THE SUN WAS WARM and bright, golden rays piercing through fluffy white clouds to fall, dappled by the canopy above, on the three children that lay there, staring up. The small clearing was bathed in green-tinted light, a gentle breeze floating through the leaves on the unseasonably warm day. A hint of autumn gave the wind an edge that hadn’t been present only a week ago, and Eldred was starting to wonder if he should have taken his coat like his mother had said.

Gathering the leaves to make the pile they all lay on now had been activity enough to keep him warm. They had darted between trees, scooping great piles from wherever they could find them, returning to the clearing to add them to their growing hoard. It had been deep enough, before they had laid on it, for Eldred to stand knee-deep. From the stick now jabbing into his back, it wouldn’t be quite so deep now. He shuffled a little, readjusting so the protrusion no longer bothered him, and returned his attention to the great expanse of blue and white above them. From their vantage there were only a few branches reaching out long arms into the open space above them, and their leaves were now few enough that they gave no meaningful hindrance to the task.

“El-!” A hand shot into the air, wavering from side to side in an attempt to point at one cloud in particular. It belonged to the smallest of the three, sandy hair haloing around his head in the mass of red and yellow. “-Look at that one!” he continued, his arm steadying, “It’s so big!”

His companions crowded closer to see the cloud, knocking heads together as they all looked up. The dark-haired boy, Eldred, grinned at the sight. It was multi-layered, a wispy skirt of cloud bordering fuller, fluffier clouds that rose up like walls from fog, and from behind those even taller clouds emerged as spiralling turrets of a great castle, reaching up high into the blue around it. One of the clouds shifted, and now it looked like a hand cupping the sky, the wispy cloud a diaphanous sleeve that drifted gently away from its wearer.

The girl to the smaller boy’s right pulled a face, squinting hard at the cloud. “Maybe it’ll cover the sun,” she said, lifting one hand to shield her pale eyes. “It’ll make everything go cold.”

The small boy’s hand fell, dropping back to his side with a crunch, the leaves crinkling. His smile faded, and he turned his head to look at the girl indignantly. “The wind’s in the wrong direction, isn’t it?”

“Well…” she shrugged, not turning to look at him, “I guess.”

The trio started up with renewed interest. It didn’t last long.

“I’m bored,” Eldred declared, sitting up. The girl followed, picking out a stray leaf from her hair.

“Clouds aren’t very interesting,” she agreed, shaking the last of the leaf-debris from her head.

The last boy got onto his elbows, frowning at the other two, “They are interesting, we just haven’t seen a very good one yet.” They both looked at him, and he sighed, relenting. He sat up fully, giving them both a calculating look. “I saw some good sticks over there,” he suggested, pointing toward another part of the woods.

The girl considered this, “Good for a fort, Cal?”

Cal nodded with enthusiasm, ruffled hair bobbing with the motion. “They’d be perfect,” he assured her, rocking to his feet and brushing himself down.

She needed no further convincing, and stood up as well, peering off into the forest in the direction Cal and pointed.

Eldred shrugged, clambering to his feet to join them, and the trio set off into the forest again, this time in search of branches and sticks.

The smaller boy had been right- their first bounty easily surpassed May’s four feet and three inches, and it took all three of them to haul it back to their clearing.

By the time they had exhausted their immediate surroundings of sufficient building materials their stack had grown to encompass a large portion of the clearing. Eldred was doubtful they’d be able to use all of the branches they had found; a number had felt too brittle to hold much weight, but the satisfaction of watching their collection grow was too great for any of the three to leave such finds where they lay.

They started venturing further into the woods, scouring the ground for any likely candidates, kicking up leaves and, at times, pausing to tug on roots to check if they were attached. It was while Eldred was away from the clearing, the light patch in the trees just visible from where he stood, that he heard the snap of twigs a short ways from him. The noise caught him off guard- Cal and May had gone off from the other side of the clearing, Cal calling for May’s help with what he assured her was a branch they couldn’t possibly leave untouched. He stopped, watching the trees. When no further sounds became apparent, he shook his head, scanning the ground around himself, attempting to return to the task at hand.

A growing sense of unease blossomed in his chest, and he picked up a length of wood little longer than his forearm, turning on his heel and returning back to the clearing at a walk just fast enough to leave his breathing uneven by the time he reached it. He added the stick to the pile and stopped again, watching the way he had come, brow furrowed as he tried to figure out just what was wrong.

Laughter burst from somewhere behind him, and he whipped around, eyes wide, to see Cal and May marching back from the tree line with a branch resting on their shoulders. Cal was rubbing the back of his head, his cheeks reddening. “You did that on purpose,” he complained, scowling at May, who was grinning mischievously. Her grin faded as she looked up at Eldred, replaced with a frown echoing his.

“Everything okay, El?” she asked as she and Cal dropped their prize into the pile. The other boy peered off into the woods behind Eldred, squinting as he held his head.

“I thought I heard something,” Eldred said, feeling a little foolish for being so spooked.

May’s face started to change to a teasing smile, when Cal suddenly spoke up. “I don’t hear any birds.”

The frown returned, deepening. The three stayed silent for just a few seconds, listening. The forest was silent, the usual twitter and caw of the local bird population noticeably absent. May opened her mouth to reply when there was another snap of twigs and the rustle of leaves, and all three of them turned in the direction of the source. Anticipation built within the group, as all three waited, watching. A bird took flight only a short distance away, a wood pigeon rising from the canopy.

Eldred watched it climb into the sky, short grey wings flapping desperately. There was another rustling sound, and the soft thump of a large creature stepping forward, and his gaze snapped back down to look at the huge black dog that stood at the tree line, enormous yellow eyes locked on him. He froze, unable to breathe or move even a muscle.

His friends seemed to relax a little. “Look, it’s just someone’s dog…” May said after a pause, although she did not sound convinced by her own words. “It must be lost-”

The beast snarled, long white teeth bared as its lip curled, wolf-like snout wrinkling and ears flattening against its head. The hackles rose on its shaggy coat, and it stepped forward again, its great paws silent save for the quiet crackle of leaves beneath.

Cal started to back away, moving slowly, and Eldred and May were quick to follow, none of them daring to take their eyes from the creature.

Eldred could feel the branches of the tree behind touch his back, the points starting to dig into his skin. He winced, but did not stop his retreat. A quick glance to either side confirmed that both Cal and May were in a similar situation.

A harsh bark announced the hound’s sudden advance, the sound grating and terrific in its ferocity. The children wasted no time as the creature leaped across the clearing, breaking out into a sprint, darting underneath the branches and weaving between the trunks ahead of them. The creature pursued, and Eldred did not need to look behind them to know that it was gaining. Its previously near silent movements replaced with thundering footfalls and the crash of all snapping branches that dared get between itself and its quarry. The growl had reached a fever pitch, excited barks scattered within the loud rumble.

Eldred’s thoughts narrowed to a point, every footfall carefully considered as he stepped between roots and clinging brambles, focused on the trees before him and how he could dodge between them, gaining as much distance as he could.

Panic rose within him at his quickly tiring body- his legs screamed with the exertion, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He was dully aware of his friends drifting away from him in their own panic, finding different paths through the trees that carried them inexorably further away as he himself veered off to one side in search of the quickest path.

He ran, diving under a fallen tree that was too tall to jump over, scrambling to his feet on the other side to renew his sprint. Moments later he heard a loud crunch as the creature leaped onto the very same obstacle, the old rotting wood splitting beneath its weight. He didn’t want to consider what would happen if the dog caught him, and the terror at what that could mean spurred him to run faster, to ignore how his lungs burned, how his legs seemed distant things with the blood pounding in his ears.

Up ahead he caught a glimpse of a dark space beneath a particularly large tree, gnarled roots rising from the ground around what Eldred hoped was a burrow. The entrance was narrow, but he thought he could fit- he hoped very dearly that he could. He angled toward it, finally glancing behind to see the creature only feet behind him, jaws open in anticipation, saliva streaming from between the glistening teeth. He felt like he would throw up, the panic growing so strong that there was nothing in the world but himself, the creature, and the burrow ahead.

He dived when he thought he was close enough, the beast suddenly veering to go around the tree, the growl rising to a snarl of frustration. Eldred wasted no time, scrabbling to hands and knees and propelling himself forward into the small space, squeezing past the roots and dirt until he lay in the small hollow, panting furiously, eyes glued to the circle of light that signified the entrance.

For a moment everything was quiet, the thick walls of dirt around him muffling the sounds outside. Then he heard the thunderous foot falls and the creature’s baying as it returned. He saw the huge shape pass in front of the burrow, and then move past. He tried to control his breathing, to stop making so much noise.

The snarling mouth returned as the creature snuffed at the burrow entrance, black lips curled to bare its teeth. It saw him, then, and he couldn’t help the yelp that escaped as it pushed itself forward, its head sliding into the burrow and snapping at him. He scampered backwards, pressing himself against the far side a hand’s span from the tip of the beast’s jaws.

He hardly recognised the relief that sparked when he noticed that the creature could not get in any farther, its own hulking shoulders and limbs foiling its attempts to squeeze closer inside.

It pulled its head out again, clearly frustrated, before lunging in again, straining to gain any extra distance. Eldred shrank back further, eyes wide and terrified. Its own eyes seemed to glow with hatred and annoyance, amber pinpricks in the darkness created by the creature’s attempts.

The second time it pulled itself out, Eldred heard it pacing the tree and scratching at the roots, searching for some way it could get in. He held his breath, hoping that there was not an easy route for the creature to dig through, and scanned the interior himself in search of some reassurance. The ground was knotted with roots, larger, thicker roots arching out from where he assumed the trunk of the tree was, with thinner roots webbing out between to support the dirt walls, with some dangling from the domed roof in tendrils. He was laying on his side, the space only just tall enough to allow him to crawl, and beside his head was a second tunnel that looked too small for him to squeeze further into the burrow. Besides, a small part of his mind was likewise terrified of getting stuck in here in the dark, and he dared not push his luck any further.

His attention was caught again by the dark shape reappearing at the burrow’s entrance, his panic rising once more as he heard the creature’s scrabbling paws against the dirt beside the entrance. Dust rose within the space as the structure was shaken by the movement, and Eldred watched, terrified and helpless, as the creature attempted to widen the entrance.

He shut his eyes, trying to push the events from his mind. There wasn’t anything he could do, and he hoped desperately that this was all some nightmare he would awaken from. When he opened his eyes again, perhaps it would be the darkness of his own room in the early hours of the morning. He would see the lighter square of his window and, as his eyes adjusted, the shapes of his wardrobe and the chair that sat in the corner. He would begin to make out the colours of his blanket, a patchwork of reds and blues that his mother would wrap around him on cold days.