The Adventure Of The Frogsloth, Entries 20 And 21

Dear Diary,

Oh dear.

"No!" Uncle Baron was indignant. "There's no reason for this!"

"Oh yeah?" Parker sneered. "Goin' maverick ain't a good enough reason for ya?"

"Maverick? Is that what you think this is? I'll tell you what I think this looks like, it looks like three hired goons--"

"Four," Horty cut in plaintively.

"Four hired goons," Uncle Baron growled through his teeth, "Kidnapping a respected scientist and employee of--" He broke off.

Of...? I looked at him curiously. Who are you? It suddenly hit me. I didn't know my uncle at all. The question pounded in my head. Who are you?

"Heh." Parker seemed mildly amused. "We'll see what the boss thinks when we get you back where you belong."

Uncle Baron seethed as Parker pulled another chunk of raisin bread out of his pocket. Holding the crossbow with one hoof, he continued munching.

"Hm," he murmured quietly. "Tastes funny, come to think of it...." He peered closer at the raisins. His eyes widened in horror as he realized what the dark, squishy things really were.

"SLUUUUGS!!" He screamed in horror and spit, dropping the crossbow to scrape at his tongue with both hooves. Walter's cooking had struck again.

Taking advantage of the moment, Lieutenant suddenly sprang on Parker, knocking him to the floor. Keelow and Sneed leaped out of the kitchen, drawn by his scream.

"A-a-hh...." I let out a cracked sort of sound sound as Horty's trunk tightened on me, my face contorting in pain.

Uncle Baron rushed at Sneed, a fierce expression on his face. Glaring, Keelow yanked Lieutenant's kicking, clawing body off of Parker. With one blow, Keelow's sinewy limb dealt Lieutenant a powerful smack across the face, knocking him flat on his back.

Every instinct in my body fired up at the cracking, smacking sound of that punch. Mingled anger and horror bubbled up in me, fierce and awful. Twisting around as far as my spine would allow, I sunk my teeth into the trunk of the Elephant gripping me, and bit.

Hard.

(DXplorergirl)

Dear Diary,

As my teeth sank into his gray trunk, Horty the Elephant released me. His screaming trumpet pierced my ears and shook the rafters.

I rolled to the floor and quickly jumped out of the way of his enourmous, stomping feet.

Fury. Animal instincts from ancient ages coursed through me. My muscles were taut, ready to spring. Snarling, roaring sounds tore from my throat, sounds I didn't know I was capable of making.

My mane bristled as I crouched, moving low to the ground. Blood stained around my mouth from where I had bitten my way to freedom. I didn't think about it then. I couldn't. Every thought of my being was focused on one thing. Fight. Protect. Lieutenant.

Making a sound between a growl and a scream, I backed up, placing my claws and teeth between Lieutenant and that repulsive Lemur.

Everyone had stopped for a split second, and they were kind of staring at me. In retrospect, it wasn't surprising. I probably looked like a maniac.

Uncle Baron was the first to break away. He lunged for the crossbow on the floor.

He reached it. Pointing it in Sneed's direction, he let fly the arrow.

The sharp and gleaming arrow passed through the Falcon's pinion feathers, and struck Keelow in the back paw. Perhaps that was what he was aiming for all the time... personally, I don't think so.

At that moment, Horty the Elephant, enraged by the bleeding wound on his trunk, charged directly at me and Lieutenant.

(DXplorergirl)