Stormbristle hurled himself in the air, attempting to gravitate away from the gargoyle. The gargoyle flew toward Storm, his mace out. Storm jumped from one branch to the next, attempting to gain height quickly. The gargoyle swiped whatever branch Storm was just on with his mace, obliterating the limb into pieces.

  The gargoyle whizzed past Storm, reaching his hand out to touch him. Storm kicked his foot against the trunk of a tall tree and twirled away from the gargoyle. The gargoyle cursed as he flew by him. The way a storm boar moved was using its own cloud body to bounce on the air currents. The way a gargoyle moved was not unlike a constantly striking hawk, that would need a lot of runway to gain speed.

  Stormbristle had a tactical advantage so long as he stayed up in the trees. Out in the open he would be tagged. The only problem was, the higher Storm got, the less branches. And as he looked down, he saw the gargoyle slowly destroying the lower branches, leaving him out of options.

  As Stormbristle rested daintily on a branch, he saw the gargoyle charging up again. The gargoyle’s bloodlusted face looked at him with fury as he stuck his mace out. Stormbristle leapt up and the gargoyle’s mace smashed against the limb of an old tree.

  “Just what on earth are you doing?!” said the pig, “You’re going to really hurt me! This is just a game of tag!”

  The gargoyle smirked, “Yeah, maybe for you.” He turned around in the air, pulling his body sideways , running between two trees as he jettisoned back toward Stormbristle. Once again, he pulled back his mace, ready to smash. Stormbristle attempted to jump up, but there was nowhere to land on. He attempted to cling to the side of the tree but The gargoyle’s mace smashed Stormbristle. He floated down to the ground in agony, having been tagged ‘it.’

  Jassper could hear the howling behind him as he slithered through an abundance of brush and trees. He noticed a tattered log and slipped inside. He coiled to make himself smaller and attempted to lay his body so that the peeks of sunlight did not land on him.

  The wolf howled again, propelling himself forward. The mismatch between the snake and the direwolf was palpable. Even though the direwolf was used to snow and hale, he effortlessly bounded through the hot forest biome. Leaping off the sides of trees and over a large fallen log that was in the way. He chased with a kind of pernicious attitude that was only found in hungry dogs. Jasssper thought he was safe, even snickering to himself how his hiding spot was the perfect place to hide from the rabid wolf, but just as he settled the wolf cried again. The howling was much louder. Much closer..

  He stayed perfectly quiet as he tried to listen. He stuck his tongue out to smell him in the air. The waft of a wolfy musk was close by.

  The snake looked up at the holes in the log. Darkness covered one of the holes. Then the hole in front. Soon, sunlight did not peek through any of the holes in the tattered log, and the musky scent of the wolf surrounded Jasssper on all sides. The snake was completely enveloped in darkness. He could hear growling up top and watched as some drool from the top of the Dire Wolf’s mouth dripped in. Jasssper wiggled closer and looked through the hole. The angry gaze of the dire wolf met his.

  “Uh-oh.” Said Jasssper.

  He slithered out of the log, the dire wolf’s oversized paw smashed down on it. The log splintered into a million pieces. Jasssper slithered away, under the roots of the tree.

  “Good hide, Jasssper,” said the wolf, “But you better believe I have the nose to find you.”

  Jasssper wriggled through the gnarled roots of the tree, making his way to the other side. But when he got closer, he saw the dire wolf’s paws once again. Jasssper stopped as the direwolf’s head dropped down and he gave a self-assured smile to the snake.

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  “Found you.” The dire wolf reached in and snapped the sinewy roots, creating a tiny space. He snatched at them again, creating even more space. The Dire wolf was brutally ripping into the roots, creating an area for his large neck.

  Jasssper slithered the other way. The dire wolf reached his maw in and snapped at Jasssper’s tail. Jasssper felt the heat from the wolf's mouth and pulled his tail in before the dire wolf snapped his teeth shut. Jasssper felt the wet of the wolf’s teeth on his tail.

  “You’re trying to bite me!” Screamed Jasssper, “Those aren’t the rulesss!”

  “You might be playing a game of tag, but me? I’m hunting prey.”

  Jasssper slipped out of the tree and started climbing upward.

  “I’m… I’m it now! It’sss your turn to run!”

  The dire wolf growled, “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Kip and Swiff raced through the trees. Kip had mentioned the location to Swiff and was trusting Swiff to get him there. The broom was moving at an alarming rate, the greens and browns of the trees blending together as Kip used all his strength to grab a hold of the broom. He looked behind him, no minotaur yet.

  “Per the rules of the game,” Kip said,” It makes sense for us to split three ways,” He explained to Swiff, "This way, the two can have a chance of getting their people back. Meanwhile, you and I can hide and use our speed to avoid being tagged. I know a good spot we can hide. One where Zeke never found me.”

  Swift made his way to one of Lethal Lake’s eastward facing bays known as Baleful Bay. The sun had begun to set as Kip and Siff approached a river outlet.

  “Come on!” Kip said, “This way!” He pulled Swiff by his handle and turned him around. They went to a cluster of rocks placed together by some of the builders to create a break from the waterfall into the lake from the river.

  “Oy,” Kip said, “We’ll squeeze in here. If I still can. I admit, I haven’t grown a lot since I was a kid.” He found the old hole he used to be able to sneak into. He grabbed the insides of the cave and pulled himself in. He attempted to wriggle through, even placing his hands below him and pushing, but he found that the space was smaller than he remembered. To his dismay, he was stuck, with his hands firmly clamped at his side by the rock.

  “Uhm, a little help here?” Kip asked.

  Swiff’s handle slumped, unhappy with his partnership. He placed his handle (which was basically his head) And pushed Kip’s dragon butt as hard as he could until Kip was through the rocks.

  Kip checked for scrapes. None. He looked Through the other side, “Okay! Come on in, Swiff! We’ll hide out here until the hour’s over!”

  Swiff nodded it's broomstick, lifted itself up and slowly moved forward in the cracks between the rocks. Careful not to develop any splinters. Kip sat down and waited patiently for Swiff to enter. He smiled as Swiff entered but the broom stopped dead in his tracks.

  “What’s wrong, Swiff?”

  Swiff’s body was shaking. His broomhead was still on the other side. It shook as it attempted to pull past the counterweight, but then it quickly pulled away.

  “Swiff!” Kip peeked outside the crack. There they were, two huge brutes. Zeke towered over his partner but his partner could have easily towered over Kip. The pit fiend had a body wrapped in a leather jacket and gloves. His head was a skull on fire. His weapon of choice was a hook on the end of a chain that never ran out of length. Kip looked out and saw that hook wrapped around Swiff’s broomhead. The pit fiend was pulling Swiff in as he tried to resist. At one point, the pit fiend whipped the chain, the reverberations slammed Swiff against the ground.

  “Hey!” cried out Kip, giving himself away.

  Zeke stuck his hand up at the pit fiend, “Take it easy, Akun.”

  Kip buried himself further in the barricade of stones. What were the chances? What were the chances that Zeke knew about this hideout? When they played hide and seek… this was the place Kip would go to win. It was impossible… unless.. Had Kip told Zeke? High off of milk, did he let it slip where the old hideout was? No, it was his cherished little secret.

  He looked out again. Zeke was close by. The pit fiend was still wrangling in Swiff, who was now in the air. It looked like he was some kind of kite.

  “Oh, Kip,” Zeke said as he placed both hands on the rocks, “I knew that you’d go hiding here. One thing you never knew is that I let you have your hiding spot. It was the only way you’ve ever beaten me in tag. Had to give you a way to win, you know?”

  Zeke lifted the boulder, the light washed over Kip but was completely taken by Zeke's shadow, “I’ve been taking care of you for a long time, buddy.”

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