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Fippy's ears twitched.
"You bring us that other little one. You let us eat him first. A meal for a meal. Then we even. Then we help you."
Fippy's face stretched into a wrinkled carnivorous smile. The ogres looked apprehensive in return.
"That, I will arrange."
Gydar made his way through the maze of stones until he recognized the clamour of Blackburrow's waterfall.
"Hello there." Rorph stood a few paces away. "You seen Fippy?"
Gydar snarled, "Darkpaw almost got me killed. And he won't get away with it this time."
Rorph looked puzzled. "Hey, don't talk about Fippy like that."
"Move your fat fur out of my way! There's nothing you can do about it!"
Rorph didn't do anything about it, but Wilx Whiskerhunt had positioned himself atop the boulder behind Gydar. He toppled onto the stronger gnoll's wiry back. Briartrot's lean limbs easily worked themselves free from Wilx's grasp, however when he turned to face him, Wilx was holding Gydar's sword. His deft little fingers searched for the missing strand of rope that had held it in place. "Give it back, you coward!"
"Oh, hey Fippy." Rorph said in his sleepy manner.
Gydar spun on his claws. The anger on his face melted to terror when he saw four massive ogres lead by Fippy Darkpaw. He scampered backwards away and collided with Rorph's exorbitant gutt. Gydar bounced off Rorph face-first into the dirt. As he scraped at shifting gravel to find his footing, the vice-grip of Oondil found the scruff of his neck. He felt himself rise six feet into the air, and gave one last yap as Oondil squished him down against the stones.
"Never mess with a Darkpaw." A grim look rested upon Fippy's face.
"I didn't like him anyways." Rorph scratched his stomach. "He was always mean to me."
Wilx was busy fauning over his new sword. "You think I can keep it, Fippy?"
"It's yours. Excellent work you two." Fippy turned towards the ogres. "You see? My minions carry out my orders without even having to be told."
The ogres looked at each other. Oondil spoke up, "you keep your word well little one. But first we eat before we do any more."
Fippy gave a dismissive wave. "Go! Do what you will with his pelt, but don't get too comfortable. I will call upon you soon."
The male ogres looked insulted. But they had been recompensed and sought nothing more.
Oondil looked stern. "We will be waiting." The four ogres lumbered off with the broken corpse of Gydar Briartrot draped over Oondil's shoulder.
"Hey wait. I just thoughta' somethin'." Rorph said now scratching the fur on his head. "How you gunna esplain this to the elders. They're gunna be awfully mad at you, Fippy."
Wilx gave an inquisitive look, astonished by Rorph actually saying something pertinent to the situation. "Yeah, Fippy. What are you gonna do?"
"Leave that to me. Follow my lead, and keep your traps shut. If all goes according to plan, we three will be eating better than any knoll in Blackburrow for a long time."
"Oooh, it's going to be story time. I really like story time when Fippy does it."
Wilx returned a mischievous and knowing look.