The smell was stronger nearer the bush and Li wrinkled her nose. There was definitely something there, behind the branches, but the rustling leaves were good camouflage and, at first, Li could not make sense of what she was seeing. Then a single, reptilian eye jumped into focus.

It was looking right at her.

FIFTEEN

Li leapt straight into the air from a standing start as a huge, dragon-like creature burst out of the undergrowth. It pounced onto the exact spot on the trail where Li had been standing a split second earlier, but she had already grabbed a tree branch and was swinging her legs up out of harm's way. She nearly didn't make it. The reptile reared up with amazing speed and she heard its razor-sharp claws scrabbling up the tree trunk towards her.

Li screamed as she scrambled to reach the safety of the higher branches. For one awful moment, she thought the creature could climb trees. She looked down, and relief flooded through her as she saw that its hind legs were still on the ground. It was using its tail to balance as it reached up the tree trunk towards her and it stood taller than a man. Suddenly it lashed out with a powerful foreleg and Li screamed again as a three-inch-long, razor-sharp claw hooked through the hem of her shorts.

There was a yell from further up the trail and Li nearly lost her grip on the branch as the creature dropped back to the ground, ripping its claw through her shorts as though the material was tissue paper.

Alex and Hex were running back to Li and, for a second, the huge reptile stood still, looking up at her then back along the trail, as though it was choosing from a dinner menu. Its eyes were sunk into each side of its long, spade-shaped head. Thick, white ropes of saliva dripped from its jaws and a long, pink forked tongue slid in and out of its mouth. It had a mottled, brown scaly hide, which thickened into ridges at its neck and around the tops of its powerfully squat legs.

'Komodo,' breathed Li and the dragon lifted its head to look at her, as though it recognized its own name. It opened its jaws wide, showing jagged teeth with shreds of meat hanging from them, and gave a hissing roar. A foul stench of rotting flesh rose through the humid air.

Then the creature made its decision. It lowered its head and charged towards Alex and Hex, slinging its legs forward with a rolling gait and raking up the earth of the trail as its claws dug in. The boys came to a halt, then turned back, looking behind them as they ran.

'Don't run! Climb!' shrieked Li. She knew that a large komodo dragon could outrun a human over short distances, and this giant was gaining on them fast. 'Climb a tree!' she shrieked again.

Alex and Hex raced along the trail, trying to spot the branch or vine that would save their lives, but the trees and bushes were whizzing past too quickly. By the time their eyes had registered a likely branch, it was already gone. The komodo roared again as it thundered towards them, its powerful tail threshing from side to side.

'That one!' yelled Alex, pointing to an overhanging branch a few metres ahead. Hex nodded. They jumped for the branch together. Hex swung out of the way of the snapping jaws just in time. Alex was a second behind. With one last, desperate lunge, he grabbed the branch and swung himself up as the huge lizard launched itself at him. He thought he was clear. He should have been clear.

But he had forgotten about the rucksack.

Hex reached down and grasped Alex by the wrist as the komodo clamped its jaws around the dangling rucksack. It roared through its teeth and began to pull. Alex dug his nails into the bark of the branch and Hex held onto his wrist until he thought his fingers would break, but it was no use. Slowly but surely, Alex was being ripped away from the branch. He looked up into Hex's face as he began to lose his grip and his eyes were full of a hopeless fear.

Then Li's stick thudded solidly across the back of the komodo. It hissed as it let go of the rucksack and swung round to face her. Alex fell and flattened himself into the ground as the komodo's tail swung across the trail, narrowly missing his head. Hex jumped down, pulled him out of the way and helped him to his feet.

'Come on, then, stinky!' yelled Li, dancing away, then moving into a fighting stance. The giant lizard charged and she watched with narrowed eyes, judging her moment. It was nearly upon her and opening its jaws wide when she drew back the stick and rammed it straight down the beast's throat. The stick was wrenched from her hands so quickly, the friction took the skin from her palms. Quick as lightning, she twisted away into the bushes to avoid the headlong charge, then she was up on her feet again and running towards the boys, her long black hair flying out behind her like a flag.

'Ruuuunnn!' she howled, her eyes wild. They needed no second telling. The three of them turned and ran for their lives without looking back.

Li was still shivering with shock nearly half an hour later, as they sat on the benches around the fire, trying to decide what to do. Her normally rosy cheeks were paper pale and her high cheekbones stood out sharply.

'It tried to ambush me,' she said, with a shudder. 'I've read about that. They lie in wait until a deer comes along, then they smash it to the ground and disembowel it.' She shuddered again. 'I was the deer.'

'Yeah, well that one won't feel like swallowing anything much for a while,' said Hex, attempting to raise a smile from Li.

'Swallowing,' she said, her face pale and serious. 'That's what they do. They don't chew the meat, they just tear off huge chunks and swallow it down. They have moveable joints in their skulls so they can open their jaws wide to stuff more food in.'

'That's interesting,' said Amber, trying to stop the flow of words, but Li kept talking.

'They can eat eighty per cent of their own body weight in one go. My dad once watched a komodo dragon eat a whole wild boar in seventeen minutes flat. And I mean all of it. I would've been gone in less than ten minutes.'

Alex remembered that single, dainty hoof outside the cave. He closed his eyes, trying to block out an image of a komodo dragon with a blood-soaked clump of Li's long, black hair trailing from its mouth.

'The funny thing is,' continued Li, 'they're not even supposed to be here! Everyone thinks they only live on Komodo and a couple of other islands. How did they get here?'

'Well they are here,' said Alex firmly, wrapping a blanket around Li's shoulders. 'And we have a problem. That game trail is probably a favourite komodo ambush spot. Every time we walk along it, we're risking our lives. But our only source of fresh water is at the other end. Any ideas?'

There was silence while they all racked their brains, but there seemed to be no solution. Then Paulo ran his hand thoughtfully over the bench he was sitting on. Alex had split the bamboo poles in half lengthways to make the seat. Paulo studied the split poles and his eyes lit up as an idea hit him. 'I have it!' he cried. 'We build an aqueduct!'