Travelling down the other side of the mountain Emma noticed something peculiar: the once before green landscape was changing from the luxuriant vegetation to dry and desert-like. It felt as though the land itself knew this to be a bad place and not even plants and trees would grow in this forsaken land.

    The group in their descent faced the gorge that Dad had explained to them earlier: numerous large holes tunnelled deep into each rock face either side of a mountainous ravine and it looked bleak and uninviting. As if to add to the gloom, black clouds rolled over above Chimaira Gorge and it started to pour down.

    The high valley rock face reached up to the skies and towered above them. Its surface crated deeply like an old grey piece of Swiss cheese. A huge opening exposed a twisting waterway between the large rocks that jutted out from each side. Where the river narrowed, a large cave mouth cruelly lay to its side so it was the only way to pass. These large crater-like caves were dark and deep and it was almost impossible to see anything that may lurk there in its depths. The children didn’t like the look of this place at all.