you.”
“Good luck,” said Dolen. Beside him, Namir checked the straps and fastenings.
Rieka, Brann and Fillan climbed aboard Cub.
“Coll?” said Namir suddenly.
Coll turned.
Namir didn’t say anything at first. She looked away, unusually hesitant, her eyes scanning the landscape as if trying to find words written there.
Eventually she said, “You know … from the moment you’re born, people around you will tell you who you are. What you are. Every day they’ll tell you.” She shrugged. “And sometimes they’re right. But sometimes … they’re not. Sometimes you’re not what they expect. Maybe they’ll tell you that you’re Tiger, but then you realise you’re actually Beetle. Or Cub. Or something no one has ever seen before.”
She smiled. “When that happens, Coll … you have to decide. I hope you find Wolf, and Alpha. But the only person who really knows what you are … is you.”
Before Coll could respond, she turned and leapt up into Beetle’s cockpit. “Good luck!” she called.
Dolen waved. Then Beetle flexed its six legs, turned in a complicated shuffle and scrambled away.
Coll watched them go.
“Ready?” called Rieka from Cub’s deck.
He nodded. “Yeah.” He grabbed a cable, hoisted himself aboard and took a seat. He grinned. “Let’s go.”
The Glass Lands changed as Cub’s crew headed east. Gradually the scrubland turned green, the glassy sand petered out, and a faint breeze came up, clear and cool. Metal spikes still reached up out of the ground, but taller now and often wrapped round bricks and the remains of buildings.
Cub moved quickly along the Ribbon. It wasn’t like Wolf’s running – Cub’s stumpy legs made each stride more like a little half-jump, half-hop, and his head bobbed as if he was excited. The movement jostled the crew around, despite the gyroscopes and stabilisers trying to keep them steady, but they’d got used to it. In an odd way it had started to feel right.
They looked for traces of Wolf. How far had she gone? Was Dragon still chasing her? When they stopped for lunch on top of a low rise, Rieka searched the horizon with her binoculars.
“Something over there,” she said at last, pointing. “I can’t make it out. Buildings or something.”
They carried on and reached the ruins of a settlement, with rows and rows of scattered bricks and metal. Coll felt there was something strangely familiar about the remains. The houses were gone, but the foundations were still there, neat squares and ancient roads. He suddenly imagined a family standing in front of them…
“These are like the ones in the picture,” he said. “Remember the picture in the Cache? Are these the same houses? Did something … happen?”
“What could have done this?” asked Brann.
Coll shook his head. It was creepy and they didn’t stop.
Beyond the destroyed settlement the land changed again. Thorn bushes gave way to straggly grass and flies flew up around their heads in great clouds. The Ribbon tapered out and the ground became broken and muddy with marshy areas. But in other parts the ground was dry and dusty, and there still hadn’t been any rain.
“I think this water has come from the Steel River,” said Rieka. “I think it’s leaking out.”
Now there were potholes and sudden swampy patches that hadn’t had time to drain away. They had to pick their way through them and it was exhausting.
As evening fell, Coll sank his head. “They’re out there,” he said to Rieka, though he wondered if he was actually trying to convince himself. “They’re out there.”
Rieka’s lips pursed but she said nothing.
The next day was the same until lunch. Then Fillan pointed and shouted. “Look! Something on the ground!”
Cub halted and Coll climbed down. The earth had been churned up: great gouges carved out of the dirt. The scars were still fresh. And there—
He picked up a piece of steel plating, with a ragged edge of anthryl. “This is Wolf’s,” he said.
Rieka inspected it and nodded. She looked around. “Any more?”
They retrieved a pile of pieces, some small, some large. There were one or two Coll didn’t recognise – Dragon’s, perhaps? But most of it was Wolf’s. Reaching under a thorn bush, he found a long tooth.
“It was a fight,” said Brann. “And your Wolf lost.”
“She didn’t lose!” snapped Coll. “Wolf doesn’t lose! Do you see a dead Construct around here? Like Raven?”
Brann scowled and ducked her head.
Rieka frowned. “There was a fight,” she said. “And Wolf took damage. But we’re on the right track.”
They climbed back up on to Cub’s back and stared ahead. There were marks in the grass – perhaps a trail? But the swampy ground hid the rest.
Coll looked at Rieka and she shrugged.
