The start of their journey ran relatively smoothly, and by morning they discovered that they were
quite a considerable way from the hated orphanage. The thought of the nurse coming to get them all
out of bed and finding the three of them missing, brought tears of laughter to Clio's eyes. Just
as they walked out into a clearing, she squealed in a burst of realisation and merriment,a most
un-Clio like thing to do and whirled around to face the others. "We're free," she exclaimed, "No
more bread and water punishments, no more scrubbing floors or flicked ears. Its all over." Thalia
and Zeph hesitated momentarily, then grins broke out on their faces, as they enveloped each other
in a three-way hug. "Yeh, but what do we do now?" Zeph asked, always a thinker. Clio wasn't
listening. She was looking over their shoulders, back into the forest they had just emerged from.
They saw the glazed look of fear as Clio backed away, and turned to see a hideous creature emerging
from the tree-line.

None of them, even in their wildest, most horrible nightmares, had ever imagined that such a
creature could possibly exist. It was about 7 feet tall and thickly muscled, covered in a foul
layer of filth that looked to be permenant, and a complete lack of clothing told them that it was
most certainly male. However, the strangest thing, by far, about this freakish creation, was its head.
Rather than a human head, which would have gone quite understandably with the human body, the thing
had the head of a bull, complete with blood-stained horns, and evilly-glinting eyes.

All three teenagers gasps simultaniously, as the horror of the tauros, which was what the creature
turned out to be, sank in. Instantly, the tauros turned its head towards them, and seeing Clio
and Thalia only a few metres away, began advancing towards the group, taking slow, ground-shaking
steps, with a manic gleam in his eye, that only meant one thing. If it caught them, they somehow
knew that it would rape the two girls and kill Zeph. Terrified for their lives, they retreated.
Unfortunatly, they found themselves blocked by an inpenitrable wall of trees, panicked, and were
forced to turn and face their attacker.

Looking back at the event, Zeph had no idea whatsoever, as to what came over him, that day. But,
whatever it was, it certainly saved thier lives. Bravely, he moved in front of the two girls,
and, without taking his eyes off the approaching Tauros, retrieved the bow that had been packed in
his rucksack. The girls their initial panic over, saw what Zeph was doing and started scabbling
around behind them for small rocks to throw. Maybe if they were lucky they could stun it long
enough to get away. Zeph, who was as non-violent as they came, calmly placed an arrow to the string,
drew it back to his ear, aimed and shot, successfully hitting the creature in the shoulder. It let
out a roar of rage and pain, and lunged forward. It was too late, though. Zeph, lightning fast
through untold years of secret self-training, drew and fired in a fluid movement. Suddenly, the
tauros, an arrow sprouting from the middle of its head, collapsed, and lay motionless, in an
ever-growing pool of blood. Panting a little, from the adrenalin and terrifying excitement, Zeph
lowered the bow, and turned, smiling, to his two companions. They stared at him, dumbstruck, and
for a full five minutes, no one said a word, them from their new-found respectful awe of Zeph,
and him, from the amazement at their strange reaction towards him.

"Wh-Where did you learn to...to shoot like that?" Clio broke the silence, haltingly.
"I taught myself, at night, have been at least four times a week for the past six years," he told
her, lowering his voice, as if admitting a closely guarded secret.
"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Thalia, "I thought we shared *all* our secrets?"
"I don't know. I dont even know why I started. I was just down in the shed one morning, chopping
wood, and I had the sudden urge to use the bows, that hung on the wall," Zeph replied anxiously,
"So I did. And ever since, I've been going down, every second night to practice,"
The two girls stared at him in astonished silence.
"Well, I announce myself thoroughly impressed, Zeph, but I'm afraid we really must concentrate on
the matter at hand," Clio said, in a brisk business-like voice, "Now, that *thing*," she pointed
at the, now dead, tauros laying several metres away, "is not something you see everyday. Unless,"
she continued, "You happed to live in a Mythology book. Even then, it's a fantasy creature, as in
not real,"
"Well, I dont know about you two, but personally, I would like to get as far from that *thing* as
you so kindly put it, as possible," Thalia stated.

Nodding in agreement, the three of them started off towards the far wall of trees, staying as far
from the tauros as they could. They scrambled, scraped and slipped their way through the dense
forest until the trees thinned once again. The two girls heard Zeph, who was leading now, thanks
to his proved skill with a bow, mutter under his breath, "Toto, I dont think we're in Kansas,
anymore," just before they burst out of the bushes to join him. They looked at him in confusion.
"I read it in a book once," he explained, "But get a load of this," And seeing where they had
ended up, the girls couldn't help but agree.