The storm carried Peng into a strange and lonely place. The water was thick with churned-up matter, and death was everywhere. Thousands of small fish floated amongst broken branches of coral and seaweed, their lifeless eyes reminding Peng how huge and deadly the storm had been.
But as he swam slowly upward through the murky green water, he felt it growing warmer. Although he could barely see in front of him, a creamy round glow, like a halo from above, seemed to be calling him, awakening a distant memory. The warmth seeped into his muscles giving him energy.
Peng… Peng… It is time… The moon called to Peng just as the wind had called him twelve years before. There was a lightness in his heart as he swam up towards it.
When he finally broke through the surface, he saw the full moon rising, laying down a silver path for him to follow. And he knew it was the place he had so often dreamt about. The world he had been searching for.
Peng swam all through the night until he came to the mouth of a wide river. Mangroves lined the riverbank, their roots reaching down through the mud then up again as breathing tubes poking out of the water. Mud crabs quickly backed into their holes when they saw this strange creature pass by. He could have been a ghostly ship, moving silently through the water. The wake he left rippled out to the banks, washing over the mud-crab burrows. Has the tide come in early this night? they wondered. As they peeped out, their eyes twisting this way and that, they whispered to each other, ‘What is it? What can it be?’ They were used to boats, the noise, the smoke and the smell of their engines. And they were used to the crocodiles that sometimes hunted this far downstream. But this creature, with its huge head and long flowing tail, was not a crocodile or a fish or a giant turtle. He was not from around the mangroves or even from the rock pools up river. He smelt of another place – a dark and mysterious place.
As Peng swam towards the rainforest that met the water’s edge, the song of a million buzzing insects filled the night. He lifted his head towards the stars and a bell-like sound came from his lips. It was soft and low at first, and then, like a mounting wave, it rippled throughout the forest, caressing each leaf, penetrating deep inside every trunk, and reaching down through the roots to the soul of the earth. It touched every creature that lived there. They knew the call. They had heard it before. Not in their own lifetime, but in an ancient memory.
A large fox, snuffling around the roots of a flame bush was startled, and looked up as the great beast glided by. He lowered his head to work his teeth around the hindquarters of a particularly luscious cockroach. Then, flipping his head in one movement, he tossed the cockroach in the air, caught it in a grin, and trotted off up river after the creature.
Peng’s sensitive nostrils had picked up a strand of pure air, floating out of the rainforest. He followed it to where the river widened and the water ran deep and cold. There was a canyon where the walls were made out of thin layers of fossilised rock. Skeletons of small animals were embedded into the sides. Peng dived. In the rock face he saw the large mouth of a cavern and out of it flowed sweet fresh water.
Inside the cavern, the walls sparkled like a million stars in the night sky. He swam deeper and deeper into it, and then, there it was again, the silver moon refracting through the water, calling him to come up and meet it.
Two frogmouth owls huddled together as close as they could, like one fluffy body with four eyes. They looked out wisely from the ancient branches of the banyan tree. At a sound, all four eyes turned. Then the owls took off in fright, each in a different direction.
The fox watched them greedily as he loped up to the tree. But then he noticed something shiny, high up, hanging off one of the roots. He stood up on his hind legs to sniff the object and his eyes lit up. Thrusting his nose through the glittering thing, he slipped it over his head and let it hang around his neck. At once the fox felt a surge of energy shoot through his whole body. The power of the gold had begun to take effect.
When a huge head split the water, the fox looked towards the lake then crouched down low. A sly smile spread across his face. This fox was no ordinary fox. No, this was a fox spirit!