Feet ran forever on the other side of the brambles. Weird huffing breaths filled the air, a rhino exhaling in a frozen zoo.
And then, at last,
‘Hello again.’
A tail peeked over the top. One flash of teeth winked through a hole in the spiky foliage. I knew it wanted me to run.
Instead I crawled deep underneath the hedges.
The hood of my coat protected my cheeks. Even through denim and polyester thorns poked my skin. The ground was refrigerated marble. But I wriggled like a fleeting snake until brambles surrounded me all around. Juicy blackberries hung like purple streelightlights above my head.
My assailant landed on the path where I stood a few minutes ago. Rather than one clean descent, a furry rainbow traveled from one side to the other with a sloppy thud. A set of claws thicker than a velociraptor squelched through mud that still contained my footprints.
‘Hello again.’ It said in a voice from above and beside me. ‘We’ve had a fun year. But our adventure cannot go on forever. We need to return to order. Wake up to our responsibilities. ’
I kept schtum, and forced myself deeper into the gap between the hedges, pushing into icy mud. My red coat changed to brown, and a natural divot formed around my legs. An unfriendly stump pressed against my cheek. Everything smelt of must and old walking boots
‘This is not going to go away,’ it said. ‘I can wait here as long as we need to. Yours is the time running out.’
Even this far underneath the words were crystal, like they travelled through the Earth to reach my ears.
‘Very well.’
Another leap, and the claws were gone.
Although my vision consisted of leaves and brambles, the creature jumped high enough to block out the sun. The impact of something massive made the hedgerows sag. An inevitable protest of hundreds of creaking branches followed. Thorns tearing as a huge weight pushed through to seek me out.
But more noise joined them. Popping, then aggressive bangs like oil overheating in a row of woks. Drops of warm scarlet juice ran down the bridge of my nose.
The creature made rough grunts and high barks. Still the brambles shook. I hoped they twisted around paws and muzzles, binding their owner in a burning prison.
A dark shape pushed towards me through the plant life. Two glowing balls, and a cavern that stank of fermenting fruit. A head. Close enough that the first pants of hot breath made my eyes water. But the momentum of this rocket stalled. Bangs went off like a firework display, and I covered my eyes to avoid hot blackberry.
Then those breaths dissipated, and the explosion changed to popcorn in its dying breaths. I lay still for a full five minutes. The mud held me, caking on my jeans.
Maybe a full half hour might have sorted everything. Perhaps in that brief window of time it really had decided to give up. But the ground was so cold. I did not want to end up a shivering wreck unable to call for help. Lost down a path that will not be well used until spring.
The minute I dragged myself along with my elbows that face whirred back into life. An organic arrow pointing at my chest, the cries and the explosions mixing together at pace.
I scrabbled back towards the fresh air, the bottom thorns doing their work on my socks. I was half out, when a ginormous snout appeared between my ankles. Pink burn welts stain the skin like radiation scars. The teeth were bananas in bleeding gums.
‘Told you I would be back,’ he said. ‘Although perhaps not as you expected.’
He said?
He sai
I knew my plan was stupid then. A childish idea impossible to achieve. There was no option. I had to get back to the house.
I emerged from the bush,a bleeding, mud covered lunatic. I started running slipping and sliding down the path, the blackberries replaced by cold fencing I realised that what remains of the sunlight was gone. No stars yet. But a huge moon hung huge and heavy, each crater dark perfection.
A perfect lamp to write to.
My top tip for Huf Dael is to bring some Tupperware. You wouldn’t want to miss out on any tasty blackberries for the sake of a
::I’m sorry Barba::
