30 Days R2/S2 - Day 15 Ascension
This a Flashfic based on a prompt from 
aldersprig and
kc_obrien's 30 Days of Flash Fiction: Round 2 Meme
My 30 Days of Flashfic: Round 2 Index Page
Day 15 - Prompt: Ascension
Follows from Prompt 7 Frigid. ( LJ Link)
Osita had returned to staring at the snow covered ground as he trudged along with the gray lizard men. He was thankful that at least they were breaking a trail through the deepening snow. Even more thankful that the one who had his rope didn't yank on it like Chipped Tooth had. It was getting to be late in the evening when they finally stopped at a stone building that looked new and unweathered. Only then, turning and looking back did he realize just how high they had climbed up the mountain.
He stood and stared out at the expanse, lit a blazing orange by the setting sun, and tried to figure out where his village had been. After a time he turned away and only then saw the loose end of the rope he had been lead with for the past week. It was simply coiled up and tossed atop a pile of wood. Not even a token loop around a piece of wood to pretend and trap him there. Looking around his head hung again when he considered how long he might survive if he tried running out into the snow with little but a single blanket and... And with one of the Gray Lizards standing next to him once more it was too late anyway.
The man lead him along with a gentle hold on his shoulder, then stopped and pointed in front of the fireplace. "Tayakonilina."
Osita looked where the man pointed and thankfully dropped down to mat waiting there. A freshly lit fire was starting to give the room some heat. Around the rest of the room the men moved about purposefully, one coming over to set a pot above the fire, another relieving him of his pack taking it off to another corner of the room. A little after the one who was cooking returned another came over and sat next to him. A quick glance spotting a coil of rope in one hand.
Sighing he turned and held his hands back to be tied again only to feel nothing. A touch on his shoulder and a gentle push had him turn around again.
"Zhon, takoni. Takonitoa."
With a shrug Osita sat and watched as the gray man made a few small loops in the rope and nimbly feed one loop through another and set to making knots almost faster than Osita could follow. Only the pauses to tighten the loops and keep the piece a flat untwisted band allowed him to figure out how it was being tied. He didn't figure out what was being done until the man held it up to his neck to check the size. The collar was finished and tied on just about the time the cook pulled the pot off the fire. A warm bowl of stew was pressed into his hands while the other man finished tying the collar in place.
He ate his stew quietly and with nothing better to do listened to the conversations even thought he couldn't understand a word of their language. To his surprise, when he finished off the bowl the one who made the collar took his bowl and filled it again and passed it back to him. Saying, "Tayarazha," when he didn't start eating right away, then gave him a thump on his back before going back to talking to the others.
After finishing the second time he set the bowl down and slowly felt along the length of the collar. The gray man who tied it on him watched but didn't stop him. Partway along he found a braided loop of rope hanging off, and kept tracing along until he came to the loop again. Where are the ends? He slowly traced along the length again and still couldn't find the ends of the rope and let his hands fall away with a sigh.
When the cook collected the bowls Osita got up and followed him. Watching as the first was cleaned he picked up a bowl and did the same. Cook watched and inspected the bowl when he was done and gave him a pat on head. It was women's work, but there weren't any here and it seemed safest to make sure they found him useful. They quietly cleaned the bowls and next thing he know he was sitting near the fire again with a blanket draped over his shoulders. A moment later he gave in and lay down and was asleep in moments.
With extra blankets and a spot near the fireplace Osita slept well for the first time in a week. He didn't wake the next morning until one of the gray men nudged his side and set a bowl of roast root vegetables in front of him. While he ate the men repacked and prepared to set out from their stone cabin. The roots looked like they would be tough, but had softened and sweet almost like fruit. Which left him shortly after sitting with an empty bowl while everyone else was busy.
He was embarrassed it took him so long to realize that even now there was still nothing tied onto the new rope collar. If he'd dared and somehow stayed awake he could have tried sneaking out in the night. Carrying the bowl over to where the rest of the dishes were being cleaned he set to work with the cook again Picking up another bowl after finishing his own and work through the stack. He hadn't been hit once since they bought him from Chip Tooth and the others, they hadn't even yelled at him. If letting them think he was weak but useful kept it that way he might survive long enough to get revenge.
Soon everything was clean and packed and the gray men prepared to leave their cabin. Osita found himself in the middle of the group as they returned to hiking up the mountain. Even with the sun up he could soon see his breath fogging up before him as he marched along. At the first stop one of the men looked at his feet and Osita soon found them wrapped in a bit of cloth and stuffed into a fur lined covering. Making his feet one of his warmest parts even after getting to wrap a blanket around himself.
It was the thinning of the trees that first caught Osita's attention after the had been hiking again for half a day. Looking up he realized he could see all the way up to the top of the mountain. As he stared he caught sight of one of the gray men higher up. Why climb to the top of the world's edge? Whether he wanted to or not it was where they were going. None of them would be going anywhere else it seemed, as a coil of rope was stretched out along the line and each of them tied onto it. It wasn't even the end of the second day, but it already felt like they'd spend a week climbing.
He let his mind go numb like he was while following Chip Tooth. Simply stare at the man ahead and put one foot forward after another. At the next stop he chewed on a bit of jerky his was given and simply tried to remember what the warmth that morning had felt like. The next time they stopped he kept staring at the back of the man ahead of him until a nudge and a few soft words got him to look around. Behind him he could see down into an expanse of greens, browns, and the white of snow that stretched out as far as he could see. But ahead, ahead the mountain dropped once more into another expanse of color. But the strangest was blue, blue out to the horizon. Osita had never dreamed of a lake so huge. The man spoke some more and pointed out somewhere down below the mountain and Osita sighed with relief. No more climbing. Going down would surely be faster.
*****
The days so far:
1) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station (LJ link)
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings] (LJ link)
4) prompt: one for the road(LJ link)
5) write a story using an imaginary color (LJ link)
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called "The Long, Dirty Afterwards." (LJ link)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ link)
10) write a story set in three different time periods (LJ link)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written (LJ link)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ link)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ link)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ link)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip (LJ link)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ link)
18) prompt: a step too far
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM
20) Write the end of the story "The Purple Bag."
21) Roll a d20 twice (Random.Org). Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers
22) prompt: knight in shining armor
23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn
24) prompt: founding fathers
25) write a story set in a library
26) prompt: elemental
27) write a story using only one period. Bonus: write the story using only one /ending punctuation at all.
28) write a story set in a laundromat
29) (from Lilifluff) Randomly pick a number between 1 and 28 (Random.Org) . Re-write that prompt as a Spaghetti Western or Melodrama
30) the story ends with the words "coming up."
(This is a crossposting |
replies at the original post on dreamwidth | Comment at dreamwidth | You can comment on DW posts even if you don't have an account there Using OpenID!)
aldersprig and
kc_obrien's 30 Days of Flash Fiction: Round 2 Meme
My 30 Days of Flashfic: Round 2 Index Page
Day 15 - Prompt: Ascension
Follows from Prompt 7 Frigid. ( LJ Link)
Osita had returned to staring at the snow covered ground as he trudged along with the gray lizard men. He was thankful that at least they were breaking a trail through the deepening snow. Even more thankful that the one who had his rope didn't yank on it like Chipped Tooth had. It was getting to be late in the evening when they finally stopped at a stone building that looked new and unweathered. Only then, turning and looking back did he realize just how high they had climbed up the mountain.
He stood and stared out at the expanse, lit a blazing orange by the setting sun, and tried to figure out where his village had been. After a time he turned away and only then saw the loose end of the rope he had been lead with for the past week. It was simply coiled up and tossed atop a pile of wood. Not even a token loop around a piece of wood to pretend and trap him there. Looking around his head hung again when he considered how long he might survive if he tried running out into the snow with little but a single blanket and... And with one of the Gray Lizards standing next to him once more it was too late anyway.
The man lead him along with a gentle hold on his shoulder, then stopped and pointed in front of the fireplace. "Tayakonilina."
Osita looked where the man pointed and thankfully dropped down to mat waiting there. A freshly lit fire was starting to give the room some heat. Around the rest of the room the men moved about purposefully, one coming over to set a pot above the fire, another relieving him of his pack taking it off to another corner of the room. A little after the one who was cooking returned another came over and sat next to him. A quick glance spotting a coil of rope in one hand.
Sighing he turned and held his hands back to be tied again only to feel nothing. A touch on his shoulder and a gentle push had him turn around again.
"Zhon, takoni. Takonitoa."
With a shrug Osita sat and watched as the gray man made a few small loops in the rope and nimbly feed one loop through another and set to making knots almost faster than Osita could follow. Only the pauses to tighten the loops and keep the piece a flat untwisted band allowed him to figure out how it was being tied. He didn't figure out what was being done until the man held it up to his neck to check the size. The collar was finished and tied on just about the time the cook pulled the pot off the fire. A warm bowl of stew was pressed into his hands while the other man finished tying the collar in place.
He ate his stew quietly and with nothing better to do listened to the conversations even thought he couldn't understand a word of their language. To his surprise, when he finished off the bowl the one who made the collar took his bowl and filled it again and passed it back to him. Saying, "Tayarazha," when he didn't start eating right away, then gave him a thump on his back before going back to talking to the others.
After finishing the second time he set the bowl down and slowly felt along the length of the collar. The gray man who tied it on him watched but didn't stop him. Partway along he found a braided loop of rope hanging off, and kept tracing along until he came to the loop again. Where are the ends? He slowly traced along the length again and still couldn't find the ends of the rope and let his hands fall away with a sigh.
When the cook collected the bowls Osita got up and followed him. Watching as the first was cleaned he picked up a bowl and did the same. Cook watched and inspected the bowl when he was done and gave him a pat on head. It was women's work, but there weren't any here and it seemed safest to make sure they found him useful. They quietly cleaned the bowls and next thing he know he was sitting near the fire again with a blanket draped over his shoulders. A moment later he gave in and lay down and was asleep in moments.
With extra blankets and a spot near the fireplace Osita slept well for the first time in a week. He didn't wake the next morning until one of the gray men nudged his side and set a bowl of roast root vegetables in front of him. While he ate the men repacked and prepared to set out from their stone cabin. The roots looked like they would be tough, but had softened and sweet almost like fruit. Which left him shortly after sitting with an empty bowl while everyone else was busy.
He was embarrassed it took him so long to realize that even now there was still nothing tied onto the new rope collar. If he'd dared and somehow stayed awake he could have tried sneaking out in the night. Carrying the bowl over to where the rest of the dishes were being cleaned he set to work with the cook again Picking up another bowl after finishing his own and work through the stack. He hadn't been hit once since they bought him from Chip Tooth and the others, they hadn't even yelled at him. If letting them think he was weak but useful kept it that way he might survive long enough to get revenge.
Soon everything was clean and packed and the gray men prepared to leave their cabin. Osita found himself in the middle of the group as they returned to hiking up the mountain. Even with the sun up he could soon see his breath fogging up before him as he marched along. At the first stop one of the men looked at his feet and Osita soon found them wrapped in a bit of cloth and stuffed into a fur lined covering. Making his feet one of his warmest parts even after getting to wrap a blanket around himself.
It was the thinning of the trees that first caught Osita's attention after the had been hiking again for half a day. Looking up he realized he could see all the way up to the top of the mountain. As he stared he caught sight of one of the gray men higher up. Why climb to the top of the world's edge? Whether he wanted to or not it was where they were going. None of them would be going anywhere else it seemed, as a coil of rope was stretched out along the line and each of them tied onto it. It wasn't even the end of the second day, but it already felt like they'd spend a week climbing.
He let his mind go numb like he was while following Chip Tooth. Simply stare at the man ahead and put one foot forward after another. At the next stop he chewed on a bit of jerky his was given and simply tried to remember what the warmth that morning had felt like. The next time they stopped he kept staring at the back of the man ahead of him until a nudge and a few soft words got him to look around. Behind him he could see down into an expanse of greens, browns, and the white of snow that stretched out as far as he could see. But ahead, ahead the mountain dropped once more into another expanse of color. But the strangest was blue, blue out to the horizon. Osita had never dreamed of a lake so huge. The man spoke some more and pointed out somewhere down below the mountain and Osita sighed with relief. No more climbing. Going down would surely be faster.
*****
The days so far:
1) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station (LJ link)
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings] (LJ link)
4) prompt: one for the road(LJ link)
5) write a story using an imaginary color (LJ link)
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called "The Long, Dirty Afterwards." (LJ link)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ link)
10) write a story set in three different time periods (LJ link)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written (LJ link)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ link)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ link)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ link)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip (LJ link)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ link)
18) prompt: a step too far
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM
20) Write the end of the story "The Purple Bag."
21) Roll a d20 twice (Random.Org). Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers
22) prompt: knight in shining armor
23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn
24) prompt: founding fathers
25) write a story set in a library
26) prompt: elemental
27) write a story using only one period. Bonus: write the story using only one /ending punctuation at all.
28) write a story set in a laundromat
29) (from Lilifluff) Randomly pick a number between 1 and 28 (Random.Org) . Re-write that prompt as a Spaghetti Western or Melodrama
30) the story ends with the words "coming up."
(This is a crossposting |
replies at the original post on dreamwidth | Comment at dreamwidth | You can comment on DW posts even if you don't have an account there Using OpenID!)