Scrappy the Prairie Elf
November 28, 2006 9:19 AM
When all is quiet... by Scrappy the Prairie Elf
The kitchens were a hive of activity, prairie elves here there and everywhere following the directives of Grandmother Tuppy as the feast was prepared, the signal waited for and the feast sent up. And then there was the desserts and puddings to be made, refills of popular dishes that disappeared too quickly - it seemed never-ending, time-consuming and chaotic.Scrappy, with the rat cunning of an animal, saw his chance and took it.
Escaping fairly early on, he ran swiftly through the elven tunnels that criscrossed the school, too small for all but the tiniest of students to traverse. He raised his nose and sniffed audibly. There had been a scent last year, he was certain of it. A familiar scent, but each time he had attempted to follow it, he had found himself caught and sent back to the kitchens where Grandmother Tuppy had wailed about what a bad elf he was, in a long, loud, shrill and painful display, ending with a sniff and a last wail about how no good would come of him. Catching a whiff of an old scent he paused near an exit.
It was her. He sniffed again. Surely it was her. Poking his head out, long sensitive ears twitching to catch the slightest sound of approach in the main corridors, he deemed it unlikely that there would be opposition and came out properly, sniffing again to pick up the old trail. The holidays where over. If she had been here, she would be here again. A feral smile lit up his face as he crept along, sliding against the wall, up stairs, along corridors and to... a portrait.
Scrappy snarled at the portrait.
Gunter der Zombie portrait, and guardian of Crotalus, growled back.
Scrappy glared, and scratched at the wall below.
"Glarrgahfrei zzzurghmacht," Gunter snarled back, making a useless attempt to reach out and maim the elf and point blank refusing him entrance.
Kicking, growling, attempts to bite the wall and the portrait - nothing worked. Scowling fiercely, Scrappy retreated, finding the concealed entrance to the nearest elf hole and ducked back into the passages. He followed it a little while, mindlessly intent upon finding his target again. He had reached the exit into the Crotalus commons when he was almost caught. Another of the elves, one assigned to luggage, half tripped as he entered the passages, giving Scrappy warning. He ducked into another side passage, waiting until the other elf had passed before creeping onward again.
The scent was stronger, especially as he crept up the stairs. Entering one of the dorms where the smell was now obvious, and associated with a trunk, he crept towards the wooden object, still sniffing. It was her!
A mindless joy filled his head as Scrappy opened his mouth and clamped his teeth firmly on the wood.
He tried the trick again. The smell came from the box, so she must be in the box. But even the most arduous biting did little more than leave prairie elf sized teeth marks deep in the wood. He managed to tear away a little, spitting out the nasty splinters of wood, but even that didn't get him into the box. And, something told him that the feast would be finishing soon. Grandmother Tuppy would notice that he was missing. With a last, rejected snarl, he kicked the trunk and retreated, creeping back along the passages until he found his corner again just in time for Grandmother Tuppy to be suspicious.
It was worth it though. She was back. He would find her again soon. Very soon. \n\n
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