Drabble #182: Climb

[redwolf]

...we had a nice response to the drabble prompt of Drabble 181, with entries by apachefirecat and redwolf and comments by apachefirecat and redwolf

For this prompt, we continue with our one-word/phrase drabble roots:

Climb

Tell us all about it. Labyfic-style, of course.

Given our entries from recent months, let's continue with the suggested limit of 500 words. Though remember that shorter pieces are most definitely welcome!

Your entry should take the following format, posted as a comment on this entry:

Word count: # of words
$your_beautiful_drabble

I'll be running weekly challenges in the space around jalenstrix's monthly challenges.

You can see our current collected suggestions here.

Remember: Feedback is LOVE. So do reply to your fellow labyficcers' drabbles if so inclined. (Though be careful of concrit unless specifically okayed by the author beforehand. Authors generally write for love.)

Comments

Spiral

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

When she needed the time to process her morning duties, Sarah liked to take her lunch in one of the castle’s solars. She selected a room depending on the season or weather or sometimes just a mood. She had picked this particular room because it let in a lot of natural light and had a clear view of a fallow field by the castle. While it was occasionally taken over for festivals, it tended to attract a lot of the city’s children and there was usually a spirited team game in progress. It might loosely be referred to as football if you squinted, but being as goblins were involved, kick cabbage was a closer approximation. It was a briefer game that ended when your ball exploded in a shower of vegetable matter. As many times as she’s seen the game, Sarah had never been certain if that eventuality was a winning or losing event.

In recent weeks she had been watching the progress of Ada and George’s project. They’d been flying various types of kites for a while, and seemed to be setting up the launch a new model for the day. There were a few false starts, but it didn’t look like their current design would get off the ground, at least not for anything beyond a few steps.

As the pair stopped to tweak their kite, Sarah’s attention shifted to the football players who had foregone the produce and transitioned to using a makeshift ball made from trash bound together with twine.

The game was getting quite heated, which may have been why Sarah missed the resumption of the kite trials. What finally caught her eye was seeing that Jareth had joined them, in his owl form.

Sarah watched in bemusement as Jareth, perched on the shoulders of Rook’s wolf, spread his wings and posed as the kite fliers tweaked their model. At a signal from Ada, everyone shuffled around again and Sarah watched as Rook towed the kite into the air. Except, it didn’t appear to be a kite and looked more like a half scale hang glider, complete with a goblin pilot.

Once the hang glider got enough lift, the tow rope disconnected and the pilot was on his own. Everyone, including the footballers, stopped to watch as the airborne goblin skillfully caught an updraft before lazily circling down to gently land by the gathering crowd.

As impressive as the pilot had been, Sarah now had more questions than answers. She wasn’t terribly surprised at Ada and George’s project, as they shared their foster father’s interest in engineering. She figured that getting a volunteer pilot was easy enough if you bribed a goblin with food, but she would have expected that plan to result in a rapid crash. Instead they had managed to find the one goblin who appeared to have an unexpectedly innate understanding of flight.

Sarah paled at the thought of airborne goblins. They were chaotic enough in two dimensions without adding a third.

Re: Spiral

[apachefirecat]

LOL That last line is SO true! She's definitely got her hands full! :)

Re: Spiral

[redwolf]

Probably not a practical exercise, but I would expect that goblin usage would lean more towards the mayhem end of the spectrum 🦊🧡

Sarah

[apachefirecat]

Word Count: 500


Every eye in the castle was on her. Sarah knew this very well, but she refused to bow to these people. She did think of them now as people, no matter the species, which was a far cry from how she had originally perceived them. She has even come to consider a select few of them as genuine friends, despite her husband's warnings. Royalty were never true allies, Jareth had warned her more than once. Friends, especially in this world, did not exist. Of course, she had always argued that point, but every time she pointed out Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus, he was just as quick to point out that none of them were of the Royal Court.

They would all tear her apart, Sarah knew, if she made the wrong decision, but she had watched this girl climb her place in the court as well. She had watched her take her mother's position in the servers. She had also always been able to recognize a bully. She held her head high, ignoring the fact that her shoes were now wet.

She levelled her gaze on the girl who cringed before her, clearly expecting a fierce reprimand, perhaps even to be turned into something. Jareth had told her, in no uncertain times, of what every one of these beings around them was capable. She knew exactly which ones would have turned this child into a frog, who would turn her into a statue, who would evaporate her on the spot, and who would have even worse punishments for her, all for accidentally spilling a drink.

"I think my shoes have had quite enough to drink, dear. Thank you." She heard the ripple of laughter spreading through the court, and her own cheeks burned for the child. "Perhaps you would like to join me in a drink, though?" she asked, gesturing to another waiter. She ignored the gasps as smoothly as she had ignored the giggles.

"M-m-m-m-milady, I d-dare not!"

"I insist," Sarah returned, and gestured to a pillow beside her feet. The girl, blushing crimson red, sank to her knees on the floor beside the pillow, not daring to touch the offered seat. Drinks were swiftly given to them both, passing from trembling hands.

Sarah smiled. "Well?" she asked, raising her goblet to the band. "Play."

Jareth smirked from his place standing amongst the Kings and Princes.

"That wife of yours certainly is... human."

His smile vanished, and the scowl he shot the Prince confirmed he would very soon reek for the rest of his life, what little there would be left of it. "No," he said, his crisp tone sending the rest of those gathered around him scurrying, "she is very..." His smile warmed his eyes. "...Sarah." That was why he loved her, and why this Prince and the others who had dared to laugh at his wife would all vanish. It was also why she forever inspired him every day to be better. He glowed pridefully.


The End

Re: Sarah

[redwolf]

Oh dear, you would think that people attending these gatherings would learn from the misfortunes of those who'd been bogged before them. Not a terribly bright bunch 🦊🧡

Re: Sarah

[apachefirecat]

But then, we already know that, right? To tango with Jareth in the first place, after all! =)