Her heart hammered in her head, clogging every other sound. Hafsa’s breath grew ragged. She’d never been one for running, except now. The ground was soggy. Her feet dipped deep into muck. Her legs had found new strength and agility. Something was following her, she could feel the enormous presence glowering. It was close. She could smell the desire for violence, growing into a lustful force.

The giant reptilian feline, gnashed its teeth behind her. It was slower than she was but that didn’t mean anything. Three pairs of eyes glowered at her. She was going to be prey to all of those things if she got caught.

The woodland was tight knit with trees. She was able to zoom through it. The thing behind her ripped through these trees. She heard the splintering crashes, she imagined the shadowy caricatures of tumbling tree barks, the fur getting tangles with splinters but the coarse alligator skin relilliantly pushing through. There were no shadows in this nightmare world imbued in darkness.

She needed to hide somewhere. A place where this large monster couldn’t follow her, a rabbit’s burrow or a small cave where the huge serpent couldn’t follow. There was nothing in sight. Hafsa needed something to envelope her and mask her from the creature. She couldn’t run forever. Snaking through the thicket was slowing, the monster only had to waddle straight while she zig-zagged. She was tiring. Soon it would catch her, she knew, she felt it in her gut, but she was determined to keep going, to prolong that awful death scene playing in her head.

She crashed into something, a shape that’d just emerged. Hafsa went flying into the muck. A moan escaped . The monster was upon her.

Someone stood between her and the monster. She squinted, scrambled to her feet and daringly moved away. The monster roared and threw a mighty lion’s jaw in her direction. She screamed, curled into a ball and awaited destruction.

The destruction never came. Hafsa lowered her arms away from her face and was almost blinded. A warm bright glow of light pierced her surroundings. Everything looked much less menacing now. She took to her shaky feet and looked up at the monster. All eyes were squinted shut and she heard a low whistling hiss come from the serpent. The serpent had played its part as a compass in chasing her, overarching the furry scales of the two headed beast, but not anymore. The light filled it with paralysing pain. Hafsa shuddered.

Light was coming from somewhere. A moving shape soundlessly approached her. The iron grip of exhaustion was crippling but she was prepared to run again.

A hand poked out from the shapeless blob. It reached for the hood of it’s cloak, pulled it off and she saw this was another human, a boy. She relaxed. As he drew closer she saw that he held a globe of light in on hand.

He pressed a finger to his mouth and pointed to the monster when he saw she’d opened hers to communicate. The command in his icy, pale eyes made her submissive. She pinched her lips closed. She was too tired to care. He’d frozen the monster in place and the lights and that was enough for her.

Roughly he took her arm and pointed in the direction he wanted her to take. Hafsa went with him. She somewhat trusted Light. He was no stranger to her. They had first met a few years ago. He seemed friendly in this lifeless hell she was in. She trusted her instinct and allowed him to lead her.

When they reached a river the lamp in Light’s hand went out. Hafsa stared as the hand which had been protecting them this whole time sank into his abundant cloak.

“It can’t find us here, we’re too far and it’s been blinded.”

“Does that mean we’re allowed to talk now?” Hafsa whispered hoarsely.

“This river borders the lands of the Vantry and the Nore. It’s not proper to enter another clan’s lands.”

He dropped her arm and followed the downstream trail of the widening river. Hafsa scampered behind him, not wanting to be left alone.

Light was searching for his boat. He knew all too well that he was not allowed to be in Nore territory. Exceeding the boundaries set by the Erris clans was an unpracticed and unpopular action. If the Nore knew a Vantry was prowling their forested bogland trouble was bound to ensure.

No one knew he was a Vantry, that was his advantage when he set out to study the tribes Nore, Moy, Corrib and Eske. His research held reasons. He wanted to know what the others were like and if he could face the other chimeras in a fair battle. Light wanted to be prepared for the coming-of-age challenge when he would be pit against other chimeras in the amphitheatre. Nature made him weak, hence he was making preparations. No one knew about this of course. The ones who knew he was on this land thought he was carrying out a task.

He could see the silhouette of the boat, sitting on the river bank. Light quickened his pace. consequently so did Hafsa. He was a little irritated that she should follow him. He’d never extended an invitation.

He stopped and whisked around, the cloak billowing behind him. Hafsa paused too, trying to discern the expression of discomfort on his face. Light took a step towards her.

“Why are you following me? What do you want?” In his head, he added, I didn’t know you were a Nore. Hafsa gave no answer. His lip curled in contempt.

His icy eyes probed hers, searching for clues that would tell him where she was from. At present he imagined she was a spy and a threat to him.

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” he promised. “You caught me wandering here but remember, I found you in the Vantry’s mountains. We’re even for the time being.”

He turned his back to her and made his way to his boat. She followed closely behind, not wanting to be left alone in the dark. The sky was pitch black, no stars burned overhead, there wasn't even a moon although no clouds filled the sky.

The river was long and wide. Beyond a mist was rising, catching in the opposite hedge and after that the world seemed to end. Hafsa caught her breath. Her eyes bore into the back of Light's head, as if staring long and hard would produce the answers she was looking for.

The boat was bigger than what she'd imagined, plainly constructed for purpose rather than poise. Light climbed into it without a word. So did she. He observed her with mistrust.

“I can't let you come with me.”

“Why not?”

“I don't know who you are or where you're from. Get off my boat.”

“That's not fair! I don't want to be left with the monster. I'm going with you.”

Light pursed his lips. There was no time for squabble. He couldn't afford to waste time.

“Alright.”

Hafsa brightened up.

Light grabbed the oars and began to row across the river. Hafsa was in awe. She'd never been on a boat before. She leaned over the side hoping to catch sight of something, a turtle, an otter, a dolphin or a mermaid. Nothing raised it's head over the dark waters. Only a distorted, murky reflection stared back. Her own face was unrecognisable to her. She wondered why. There was no great change in her features but something was wrong. She sat back in the boat and thought hard. There was something she was forgetting and the solution was on the tip of her tongue but she was unable to reach it.

A shadow cast over the boat. Hafsa threw her head back and gawked. The hedges were taller than she had imagined, higher than the highest skyscrapers she had seen. There was a little opening and it looked like that was where Light was bringing his boat. She nibbled on the cuticle of her thumb, a habit that would ade until she got braces.

The boat rocked to a gentle stop at the gateway. An isle was made available because of the low tide. Light stood abruptly and glided off like a specter. Hafsa had a lackluster jump in comparison.

Sand entered her slippers without warning. She wriggled her toes, a little annoyed at the little granules between her toes. Light moved past her, to the back of the boat and gave it a push. The boat began on a riderless journey. Hafsa was sad to see it go. She wished she'd had more time to enjoy the river.

Light whisked by her again and ducked into the hedge. As much as Hafsa didn't like crawling into dark spaces, she copied him. Pitch blackness shrouded her. She shivered, imagining the angry twists of gnarly branches staring angrily at her invasion.

She trailed after the swish of his cloak. It wasn't his first time there. The fluidity of his movement said so but at the time Hafsa was too scared to notice how naturally Light wandered.

Just when she thought the thicket would never end, it did. A sigh of relief tangled in . They were standing on the edge of the world. Below was a precipice that she didn't dare to look down at.

“You're not going to jump are you?” She asked. “I can't let you do that. Let's go back. You shouldn't jump from here, think about all the people who love you. They'd be heartbroken.”

Light was amused. “Who says I'm going to jump? I'm waiting for the donkey.”

“The donkey?” Hafsa was unconvinced. She grasped his arm just in case. As if on queue a must old mule came braying towards them.

Hafsa oogled. A donkey had shown up at the edge of the earth. It was a cute grey donkey. Her heart melted when she saw him. She'd rather walk than sit on him. His back didn't look very stable. The donkey's gait was very frisky. She was certain he was going to buck and hurl them both to their deaths.

Light hopped on the donkey's back without problem. Hafsa wondered what to do. She was nervous about this predicament. Light's watchful gaze was on her. She squirmed.

“Do I have to sit on the donkey? Isn't there any other way?”

“Old Buck, here, is a trustworthy steed. He can bring you to your pineapple mountain and talking trees if you want him to.”

“I'm not going there! It's too cold up there and I don't have my gloves.”

“Then where are you going?”

“I don't know but I know I don't want to stay here. This place isn't somewhere a human should be.”

“What is a ‘human?’” Light was suddenly interested.

“What do you mean? We're human and humans shouldn't be walking around at night time in places like this. It's hard to see.”

Light was startled. “You're blind?”

“No, I'm not! I just can't see very well in the dark.”

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