by Setlu Vairst
***
Flack was quite sure he could smell something but he did not know if that was the scent that Shane was trailing, for he knew that Shane could break most smells down into a ‘collection’ of very distinct odours. Flack continued slowly following the dog, listening to his sniffing and making sure that he did not get too close to the dog, keeping Shane’s rear just visible within the faint blue glow that was cast from him.
Patiently, Flack allowed the two to wander slowly, always near each other, always in darkness and always leaving the humans further behind.
‘But the humans will be coming,’ thought Flack. There was no doubt of that after his seeing the huge mass that was swarming across the desert land and the small advance group would surely be soon by the cave entrance. He had heard no sounds from the shouting humans for a little while and was confident that they were deep enough into the mountainside that they would be safe for a time to come. ‘If Shane is correct, then the humans will have a long time wandering the caves before they could ever reach us and, by then, we should have got through the mountain and joined the Armada of the Beasts and the Chosen One.
The humans and their evil will keep on coming after us, after all of the beasts, following us determinedly until the end, it seemed; whatever the ‘end’ turns out to be!’