Disclaimer: not mine, copyright Labyrinth Enterprises (at least, that's what it says on my copy of the movie). I guess the Jim Henson Company owns "The Storyteller", please correct me if I am wrong. No copyright infringement intended. Not making money of this.
Thank you Mr. Jim Henson way up high for creating such loveliness.
Diamond Tears
Chapter 9 Don't Squeal Unless You Mean It
The wind had changed over the dark and eternal forest. A large bird in a tall tree turned its head almost completely, twice, to see if the coast was clear to fly of and go for the hunt. The peoples of the Kingdom called this bird of prey poetically the blodeuwedd, as was it's name in the Above Ground nation of Ireland for the legend of a flower faced temptress. Others might call it 'just another owl'. The large brown bird did not allow itself to be disturbed by the sleepers on the forest floor below, nor by the speeding white one of its kind high above in the clear moonlit sky. If it had any thought at all for the latter, the brown owl would have thought it foolish to hunt so high. No mice in sight, not even for their kinds view. Without sound it lifted itself and expertly made its perilous dance between the trunks, barely evading them on instinct, eyes to the ground to spot the tiniest movement.
The sleepers down below were a snoring reddish brown furry monster with a saddled sheepdog cozily curled against its belly. The sheepdog dreamt, whimpering and spasming slightly as dreaming dogs often do. When the evening fell over the wood, the monster and the dog had found themselves a clearing a little away from the forest trail and had settled for the night.
Until suddenly Ludo shot up, instantly alert, small eyes wide and penetrating. Ambrosius yelped his indignation at this rude awakening and Ludo simply grabbed his snout to shut him up. Taking the hint, the sheepdog shook himself free but made no sound.
Ludo sniffed the air, whimpered and covered his nose with his paws. Ambrosius took a sniff with his even more sensitive nose, but found nothing amiss.
A deer broke through the trees and into the clearing. There was a sleight panic in his watery eyes and he did not even notice the clearing's occupants. He just ran off, oblivious but for one thing. The terrible smell of the Bog of Eternal Stench drifting on the gentle breeze.
Ambrosius had been exposed to the stench for too long to be hindered by it any longer, so he had no idea of any danger. Ludo, with some notion of what was to come grabbed the dog and ran for the road. Ambrosius kicked his paws and barked harshly, not liking his treatment one bit. Ludo ignored him and scrutinized the road indecisively. Then he reached up, put Ambrosius on one of the tick overhanging branches and went to the tree's trunk, hugging it close.
Distant thunder could be heard, but the sky was absolutely clear. The Crystal moon gave the world it's eerie bluish light, the stars were never brighter.
A slight tremor could be felt in the earth, gently swaying the grass and the closed wildflowers. The tremor grew in it's intensity, the yesteryears leaves that had been able to hold on till now drifted down, a thumping sound came closer. The sound grew to a thunder, the earth shook with the pounding, Ludo vainly tried to make himself small behind the trunk, Ambrosius grabbed his branch and barked.
They came like a flood, spilling over the road, dashing mindlessly onward only to get away. A stampede of deer and wolves, wild boars and unicorns, rabbits and hares, birds, fairies, trolls, skunks, snakes, foxes, badgers, ferrets, hedgehogs and a dragon.
They all went past in mere seconds, but they had devastated the forest's underbrush. Ludo peeked from behind his trunk and stared at the wide path the animals and other assorted forest dwellers had made under the trees. A tortoise slowly hurried after all the others, noticed Ludo move and immediately hid inside her shield.
Ludo picked up the small creature and peeked inside. He looked up, sniffed the air, which to his surprise was clearing. The wind had not turned, so there had to be something really strange going on.
A new pounding was heard, together with the cracking of a whip and the shouting of men.
Four horsemen came over the new trail, high on powerful black steeds. In fast pursuit of the frightened hordes whom in their panic would be quite easily captured. They were riding their horses hard and fast and took no notice of the dog in the tree or the monster in the shadows, focussed on the fugitives before them. They where clad in the darkest green and wearing odd masks looking somewhat like snouts with goggles. This powerful hunting force was armed with crossbows and whips and long rods with snares at the end. A two-horse wagon followed the four horsemen, a cage on wheels. Ready to receive any live prey captured. Its coachman a caped figure, totally covered in the same dark green material. Except for the all round glass helmet he wore, screwed to the metal collar of his cape. It looked like a face in a fishbowl, slightly distorted and somewhat insane. The man was young, in his late twenties, with short spiky blond hair, a slender frame. Then he was passed.
The last time Ludo had seen this maniac had been on his knees, begging the Goblin King -not- to be thrown into the Bog of Eternal Stench. His name was Lepran the Hunter, who sold special animals to places where Ludo had never been. He also brought foreign creatures into the Underground and nobody really understood why he did what he did. He was one of the humans born to the Underground and people thought of him as slightly eccentric if not outright mad.
The hunter had pleaded with the King, for if the stench of the Bog would touch him, he could no longer be a hunter. All would scent him and he would never be able to near his prey again. The King had told the human this was exactly what he counted on.
But apparently Lepran had been more resourceful than Jareth had given him credit for, and now the stench of the Bog was working for him, not against him. Even if the smell set him apart from any other human being. A horrible punishment.
Ambrosius barked. Ludo reached up and helped the dog down with one hand. Then he gave a small surprised growl. He opened his other hand and from one of his fingers, the one she had firmly bitten down into, dangled the small tortoise.
Ludo held his hand before his face and gently shook it.
"Wret me gown, oe igiod!!"
"Hrm?" Ludo questioned?
The tortoise just looked very angry at the monster. Ludo decided it probably was happier on the ground, so he held his hand close to the soil and the tortoise opened her beak and started spitting and coughing to clear her mouth.
"You taste ghastly, do you know that!"
"Ludo ouch." Said Ludo, putting his finger in his mouth. "What you say to Ludo?"
"Aw, Ludo, is it. Well, I'm Tina and now don't you go making any TT jokes- all right! Gosh I wish my mother had called me Marylyn, Or Johanna or something. Even Mary Sue would have been better. And I said: 'Let me down, you idiot!'"
"Seen brother?"
"Honey, I have ten brothers. So which one do you mean? Tim? Thomas? Tiberius, Tony, Theodore, Trent, Tam, Ted, Templeton, or Patsy?"
"Seen Ludo's brother?"
"Aw -yours-. No I haven't seen yours. I mean I would have remembered any of you, you know. I mean, It's not like I would ever forget a big ugly thing like you. You're not exactly the type of thing a girl on her own easily forgets. All big and threatening and such, picking you up as if it is nothing, never mind what -I- want, what -my- wishes are."
"Brother small. Not big. Has hat. Is with friends. Friend Sarwah. Hoggle."
"Hoggle? Hoggle you say? Now that's a dwarf name, ain't it? It sounds like a dwarf name. Don't like dwarves. Usually no respectable folk among them, like me you see. You have to keep up your standards, you know. The people you go with, the people you talk to. I myself only get involved with the nice people, you know. Upstanding, good people who know what is right. Not Dwarves."
"Seen dwarf?"
"Seen dwarf. Now that is what I mean- You have to ask: 'My dear lady, cause I -am- a lady, did you perhaps happen to see a dwarf of late, and if so could you please direct me in the way he went.' Now that would have been a polite way to ask and-"
"Seen! Dwarf!"
"You know you are hopeless, it is so rude to interrupt! And yes I did see a dwarf back there. But I would not go that way. Never go that way!"
Ludo turned to backtrack the stampede in the hope Tina's dwarf might be Hoggle. Ambrosius barked. He did not like the way Ludo took. It was not the right one, it smelled nothing like Didymus, Sarah -or- Hoggle. Reluctant to remain on his own, the dog followed the monster.
"Ai- AI! Nobody listens to me! It's bad form, bad form! You are walking straight to that camp if you go that way! Aw- nobody ever listens to -me-." The tortoise set of to the intact underbrush and disappeared muttering and complaining.
The moon made the path created by the stampede all too visible. Since the forest floor was moist, little muddy puddles had appeared in the tracks. Ludo was oblivious to them and walked right through them. Ambrosius evaded as many as he could, but he could not prevent his paws to get dirty. He missed Didymus and wanted to be brushed and cuddled and fawned over as usual. He whined unhappily. Ludo grunted in sympathy.
Suddenly they heard voices. Harsh unkind voices. Laughter that held no pleasure and the cracking of a whip. A high pitched squeal followed immediately, and more laughter after that.
Somebody was not acting very nicely. Ludo looked down at Ambrosius, Ambrosius looked up and together they left the path to try to near this `camp' unseen.
Another clearing, much wider than the one vacated by Ludo and Ambrosius. The humans had indeed made their camp here. A dwarf and two men lay asleep near the fire. There was a round yellow tent, boxes everywhere and three more cage-like carts.
In one of them, a very large animal lay hunched, drowsily staring up at the two guards pestering him. It must have been some odd bird, for all the monster and the dog could see of it were a mass of brown and reddish striped feathers. It whimpered softly. The cage could have housed four lions easily, but this animal almost burst out of it.
Two guards were awake. They prodded the animal with the hard backs of their whips and made crude remarks to each other, mainly over how much this beast would give them in cash.
Ludo's heart went out to the imprisoned creature, for he knew all to well what it was to be in a helpless position being tormented by creatures like these. Goblin or man, in cruelty they appeared not very different.
Ambrosius felt the anger in his companion, and slowly crept a little deeper away in the shadows.
Ludo did not think, since he was no thinker, but swaggered into the clearing. He howled and walked straight at the guards, ignoring their cries to halt. Ludo pushed them aside, tested the bars of the cage and found they would not buckle. Then he felt the sting of a whip on his back and saw himself faced with four men, two a bit sleepy with no shoes on their feet and swords in their hands. In the background the dwarf was aiming a crossbow.
The men shouted at Ludo and neared him from all sides. They told him to surrender, they yelled what a prize had walked into camp and how pleased their master would be. They made a little space for the trajectory of the dwarf's arrow.
Ambrosius was a cowardly dog, but also an intelligent one. He realized that on his own, he would never find back his master. He realized the strangers wanted to capture his large friend, the one helping him to find Sir Didymus. And from the fighting experience with his overzealous master he also realized that the Dwarf was about to shoot Ludo with a poisoned dart, probably to drug him as they had drugged the being inside the cage.
So he circled the camp unseen and just before the dwarf took his shot, the dog jumped him.
The dwarf yelled, fired his shot wild and hit one of the swordsmen in the buttocks. The man screamed and fell, face down and out for the rest of the night. Ludo howled and made a wide arch with his arm, hitting the other now advancing swordsman against the cage. The man lost his weapon and tried to grab for it, dazed by the blow. The other two men cracked their whips and drew daggers, but suddenly they were pelted by a multitude of tiny sharp pebbles. Their shins were attacked by slightly bigger rocks and they started jumping top avoid them. Ludo let his gigantic fist come down on the head of one of the men and he joined his shot comrade on the forest floor. Ambrosius kept his stance over the cowering dwarf and barked as if his life depended upon it. Together with Ludo's howling the racket was enough to drive any sane man crazy. The first swordsman finally grabbed his blade. A large stone hit it out of his hand. Wide eyed he stared at it, jumped up and took to his heels to hide inside the relative dark of the trees.
Last man standing, the remaining guard dropped his whip and dashed towards Ludo, dagger aimed at the monster's heart. Ludo stepped aside. A rock split the soil under which it had been buried for hundreds of years and came up just before the mans foot. He tripped, fell and grabbed one of the bars of the cage behind Ludo. The hand with the dagger in it slipped through the bars and the sharp thing pricked right through the feathers, startling the creature inside to full wakefulness. It shot up, burst through the roof of the cage and squealed a high pitched angry scream. Seeing their prisoner freed was too much for the more courageous of the guards. He picked himself up, dropped his dagger and ran.
Ambrosias jumped away from the dwarf and into the forest. Ludo looked up with calm curiosity. The dwarf scrambled to his feet, yelled that the hunters and his master surely would have heard them and could return any moment. Then he too took to the shadows.
The creature from the cage stared groggily down at Ludo. It had a sharp black bill with even sharper teeth in it. Intelligent yellow eyes stared down on the suddenly dwarfed monster. The mass of reddish brown striped feathers stood wild on the creatures eagles head. His chest and back were covered in them. But it had the body and claws of a gigantic black lion and when it stood on it hunches, it flapped wings that blocked out the moon.
The creature jumped out of the broken cage but fell through its legs immediately upon touching the ground. It moaned groggily.
Ludo stepped up to its head.
"Me Ludo."
"Oh?" the creature answered.
"Me no like cage."
The creature almost seemed to smile with its beak.
"Me Ash. Me griffin."
Ludo smiled broadly. "Ash friend?"
Ash blinked. Then nodded. Ludo put his large arms around the neck of the dazed griffin and hugged him. The griffin clawed the ground and coughed.
"Not so tight- please!"
Suddenly Ambrosias came running back into the clearing, saw Ash, tried to stop himself, could not and slipped to halt against Ludo. He jumped up and behind the monster. Ludo pointed at Ash.
"Is Ash. Is friend. No being afraid."
"Arf." said Ambrosias quietly. Then he held his head a little up. Lifted his ears and seemed to remember why he had come running back to Ludo. He started barking wildly.
Ludo looked around him as if to decide which way to run was best.
"No-" said Ash. "Not there," he indicated with his high and shrill voice. "Climb back!"
Ludo just stared at the griffin for a moment.
"Me fly. Very high. Over trees. We safe!"
Ludo grabbed Ambrosius. Ambrosius squirmed and yelped. Ash went through his paws, belly to the ground. Ludo made himself comfortable between the feathers on Ashes back and held on. The griffin spread his gigantic wings and lifted himself straight into the air, lost control to the drug that was sill in his system. Ambrosius barked, Ludo just looked startled, but made no sound. Ash tried again, squealed himself to get his wits together and flapped his wings. This time he had enough control and soared up, higher and higher, until they were above the trees and could no longer be seen from the ground.
Moments later the hunters swarmed the clearing, but they could only curse at the empty cage and their fallen comrades.
Lepran reached the place last. They had lost their prey upon returning. And now it seemed they had lost their earlier prize as well.
"No unicorn- No griffin!" he hissed.
"Could this be the work of the King, sir?" one of the hunters asked his master.
The reply came somewhat muffled trough the glass bulb Lepran wore to keep his stench to himself.
"No- the spell I bought from the witch still protects us from him. Besides, he is much subtler. He would not have wrecked my cage. Or fled. We seem to have made ourselves some new adversaries." He pointed at the two unconscious men.
"Take care of them. They will tell, in the morning."
They'd better.
Thank you Mr. Jim Henson way up high for creating such loveliness.
Diamond Tears
Chapter 9 Don't Squeal Unless You Mean It
The wind had changed over the dark and eternal forest. A large bird in a tall tree turned its head almost completely, twice, to see if the coast was clear to fly of and go for the hunt. The peoples of the Kingdom called this bird of prey poetically the blodeuwedd, as was it's name in the Above Ground nation of Ireland for the legend of a flower faced temptress. Others might call it 'just another owl'. The large brown bird did not allow itself to be disturbed by the sleepers on the forest floor below, nor by the speeding white one of its kind high above in the clear moonlit sky. If it had any thought at all for the latter, the brown owl would have thought it foolish to hunt so high. No mice in sight, not even for their kinds view. Without sound it lifted itself and expertly made its perilous dance between the trunks, barely evading them on instinct, eyes to the ground to spot the tiniest movement.
The sleepers down below were a snoring reddish brown furry monster with a saddled sheepdog cozily curled against its belly. The sheepdog dreamt, whimpering and spasming slightly as dreaming dogs often do. When the evening fell over the wood, the monster and the dog had found themselves a clearing a little away from the forest trail and had settled for the night.
Until suddenly Ludo shot up, instantly alert, small eyes wide and penetrating. Ambrosius yelped his indignation at this rude awakening and Ludo simply grabbed his snout to shut him up. Taking the hint, the sheepdog shook himself free but made no sound.
Ludo sniffed the air, whimpered and covered his nose with his paws. Ambrosius took a sniff with his even more sensitive nose, but found nothing amiss.
A deer broke through the trees and into the clearing. There was a sleight panic in his watery eyes and he did not even notice the clearing's occupants. He just ran off, oblivious but for one thing. The terrible smell of the Bog of Eternal Stench drifting on the gentle breeze.
Ambrosius had been exposed to the stench for too long to be hindered by it any longer, so he had no idea of any danger. Ludo, with some notion of what was to come grabbed the dog and ran for the road. Ambrosius kicked his paws and barked harshly, not liking his treatment one bit. Ludo ignored him and scrutinized the road indecisively. Then he reached up, put Ambrosius on one of the tick overhanging branches and went to the tree's trunk, hugging it close.
Distant thunder could be heard, but the sky was absolutely clear. The Crystal moon gave the world it's eerie bluish light, the stars were never brighter.
A slight tremor could be felt in the earth, gently swaying the grass and the closed wildflowers. The tremor grew in it's intensity, the yesteryears leaves that had been able to hold on till now drifted down, a thumping sound came closer. The sound grew to a thunder, the earth shook with the pounding, Ludo vainly tried to make himself small behind the trunk, Ambrosius grabbed his branch and barked.
They came like a flood, spilling over the road, dashing mindlessly onward only to get away. A stampede of deer and wolves, wild boars and unicorns, rabbits and hares, birds, fairies, trolls, skunks, snakes, foxes, badgers, ferrets, hedgehogs and a dragon.
They all went past in mere seconds, but they had devastated the forest's underbrush. Ludo peeked from behind his trunk and stared at the wide path the animals and other assorted forest dwellers had made under the trees. A tortoise slowly hurried after all the others, noticed Ludo move and immediately hid inside her shield.
Ludo picked up the small creature and peeked inside. He looked up, sniffed the air, which to his surprise was clearing. The wind had not turned, so there had to be something really strange going on.
A new pounding was heard, together with the cracking of a whip and the shouting of men.
Four horsemen came over the new trail, high on powerful black steeds. In fast pursuit of the frightened hordes whom in their panic would be quite easily captured. They were riding their horses hard and fast and took no notice of the dog in the tree or the monster in the shadows, focussed on the fugitives before them. They where clad in the darkest green and wearing odd masks looking somewhat like snouts with goggles. This powerful hunting force was armed with crossbows and whips and long rods with snares at the end. A two-horse wagon followed the four horsemen, a cage on wheels. Ready to receive any live prey captured. Its coachman a caped figure, totally covered in the same dark green material. Except for the all round glass helmet he wore, screwed to the metal collar of his cape. It looked like a face in a fishbowl, slightly distorted and somewhat insane. The man was young, in his late twenties, with short spiky blond hair, a slender frame. Then he was passed.
The last time Ludo had seen this maniac had been on his knees, begging the Goblin King -not- to be thrown into the Bog of Eternal Stench. His name was Lepran the Hunter, who sold special animals to places where Ludo had never been. He also brought foreign creatures into the Underground and nobody really understood why he did what he did. He was one of the humans born to the Underground and people thought of him as slightly eccentric if not outright mad.
The hunter had pleaded with the King, for if the stench of the Bog would touch him, he could no longer be a hunter. All would scent him and he would never be able to near his prey again. The King had told the human this was exactly what he counted on.
But apparently Lepran had been more resourceful than Jareth had given him credit for, and now the stench of the Bog was working for him, not against him. Even if the smell set him apart from any other human being. A horrible punishment.
Ambrosius barked. Ludo reached up and helped the dog down with one hand. Then he gave a small surprised growl. He opened his other hand and from one of his fingers, the one she had firmly bitten down into, dangled the small tortoise.
Ludo held his hand before his face and gently shook it.
"Wret me gown, oe igiod!!"
"Hrm?" Ludo questioned?
The tortoise just looked very angry at the monster. Ludo decided it probably was happier on the ground, so he held his hand close to the soil and the tortoise opened her beak and started spitting and coughing to clear her mouth.
"You taste ghastly, do you know that!"
"Ludo ouch." Said Ludo, putting his finger in his mouth. "What you say to Ludo?"
"Aw, Ludo, is it. Well, I'm Tina and now don't you go making any TT jokes- all right! Gosh I wish my mother had called me Marylyn, Or Johanna or something. Even Mary Sue would have been better. And I said: 'Let me down, you idiot!'"
"Seen brother?"
"Honey, I have ten brothers. So which one do you mean? Tim? Thomas? Tiberius, Tony, Theodore, Trent, Tam, Ted, Templeton, or Patsy?"
"Seen Ludo's brother?"
"Aw -yours-. No I haven't seen yours. I mean I would have remembered any of you, you know. I mean, It's not like I would ever forget a big ugly thing like you. You're not exactly the type of thing a girl on her own easily forgets. All big and threatening and such, picking you up as if it is nothing, never mind what -I- want, what -my- wishes are."
"Brother small. Not big. Has hat. Is with friends. Friend Sarwah. Hoggle."
"Hoggle? Hoggle you say? Now that's a dwarf name, ain't it? It sounds like a dwarf name. Don't like dwarves. Usually no respectable folk among them, like me you see. You have to keep up your standards, you know. The people you go with, the people you talk to. I myself only get involved with the nice people, you know. Upstanding, good people who know what is right. Not Dwarves."
"Seen dwarf?"
"Seen dwarf. Now that is what I mean- You have to ask: 'My dear lady, cause I -am- a lady, did you perhaps happen to see a dwarf of late, and if so could you please direct me in the way he went.' Now that would have been a polite way to ask and-"
"Seen! Dwarf!"
"You know you are hopeless, it is so rude to interrupt! And yes I did see a dwarf back there. But I would not go that way. Never go that way!"
Ludo turned to backtrack the stampede in the hope Tina's dwarf might be Hoggle. Ambrosius barked. He did not like the way Ludo took. It was not the right one, it smelled nothing like Didymus, Sarah -or- Hoggle. Reluctant to remain on his own, the dog followed the monster.
"Ai- AI! Nobody listens to me! It's bad form, bad form! You are walking straight to that camp if you go that way! Aw- nobody ever listens to -me-." The tortoise set of to the intact underbrush and disappeared muttering and complaining.
The moon made the path created by the stampede all too visible. Since the forest floor was moist, little muddy puddles had appeared in the tracks. Ludo was oblivious to them and walked right through them. Ambrosius evaded as many as he could, but he could not prevent his paws to get dirty. He missed Didymus and wanted to be brushed and cuddled and fawned over as usual. He whined unhappily. Ludo grunted in sympathy.
Suddenly they heard voices. Harsh unkind voices. Laughter that held no pleasure and the cracking of a whip. A high pitched squeal followed immediately, and more laughter after that.
Somebody was not acting very nicely. Ludo looked down at Ambrosius, Ambrosius looked up and together they left the path to try to near this `camp' unseen.
Another clearing, much wider than the one vacated by Ludo and Ambrosius. The humans had indeed made their camp here. A dwarf and two men lay asleep near the fire. There was a round yellow tent, boxes everywhere and three more cage-like carts.
In one of them, a very large animal lay hunched, drowsily staring up at the two guards pestering him. It must have been some odd bird, for all the monster and the dog could see of it were a mass of brown and reddish striped feathers. It whimpered softly. The cage could have housed four lions easily, but this animal almost burst out of it.
Two guards were awake. They prodded the animal with the hard backs of their whips and made crude remarks to each other, mainly over how much this beast would give them in cash.
Ludo's heart went out to the imprisoned creature, for he knew all to well what it was to be in a helpless position being tormented by creatures like these. Goblin or man, in cruelty they appeared not very different.
Ambrosius felt the anger in his companion, and slowly crept a little deeper away in the shadows.
Ludo did not think, since he was no thinker, but swaggered into the clearing. He howled and walked straight at the guards, ignoring their cries to halt. Ludo pushed them aside, tested the bars of the cage and found they would not buckle. Then he felt the sting of a whip on his back and saw himself faced with four men, two a bit sleepy with no shoes on their feet and swords in their hands. In the background the dwarf was aiming a crossbow.
The men shouted at Ludo and neared him from all sides. They told him to surrender, they yelled what a prize had walked into camp and how pleased their master would be. They made a little space for the trajectory of the dwarf's arrow.
Ambrosius was a cowardly dog, but also an intelligent one. He realized that on his own, he would never find back his master. He realized the strangers wanted to capture his large friend, the one helping him to find Sir Didymus. And from the fighting experience with his overzealous master he also realized that the Dwarf was about to shoot Ludo with a poisoned dart, probably to drug him as they had drugged the being inside the cage.
So he circled the camp unseen and just before the dwarf took his shot, the dog jumped him.
The dwarf yelled, fired his shot wild and hit one of the swordsmen in the buttocks. The man screamed and fell, face down and out for the rest of the night. Ludo howled and made a wide arch with his arm, hitting the other now advancing swordsman against the cage. The man lost his weapon and tried to grab for it, dazed by the blow. The other two men cracked their whips and drew daggers, but suddenly they were pelted by a multitude of tiny sharp pebbles. Their shins were attacked by slightly bigger rocks and they started jumping top avoid them. Ludo let his gigantic fist come down on the head of one of the men and he joined his shot comrade on the forest floor. Ambrosius kept his stance over the cowering dwarf and barked as if his life depended upon it. Together with Ludo's howling the racket was enough to drive any sane man crazy. The first swordsman finally grabbed his blade. A large stone hit it out of his hand. Wide eyed he stared at it, jumped up and took to his heels to hide inside the relative dark of the trees.
Last man standing, the remaining guard dropped his whip and dashed towards Ludo, dagger aimed at the monster's heart. Ludo stepped aside. A rock split the soil under which it had been buried for hundreds of years and came up just before the mans foot. He tripped, fell and grabbed one of the bars of the cage behind Ludo. The hand with the dagger in it slipped through the bars and the sharp thing pricked right through the feathers, startling the creature inside to full wakefulness. It shot up, burst through the roof of the cage and squealed a high pitched angry scream. Seeing their prisoner freed was too much for the more courageous of the guards. He picked himself up, dropped his dagger and ran.
Ambrosias jumped away from the dwarf and into the forest. Ludo looked up with calm curiosity. The dwarf scrambled to his feet, yelled that the hunters and his master surely would have heard them and could return any moment. Then he too took to the shadows.
The creature from the cage stared groggily down at Ludo. It had a sharp black bill with even sharper teeth in it. Intelligent yellow eyes stared down on the suddenly dwarfed monster. The mass of reddish brown striped feathers stood wild on the creatures eagles head. His chest and back were covered in them. But it had the body and claws of a gigantic black lion and when it stood on it hunches, it flapped wings that blocked out the moon.
The creature jumped out of the broken cage but fell through its legs immediately upon touching the ground. It moaned groggily.
Ludo stepped up to its head.
"Me Ludo."
"Oh?" the creature answered.
"Me no like cage."
The creature almost seemed to smile with its beak.
"Me Ash. Me griffin."
Ludo smiled broadly. "Ash friend?"
Ash blinked. Then nodded. Ludo put his large arms around the neck of the dazed griffin and hugged him. The griffin clawed the ground and coughed.
"Not so tight- please!"
Suddenly Ambrosias came running back into the clearing, saw Ash, tried to stop himself, could not and slipped to halt against Ludo. He jumped up and behind the monster. Ludo pointed at Ash.
"Is Ash. Is friend. No being afraid."
"Arf." said Ambrosias quietly. Then he held his head a little up. Lifted his ears and seemed to remember why he had come running back to Ludo. He started barking wildly.
Ludo looked around him as if to decide which way to run was best.
"No-" said Ash. "Not there," he indicated with his high and shrill voice. "Climb back!"
Ludo just stared at the griffin for a moment.
"Me fly. Very high. Over trees. We safe!"
Ludo grabbed Ambrosius. Ambrosius squirmed and yelped. Ash went through his paws, belly to the ground. Ludo made himself comfortable between the feathers on Ashes back and held on. The griffin spread his gigantic wings and lifted himself straight into the air, lost control to the drug that was sill in his system. Ambrosius barked, Ludo just looked startled, but made no sound. Ash tried again, squealed himself to get his wits together and flapped his wings. This time he had enough control and soared up, higher and higher, until they were above the trees and could no longer be seen from the ground.
Moments later the hunters swarmed the clearing, but they could only curse at the empty cage and their fallen comrades.
Lepran reached the place last. They had lost their prey upon returning. And now it seemed they had lost their earlier prize as well.
"No unicorn- No griffin!" he hissed.
"Could this be the work of the King, sir?" one of the hunters asked his master.
The reply came somewhat muffled trough the glass bulb Lepran wore to keep his stench to himself.
"No- the spell I bought from the witch still protects us from him. Besides, he is much subtler. He would not have wrecked my cage. Or fled. We seem to have made ourselves some new adversaries." He pointed at the two unconscious men.
"Take care of them. They will tell, in the morning."
They'd better.