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Mossyra of the Irresistable Imps
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Date Posted: 22:42:05 06/08/07 Fri
Mossyra awoke, opened her eyes, and groaned. Sunlight filtered in a crack in a rock that lay in front of her face. She moved and immediately froze. The ground beneath her shifted momentarily, then went still once more. After a moment, she heard voices.
"The poor thing was asleep when I left her, wot wot! The bloomin' otter that gave her a whack said she was in a cell near the fortress of wotshisname Cruelclaw. Gave 'im a bally fright, she did, being in the entrance to the passageway. He mistook her for one of those confounded cats at first, then took her here by the tunnel when he saw she was a squirrel. Imagine! Mistaking a bally squirrel for one of those rotten, torn-face, ugly, murderin'. . . . ."
"That's enough, Quickdash," a new voice boomed. "Where is the squirrelmaid?"
"Over here, m' lord."
The wall to her right moved slightly, then was drawn back, revealing a forge room stocked with weapons. Mossyra squeaked with fright as the near-blinding light showed a kindly looking badger with silvery fur and a young hare.
"It's all right," the badger said soothingly. "You're safe in Salamandastron."
Mossyra's eyes widened in recognition and she whispered in an awed voice, "Salamandastron? You mean the mountain of the firelizard? I've always wondered what it looked like!"
The badger smiled. "You can stay as long as you like, my friend."
At that precise moment, a hare came running up to report a searat ship off the nearby reef. The badger (whose name was Lord Brockstripe) went to meet them, ordering Quickdash to watch Mossyra.
In the moment of distraction caused by the hare runner's arrival, the squirrelmaid had walked over to the weapons wall and found an extra small sling and stone set. By the time Quickdash had a moment to look for her, she was out the window and climbing toward the sea where the searat ship was.
Prattlespat was an expert searat with a tendancy to use his wit. From the moment he had seen Salamandastron he had known he was going to have to fight hard to get it. So, he brought his ship around the point and waited.
Before long, a badger and about twenty hares came out of the mountain and headed toward the ship. None of them noticed the small figure of a squirrel high upon the mountain.
The negotiations began like they always do with vermin. Prattlespat demanded surrender and Lord Brockstripe refused. Without warning, Prattlespat signaled his archers and they sent a hail of arrows toward the group on the shore. No injuries were taken, but it was a fatal mistake.
You see, all this time Mossyra had been watching the proceedings. When the arrows flew toward the hares, she was enraged at the treachery of the vermin and decided to use her newfound weapons. The sling she had borrowed from the weapon wall whirred (she had already loaded it) at incredible speed before letting the rock fly.
It had a devasting effect on Prattlespat. in fact, it killed him instantly. And drew attention to an astonished Mossyra, who hadn't known what she was doing until she fired the stone. She had never used a weapon before in her life and, unknown to her, she already ranked as one of the best slingbeasts alive.
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