Lydia knew the cottage did strange things to people. One of its powers lay in revealing what was not visible to the human eye which meant that often things inside looked differently than they did outside in the yard. Shenyo’s tail, acting like a third hand, pulled her outside and almost everything about him changed.<br/><br/>Gone were the feline features and the furred body, in their place stood a handsome man with eyes that had a pulsating glow.  At his urging, she hitched the basket up higher on her arm and followed him.<br/><br/>The air was thick with smoke now and embers were swirling in the air. Shenyo had stopped at the small pump in the yard and was wetting down his clothes. Once more, at his direction, Lyda approached the pump herself. Rather than setting the basket down, she handed it to him and then frowned at the muddy patch under the pump. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched a pine tree explode into a ten foot torch.<br/>With no more hesitation, she stepped to the pump and soaked her gown. Taking off her shawl, she held this under the stream of water also. This she tied over her hair and turned back to take the basket. He had asked her of a good escape route other than the tunnel and for a moment her brain was frozen. The tunnel was the only safe place she knew.<br/><br/>Looking around frantically, she pointed to the path that led to a waterfall, but it was some ways off<br/>.<br/>“That small deer trail  where this isn’t much fire yet, Go that way.” She said.<br/><br/>The cottage stood between them and the fire. Lydia didn’t worry so much that the fire would destroy the house and they would probably be safe from the flames but the smoke was already choking them. She was coughing and tears were streaming from her eyes as she said,<br/><br/>“The cottage might slow the progress of the fire, enough that we can get out ahead of it. If we can make it to the waterfall, we might be safe. I bet that is where all the animals were headed too.”<br/><br/>Before she could get the last words from her mouth, his tail had wrapped around her wrist and was tugging her along.<br/><br/>Behind her, she could hear the roar from the fire and crashing as trees succumbed to the flame. Using the end of her shawl, she covered her nose and face with the damp cloth. An ember flew through the air and landed on her arm. Lydia tried to shake it off but it hissed out against the wet fabric. A panicked lynx bounded next to them and soon outstripped them in distance.<br/><br/>She was panting by the time they reached the clearing. As she had predicted many of the wiser forest creatures were there. Some were lined up around the banks of the small lake and river that flowed from the bottom of the crevasse and others were standing in the midst of the pool.<br/><br/>“Maybe we can go behind the falls,” she called over the rushing of the water.  She nodded to a path that was barely discernible in the mist.<br/>Rainbows fluttered in the air, glistening, beckoning to any who would wish to be drawn to the falls, promising treasure as the water flowed endless over the black, craggy rocks.<br/>