[Durelin]

"Oh it's only a skunk!" Edwin heard the girl say. Oh yes, he knew about skunks (or at least thought he did), though this was actually his first encounter with one. This was the farthest he'd been from the town himself, as it was for most with him. So he threw a good sized stone at the animal, foolishly not prepared for more of its stench. As soon as it triggered its defense mechanism all over him, Edwin cried out in disgust and took off, trying to escape the awful smell. Of course it only followed him, as it seeped into his clothes.

When he stopped, trying not to breathe through his nose, he looked around him. It seemed to have gotten darker, though they could not have been here in the Downs that long. He felt like he could not see as far as normally, as he could not see any of his companions. Even the barrow that he swore was the one the skunk had emerged from looked different.

Turning around, Edwin found himself looking at the edges of the Old Forest only meters away. How had he gotten here? Surely he had not run that far. He shuddered as he gazed into the trees, and into what was already darkness even though it was still in the afternoon. Or at least he thought it was. He looked up at the sky, but all he saw was a hazy glow low on the horizon.

Oh he'd better beat his father home. He had to head back. So he picked a direction, and called out nervously to his friends whom he expected to still be nearby at least. "Hey! Where'd you all go? I'm heading home to wash up!" "Ick," he added to himself.

A barrow seemed to suddenly rise up in front of him. He started to step around it, and found himself nearly standing under the stone lintel of its entrance. He scrambled away from it, only to find himself looking again into the wild shadows of the Old Forest. And he thought a pair of eyes were looking back at him.