by Kate Tenbeth
CHAPTER 4
When Grum opened his eyes, dark brown eyes just a couple inches away stared at him unblinking and he yelped in surprise.
“Whoah, your eyes are really red - did you know that?” said Tara.
Grum wriggled and tried to stand up but found he couldn’t.
“Gruel tied us both up,” she continued, “but don’t worry my dad is going to be here any second now and he’ll untie us - well, he’ll untie me at least.”
Grum looked down. The girl was right, they were both wrapped in the same thick rope that had secured Gruel. He cleared this throat. “Er, sorry about this,” he said.
“I should think so too,” said Tara. “You let a horrible bank robber escape! My dad is going to be soooo angry with you when he gets here.”
Grum remembered the size of the human who had walked past him started to feel worried.
“So,” said Tara conversationally, “what’s your name?”
“Grum,” replied Grum. “You?”
“Tara.”
“Oh,” said Grum. There was a pause. “Sorry about letting Gruel free, I thought you were hunters.”
“Hunters? Well that’s silly, my dad’s one of the good guys - he’s a detective and has been trying to catch Gruel for weeks now because he stole gold from a bank. He’s so not going to be happy with you.”
Grum gulped and wriggled, trying to get free.
“No good,” said Tara. “We’re stuck together. What are you and Gruel? And is that really a bear with you? Dad says it’s a man in a bear suit.”
Grum spluttered but before he could reply a deep indignant voice behind them said, “A man in a bear suit?”
“There you go,” said Grum, “you can ask him yourself, he’s behind you.”
It was Tara’s turn to feel a little worried as she felt Burly snort hot bear breath down her neck.
“I’ll have you know I’m a bear in my prime,” said Burly in an injured tone. “There is no other bear in the entire Great Forest with a coat as beautiful as mine - a man in a bear suit indeed!”
“Burly,” said Grum. “Can you untie us? Her dad’s going to be here any second and he’s going to be very angry with me.”
Burly nodded and started pulling with his claws at the rope trying to loosen it. “It’s my birthday,” he grumbled. “This was meant to be a peaceful day.”
“Er, surprise?” said Grum. “Max said that every birthday has to have a surprise, so this can be yours.”
“Why thank you,” replied Burly. His sarcastic tone was not lost on Grum.
“Stop!” The command was loud and very clear. Burly hesitated and turned slowly around. “Stop right now and back away from my daughter - do it! I’m a black belt in karate!”
Tara’s father was not carrying a weapon, but he was crouched down in a karate pose, ready to strike. Burly raised his eyebrows, puzzled, he had no idea what karate was but he did know that the man in front of him was a father trying to protect his young. He smiled. Tara’s father thought Burly was snarling and took a step forward.
Grum intervened. “Honestly,” he said to Tara’s father, “don’t even think of fighting with Burly - when he’s mad he kind of doubles in size, you wouldn’t stand a chance even with your black belt thingy, whatever that is... and then there’s that bear breath... it’s not good trust me...”
Burly blinked in surprise, raised his paw to his mouth and gave a huff of breath. “I do not have bear breath,” he said indignantly.
“Look,” Tara’s father said. “I’m warning you, step away from my daughter or else!”
Burly looked hurt. “Why would you say I have bad breath?” he asked Grum. “I even floss, I don’t see you doing that.”
“What?” said Grum. “’Course I don’t floss, no self respecting groblin would. We like sour breath, yours smells minty or something just as gross.”
“Oh,” replied Burly. “So it’s not bad?”
“YES, it’s bad, it’s horrible! That’s what I was saying!”
“You two are really silly,” said Tara. “Can I get up now? It’s scratchy and horrible down here.”
“Oh, yes, sorry,” said Burly. He backed away and sat down trying to look harmless. “Please, go ahead,” he said to Tara’s father.
Tara’s father stared at Burly; it looked like a real bear but couldn’t be, bears didn’t speak. Bears didn’t wear sunglasses. Bears certainly didn’t get offended about whether they had bad breath or not.
“He’s a real bear,” Tara said. “And he’s also very touchy about the fact you thought he was a man in a bear’s suit.” Her father knelt down and took off the thick rope. She leapt to her feet and threw her arms around his neck. “Boy, am I glad you’re here,” she said.
“Yeah, well, just don’t mention this to your mother eh?” replied her father, hugging her hard.
Tara grinned and kissed his cheek. “I promise.”
“Aren’t you going to get the rope off me as well?” asked Grum wriggling about.
“Oh, he’s the one who set Gruel free,” said Tara.
“Then the answer’s no,” said her father.
“Look,” said Burly. “I think there must be some misunderstanding. We came here for a quiet day at the beach - it’s my birthday you know - I’m sure Grum didn’t do anything wrong. He’s not very bright sometimes but he wouldn’t do anything to harm anyone.”
“What?! Not very bright?” spluttered Grum. “Now who’s being insulting?”
“I think you’re both very funny,” giggled Tara.
Tara’s father stood up and dusted sand from his coat. “What are you?” he asked Grum.
“A groblin,” replied Grum. “My name is Grum. Grum P. Groblin of the Griff clan.”
“Hehe,” Tara giggled again. “So you’re a grumpy groblin?”
“No,” said Grum patiently. “My name is Grum P. Groblin.”
“This is a conversation that could go on for a while,” interrupted Burly. “Why don’t you ask him something else?”
“Why did you set Gruel free?” asked Tara’s father. “He’s a very dangerous criminal - I was taking him back to be tried for theft.”
“Ah,” said Grum. “A dangerous criminal? Well, I didn’t know that when I untied him.”
“Grum,” said Burly. “What do you say to the nice man?”
Grum rolled his eyes. “I’m very sorry. Yes, I did just set a criminal free but it was a mistake - I wouldn’t do something like that on purpose would I? My bad as Max would say. Please, can someone please untie me and I’ll explain...”
“There are more of you? Who is Max?” demanded Tara’s father looking around.
“A human friend but he’s not here at the moment - he’s coming later for Burly’s birthday party.”
“Dad,” said Tara. “I think you should untie him - the bear’s right, he’s okay really, just not very clever.”
“Will everyone stop staying that?!” demanded Grum.
“We’ll help you catch this Gruel,” offered Burly. “It’s the least we can do, and then we can get everything get back to normal.”
Tara’s father finally nodded in agreement, knelt down again and undid the rope around Grum. Grum quickly scrambled to his feet and stood next to Burly.
Tara’s father put his hands on his hips and looked sternly at Grum. “You didn’t answer my question - why did you set Gruel free? Even if you didn’t know he was a criminal, didn’t you think he might be handcuffed for a good reason?”
“Well, he’s a fellow groblin and he was tied up,” explained Grum. “I thought you were hunters so I set him free - us groblins don’t do well in the human world - we seem to upset humans for some reason and I’ve been hunted myself recently and it’s not nice.”
“Well, now he’s running around the island, he’s got the gold coins he stole from the bank and I’ve just had a text telling me that our boat isn’t coming to pick us up until later this afternoo
n.”
“What?!” cried Tara. “I’m starving!”
“Oh don’t worry,” said Burly casually. “We’ve got loads of food in the ice cream truck and we’re having a beach party later - you can join us if you like.”
“Told you,” said Tara to her dad. “Can we go get something to eat now?”
“You can forget eating until I’ve caught Gruel again,” said her father. “He’s dangerous.”
Tara huffed and folded her arms, looking sternly at Grum. “This is your fault,” she said.
“I’ll help you,” said Burly offered quickly. “I’m good at tracking.”
Her father looked at the bear. This day wasn’t turning out quite the way the thought but maybe having a bear that weighed a ton help him catch a criminal wasn’t such a bad idea. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Burlington Bear, Burly for short,” replied Burly.
“Oh, that is such a cool name!” squealed Tara completely forgetting she was cross. “Can I hug you?”
“I’m Detective Finn and this is my daughter Tara. And Tara, you do not ask strangers if you can hug them.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Burly. He nudged Grum with his elbow.
“Yes, pleased to meet you,” echoed Grum. “’Er... sorry for letting the bank robber escape...”
“What’s done is done,” said Detective Finn briskly. “Now, let’s go catch him again before he does any more damage.” He took Tara’s hand and walked away.
“Very touchy isn’t he?” Grum commented to Burly.
Burly nodded. “It’s a human thing,” he commented.
“And what’s karate?”
“We’ll have to ask him later - come on!”
Tyre knew Grimly and Gripe were coming long before they got to Mike’s little house. Birds took to the air, their feathers flying, and the animals ran for cover. Squawking, chirping, grunts and growls filled the forest. Tyre had been an assistant to a hunter before Mike took him in and had met the brothers before. “Ello boys,” he said cheerily. “I could ‘ear you comin’ a mile off, half the forest’s run away - wot’s the rush?”
“We need to speak to Mike,” said Grimly.
“I’m afraid ’e’s at work boys,” replied Tyre. “The big boss called him in - some kind of emergency.”
“Emergency? Emergency?!” squeaked Gripe. “Our mother’s on the war path - there is no bigger emergency!”
All the colour left Tyre’s face. “Daffodil?” he said. “She ain’t here is she?” He looked around nervously.
“Not yet,” said Grimly, “but she said that Grum’s in trouble and we’ve got to bring him home. Do you know what she’ll do if we don’t find him? The last time she pulled my ear it was red for a week!”
Tyre gulped. “But...” he stammered, “I spoke to ‘em earlier, Burly said everything was okay.”
“Are you going to tell that to my mum?”
Tyre’s chubby knees quivered. “I... I... I’ll call Mike now,” he said. “See if he can come back shall I?”
“Good idea,” said Grimly. “Good idea.”
