TEST DRAFT 3 With LLaregub footnotes The Boy Who Shot Flimzy Bubbletrumpett- macbook 2

yawned and scratched. The hay had been comfortable and warm and I could not have asked
for a better bed, except for the fleas that had found me warm and comfortable too, as well as
giving them their evening meal.
I stood up, brushed the hay from my clothes and hair, picked up my stick with the bag still
tied to it and climbed down the latter. Indigo bounded down after me. In the yard the girl was
throwing handfuls of grain to the clutter of chickens that surrounded her. I hesitated, and then
walked towards her to ask what I owed for the food and shelter; I had no idea how I was going
to pay, but perhaps I could repay the hospitality by doing some small chores around the inn.
The girl must have guessed my intention because as she saw me move towards her she simply
smiled, shook her thatch of black hair and pointed the way out of the yard. I turned at the
entrance to the yard to wave a last goodbye but the girl was gone and the yard was empty. The
path continued to follow the stream that led down the slope past the inn. I could hear the
distant waterfall I had heard the night before and high above me on the grey cliffs of the ridge
could see a thin white ribbon of water.
The air was cool, clear and bright and as the sun had been up for only a few hours it held the
promise of a long hot day ahead. Indigo who had been loitering behind caught up with me and
clambered on to my shoulder. The country around me was open heather moorland with only a
few scattered birch trees and junipers, flattened and sculpted by the wind. Below me I could
see low hills covered with woods, beyond the hills the silver glint of a lake and then green
grassland stretching off to the horizon. I could see no signs of villages or houses except for a
thin plume of smoke that climbed like a silken cord up into still air. High above two birds that
may have been buzzards or eagles circled lazily around. It was only when I was so far away
that the grey stone walls of the inn could be hardly be picked out from the boulders that
littered the hillside that I realised that no one had shown any surprise or interest in Indigo. It
was almost as if she had been invisible to them.
Chapter 4
The Deceptive Elephant and the Grey Gypsy
Though at first I shivered in the cold mountain air the sun soon rose higher in the sky and I
slowed my pace as it became too warm to hurry. On such a well defined path I could walk
without did not having to concentrate on each step for risk of falling, so my mind turned to the
events of the past two days and I was filled with confusion, doubt and not a little fear. I tried
to question Indigo.
Hey Indigo, where are we going?
She just shifted on my shoulder and hissed, You’ll know when we get there.
I don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t know where I am, or how I got here… and I’m
scared.
I thought Mr Mangabey had already explained all that to you.
It didn’t explain a thing. I had no idea what he was talking about.
Perhaps if you had tried a little to understand.
I felt Indigo’s claws dig into my shoulder and there was an unconcealed note of irritation in
her hissed reply.
I did try. I really did. But nothing makes sense. Can’t you explain it to me?
No. Just keep walking.
Indigo, I’m scared. I’m frightened about what happened to Dys and what might happen to me.
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