The Rainy Day Trip
Part VII
By Saphron (You all know it's me, of course, but I have to have my name printed on here somewhere. Sorry.)
Abandonment (ie: Disclaimer: ::frowns:: I've run out of the best *cinnamon's* for disclaimer, and abandonment really only kinda half-works, but oh well.) I officially 'abandon' the ludicrous idea that anything belongs to me, b/c well, b/c it's ludicrous. Crazy, ridiculous, insane, not possible, absurd, no way Jose, preposterous, and just down right nuts. And b/c everything belongs to Tamora Pierce. ::Shakes head:: Too bad…
A/N: This part is really, really, really, short, and I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, sorry. I didn't want to make it this short, it was supposed to be longer, but it didn't turn out that way. Like I said before, I was a bit of an idiot (only a bit? Let me rephrase that-a big idiot) and 'dug myself a hole that I can't get out of,' as one of my reviewers said. And you were soooooo right, totally screwed myself up b/c I don't know how my characters are going to conquer their itsy-bitsy little problem. Which is bad. Fortunately I got a few ideas from some loyal reviewers (thank you so much!) that were really helpful. And funny, too (read the reviews and you'll see what I mean.) But the reason this is so short is because I don't want to rush into it. This next part is probably going to be one of the most important chapters, possibly even climax, and I really want to do a good job. But I also felt bad about not posting anything for so long (::gasp:: it's been almost four hours since I last uploaded!) so I wrote this down really quick and am going to upload it once I'm finished typing the author's note. I really do apologize for the length, I hate only short F-P (few-paragraph) fics as much as you do, but I figured this was better than nothing. Ok, this author's note is getting long, longer than this 'chapter' if you can even call it that it's so pathetic. But, anyhow, here goes, a few sucky paragraphs…
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The adults were all huddled together, heads bowed, talking softly. The squires were invited to help think of a plan, but all three declined. Joren was moodily staring at, well, nothing, (he's really not very intelligent is he?) totally and completely uninterested in the entire affair; he didn't want to come from the start. The only reason he was there was because his knight-master dragged him along. (And I have no idea why he is even in this story, probably just so I can diss him every now and then. Anyone have any good torture ideas?)
Kel and Cleon had already racked their brains trying to form a plan, but they couldn't think of anything so they left the cluster of men to go sit on the beach and talk or something. Currently the topic of discussion was the ordeal. Kel was still in her early years of squire hood, but Cleon on the other hand, was going to be tested next year, which is a pretty scary thought. She was trying to comfort him by telling him that she believed in him. Which only made Cleon feel worse, because he was thinking, great, now if I don't become knighted she'll be totally disappointed in me and then I would never, ever stand a chance!
A/NSome peeps requested some romance, but this isn't really a romance story, so I'll just throw in one or two little lines here and there, does that work? Yes/no/mebbe? Oy! This is such a delicate topic, (k/c, k/n, how much, how little, how fluffy, etc.) someone is so going to flame me no matter what. Oh well, you know what they say, can't make everyone happy. Oh, and if you want the story to go a certain way then add it in your reviews what you like and I'll try to go with the crowd.
The cliffs were tall and upright. They plummeted right into the water; chances are if you fell off you'd probably drown. A few scouts were sent ahead to go get a closer look at the cliffs, a light fog was setting in and it was hard to tell just how impossible to climb the cliffs really were. Hopefully the rocky sides would be very porous (thanks Noel for the good vocab word) therefore making it easier to scale.
There were two main plans: 1) Go to the beast. The cliff was perforated and climbable, in which case they would use ropes and slings to get up. Problems with that plan included the fact that the cliff wall could be smooth as ice, they also might not have enough ropes or hooks to reach the mouth of the cave. And if they tried to climb the mountain then the beast would surly see them and attack, knocking them off the side to plummet to their doom fifty feet below.
Plan: 2) don't go up to the beast, let the beast come to them. This way they could lie behind the dunes and attack on their own terms via ambush. (Not to mention being on the solid, flat ground.) But the only problem was; how do they get the beast to come down?
Dun, dun, dun-Anybody else have any other plans?
A/A/N: Once again, thank you sooooo much for all of your reviews. I especially want to thank Noel-you're a genius.
A/A/A/N: Not to pressure you to review or anything, but um, yeah, next chapter won't be posted until I get a ton of reviews! Since the next part is so important, I want it to be really, really good and it can't be good unless y'all tell me what you want. Today is Monday of a 3-day weekend after finals, ie: no homework! *Cheers* But starting tomorrow I'm gunna be getting tons (college prep schools can really bite) and probably won't have the next installment until a couple days from now when it hits weekend. By that time I'm hoping for (I won't give a specific number, but I will say A LOT) reviews. And suggestions/comments/criticism. Especially IDEAS!!!!!!! Any and all ideas welcome. (Thanks by the way to Noel and Battgurl and even Briar-sparrows huh? = who have already suggested some) Pleez, pleez, pleez I can't beg you enough.