Alexander the Caracal and the Holy Grail (Sequel to "Alexander the Caracal")

Caracal against Ogre

Alexander quickly ran up the stairs with Alan following after. The caracal knew that if he were to attack Reverend Skinner as he ran up the stairs, he risked injuring Hippolyta. He had to wait, he had to be patient, he had to make his move at the opportune moment.

Reaching the top of the stairs before the Cyclopean Clergyman, Alexander saw Ahab standing on his hind legs with his front paws against the window of the shop's door. He was still barking. If Filcher was on the other side of the door, Alexander could not see. All he saw was that hound who might as well have been a one-headed Cerberus, but on the other hand if Palaephatus was to be believed, Cerberus had merely been a dog who originated from a place that meant "Three-headed." Alexander had heard such a discussion between Captain Smith and Ms. Burnett and seeing Ahab, the caracal wondered if his canine foe came from that same place.

The moment Reverend Skinner reached the top of the stairs, he hurled Hippolyta to the shop's floor, landing before Alexander. The little girl let out a loud "Ouch!" as she landed on her bottom and the red hound from Acheron turned to look at what had been thrown to him.

Coming down on all fours, Ahab first looked to Alexander, his feline foe, then looked to Hippolyta. The little girl was closer and as the quadrupedal ogre crept forward, he suddenly found the caracal standing before him.

Leaping over Hippolyta's legs, Alexander stared at his adversary with narrowed eyes. His ears flattened threateningly rather than in fright, the caracal then growled, the growl eventually turning into a hiss. He was ready and he would fight to either first blood or to the death, which ever it led to. As Ahab growled in response to Alexander's hiss, the room suddenly grew very quiet as Alan reached the top of the stairs and found the two combatants waiting for each other to make the first move.

It was Ahab who acted first, lunging forward in an attempt to bite Alexander. The caracal replied with a swift scratch to the nose causing the dog to back away to better plan his next move. Alexander stayed where he was, staring at his adversary while growling and preparing for Ahab's next attack.

Reverend Skinner watched this with a grimace on his monstrous countenance. He had been hoping he would have been able to escape when he had thrown Captain Smith's daughter to Ahab. He had not been expecting this new caracal to leap to her aid. Nevertheless, once he was able to, he would escape. Ahab would kill this Alexander and no doubt kill the others of Captain Smith's household. No one could defeat Ahab!

Ahab lunged once more and Alexander responded this time not with a swift scratch in defense, but by leaping over the ogre completely. Due to the angle that Ahab had been pointing, the dog found himself crashing head first into the shop's counter while Alexander landed on top of a nearby shelf. The caracal looked down from his vantage point at the quadrupedal ogre, thinking to himself that this dog was no Cnut.

Grabbing an empty medicine bottle, Reverend Skinner prepared to hurl it at Alexander, only to get a swift kick to the shin from Hippolyta, followed by a punch to the face from Alan. It was at this point that Gemma, Agatha and Ian all arrived to see what was going on, the sudden breaking of one of the cellar stairs having caused them to become cautious as they moved upwards.

Seeing his cousins hit the Reverend, Ian muttered: "We're sure to get excommunicated for this."

"I have never heard of an excommunication happening in my life time." Gemma commented, picking up a nearby stool and then hitting Reverend Skinner over the head, rendering the man unconscious. She had been wanting to do that ever since the Reverend had first insulted her and her father a decade ago.

That left only Ahab.

The canine turned to look up at Alexander, staring down from the shelf he had leapt upon. Growling, Ahab leapt at the shelf. Not the smartest of actions, but in his singlemindedness, Ahab was beyond reason. Alexander leapt from the shelf to the counter the moment Ahab came into contract with the shelf, a wise action, for the shelf came crashing down afterwards right on top of Ahab.