Barking Madness

Glad you could join us for the next dangerous episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

“Let me in!” The disgruntled demand battered against the double door to the King’s study. “I’m on the Council! You have no right to stop me!”

King Arnie recognized Duggla’s discordant croaking. “Let her in,” he sighed.

The flubberous green mass of anger burst through the doorway, stumbling to a stop at the King’s feet.

“Madam?” the King inquired.

Advisor at Large Duggla shifted her eyes from the Knight at the door to the King, and sucked in a breath along with her gut. Calming her outrage, she dredged a servile smile from some crack in her heart, and tuned her voice to the soft strains of strained respect.

“Your Greatness, they are coming.”

“Who, Madam Duggla?” His Greatness asked.

“The bushy-tailed barking reds,” she replied. “I advise you to send your Knights ahead of them to tell the residents to stay indoors until they leave.”

“Why is that?” He raised an eyebrow.

A corner of her mouth curled into half a sardonic smile. “Apparently,” she conceded, “their hunting grounds have been scant of prey lately. They’re running rather lean, and I’m afraid they’re even more barking than usual.”

Turning to the Knight, King Arnie ordered, “See to it.”

No sooner had the Knight closed the door behind him than a ravenous ruckus rushed from the woods, banging and barking outside the door. A single scream trailed into the night, and silence rolled in behind the receding riot.

Bounding to the door, King Arnie yanked one side open, revealing the Knight’s shredded, bleeding body tangled in the teeth of a severed fox head’s foaming mouth. Knights of Service leaped toward the King from seven different directions.

“You,” the King instructed the youngest Knight, “find Lieutenant Terrance. The rest of you spread the alarm. Make sure it reaches the people before those rabid reds do.”

Spinning to face the old woman, his molten wrath froze her to the spot. The crone cowered beneath the King’s glare.

“I tried to warn you,” she sniveled.

“Call them back.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

A defiant gleam woke in her eyes. “They don’t answer to me.”

Scrambling around the devastation heaped in the study’s doorway, Knightling Barry, Lieutenant Terrance, and several Knights took up positions encircling the Advisor at Large.

“Madam, you do answer to me, and I promise you now that you shall answer to the citizens of Bog, and justice will be swifter than the terror you’ve unleashed. Confine her,” the King commanded.

To be continued…

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