An Unexpected Visitor

"I'm sure I don't know, dearest." replied his long-suffering wife Harrida, who was busy clearing the supper plates from the dining table. Unlike her husband, Harrida still had a full complement of fingers and the ability to occasionally speak without uttering a profanity. Still sat at the table, Yurbane and Gellish giggled uncontrollably at some unshared joke.

"Will you thr - two stop your forshellinger antics before I take a strap to your sorry behinds!" their father grumbled. Then, turning to his wife tenderly: "And you, you useless lump of wurkwad, go to the door and see if there's anyone there!"

Harrida gazed obediently at her husband for what could only have been a milisecond, then trudged to the wooden fromnt door. She slid back the iron bar and peered outside.

No-one.

Harrida turned her face towards Norag and was about to speak when she felt something small and shaggy brush past her leg.

"What's that?" she gasped.

The two children clapped their hands with glee as they were approached by a small brown dog of nondescript appearance, which proceeded to bury its snout in Gellish's palm and began to lick. Gellish giggled even more and her brother fell to his knees on the floor, the better to be able to pat his new companion.

Norag, unusually, felt compelled to rise to his feet: "What the Shadeworlds is that - thing doing in my house?" he thundered. However if his intention had been to frighten the beast his actions evoked the opposite response, for now the little dog ran towards him and began to scratch at his trouser leg with its paws, whimpering all the time and looking into Norag's eyes with gret affection.

"Get this . . . crogulent . . . piece of nuzpdangle off . . . of my . . . LEG!" Norag grunted, trying to shake off his canine companion.

But his wife was unable to move, transfixed by the object towards which she was now pointing. "Look! Around its neck - that's our Velus's neckerchief, I'd swear it!"

"Are you sure, woman? I don't want you getting up false hopes again!"

"I'm certain it is. Look - it even has his initials sown into the corner." Sure enough, Norag can see the letters "VB" in brown thread in the corner of the dog's neckwear.

"I wonder what this means?" Norag wondered, wondering what it meant.

"It can only mean one thing." Harrida replied, shaking.

1. "Velus has been turned into a dog by the wicked dragon!"
2. "Velus has sent the dog to us as a message of some sort!"
3. "It's a complete coincidence!"

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