Does this mean we're getting "the high road" as the prompt for the haiku tomorrow? Right, it really is time someone died in this Lord Derby tale or the readers are going to get bored.
The low road How many? Samual's thoughts raced as he patted the roof around him, trying to work out how quickly the soldiers were likely to find him. The more caches there were here, the greater the likelihood that they'd come here. The stone of the roof was rough like sandpaper beneath his hands, so he swept them across lightly. At first he thought there was only one cache, then he found another, and a few seconds later a third. Now a soft groan really did escape his lips as he wondered if he'd backed himself into an invisible quartermaster's store. He looked at the wall to his back and decided that his only chance of getting out of here alive was by climbing up it again.
Gray stepped into the safe passage with Matt a couple of paces behind him. Inside the passage was like a gigantic worm cast, rather oval in shape with corrugated walls that were beige and coarse. Their feet scraped along the floor of the tunnel as the friction between it and their shoes was so high that they could barely slide a centimetre. "It's like walking on a cheese-grater," said Gray. "Don't touch the sides." Matt looked at them more closely as saw that though there was a green tinge to the beige, it was being steadily overwhelmed by a sickly yellow hue. "The King in Yellow came through here?" "Possibly. Probably, if what Arthur told me is true, and that man has trouble laughing at his own jokes." "I hope he spent as much time nearly tripping over as I am," said Matt. Once again, as he put his feet down he tried to slide them slightly forwards and his foot stuck, causing him to wobble. "Pick your feet up and plant them down," said Gray. He was walking stiff-legged, like a toy robot. "Safe passage is only safe for the caster." "Why's it called safe passage then?" "It was used a lot by smugglers," said Gray. "Over on the coasts, Bacton, Dunwich, Blakeney, Waxham, all that area. They'd get a mage to provide them with safe passage inland -- oh, crap." "What?" Matt struggled forward, trying to see what had upset Gray. All he saw though was the twisting corridor ahead. "This is leading into the Palace," said Gray. "I wouldn't normally say this, but I think we better hurry."
Samual looked out, and saw no soldiers. Hoping that this meant that none were coming his way he jumped to get a grip on the roof above him, and hauled himself up. He reached out as his chest hit the lip of the roof, pulling himself forward, and then, to his immense surprise, found himself falling as the roof folded in on itself.
Gray stepped out of the Safe Passage into a sitting room, nicely but sparsely furnished and empty of people. There were two doors, opposite each other, and both were closed. "Right," he said turning. The word died in his throat though as he saw the Safe Passage shiver. The green tinge faded completely as the yellow hue surged along its length. Matt, his face suddenly pale, tried to run forward and again forgot about the friction. He fell, trying to catch his balance, and looked as though he was going to do it without touching the floor or sides of the Passage. And then the Passage snapped shut and disappeared.
2 comments:
Does this mean we're getting "the high road" as the prompt for the haiku tomorrow? Right, it really is time someone died in this Lord Derby tale or the readers are going to get bored.
The low road
How many? Samual's thoughts raced as he patted the roof around him, trying to work out how quickly the soldiers were likely to find him. The more caches there were here, the greater the likelihood that they'd come here. The stone of the roof was rough like sandpaper beneath his hands, so he swept them across lightly. At first he thought there was only one cache, then he found another, and a few seconds later a third. Now a soft groan really did escape his lips as he wondered if he'd backed himself into an invisible quartermaster's store. He looked at the wall to his back and decided that his only chance of getting out of here alive was by climbing up it again.
Gray stepped into the safe passage with Matt a couple of paces behind him. Inside the passage was like a gigantic worm cast, rather oval in shape with corrugated walls that were beige and coarse. Their feet scraped along the floor of the tunnel as the friction between it and their shoes was so high that they could barely slide a centimetre.
"It's like walking on a cheese-grater," said Gray. "Don't touch the sides."
Matt looked at them more closely as saw that though there was a green tinge to the beige, it was being steadily overwhelmed by a sickly yellow hue.
"The King in Yellow came through here?"
"Possibly. Probably, if what Arthur told me is true, and that man has trouble laughing at his own jokes."
"I hope he spent as much time nearly tripping over as I am," said Matt. Once again, as he put his feet down he tried to slide them slightly forwards and his foot stuck, causing him to wobble.
"Pick your feet up and plant them down," said Gray. He was walking stiff-legged, like a toy robot. "Safe passage is only safe for the caster."
"Why's it called safe passage then?"
"It was used a lot by smugglers," said Gray. "Over on the coasts, Bacton, Dunwich, Blakeney, Waxham, all that area. They'd get a mage to provide them with safe passage inland -- oh, crap."
"What?" Matt struggled forward, trying to see what had upset Gray. All he saw though was the twisting corridor ahead.
"This is leading into the Palace," said Gray. "I wouldn't normally say this, but I think we better hurry."
Samual looked out, and saw no soldiers. Hoping that this meant that none were coming his way he jumped to get a grip on the roof above him, and hauled himself up. He reached out as his chest hit the lip of the roof, pulling himself forward, and then, to his immense surprise, found himself falling as the roof folded in on itself.
Gray stepped out of the Safe Passage into a sitting room, nicely but sparsely furnished and empty of people. There were two doors, opposite each other, and both were closed.
"Right," he said turning. The word died in his throat though as he saw the Safe Passage shiver. The green tinge faded completely as the yellow hue surged along its length. Matt, his face suddenly pale, tried to run forward and again forgot about the friction. He fell, trying to catch his balance, and looked as though he was going to do it without touching the floor or sides of the Passage. And then the Passage snapped shut and disappeared.
Greg - eh, you were very close to being right. Some might argue there's not much difference between high road and higher ground as far as prompts go.
I would stubbornly disagree with that line of thinking.
Well, this is very dramatic and tense and dammit Samual better be okay.
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