Lowenna

Lowenna chapter 2

Chapter 2 THE CHASE

The young women scrambled down a bank, weaving through the trees and pushing past bushes. She was trying to ignore the pain in her leg, and the fact that her bare feet were being scratched and cut by the loose chunks of wood and brambles on the jungle floor.

The jungle was warm and humid and the smell was earthy with just a touch of perfume from the flowers. Long vines hung down between the colourful leaves and mosses covered the ground. Lowenna was running as fast as she could, but suddenly there was a crash and a growl behind her. The creatures were after her, hunting her, and they were close. "I'm not going to be able to outrun them," she thought. The track opened up into a small clearing. "I need to hide!" she looked around desperately, hoping for any way to avoid the terrors that were just behind her.

There were a couple of tall trees with a large canopy of red and orange leaves. Lowenna ran up to one and with no effort at all, climbed up and hid. She sat on a strong long branch, peering out through the leaves while trying not to look at the spiders that shared her hiding place.

She was impressed with herself. She was breathing a little heavily, but had travelled a long way from the beach and had traversed a tall tree, with a bad leg. "With a good leg they wouldn't have caught up with me at all," she thought with a smile.

Looking into the clearing she now had a chance to see some of the unusual plants. There was red and blue moss adorning several of the trees and the ground was covered in a dark red or brown grass. She was just starting to enjoy the beauty of it when suddenly one of the sword-welding reptilian creatures burst into the area.

Up close the reptilian looked even scarier. It's orange slit eyes looked cold and its teeth looked incredibly sharp. It had several scars on its scaly body and it even had a forked tongue similar to the snake. It took a long sniff and glanced at the tree.

Lowenna lowered her head as a terrible thought ran through her mind, "Can it smell me?" The creature hissed, then sniffing again, its tongue vibrating like it was tasting the whole area.

Lowenna cursed under her breath, and then held it, trying not to make a sound. She had done so well to make it this far and was thinking it had all been for nothing. The creature stared at the tree the young woman was hiding in, and a smile spread on its face, it knew she was there. Suddenly there was a screech from one of the other reptilians, not too far away. The creature growled in anger, sniffed once more and then charged back into the jungle.

Lowenna allowed herself to breath. She was still on alert, expecting the reptilian to come back at any moment. She knew she had to get away from the clearing, so she climbed down the tree, and pushed her way through some heavy brush, heading deeper into the jungle away from where the screech had come from, trying to move quickly and silently.

She was wandering for a long time, wading through soft boggy ground and clambering over rough rocks. She pushed through stinging brambles and long wet grass, thankfully hearing no sound from any of the creatures. The only wildlife, she had seen, were insects and spiders. Something had given her a nasty bite on the forearm, but she didn't care. She just wanted to get out of the jungle quick and away from the things that had been chasing her.

Entering another small open area, she stopped, realising she had come face to face with a steep incline. It was made up of rocks and loose earth. It looked almost impassable. There were only a few possible handholds, and no ledges, just a long steep climb to the top.

Lowenna looked at the wall in front of her. "You have to keep moving," she said quietly to herself before she started to climb.

She was almost at the top, but a small plant, she was using as an anchor suddenly snapped and at the same moment the rock her foot was braced on just gave way.