Llama Drama (8 page)

“It's not my tail that's empty,” Crazycoot groaned, “it's my stomach.”

“Come on,” Clutterbuck told him. “There's plenty more where they came from.”

The coyotes turned around and headed back towards the animal pens.

The pair were so busy blaming one another that they almost walked into a young llama coming in their direction. They soon recognised him as that idiotic young Guard Llama, Lewie, probably in pursuit of his lambs.

Crazycoot couldn't resist teasing him. “Lost your lambs, Lewie?”

Lewie turned on the wild-looking young coyote. He wasn't afraid. Nothing, and no one, was going to keep him from his mission. He reared up, stamping his hooves to warn off the coyotes. He made a scary noise in his throat. For once Lewie felt truly
fierce
.

The two coyotes were surprised to see the llama show this much spirit. They backed off for a moment and Lewie carried on following the trail. He had more important things on his mind than those two idiots.

Now the coyotes had a dilemma: should they take their chances in the animal pens, with proper Guard Llamas to deal with, or follow this young one in the hope that he might retrieve his lambs? In that case they might still get an opportunity to snatch one or two for themselves. They decided to take their chances with Lewie.

Completely unaware that the coyotes were stalking him, Lewie continued to follow the trail to where it ended outside the door of an old building. He looked about, then sniffed his way all around it. He strained to see through the windows, but they were boarded up.

As he stood there very quietly, trying to think of a plan, Lewie heard the unmistakable sound of frightened lambs bleating. He'd recognise those bleats anywhere! They were
his
lambs! Lewie hammered on the door with his foot, braying to be let in. He felt so helpless and distressed for a moment that the most heartfelt cry welled up in his chest. “
Mwaaaa!
” he cried, loudly enough to wake up the whole showground.

The door of the warehouse swung open. Lewie stepped back nervously, but when nothing else happened and no one appeared, Lewie hesitantly moved forward. He peered inside, but it was far too dark to see anything. He could still hear the lambs bleating so he bravely followed the noise and stepped inside.

The two coyotes weren't far behind. They paused at the door too. They were just about to follow Lewie inside when they heard the llama cry out. It sounded as if he'd stumbled in the dark – or been pushed over.

Suddenly, Bolt and Dolt burst out of the door and slammed it closed behind them, drawing the bar across.

They almost fell over the two coyotes, who quickly recovered themselves and shot away. Bolt and Dolt hissed and shouted after them, throwing anything that came to hand at the young animals.

The coyotes moved fast and had no trouble escaping, but they'd had quite a scare. They gave up their shopping trip for one night and scuttled back to the safety of their burrow.

But they were returning with important information. Tomorrow, with that dozy young llama out of the way, his flock would be completely unprotected. It would be Open House at Farmer Palmer's pen. The rest of the flock would be ripe for the taking. Nothing would stand between the coyotes and a slap-up lamb supper.

y the end of Day Two of the County Fair, with Lewie and the lambs still missing, it looked as if Farmer Palmer's remaining flock of sheep would have no protection overnight. They would be a sitting target, a free feast for the hungry coyotes.

Farmer Palmer mistakenly thought that with no lambs left, the coyotes wouldn't bother attacking his flock. With so much on his mind, the farmer clearly wasn't thinking straight. If it hadn't been for his desperate hopes that Lewie and the lambs would still come back, he would have packed up his remaining animals there and then and headed home.

The police were showing no real enthusiasm for the task of finding his missing animals and the farmer felt very frustrated.

Later, his daughter, Millie, asked, “Papa, are you sure the flock will be safe tonight, with Lewie gone?”

The farmer replied with more confidence than he really felt. “Don't you worry about that. The flock will be just fine.”

But Millie wasn't entirely convinced, and nor were the sheep. They were worried about their lambs, and about Lewie, but now they were also anxious for their own safety.

Ginger tried to stay strong and reassure

“We'll be just fine,” she said briskly, echoing farmer's words.

“Fi-i-ine,” bleated the other sheep rather less confidently.

But really Ginger was wondering how much worse things could possibly get. She was soon to find out.

As dark fell and the flock was beginning to settle down to sleep, there was first a bleat, then a whimper, then a chorus of distressed cries as the first sighting of a coyote was reported and passed through the yard from flock to flock. Sheep huddled together in terror as Guard Llamas rose to their feet, ready to protect their sheep. None of them were going to take responsibility for someone else's flock, not even Nelson. Lewie's sheep were on their own and they knew it.

Oh, where is Lewie when we need him
? wondered Ginger. She tried to stay strong right up until she caught the first sniff of coyote, then like the other sheep, Ginger buried her head and waited for it to be over.

But just when all seemed lost, when the sheep thought their end was in sight, they were amazed to find that they weren't unprotected after all. Suddenly, Liberty was standing between them and the coyotes, ready to take her brother's place.

Like Lewie, Liberty had never been a fighter. She had no idea if she could rise to the challenge now. But she wasn't going to let Lewie and Farmer Palmer down. She reared up to her full height, stamping and braying, prepared to meet the coyotes head on.

The sight of Liberty did stop the coyotes in their tracks – for a moment or two. Captain and Cupcake thought Lewie must have returned; Liberty looked so much like her brother. But the rest of the coyotes were just confused to find any llama where none was expected. Liberty was no pushover, but even one, albeit fierce, llama wouldn't stop so many coyotes for long.

The coyotes were organised; they had a strategy. The frontrunners put their heads down and moved forward in a pack of three; the next flank of four were ready to follow on from them. This was a properly planned attack, and they looked to Liberty like a small army.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Surely it wasn't possible for her to fight off so many coyotes on her own.

“Oh, Lewie,” she breathed. “Help! I need you. Now …”

Despite her bravest intentions, Liberty was almost ready to give up when, suddenly, Leo, Lamar and Latisha came around the corner of the yard like the US cavalry!

Desperate to avoid the flailing feet of three bigger and more formidable llamas, the coyotes went into a blind panic, running into each other as they tried to escape. The llamas scattered coyotes in all directions, tossing a particularly fat one into the far distance. The coyotes turned tail and fled.

There was a great wave of baa-ing and bleating as sheep from all the different pens cheered the four llama heroes.

Even the other Guard Llamas were generous in their praise.

“Excellent work!” honked Hadrian.

“Great team effort,” said Blunderbuss.

“Always good to have reinforcements,” agreed Wellington.

Liberty smiled at her brothers and sister. “Yeah, thanks,” she said. “It was pretty scary there for a minute or two.”

“We couldn't let you do it all on your own,” Latisha said, smiling back.

“That's what family's for,” said Leo grandly.

“We certainly showed those coyotes,” said Lamar proudly.

Leo, Lamar and Latisha had all felt quite ashamed of their behaviour yesterday, when Lewie had been so kind and encouraging to them before their events. So when they realised Liberty planned to guard Lewie's flock they decided that the least they could do was back her up. And what a triumph it had been!

Once all the excitement was over, it was decided that Liberty would stay with the sheep to help calm them down.

As her brothers and sister left, Liberty softly called after them, “Who's the escape artist now?”

Leo and Lamar turned back and grinned. They nodded towards Latisha.

“Tchhh!” she smiled modestly. “Seen Liberty do it enough times.”