Here's my August Prompt for Castaway's Kingdom! You have no idea how hard it is to write about snow in August. (Specially since I haven't had a snowball fight in years, darn you warm weather!) I hope you enjoy this story, I spent a lot of time on it.
Disclaimer I do not own the Castaways. I do however own their Kingdom.
Snowball Battle
Central Park ~ 2005
Thick gray clouds covered the skies of New York City; matching the winter white blanket of snow that covered everything for miles around. The wind had a crisp whip like feel to it to all who ventured out into the open, and cut through layers of clothing like a knife through fog. In the dim afternoon gloom Christmas lights could be seen lining every important building surrounding Central Park, giving it a halo of golden lights.
A boy and dog walked in-between the naked trees, staring up at the sky above. A single snowflake gently floated down, moving one way, then the other as the wind blew it around, finally landing on the youth's nose.
The boy, blond and with eyes the color of the sea, winkled his face as the snowflake melted on his exposed skin. He was dressed in a blue ski jacket that was slightly too large for him, and jeans that had the ends rolled up and tucked into a pair of old working boots. A home knitted scarf was wound around his neck and he smiled at the thought of the old lady who had given it to him as a thank you present for what he and his dog, Ned, had done for her.
His dog in question, bounded about in front of him, sniffing at trees and at the skeletons of bushes. The boy smiled at the Labrador's antics, glad his friend was enjoying himself.
"Looking for squirrels?"
The dog paused, one paw hanging in midair. He sniffed indignantly. "I am doing no such thing!"
This time it was the boy's turn to sniff. "Then pray tell me, what are you doing?"
The Labrador's head cocked to one side as he considered the question for a moment, and then replied, "Distracting."
The youth frowned, not sure what to make of his friend's words. So instead he decided to look into the dog's thoughts for the answer.
Suddenly Ned lunged at him, catching him off guard. The great black dog plowed into him sending him flying into a nearby snowdrift. "I was distracting you from that!" said the dog cheerfully, wagging his tail vigorously.
The boy sat up; face raw from its encounter with the snow. Deafly he shook his untidy hair, dislodging the snow from it. "That, Ned was uncalled for."
"Oh really Ben?" Asked Ned, trotting up to his fallen figure.
"Yep!" Before his dog could read his next thought he scooped up two great handfuls of snow and dumped them unceremoniously upon the dog's head.
Ned scrambled backwards, shaking himself and sending snow flying everywhere. Then he stalked off, head and tail held high. "Huh! If I had hands I'd snowball you into submission. That would teach you!"
Ben laughed, a clear sound in the muffled silence the snow created. "You started it!"
The dog gave an audible huff, sending mist from his mouth. Ben laughed again but then gave a sudden "oomph" as a snowball slammed into the back of his head. Turning around, Ben saw a boy, about the same age as himself, tossing a snowball up and down in the air in a threatening manner.
He was dressed mostly in the same clothing Ben himself had on, though the other boy's seemed to be slightly newer. His head was mostly covered by a furred hood; with brown hair sticking and eyes narrowed. "Are you on their side?"
The Eternal stood at ease, it was just a snowball after all, but folded his arms in a diplomatic way. "That depends," he said, "what are my choices?"
The newcomer stopped tossing the snowball, but still held it ready. "There's my side, and then there's the other side."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "And you're talking about what exactly?"
"A snowball fight. I thought you could have been sent from the other side to ambush us." He said, glancing at Ned and then around the clearing.
"No ambush here." Stated Ben.
The boy shrugged. "Well there shouldn't be, at least not for a few minutes if they're honoring our rules."
"Rules? They need rules for a snowball fight?" thought Ned.
"Maybe it's more than just a fight." Out loud he asked, "Can me and my dog be in it?"
The other boy's face switched from suspicion to interest in a heartbeat. "Okay then, that would make the teams even anyway! I'm Cody by the way; follow me to the base we've made. I'll introduce you to the others!"
It began to snow lightly as the troop set off, winding they're way through the trees. Ben crammed his hands in his coat pockets, glad to have proper winter wear this year. Soon they reached a kind of clearing, where two girls were packing snow onto an already thick wall in-between two tree.
"Oi, we've got company," Cody called out to the others. The two girls stopped what they were doing and glanced over him and Ned. One girl had obsidian black hair that flowed down her red jacket. She wore a gray hat, but besides that was dressed similarly to the girl next to her, who had a hood covering her head, so only her blond bangs could be seen poking out.
They eyed Ben carefully, giving him a once over and then glancing over their fort wall and past the brook where Ben could see another fort being built.
"He's not apart of them, I checked." Said Cody rolling his eyes. "Like I wouldn't of checked before bringing him here."
"Well your known for doing stupid things." Said the black haired girl unabashed.
"Which is why you asked me to be on your team?" he asked sarcastically causing the blond hair girl to blush. "They flirted me onto their side." He muttered to Ben.
Upon hearing this, the blond haired girl blushed far deeper, but the other just snorted and turned to Ben. "Welcome to the fort of smart people. Population: me."
This time it was Cody's turn to snort. "The smart ass is Kate, don't turn your back to her. The other girl is Megan, she's nice enough."
The Eternal nodded, then said, "I'm Ben, and this is…" he trailed off, looking around him. Ned was nowhere to be seen!
Kate grimaced. "I think your dog's a traitor." Through the trees, the group could see the Labrador making his way over a stone bridge that separated the two sides of land. Tail wagging; he made his way over to the opposite side and trotted over to the other fort.
"Um, Ned? Mind filling me in on what your doing?" He heard his dog huff as he replied.
"What do you think I'm doing?"
"Well it looks like you've gone over to the other side."
The dog snorted. "I'm acting spy of course! I can relay information to you."
Ben was silent for a moment before saying, "Ned…this is a snowball fight. Not War World Three."
"Trust me, if you were listening to these guys over here you wouldn't know the difference."
"Whatever. If you get hit by friendly fire it's your own fault."
The rest of the group, unaware of the mental conversation that was going on between dog and boy, started to prepare ammunition. Cody glanced at Ben before pulling out a spare pair of gloves from his pocket and offering them to him. "Here, your going to need these or your hands will drop off."
Ben took then gratefully, quickly pulling them over his already numb fingers. Megan crouched down and crawled around the fort, inspecting it for weak spots. "It's all good on this side, the water we put on froze nicely. A hundred percent sturdy!"
"Alright everybody, let's go over the plan one more time since Ben hasn't heard it." Said Cody after they had a generous amount of snowballs and scooped fresh snow over to create more.
Kate rolled her eyes and looked at Ben, and said, "You throw snowballs, dodge snowballs, and you keep an eye out for anyone sneaking off from their base to take us by surprise. Got it?"
He nodded mutely and Kate turned to smirk at Cody, who grimaced in response.
"In coming!" came a thought in Ben's head.
Without thinking Ben threw himself down on the ground as a snowball flew through the space he was standing and burst apart on the back of Kate's head.
Cody and Megan froze. Even the yells and shouts from the opposite bank quieted for a moment once they realized who they had hit. Kate's mouth twitched, and a glint appeared in her eye. Slowly she turned, bent down, and picked up a snowball. With all her might she threw it at the opposing side. Ben heard the sound of a muffled swear word come from the other fort.
"That was the first, and last time I will he hit today." She gritted out through clenched teeth. The battle had begun.
Ned lay in the snow, ignoring the cold and watched as the occupants of this fort threw snowball after snowball at Ben's team. According to Ben, not many found their mark, but all of them with the exception of Kate had been hit several times. Ned yawned. It was nice to lie down and rest his paws after days of traveling, listening to the youth's shouts.
He gave a doggish chuckle as a snowball fell slightly short of him. Apparently Kate had already hit everybody, and wanted to add him to the list. "Not going to happen." Thought the dog.
"I wouldn't get cocky if I were you." Warned Ben in the dog's mind; "She's getting right mad over here."
"Well these guys are plotting to storm your fort in a minute. Two of 'um are about to sneak out the back and go the long way around to ambush you. The other two are going to just pelt you like their doing now."
Silence…then; "Alright, we'll handle it. Now I'll just have to find a way to relay the information. Oh, and Ned?"
A snowball came close to hitting him, scattering bits of snow onto the dog's paws. "You threw that at me!" Even from the other side of the stream, Ned heard the chuckle.
Ben crawled forward army style, peering around the wall just in time to see two figures in dark green snow coats dart out from their fort and behind a snow drift. Grinning to himself, he pulled himself out of the way of an on-coming shot. "Guy's, two of 'um are sneaking off for an ambush. Any ideas on what to do about it?"
Megan threw a snowball that collided with another one in mid air, sprinkling the ice that was no man's land with debris. "That's Kate's job. She can handle them."
Kate grinned an evil grin. "I can do better than that! Ben, come with me. It's time for the hunters to become the hunted!"
The tow headed lad followed her, both of them moving quickly through the trees until they reached the edge. Ben stopped, peering out to see if they had been spotted. Kate meanwhile kept going, running at full speed for the bridge. She then threw herself into a slid and disappeared down hill under the bridge.
The girl's hand poked out from underneath and motioned for Ben to hurry. Glancing worriedly about him, the boy ran into the open. He slid like Kate did, and found him self in a small hollowed out area that was void of snow. In the dim light he could see Kate breathing shallowly, trying to get into a better position.
"Why'd you run out in the open? We could have been seen!" Ben asked in a horse whisper. She gave him a look he was beginning to recognize as, 'The Kate look.'
"Why wouldn't I?" she whispered back. "The two coming to ambush us will be two busy keeping their heads down and trying not to be seen. The other two at the fort are in no position to warn them that we know. If they did see us, then they know it's two on two and they'll just hope for the best." She finished, packing some snow from the edges into two snowballs and handing one to Ben. "Start making as many as you can. We'll be able to hold them off here and they'll have nowhere to run while they're on the bridge."
Ben winked at her. "I'm not gonna let them get pass me. You can count on that!" Together they pounded together snow, each taking it in turns to glance out to the other side of the bank. Suddenly Ben spotted a patch of cameo, showing plainly against the white snow. "Dumbass." Muttered Kate to her self and rolled her eyes.
Silently, they waited until the pair made it half way across the bridge before scrambling out, snowballs in hand. The two boys were taken completely by surprise, both unarmed and standing in the open. Both sets of snowballs found their mark and they had another two ready to throw.
The would-be-ambushers turned to run, but both found themselves slipping on a section of ice. Kate charged forward, pelting them with snow and calling insults to both off them. One of the boys made a lunge for her, missed, and ended up falling back down again. After receiving a well-aimed hit in the face from Ben, the attacking force decided to cut their losses and turn tail. Once reaching the safety of cover however, one boy let fly a snowball, this one made more of ice than snow. It whizzed towards Kate who simply turned her head to the side, letting it pass without interruption. With one last glare, the pair turned to flee.
Ben let loose one last snowball catching one of the boys in the back before they were out of sight, hidden by the trees. Both boy and girl were breathing heavily from their brief but victorious battle, mist spiraling up before them. The Eternal turned to his comrade, and said, "I take it you know them then."
Kate looked at the spot where the two had disappeared. "One of them was my ex."
"Ah. And the other?"
"My brother."
"He's not going to be happy."
"He's a big boy. He'll get over it."
Ben snorted in amusement and turned and began walking back to the fort. "Come on. We should get back to the fort. They're going to be out numbered two to one over there."
Cody and Megan had been outnumbered for a few minutes, and were glad when Ben and Kate returned to base. Ben glanced up at the darkening sky. Where had the afternoon gone? Already it was getting dark; soon they wouldn't be able to see straight, let alone hit a target.
A snowball imploded on his shoulder, but he ignored it. It wasn't the first, or even the tenth. Slowly, the snowballs stopped raining down on them, and likewise they slowed too. They were tiring, as was the other team. Finally, they stopped, and listened. Nothing.
"They're leaving." Came a voice in Ben's head.
"We won?"
"Looks like it. One of them jammed something into the wall of the fort. It's too small for me to make out. Come over and look for yourself."
Ben stood from where they had all been leaning against the wall, taking a break and not talking. For the first time in some while, he didn't have to fear getting a face full of snow. "I think its over."
Megan stood up, followed by Kate and Cody. "Yeah, I think so." She said.
Cody's face broke into a large grin. "We so won!"
Kate just scoffed. "Duh. My team always wins. And next year I won't get hit once!" She looked up at the sky, then at the rest of them. "It's getting late. I'm gonna have dinner soon. See you all later." After a few steps she paused, squinting into the darkness. Suddenly she bent and scooped up a pile of snow and launched it into the night. "Dumb mutt." she muttered and headed off.
Megan was the next to go, waving a gloved goodbye to them.
Ben motioned to the trees. "I've got to go get my dog. He'll be around here somewhere."
Cody nodded. "Anytime your bored, we'll be around here sometime of another."
The blond headed boy nodded, then walked into the trees, heading towards the bridge. In the dying light, he made his way over to where Ned sat, waiting patiently for him to arrive.
"I didn't get hit once." Said Ned smugly.
"Don't tempt me. There's still plenty of snow lying around. Now what did you want to show me?"
Ned motioned to a spot on the wall with his nose. "Right here."
Ben looked at it and it glinted softly. Carefully he dug it out. It was a marble, clear in color and slightly larger than average.
"Huh." Was all the lad could say.
Muffled footsteps came from behind and a form materialized from out of the gloom. It was Cody, and he seemed slightly surprised to see Ben there. "Oh." He said and looked at Ned. "I see you found your dog. I wonder if you can find something else for me?"
Ben held up the marble. "This what your looking for?
Cody nodded. "Yeah. It's our trophy for winning. We have contests a few times a year. This was one of them."
"That would explain a lot." Stated Ben. Then he glanced down at his hands. "Oh yeah, I guess these are yours." He pulled off the gloves and handed them to the other boy.
The boy shrugged. "Keep them. I owe you for helping out. Kate's a real help but we were still outnumbered. Besides I have another pair at home."
Ben gave a small smile and pulled the gloves back on.
"Well, I've got dinner to go to. We're having pork chops tonight!"
"Sounds good." Commented Ben, trying not to think of hot foods. He heard Ned's mental groan at the thought, but ignored it.
Cody tilted his head sideways. "You want come for dinner? I'm sure my parents won't mind and you can call your parents and ask."
Ben grinned. "That would be great. Just great."
It began to snow.
In case anyone was wondering, they spend the night under the bridge. Please Review!