Curiosity killed that cat.....didn't it?

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 428

~~Freddy,~~ thought Lord Fred to himself. ~~Watch yerself. You know better than most that curiosity killed the cat.~~

He edged closer down the rock-hewn corridor, dimly lit by some torches placed into niches in the wall-side, the niches themselves were only some four feet high - easy reach for a child.

~~WHO would be down here?~~ thought Fred.

As he came nearer the one end, the voices from the other faded into nothingness while the sound of metal and rock grew louder. He could see that the light became brighter the closer he walked to the noise. He stepped closer.

The sound of metal against rock seemed to take on a rythym, almost a musical quality and a different sound emerged between the clanging, the smashing and the banging. The sound was of gruff voices singing in unison.

"Aule be praised; the giver of our shape. Stone and gold and ringlet do we make. The Seven Fathers spake thus to our Mothers: Praise ye Aule, Aule be praised. Belegost, Nogrod, Reymundo Durin - these be the Three that taught us to be free."

With that the pounding seemed to increase. Fred edged himself still closer, his curiosity growing ever swifter. What strange sound, what strange song...the likes of which he had never heard in all the Kingdom. Unfortunately, as he came close to the end of the hall, which was in truth the entrance to a great Hall (in the making), he stumbled across some pebbles laid across the floor.

"Eh?!" cried out one of those within.

"Intruder!!" screamed out another.

And within moments, Fred found himself surrounded by men no taller than an infant, with beards to their ankles wearing helmuts of hard rock.

"What in the earth be this...this....monster?" sputtered one of the small men.

"I," began Fred, seeing his chance to explain his presence. "I am Lord Frederigo, son of the Duke of Suffix, a royalman in the Kingdom."

The little men looked at him as if had just told them he was a door-to- door toothpick salesman.

"The beast talks," said the man wearing a blue kerchief (in addition to his rock helmut).

"Aye," answered the wise-looking one wearing a red kerchief, gold-rimmed spectacles and a pocket-protector (in addition to the rock helmut). "Let us bring it to our Leader. Let us bring before the hallowed seat of Lord Gates!"

  1. Fred sprang from the clutches of the little men and ran back to the ladder.
  2. Fred resigned himself to being taken to the little men's leader.

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4/12/1999 7:27:22 PM

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