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.The werewolf shivered andturned his gaze to the team of eight reindeer harnessed to the strange vehicle.He hadn t seen many reindeer before, but he was sure these were the extra-large size.Compared tothem, his dinner had been a runt.Had he been on all fours, these fellows would have towered over him;shambling as he was, their gleaming eyes were not much below his own.The animals snorted and shooktheir heads so their crowns of thick, fuzzy antlers menaced the interloper.Plainly, they knew he hadnoshed on their diminutive red-nosed buddy.It seemed strange to be in front of the reindeer.As the elves began buckling him into the harness,something clicked in Matthias s brain and he thought,  This time the prey will be chasing me, and asudden horror came upon him thinking of all those sharp hooves and hard antlers just behind his brushytail, the owners pawing the air as each and every one of the reindeer ran their enchanted hearts out inhopes of extracting revenge for Rudolph.His docility dropped away and the werewolf fought and twisted, struggling to get out of the harness thatwould link him to the angry reindeer team.But no matter how he writhed, snapped, and clawed, hecouldn t extract himself from the grip of the elves.In a twinkling he was strapped in tight.Just in front oftwo huge bucks who snickered and showed him their teeth.Oh, this was going to be a bad night.The sharp crack of a whip flicked just above his ears and his tormentor in red called out,  Ho, there,Matthias! Pull! which was entirely unnecessary, as the gunshot sound of the lash had set him instantlybolting forward, baying in fury.The reindeer lurched forward also, clicking their antlers and gnashing theirteeth at him as Saint Nick called out,  On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen, on Comet, onCupid, on Donder and Blitzen!Matthias vaguely rememberd the poem about Saint Nicholas and his reindeer team, but he had neverthought about which ones were which.Now he guessed the last were the names of the brutes behind himsince they snorted puffs of breath as hot as hell s own on his back and snapped their teeth at his heels.He tried to turn his head and snap back, but the reins held tight in the red-suited tyrant s fists kept himfrom it.He yipped in frustration and ran as hard as he could, mounting into the sky with every bound.The sky! At first, he thought he d lose his lunch as the white land dropped away beneath them and thewhole conveyance reindeer, Santa, sleigh, and all mounted into the crystalline blackness of the polarnight with himself at the front, hauling like a dray horse and howling as he went.But as he pelted throughthe air, he noticed how fast he was going faster than he d ever run on land and with such little effort!The night sky felt like black velvet against his paws, his nose smelled scents it had never smelled socrisply, and the giddiness of the Christmas Cheer drew a wolfen howl of delight from him.Santa Claus laughed from his sleigh and shouted,  Marvelous! Pull on, lad! Pull on!He didn t need to be urged twice.This was the best running he d ever had! He dashed on across thegorgeous, moon-kissed night, not even minding the hell-breath of the reindeer at his rear.Tiny twitches ofthe reins pulled him around, but he hardly noticed, so enamored was he of the fabulous flight of thewerewolf.It was wonderful, like having his own pack rampaging across the sky, and he didn t realize Santa wasslowly directing him downward until a snow-crusted cluster of crazy-quilt onion domes hove into viewonly inches below his scrambling paws.He yipped and skidded as the roofs rose to trip him and thesleigh bumped to an uneven stop on the roof as the man in red called out,  Whoa!Picking himself back up from where he d landed on his nose with his rear paws ahead of his front ones,Matthias glared at Father Christmas. What s this about? the werewolf growled. It s our first stop, Mattie.Remember that it s my job to deliver gifts to worthy children on ChristmasEve. Not every child, Matt snorted. No, of course not.Just Christian children and a few corner cases.One must have limits.I couldn tPage 32Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlpossibly manage every child s holiday wish.Not without help, at least.And the red-suited saint walked off across the roofs with a sack slung over his back and his uncannyshadow at his heels.The snow swirled up around the man and he vanished into the white glimmer likestatic on TV.Matt hunkered on his haunches, thinking, and scratched one ear, keeping a wary eye on Donder andBlitzen, whose attempts to arrange a pincer attack and bite him on the backside were only partiallythwarted by the bells on the deer harnesses.The werewolf growled at them and they backed off, blinkingand making reindeer smiles like candy wouldn t melt in their mouths. Now, now, Matthias.Don t be rude to your teammates, Pere Noel chastened him, appearing out ofthe snow-mist, smelling of apple cider and evergreens, and climbing back into the sled without his sack.The dark shadow flowed across the ground and oozed into the sleigh, too.The shadow gave him the creeps, but before the werewolf could say anything, the man in the sleigh calledout, cracked his whip, and the enchanted deer team with the wolfman at its head rose again into thestar-spangled night.But the bizarre sleigh-team leader was thinking as they careened through the sky, and when they landedon the next roof, he asked,  How do you know which children are worthy? I keep a list, you know, Sinterklaas replied.He motioned to the shadow beside him and it solidifiedinto a thin, angular, hook-nosed man with a dark mien and black clothes.He looked a bit like the elves.but large and evil.The man s eyes glittered red in the gloom that surrounded him as he handed over thebig black book.Matt s hackles rose at the sight of the dark man and he let out an inadvertent whimper of fear.Achildhood horror stirred in his mind and he cowered under the man s burning gaze.Saint Nick patted the book. In here are recorded all the children over whom I watch.Those who aregood are given gifts [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]