I froze in the tree, my feet jammed in the fork where the branch met the trunk, down below me a panther prowled past, I held my breath as it passed by, it failed to notice me and I waited until it had dissapeared out of sight into the trees then dropped down and ran for the chasm that separated the black forest from the salmon plains where my village was.
My heart pounded and my breath caught in my throat as I willed myself to move faster, the hairs on the back of my neck were pricked with fear and a prickle ran down my spine, I glanced back half expecting to see the shadowy form of a panther running after me but I was alone, I kept up my pace, my bag banging into my leg as I ran, until I came to the chasm, a great rift that sunk down into the bowels of the earth, at the very bottom you could catch a slight glimmer of water many hundreds of feet below. There was no bridge, to get across I had climbed out on a tree branch that extended partway over the rift and then jumped, but now I had to get back. I swallowed hard, I knew what I had to do, I tossed my bag over to the other side, that was my reason for this whole adventure.
From the other side I had spied several fruit trees from my perch in the branches of a tree on the salmon plains side of the chasm. Crossing over to collect some of the rare fruits had been a bad idea to start with, now I was sincerely regretting it. I turned and walked a little way back from the edge then turned back to it, I swallowed hard and ran. Had a goodly run up and as I ran towards the edge I leapt! The ground dropped away as I found myself sailing through the air. I seemed to stay in the air for an age, but then suddenly I slammed into the far side rock face and gripped on for dear life, clinging to the rocks I dragged myself up to the top. “Never again” I muttered to myself as I reached the top, “Sabrina!” I yelled calling for my friend who I had bade to stay behind when I had crossed over, I heard an answering shout and a moment later she came running into view golden hair catching the sun giving her a halo as she ran towards me, I felt my hearts frantic pounding slow down, I hugged her and relaxed finally.
We walked back to the village slowly together and she grilled me on what had taken place, I told her how after I had crossed over I had made my way into the forest and found several of the fruit trees I had seen from my perch high in the tree on this side of the chasm. I had collected a few of each of the fruits and started to make my way back, on the way back I heard a panther growl to its self, it must have been annoyed by the constant pestering flies of summer, “The only time ill ever thank a fly for anything” I laughed, I had climbed a tree rapidly and waited till it passed then made my way back to the rift and jumped over, I had managed to keep some of the fruit in my bag, I showed her what I had collected.
