The Undoing of Giles Crumm Part 2 (standard:fairy tales, 1880 words) [2/2] show all parts
Author: heather	Added: Oct 23 2000	Views/Reads: 3188/2050	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
In this episode of the Giles Crumm Chronicles, Declan and Clancy find a new friend and are shocked by some unexpected news of their foe.

The weary travelers awoke with a start to a dreadful sound.  It was
Giles Crumm's old cat, Percival, batting at Declan and Clancy's hiding 
places. 

"God above..." Clancy whimpered. 

"Shut up, don't make a sound or a move." Declan hissed, moving as far
back against the wall behind the desk as was possible. 

"Make it go away, Declan!" Clancy hissed back. 

"Jasus Christ, Clancy, I'm but three feet tall!" Declan whined. 

"Well, what's your plan!  You're the brains of the operation!" Clancy
exclaimed sarcastically. 

Meanwhile, the massive black beast was getting too close for comfort,
its razor-sharp, silvery claws stretched to their limits, hissing by 
Clancy's face as the cat shoved its paw in and out of the small drawer. 
 Clancy squeezed into the corner, but the cat managed to open the 
drawer even further, inch by inch.  The situation was getting 
desperate. 

"Declan!" Clancy yelled.  "Do something!" 

But Declan was frozen in space, staring at the imminent doom before him.
 No rational thought crept to his brain, and it seemed that all was 
lost, until-- 

"Percival!  Get away from there!  What are you doing?"  a youthful voice
hollered at the cat. 

Immediately, the beast leapt away from his occupation, and ran out the
door. 

"Blasted fiend.  I'll skin you alive someday, I swear it," the voice
muttered.  "Now what was old Perce after, anyhow?" 

Before Clancy knew it, a giant hand found its way inside the drawer and
felt around until it finally closed around the quivering elf.  Clancy 
had no energy or courage to keep up his dignity. 

"Please, sir, do not hurt me, I am but a lowly--" he began, shielding
his eyes. 

If he had bothered to look up, he would not have been afraid.  The face,
though larger than an elf was used to, was quite benign in appearance.  
The face was fair, good-natured, with a good deal of freckles and a few 
smudges here and there. The eyes were blue, exhibited no cloudiness, 
and expressed only an air of curiosity and mirth.  The mouth was 
comically large for the rest of the face, and spread into a wide grin 
that wanted for a few teeth.  The boy could not have been more than ten 
years old. 

"Are you an elf?" the boy asked. 

Clancy cautiously uncovered his eyes and looked into the face, and,
finding that there was no danger in the eyes, replied thus: 

"I am." 

"Crikey!  Nurse told me so many stories about you, but I never thought
to see one, especially not here!" the boy exclaimed excitedly.  Declan 
peeked his head around the corner of the desk suspiciously, but the boy 
caught sight of him before he could shrink back into the shadows. 

"There are two of you!" the boy exclaimed. 

Declan stepped out. 

"There are two of us, lad," he affirmed in a tone much more friendly
than Clancy had ever heard from him before.  "What be your name?" he 
asked the boy. 

"Me name's Aidan," the boy replied stoutly. 


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