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Chapter 3
Llama, Llama and Duck, oh my!
Vivaldi and Montsnmags quickly followed the trail that lead them ever deeper into the woods. Vivaldi with his nose just fractions of an inch above the ground. Monts attention directed straight ahead, eagerly trying to catch a glimpse of their fleeing prey, but all that could be seen were trees and more trees. (Which isn't so odd considering they were in the forest after all, what with the old Pinwheel saying that you can't see the RWood for all the trees.)
“Are we gaining?” Monts asked as they ran along the trail
“Not really. They seem to be fast buggers. Strange that they manage to drag the Queen along at this pace. Unless she's unconscious of course, that would explain why we haven't spotted any blood-spatter, hair-tufts, or the occasional bitten off earlobe or fingertip along the way. If she were awake, she would put up one heck of a fight I would imagine”
Montsnmags grinned to himself as he got the mental image of four guys trying to fit a pissed-off cat with a severe catnip hangover into a way to small shoebox.
“Yeah” he said “I know what you mean, if she was conscious, they wouldn't make even half as good a time as they are doing, she'd make sure of it.”
To the right of them the undergrowth got thicker and thicker, consisting mostly of poison-ivy and brier.
And even Montsnmags could figure out that the kidnappers hadn't gone that way. The trail however was leading them along the edge of what was looking more like a brier-hedge with each step they took.
After a couple of minutes the hedge had become an impenetrable obstacle to their right which there was absolutely no way to pass without tearing yourself to shreds on the thick brier-thorns.
“Good thing we don't have to go that way” VR said indicating the hedge to their right “Hair is not a good insulator against them thorns, and I got such delicate skin”
“True,” Monts answered “but as long as the dumbos we are following aren't going in there, neither are we. Lead on, oh hairy companion on four legs!”
They raced along the hedge as fast as they could, Vivaldi just taking a quick whiff now and then to make sure they were still on the track. All of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Something happened here” he said, looking around with his ears alert and tail wagging slowly. He pranced around for a bit, humming softly to himself.
“Ok, they rested here for a bit it seems. The two guys we are chasing sat over here” He indicated a spot on the ground, “They had a quick bit to eat...” He inhaled deeply thorough his nose “hmmm... cheesypoofs? Yeah, cheesypoofs!” VR sniffed around a bit more “Ah, here the Queen lay” He said indicating next to a log that lay on the ground. “Definitly unconcious! How have they managed to keep her unconcious for a week?”
“Never mind that, we'll get the answer to that question when we catch up with them” Montsnmags said “How far behind them are we now?”
“About an hour, not more than an hour and a half” VR said with confidence.
“Ok, let's go then!” Monts did a quick check of his weapons while Vivaldi picked up the trail.
“Oh, and VR, no singing WHATSOEVER!” Monts said.
“Right, Boss” Vivaldi said as he heaved a deep sigh and headed off down the trail along the hedge again.
Monts and VR followed the trail which headed down along the brier-hedge without deviating a single inch as it seemed. It was so straight in fact that Vivaldi just had to take a quick whiff every 50 yards or so just to make certain that they didn't loose it.
Suddenly VR slammed on the brakes almost leaving skidmarks on the grass.
“CAMELIDS!”
“Huh?” Montsnmags said stopping just as quickly and staring around in confusion.
“Over there” VR said pointing with his paw
“Oh! Alpackas?” Monts said
“Nope, it's a llama, a llama and... DUCK!”
“What? I don't see no duc...”
FWAP
Montsnmags picked himself up from the ground while Vivaldi without success tried not too laugh his buttcheeks off
“I DID try to warn you boss!” Vivaldi said before falling over howling with laughter
“Yeah, yeah, yeah” Montsnmags said as he spotted the Squirrowl that had smacked into him dropping him to the ground.
“Damn them nearsighted Squirrowls, they should have their flightstatus revoked and be grounded for life!” Monts growled as he tried to dust himself off, glare at the squirrowl and ignore the hysterically giggling dog, all at the same time. He did not succeed all that well.
“WOOT!” the squirrowl said as it sat blinking on the ground a few yards away, it ruffled it's feathers into place before it waddled off into the hedge with a final “WOOT!”
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