Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes by Margaret Weis

Author:Margaret Weis [Weis, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8803-8382-0
Publisher: Fanversion Publishing
Published: 2015-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

When the squirrel awoke he was confused. He slept a lot, it being still winter and he having some deeply rooted need to sleep. But when he slept he dreamed. And there was the source of his confusion: no squirrel ever dreamed during long winter sleeps. And, as though the fact of the dreaming wasn't enough, the dreams themselves were decidedly odd.

He dreamed about people. Not the gray-furred, broad tailed squirrel people. Humans walked in his dreams, and a dwarf, and a long-eyed half-elf with hair the color of a fox's pelt. In his dreams he knew who they were; sometimes he spoke with them and they with him. And when they spoke with him he knew—though he didn't quite understand how he knew—that they were not speaking to a squirrel.

It was almost as though he were having someone else's dreams.

Yawning now, stretching first his hind legs and then his front, he poked among the neatly piled acorn shells for some left-over tidbit. There was none.

He looked around the cottage, noted that the man was gone again, though his scent still clung to everything in the place, and then felt a sudden tightening of alarm: the cat prowled restlessly from window to door to window.

Not hungry again, are you?

Always, the cat murmured without looking around. You sleep a lot, squirrel. He's off again, looking for the wren.

The wren… Yes, well, I'd like to find her myself. I think I might have some unfinished business with her.

The tabby did look around then, his green eyes alight with a certain careful curiosity. With the Wren? And what business might that be?

The squirrel wasn't sure, and said so. Again he felt confused and uncomfortable. He remembered thinking the night before that the wren meant something to him. Now, though, when he tried to recall what it might be, he could not. His attempts to remember were as distressing as his dreams had been.

The cat padded silently across the room and leaped easily onto the table. When the squirrel scolded and skittered to the back of his cage, the tabby only yawned and smiled.

Easy, squirrel, easy. He eyed the squirrel closely, and this time the squirrel had the impression that he was not being considered as dinner. After a moment the tabby twitched his tail and murmured, I thought—maybe—but I suppose not. You're just a squirrel, aren't you?

I–I guess so, responded the squirrel, though sometimes I don't quite feel like one. Maybe it's just that I'm trapped in here, and I hate it. I should be grateful, I suppose, that there are bars between you and me, you being as hungry as you are all the time—oh! Well, I didn't mean any offense, of course—

Of course, the cat murmured.

I didn't really, but you are a cat and I am a squirrel, and you cats do have a taste for squirrels from time to time and—

I am not a cat.

What? Well, of course you are. You're a cat, I can assure you. And you'd have a hard time convincing the mice you terrorize around here that you aren't.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.