~~~

By the time they got closer to the island they were aiming for, it was almost lunchtime. Even at top speed, it had taken just over two hours to get there. Which meant it would take another two hours to return and another two hours on top of that to make it back across the Lower Mark Mountain Road to Dogholm.

Luckily, the aunty had agreed to hang around until sundown so they had the rest of the afternoon to get up to the castle, find Dog Lee or Dog Hood, rescue whoever needed rescuing and get back to the boat.

But first, lunch.

Wu Dog Yan put the plastic bag on the front deck of the boat and started pulling out the food. Cha Cha and Zade both waited patiently for the signal to start grabbing stuff, but Luco didn’t, he dived straight in, shoving a blue bean bun in his mouth then stopping briefly to say, ‘what, hamsters are very direct, we don’t waste time saying please and thank you.’

Everyone, including the boat aunty, stared at him.

‘Ka, fine…’ he said after polishing off the rest of the bun. ‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t thank me,’ said Cha Cha, gesturing towards Wu Dog Yan.

‘I wasn’t.’

‘You’re looking at me.’

‘Can’t be bothered turning. Anyway, TV star knows.’

‘I suppose I do,’ said Wu Dog Yan, not smiling.

‘Ka, don’t be sour. The next time you come to Hamsto[1], you can start grabbing the food, I won’t be offended.’

‘I’ve been to Hamsto before.’

‘No way, really?’

‘No one grabbed any food.’

‘Huh? Which city?’

‘Everyone said thank you.’

‘An City[2]? Couldn’t have been. Or you probably just went to a really posh restaurant. You’re rich, right? Ka, every real hamster will just grab food, trust me.’

Wu Dog Yan picked up a bowl of noodles and started sucking.

Luco leaned over to Zade and whispered into his cheek. ‘I think she trusts me.’

Zade frowned, picked up a Woo Si Beng[3], held it up, caught Wu Dog Yan’s attention and said, ‘thank you.’

~~~

After lunch had been dealt with, and Zade had taken a quick nap, the four heroes cleared the rubbish away [well, three of them did] and prepared to head out onto the island.

‘Remember guys, girls,’ said Luco, stretching his arms and legs as if

he were getting ready for a fight, ‘if we see Dog Hood, hit first, ask questions later. But don’t hit him so hard that he falls off a wall or a cliff or anything high enough to kill him. Dead dogs don’t speak. Most of the time. Got it?’

‘You’re a very melodramatic hamster,’ said Wu Dog Yan jumping off the boat and walking towards the path leading up the grassy slope that would hopefully continue all the way up to the castle. Despite the isolation of the islands, there were a few [hardcore] dogs sunbathing on the beach and an old dog [entrepreneur] selling ice pineapple rings, but none of them seemed to notice or recognise her.

‘This is a dangerous dog we’re dealing with here,’ continued Luco, dusting crumbs off his paws, ‘he already shot Cha Cha with an arrow.’

‘We don’t know for sure he’s done anything wrong yet.’ Wu Dog Yan stopped, noticing a frown on Cha Cha’s face. ‘Anything else wrong, I mean.’

‘It’s pretty likely that he has.’

‘And even if you’re right…legally, this is his island. Or half of it at least. If we find him, and he doesn’t want to talk to us, there’s not much we can actually do about it.’

‘I’ll make him talk.’

‘Luco…’ said Zade, his paws starting to shake a little.

‘Okay, she’ll make him talk then.’ Luco’s eyes lit up. ‘Ah, that’s a good idea. Wu Dog Yan can talk to him while we pretend to need the toilet, but in fact we’ll really be searching the castle for Dog Lee.’

‘That’s actually not a bad idea,’ admitted Wu Dog Yan. ‘But we’ll have to get up there quickly if we wanna return before sundown.’

‘It’s not far…’

‘You’re looking at the castle from here, but the path drops down in the middle, onto another beach, then goes up again. It’s quite long.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘Have you been here before?’ asked Cha Cha, checking the imaginary notes in her head.

‘The aunty told me.’ Wu Dog Yan started walking again, eyes on the ground. ‘Are we moving or not?’

Cha Cha and Luco looked at the aunty, who was standing next to the boat wheel with her eyes closed, as if someone had just switched her off.

‘Cha Cha, food-grabbing hamster,’ repeated Wu Dog Yan, already twenty yards up the slope.

‘Coming,’ answered Cha Cha, quickening her pace.

‘Ka, ka,’ said Luco, trudging after them. ‘Rich kid.’

~~~

Wu Dog Yan was right, the path was deceptively long.

It went up for about ten minutes, relatively steep, then turned into a gentle slope that led down to a second beach in the middle of the island. A deserted beach. Nuut, almost deserted. There was an old dog swimming in the water to the left, his head bobbing up and down like an abandoned dinghy. Apart from him, the whole place was empty. Zade stopped, instinctively alert to strangely deserted places, but Wu Dog Yan quickly told him to hurry up. Zade did as he was told. At the point where the path ended and the beach began were two signs, one a map of the island and quite pretty, the other a warning in capital letters: PROPERTY OF DOG HOOD, THE GREATEST AND MOST TECHNICALLY SKILLED FIGHTER IN DOGHOLM, MUCH BETTER THAN ANY OTHER FAIRLY WELL-KNOWN DOG FIGHTER WITH A THREE LETTER SURNAME. P.S. TRESPASSERS WILL BE USED AS ARCHERY TARGETS.

Luco spat at the board and tried to scratch out Dog Hood’s name with his nails. The other three shook their heads and checked the map.

‘This is a weirdly-shaped place,’ said Zade, pointing at the channel of water almost cutting the island in two.

‘Ka…’ said Wu Dog Yan.

‘Looks kind of like a dalmation raising its arm.’

‘A dalmation in a baggy ice-hockey jersey raising its arm.’

Zade squinted, and then nodded, ‘Ka, you’re right.’

‘The arm side of the island, quite serene, the dalmation head side, more like a gothic nightmare,’ mumbled Wu Dog Yan.

‘Gothic?’

‘Worse at night.’

Zade re-squinted, but this time maintained a confused look.

‘It’s not from the map,’ continued Wu Dog Yan, seemingly reading Zade’s mind. ‘Just a feeling.’

‘The cliffs are so big,’ said Cha Cha, trying to bring something to the conversation.

‘And steep.’

‘I don’t understand,’ said Zade, looking from the map board to the real island opposite. ‘Who would want to build a castle here?’

‘Royalty,’ replied Wu Dog Yan, moving away from the map board.

‘Why?’

‘Whimsy.’

Zade frowned, looking at Cha Cha. ‘Defensive reasons?’

Cha Cha neither nodded nor shrugged nor shook her head. Instead, she made a soft whistling sound until Wu Dog Yan explained what whimsy meant.

It didn’t happen.

Luco made a growling noise and hit the other sign. ‘It’s painted on tight, can’t make a scratch.’

‘We should head up quickly,’ said Wu Dog Yan, ignoring him.

‘Do you think it’s safe?’ asked Zade, gesturing at the ground.

‘What do you mean?’

‘The warning sign…’

‘Performative,’ answered Wu Dog Yan, blindly taking a few steps forward to prove it.

‘There might be traps…landmines or something.’

‘Illegal.’

‘But…it’s private property.’

‘That side. Not here. Can’t put explosive devices near a public beach.’

‘Doesn’t look very public,’ said Luco, giving up on the sign and scanning the dog-less beach.

‘Not today. Maybe other days, the weekend.’

‘You think it gets busier?’

‘Come on, let’s move,’ cut in Wu Dog Yan, walking down towards the shore.

The three factory workers followed, Zade carefully studying the sand before each step. Nothing happened. No landmines, no hidden spike pits. The sand was actually quite comfortable to walk on, like soft powder on a firm sponge. As they made their way to the water, the old dog who’d been swimming appeared and nodded at them, for some reason saying, ‘careful, careful,’ in an odd accent. Then he was gone, walking quickly up to the path, while Wu Dog Yan led them castle-wards. It was strange, the part of the land that led to the other side of the island was nothing more than a slightly raised, very long collection of stones surrounded by sea. According to Wu Dog Yan, who still claimed never to have been there before, if you didn’t cross the stone path fast enough, the tide would come back in, cover all the stones, and you’d be trapped waist-deep in the sea.

‘That sounds quite dangerous,’ said Zade, reluctantly putting one paw on the stony path.

‘If you’re ignorant, ka. Dogs have been washed out to sea here before. I think there was one puppy a few years ago…his parents let him play on the beach while they napped…didn’t realise that he’d gone to this path, woke up just in time to see him go under and not come back up. The dad tried to swim out to save him, but he got pulled under too. Then the mum got so depressed that she killed herself a year later.’

‘That’s pretty bleak,’ said Zade, staring at the water ahead.

‘Not sure I wanted to hear that,’ added Cha Cha.

‘It was in all the papers, it’s very real. That’s another reason why no one wants to come here anymore. Maybe some teenagers, a few swimming uncles, but they usually stay on the boat side of the island. Or go to another island. Less dangerous there, more beautiful, too.’

‘Err…is there a different way to get over there?’

‘Nuut.’

‘Don’t be scared, Zade, tigers can swim,’ said Luco, jumping up onto his friend’s shoulders and immediately causing Zade to groan in discomfort. ‘Besides, the tide’s low at the moment, we’ll be fine.’

‘What about the way back?’

‘We should be okay. High tides are usually in the morning and very late at night, like midnight or just after.’

‘And if today it’s not?’

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‘It’s pretty consistent,’ replied Wu Dog Yan. ‘Though if we stay here arguing about it long enough, we might get a high tide.’

‘She’s right, Zade,’ said Cha Cha., shifting closer to her idol.

Zade looked at Cha Cha, confused.

‘No dog would talk about tides if they didn’t know what they were talking about. We don’t like idiots here.’

Luco started to laugh, but quickly turned it into a cough when he saw Wu Dog Yan glaring at him like a leopard glaring at a burrito.

‘No more talking, let’s just get over there,’ said Wu Dog Yan, walking forward again, rolling up her jacket sleeves.

The three heroes followed her across the sea trail, both Zade and Cha Cha stepping on some sharp stones occasionally and grimacing but not saying anything out loud.

When they were halfway across the potential death trap, Zade mumbled something about the water getting a little bit higher, but no one heard him.

It was a good job too, as he was wrong, the water wasn’t getting higher, it was actually getting lower. However, Zade still didn’t believe it as water kept splashing up onto his ankles.

‘It’s the waves, Zade,’ said Cha Cha, noticing Zade’s expression as more sea water spat up onto his legs.

‘My paws are wet,’ moaned Zade, trying to wipe them on his hoodie and getting that wet too.

‘I’m okay,’ said Luco, raising his paws skyward.

Zade growled. Flicked water at the hamster. Growled again.

‘What? I’m just letting you know that I’m okay.’

‘You won’t be if I drop you on the stones.’

‘Hey, don’t say that. I could get knocked out and drown.’

‘You’re not that small.’

‘Small enough to drown.’

‘Or light.’

‘Just don’t drop me, okay? And try not to sway so much when you walk, it’s uncomfortable. Makes me feel a bit sick.’

Zade growled again, just as more water splashed up onto his legs.

‘What are you guys, turtles?’ shouted Wu Dog Yan, waving at them from the shore. ‘We’re almost at the castle. Come on.’

The three heroes looked ahead and upwards. The very top part of the castle was visible on the crown of the hill, but it didn’t seem near enough to say hey, we’re almost there.

‘She called you a turtle,’ said Luco, tapping Zade on the shoulder in an attempt to make him go faster.

‘Us, not me.’

‘You’re the taxi, comrade, I’m just riding.’

‘And complaining.’

‘Ha, what are you on about? I’m a hamster, we’re famous for not complaining. Anyway, I was just saying in a roundabout way, speed up, but you’re going a bit faster now so, good job, keep going.’

Zade did a low growl, but made it seem like a natural vibration. Tigers were good at that.

‘Was that your neck?’ asked Luco, hearing the growl and looking down.

Zade ignored him and kept walking.

‘Sounded like it.’

‘It wasn’t my neck.’

‘Ka, okay.’

Cha Cha stopped on a large, firmly-planted rock and pointed upwards. ‘Hey, the castle’s getting closer, look.’

‘Great.’

‘Not that far at all.’

‘Dog Lee better be there,’ said Zade, taking a careful step onto the next stone, which wobbled a bit.

‘He is, I’m sure of it,’ said Luco. ‘That dirty crook Dog Hood too.’

‘Crook?’

‘Criminal,’ said Cha Cha, translating.

‘I don’t know that word.’

Luco put his paws together, like a book. ‘That’s because you never read anything.’

‘I read stuff.’

‘Ka, in tiger language only. You never read the news or any dog novels. I do. That’s why my level is so high.’

Cha Cha coughed.

‘What?’

‘Actually, you said the word crook wrong.’

‘Nuut, I didn’t.’

‘And you used it in the wrong way too.’

‘Did not.’

‘It’s not a big deal though, I still understood what you meant.’

‘What are you talking about? I used it right. I copied it from a news report I saw, it must be right.’

Cha Cha shrugged, kicking a piece of seaweed of the next rock along the path. ‘I guess you copied it wrong. It’s really okay though. I’m used to the way you talk, I can get your meanings.’

‘Are you saying I can’t talk properly?’

‘In dog language, ka. You’re a bit of a mess. Your vocab is better than Zade’s, sometimes, but Zade gets the basic sentence structures and grammar correct.’

‘I’ve been here longer,’ said Zade, scratching his neck. ‘And dog language is quite similar to tiger language, sometimes.’

‘Hey, you can’t say he’s better than me,’ said Luco, jabbing at the back of Zade’s head. ‘He doesn’t even know the word crook.’

‘You used it incorrectly again.’

‘Shut up, nuut, I didn’t.’

‘I’m sorry, but it’s true. And it’s shyut up, not shut up.’

‘Look, we’re here,’ interrupted Zade, reaching up to Luco’s head with his paw and rotating the little hamster towards the hill in front of them.

‘We’ll talk about this again later,’ said Luco, swatting away Zade’s huge paw, ‘after I rescue Dog Lee.’

‘If you like…’ said Cha Cha, smiling.

‘But the key summary is: my level’s better than Zade’s. Finished. Now let’s catch up to Wu Dog Yan before she’s out of sight.’

‘Okay, professor.’

Luco tapped Zade on the ear and asked to be let down. Zade complied, lowering his head so Luco could jump safely onto the sand. The three of them started walking again, the sand almost immediately changing to grass, and after another thirty minutes of fairly fast movement up a very steep path, they managed to catch up to Wu Dog Yan. She was standing with her arms folded, outside the front gate of the castle.

‘We made it,’ said Cha Cha, spreading her arms out.

‘Could’ve done with an escalator,’ groaned Luco, bending down to rub some life back into his calves.

‘On an island?’

‘Ka, why not?’

‘When have you ever seen an escalator on an island?’

‘Doesn’t matter, we walked, we’re here, we don’t have arrows in us. And we didn’t get blown up by any fake land mines.’

‘Good point,’ said Cha Cha, looking back down at the slope.

Luco grunted and studied the territory in front of him.

The grass was well-maintained, the view stark and impressive, but the castle itself looked about as welcoming as an armadillo immigration centre.

All the windows were closed, as well as the front gate, and there was yellow ivy crawling up, over and along the walls. In the centre, hanging from the main battlement, was a huge, faded black and red banner. On the banner was a picture of two armoured dogs joining their swords together in a triangle shape, with the motto dogs own the land, dogs own the sea, dogs own the sky, dogs own. The motto was so long when written in the old dog language that the actual letters were tiny and almost impossible to read from a distance, which made the whole banner seem quite sad and pathetic.

That wasn’t the only memorable thing about the castle though. On the front gate itself was another sentence, this one a lot weirder. In huge yellow letters, it said The Long Fur of Death. Zade, Cha Cha and Luco all looked at each other, telepathically asking what it was supposed to mean, but no one had the answer. Luco pulled out his phone to check online then remembered that there was no signal and put it back in his pocket. He looked at Wu Dog Yan, who had her paws on her cheeks.

‘Any idea what Long Fur of Death is supposed to mean?’ asked Cha Cha, tracing each letter in the air.

Wu Dog Yan moved her paws up, almost covering her eyes.

‘Probably just meaningless graffiti.’ Luco looked again at the castle exterior, sizing it up. ‘Any idea how to get inside this wreck?’

‘Doorbell?’ Cha Cha suggested.

‘Can’t see any.’

‘Knock on the gate?’

‘Maybe.’ Luco moved forward and banged his little fists on the front gate. There wasn’t much of a sound. ‘Zade, you try.’

‘Nuut kaata…’

‘You don’t know what?’

‘It looks like no one’s home.’ Zade turned back to the slope they’d just walked up. ‘Or near home.’

‘Just knock, turtle face.’

Zade shrugged and tapped softly on the front gate. Luco glared at him until he knocked again, harder this time. The noise was definitely louder, but still no butler or cosplay aristocrat appeared to open up.

‘He’s definitely in there,’ said Luco, folding his arms. ‘I’m sure of it.’

‘How sure?’ asked Zade.

‘It does look pretty quiet,’ added Cha Cha.

‘That’s cos this isn’t the main front part of the castle, this is just the gate. After this should be the courtyard then the death zone, then the pretty garden that is also a death zone and, finally, the front door. That’s how they used to structure the castles, right, Dog Yan?’

Wu Dog Yan had stopped staring at the front gate and was now staring up at the battlements as if there were actors performing a play there.

‘Hey, psychic Wu…’ prodded Luco, waving his paw around in the air. ‘Are you still with us?’

Wu Dog Yan blinked, realigning with Luco’s face. ‘Why are you dancing?’

‘I’m waving, not dancing. And I asked you about the castle structure, how this isn’t the main front part.’

She nodded slowly.

‘That means he’s right?’ asked Cha Cha.

‘Ka.’

‘See, I know my history,’ boasted Luco, slapping the side of his head [the hamster sign for being overly proud of yourself, something they did a lot]. ‘Now, all we have to do is find the switch that opens the front gate and-…’

‘What about the death zone?’ cut in Zade, scratching one paw with the other.

‘Inactive.’

‘And the pretty garden that is also a death zone?’

‘Relax, Zade, it’s as safe as Lake Bōnbo Peak. All the death zone features were removed centuries ago.’

‘What if Dog Hood has added them back?’

Luco ignored the question and went over to the front gate, feeling the walls on both sides with his paws. He did this for about ten minutes before finally giving up and shouting at the others to stop standing around like vegetables and lend him a paw.

‘It’s pointless,’ said Wu Dog Yan, checking the surrounding area.

‘If you don’t do any searching, ka, it is.’

‘The gate won’t open from this side.’

‘Then where’s the doorbell or the knocker?’

‘Nuut kaata.’

‘Well, that’s just great. We come all the way here and we can’t even get past the front gate.’

Zade opened his mouth to speak, but Luco cut him off.

‘…and now Zade’s about to tell us it’s no good, we should go back home and stay inside forever while satfu is tortured to death.’

Zade closed his mouth, resisting the strong urge to nod.

‘Hey, what about this thing?’ asked Cha Cha, standing next to a sign board.

Luco looked over and swatted his paw through the air. ‘That’s just the info for the castle.’

‘There’s a button here, too…’

‘What?’

‘It has CALL written next to it.’

Luco ran over and, before reading anything, pressed the button. ‘I can’t believe this is where they put the doorbell.’

Cha Cha glanced at him but didn’t say anything.

‘What are you going to say if Dog Hood answers?’ asked Zade, scratching his paw again.

‘Get out here and fight like a dog.’

‘That’s what you’ll say?’

‘Maybe a greeting first…nuut kaata. It depends how he sounds when he speaks. If he’s moody, I’ll be moody too.’

‘If anyone ever answers,’ said Cha Cha, watching the gate.

‘Good point.’ Luco pressed the button again, impatient. ‘He might be watching us on camera, trying to work out his next move.’

‘Or there’s no one home.’

‘Don’t be so negative, Zade. He’s in there, torturing my Satfu to death. I’m sure of it.’

‘Luco…’ said Cha Cha, looking at the sign.

‘What?’

‘Didn’t you say there was a courtyard and death zone and garden death zone before you got to the main front door?’

‘Ka, so what?’

‘This sign says the front door is behind this front gate. And there’s only one courtyard.’

‘That’s not the real map.’

‘Actually, there are two courtyards. Or one courtyard split in two.’ Cha Cha tilted her head. ‘Nuut kaata. It’s quite hard to tell from this picture.’

Zade walked over and studied the castle map. ‘I think this long part of the castle is a corridor, maybe going over the top of the courtyard.’

‘Ah, you might be right.’

‘Who cares what it is? This is taking forever.’

Luco pressed the button again, and again, and again, all within two seconds, and when no one answered, he clenched his paw and slammed it down on the sign board. Unfortunately, his aim was poor and he managed to hit the edge of the board.

‘Okay, I’m done waiting. Let’s knock this fucking place down.’

‘The gate or the…’

‘The gate, the gate. Come on, Zade, roll your sleeves up, we need your muscles.’

The giant tiger sunk inside his hoodie.

‘Zade…’

‘He doesn’t want to do it,’ said Cha Cha, stepping between Zade and the excitable hamster.

‘Ka, he does.’

‘Nuut, I don’t want to do it,’ confirmed Zade, sliding his paws into his sleeves. ‘The police will come.’

‘From where? The sand?

‘They’ll come.’

‘Do you see any police stations around here?’

‘There’s cameras. Damaging property will mean at least five years in prison.’

‘That’s if they don’t shoot him first,’ added Cha Cha.

‘They won’t shoot, that’d be two times in three days, no one’s that unlucky.’

‘It’s not about luck,’ said Zade, touching the plaster on his head.

‘And we don’t even know if there are cameras here. Maybe Dog Hood didn’t install any…’

‘I’m not taking the risk.’

‘Me neither,’ said Cha Cha, moving next to Zade.

Luco looked at Wu Dog Yan, who was lost in the battlements again. ‘Are you gonna help?’

‘Nuut,’ she replied, not looking at him.

Luco hit the sign again, this time connecting with the button. ‘Then what? We’re going to stand here until someone magically appears to let us in?’

‘We could go back to the boat,’ said Zade, sliding one paw back out of the sleeve.

Luco puffed out his cheeks, clearly annoyed.

‘Wait a sec…’

‘We are waiting,’ barked Luco.

‘There’s someone over there.’ Cha Cha pointed to a small tree with a huge canopy about five hundred yards away from the side of the castle. ‘Walking…’

All of the animals glanced over, half expecting to see nothing [even Cha Cha herself] and seemed genuinely surprised when they saw she was right. There was someone, or something, over there. They watched as the distant figure walked towards the small tree, went past it then disappeared out of sight.

‘Was that Dog Hood?’ asked Luco, prodding his face an inch closer to the distant scenery. ‘Did anyone see? Was it him?’

‘I couldn’t see clearly,’ replied Zade.

‘Me neither,’ said Cha Cha, frowning.

‘But it looks like there might be something beyond that tree.’

‘The edge of the cliff?’

‘A secret entrance,’ shouted Luco, clenching a fist, then pivoting and glaring at the others when they didn’t make fists too.

‘Nuut kaata.’ Zade looked at the map of the castle. ‘According to this, there’s a small building over there, but it doesn’t say what it is.’

‘Forget the map, let’s get over there fast. See where he’s going.’

‘What about the doorbell?’

‘Irrelevant.’

‘But we haven’t…’

‘The guy’s over there, we just saw him. Move, come on.’

‘Now?’

Luco ran forward, followed by a reluctant Zade, who carried on repeating a combination of now? and not so fast as he went. Cha Cha started walking then turned back to see if Wu Dog Yan was behind her. She wasn’t, not even close; her entire form was still fixated on the castle battlements.

Cha Cha ran up behind her. ‘Are you okay?’

‘What?’ said Wu Dog Yan, startled.

‘It’s like you’re watching a movie…’

Wu Dog Yan blinked, looked over at Luco and Zade moving towards the tree, then put her paws together and let out a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry, I was a little out of it.’

‘Why?’

‘I was remembering something…not bad, just…a long time ago.’

‘Something that happened here?’

‘Kind of.’

‘I thought you’d never been here before?’

Wu Dog Yan paused, looked down at the ground [which happened to be a burnt-out patch of grass] then said, ‘I lied about that. Sorry.’

‘You have been here before?’

Wu Dog Yan nodded.

‘Like a school trip or…’

‘With friends.’

There was something about the way Wu Dog Yan said friends that made Cha Cha anxious, so she spun around, took in the view and tried to come up with something blandly positive to say. ‘It is quite beautiful. You can see the other islands, the mist in the distance…I think it’s mist, might be clouds.’

‘It’s mist.’

‘The castle looks quite beautiful too. Very ancient, very stony. Did you go inside when you were here before? Is it very dusty?’

Wu Dog Yan pointed at Luco and Zade. ‘They’re getting away from us.’

Cha Cha squinted at grass up ahead, only able to make out Zade. ‘Oh, ka, I forgot…’

‘We should catch up before they’re out of sight.’

‘I guess so.’

Wu Dog Yan started to jog and Cha Cha followed behind. Soon they were running side by side, which seemed to provoke Wu Dog Yan a bit as she increased her speed, almost sprinting towards the tree. Cha Cha tried her best to keep up, but she was neither as tall nor as fit as her idol so she fell back and, when she finally made it to the tree, collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Luco, who was standing by a stone dog statue, stroking it with his left paw.

‘I’m tired.’

‘It was only five hundred yards.’

‘I ran really fast.’

‘For five hundred yards.’

‘Why are you stroking that statue?’

Luco stopped stroking and muttered, ‘no reason.’

‘Give her a break, we just climbed a big, steep hill,’ said Wu Dog Yan, fanning herself with her hat. ‘I’m a bit tired too actually.’

‘You guys are nuts.’ Luco gestured around the area they’d arrived at, which seemed to be a small graveyard. There were twenty or thirty gravestones dotted about, and a tiny church at the far end. Actually, apart from the graveyard, there was no evidence that it was a church; it could’ve been a public toilet, it was definitely small enough.

‘Is this a graveyard?’ asked Cha Cha, looking around.

‘Obviously,’ replied Luco.

‘This is where the man disappeared?’

‘Must be. The only thing over there seems to be a cliff, and he didn’t walk around us, so…’

‘He’s probably in the church,’ said Wu Dog Yan, walking forward.

‘That’s what I thought too.’

‘Should we really go in there?’ asked Zade, shrinking back a step.

‘Not turtle mode again.’

‘I’m just asking…is it really okay for us to enter private property like this?’

‘We’ll knock first. Okay?’

‘But what if-…’

‘Zade. Stop dragging your paws. We’ve got a legend to rescue.’

~~~

----------------------------------------

[1] Land of the hamsters, a large island the size of Croatia off the south west coast of Kāatlandō.

[2] Second largest city on Hamsto, Luco’s hometown.

[3] Taro with a crisp, lattice style covering. Yes, I’ve basically just used the Cantonese name for it, I can’t help it, it’s one of my favourite foods.