Alcander opened his eyes as he felt the warmth of the sun lightly touching his cheek as the new day dawned; he slowly got to his feet and stretched his muscular and slightly stiff body. He casually glanced around expecting to see Aderes but to his surprise the big cat was nowhere to be seen. “Where can that foolhardy creature have got to?” No sooner had the words left his mouth that Aderes came bounding out of the surrounding thicket; he had a rather unfortunate rabbit in his mouth. ‘Well done Aderes!! You caught breakfast” smiled Alcander. It was closer to noon than dawn when the erstwhile pair resumed their journey after their leisurely meal. As they walked, the air became humid, almost cloying. Alcander's body glistened with sweat and even Aderes was panting. The trees had taken on a strange appearance, twisted and gnarled with what looked like vines entwining them. As the pair ventured deeper into the trees the ground became spongy underfoot, eventually they were walking through rather unpleasant looking water with a layer of greenish slime on the top. “Well Aderes, it seems as if we have found the Singing Swamp doesn’t it” Alcander chuckled. “I wonder why it’s called the Singing Swamp; I can hear nothing, not even a bird!” At that very moment the silence was splinted by the most unearthly sound that Alcander had ever heard. It was eerily beautiful but yet it made the hair on Alcander’s neck stand up. Aderes growled, a deep rumbling from within his huge body. “ I have to know where the song is coming from!” Alcander shouted above the now ear shattering singing. They set off in what they thought was the direction of the sound but after several hours of hacking his way through the tangle of vines they seemed no closer to their goal. In fact, Alcander had the feeling that they had been walking in circles for the whole time!! “By all the Gods!!!! I don’t think I can stand this for much longer; the singing is driving me insane. My head is throbbing and my body feels like I have wrestled a Mantovian Ox!. I must just sit for a while to rest” He sat, head in hand, his brain numbed by the noise,The big tiger, Aderes stood guard over his beloved Alcander. The singing suddenly faded to nothing and the swamp was plunged into a deathly silence that was worse than the singing, not a creature stirred, it felt like the world had come to an end. As if by magic the trees in front of Alcander parted and there in a shaft of golden light was the most incredible sight Alcander had ever seen in his life!!!! Sorry to have taken so long to post the latest adventures of this intrepid pair but my writing muse was definitely on extended leave:-) I'm not too sure she's back, I think she sent her blonde cousin to help me with this one LOL!!