The Crying Pennant

Part 5

  “Now then Sidney, where do you think you’ve been this past ten minutes, you should be at home with my daughter,” blasted Sid’s mother-in-law, scaring all three of the adventurous heroes.

  “I meant a metal battle axe, not my mother-in-law,” said Sid the dwarf.

  “I told you to compliment him Sid, not condiment him,” said Arthur.

  “Er, excuse me Mother-in-law, before you go can you lend me your special battle axe, the one you keep Father-in-law in line with?” said Sid the dwarf.

  Sid’s mother-in-law gave him the battle axe and just as quickly I made her vanish in a puff of smoke, deciding not to torment them any further with her presence.

  “I bet your mother-in-law’s good in a fight,” enthused Biggs.

  “Yes, we could have sent her ahead to encounter the wild beastie that seems to be ahead of us,” said Sid, “killing two birds with one stone.”

  Biggs again picked his way down to the end of the passage which ended in another gaping hole looking into a small cave. They all peered in and saw a hulking, breathing, dark and dire monster.

  “Have you got your bestiary old chap?” Arthur asked Biggs.

  “Yes, of course,” answered Biggs, and proceeded to look in his rucksack. He drew out a tome and flicked through its pages. “Dragon, Dagon, Demon.....Ahh here it is, dark and dire monster (of the hulking breathing type).  Usually live in dire and dismal caves beneath dangerous castles.  They can be quite dangerous themselves spitting a kind of acid on their victims,” read Biggs as the dark and dire monster spat a kind of acid at Sid.

  “Yowl,” shouted Sid, “I’m shrinking, I’m shrinking.”

  Arthur drew his sword but decided that his pencil did not have a sharp enough point so he unsheathed his sword and began to strike at the dark and dire monster.  It spat and roared and after a few more hits it fell to the ground.

  Sid ran quickly to the well shaft and threw himself down it.

  Biggs continued to read, “The acid can be immediately washed off but this produces a chemical reaction in any large body of water which causes that acid to turn into alcohol.”

  “You tek the hay road and ay’ll tek the low road, and I’ll be inScotland afore ye,” sang Sid in a drunken drawl.

  “Great!” Quipped Arthur, “A drunken dwarf, that’s all we need.”

CHAPTER TWO

The remonstrations of the previous hour had taken their toll on the heroic trio and they had all fallen asleep near the gaping hole in the well wall. Arthur was the first to wake, lifting his head from Sid’s whisky smelling clothing. He yawned and stretched as he rose, then dusted himself down.

  “I still don’t know why were down here Author,” said Arthur as he walked about in the passage “We’ve killed a dark and dire monster in a dark and dismal cave then all fallen asleep, what are we going to do now?” Arthur asked.

  “I haven’t decided yet Arthur,” I said, a bit confused by the character in a book that I am writing, talking to me, “What do you want to do?” I asked.