Monday, September 21, 2009

The Song of the Cave Bear

Excerpt from, "The Day of the Eelf Stone."

Rufinianus crowed, “I’ve finished, I’ve finally finished my great literary work, my first opus.” The large black raven fell off of his precarious perch on the back of the old brown chair that always stood by his writing desk.

So loud was his voice that Mr. Fryday who had been contentedly curled up by the roaring blaze opened his eyes wide.


So loud was his yell that Amdy Applesauce and Amber raced in from the kitchen to see what was wrong.

So loud was the raven’s screech that Rumbletoff Radelgraff and Andavari raced up from the basement. They had been working on one of the Thantatist’s many inventions.

The four of them shouted, “What’s all the commotion about?”

Rufinianus preened his wing feathers before answering. “It’s about something marvellous, very marvellous of course. I’ve finished my first great work. All my writings have been good as you all well know, but this, this is indeed a master piece.”

“That’s what your screeching is all about. That’s why you yelled so loud that you woke me up from my wonderful dream.” Mr. Fryday was only pretending to be upset. He hadn’t been dreaming one little bit.


He just had his eyes closed, enjoying the warmth of the fire and reflecting on the fine, comfortable life he lived here in The Inn of the Seven Ravens. “I was dreaming about having a nice plump, juicy, roast bird for my supper.” The cat grinned, “The oddest thing though, before its feathers were off, it looked a great deal like you.”

The grin grew even wider if possible. “Now if you don’t mind being quiet, I’ll just go back to sleep and see if I can find my dream again."

Amdy touched the teen on her shoulder. “We should be getting back to work Amber dear. I don’t want the pies to burn, or the potatoes to be lumpy. I have a reputation to maintain.”

Rumbletoff ran his fingers through his beard and scratched his nose. “Come Andvari, I want to get a little more work done on my saw before supper. If it works they way it should, it will make cutting this winter’s wood much easier and faster.”

Rufinianus wailed, “But what about me?” He seemed quite put out by everyone ignoring him. There hadn’t been one, “That’s good. What’s it all about, or I can’t wait to hear it,” everyone seemed far too busy with their own things to bother with him.

“Why thank you for the offer dear Rufinianus,” Amdy beamed. “Of course you can set the table. Use the good plates, about fifteen should do. We’ll be having more guests. Don’t break any or it will come out of your pay.”

Rumbletoff added in a pleasant voice, “When you are done with that, you can come down stairs and push the logs through the saw, while Andvari and I turn the wheel.”

Mr. Fryday purred, “On your way by would you mind scratching my back. I have an itchy spot that is driving me wild, just can’t reach it myself.”

Rufinianus snorted, “Well I never,” and thought, “I have every reason to be upset. After all I’ve worked hard all day to get his story ready. I’ve lost more than a few pin feathers over this one. Do I get one little bit of encouragement?”

Amdy, Amber, Andvari, Rumbletoff and Mr. Fryday burst into laughter.

The raven managed a squeaky, “Humph,” once the laughter subsided. “I suppose you think you were being funny, well I don’t think so. I don’t think so at all.” He did not say another word, he was afraid he would burst in to laughter if he did.

“What’s the matter you old feather duster? Cat got your tongue.” This little dig from Mr. Friday caused the big common room to once more be filled with the sound of laughter.

Rufinianus said, “Humph,” again and if his beak could have turned up into a grin it would have been as wide as Mr. Fryday’s. He began “I have half a mind,” as soon as he regained his composure.

“We all know that,” the others said at once. Loud gales of laughter filled the big room again

“More like half a bird brain,” Mr. Fryday couldn’t resist getting this dig in.

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