What Lies Beneath

RWDouble Drabble 2.0.130 — Quarry

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Today’s Twist: Write a 200 word story using the word ‘quarry’ and including dancing clouds!

Prologue: Clouds lied. Rocks listened.

Canto: He came in search of wisdom, not of stone, A scholar with his boots and battered flask; The cliffs around him brooded, cold and lone, As if they’d rather he not dare to ask What secrets lay in granite, chalk, or bone — But still he climbed, fulfilling his set task, And muttered, “Bugger this,” with laboured breath, While fearing not the height, but sudden death.

He wasn’t built for hiking — spindly knees, A scholar’s frame, more parchment than pure brawn. Yet stirred by thoughts of ancient trilobites (And one bright girl in boots at early dawn), He wandered through the crags with gentle wheeze, And hoped his phone had GPS still on. She’d warned him, “Never chase the clouds that dance — They’ll charm you off the edge with just one glance.”

Too late. The mist had twirled across the stone, A spectral ballroom swirling at full spin. He blinked — and found the mountaintop alone, His thesis, flask, and wits all tumbling in. A sheep observed with eyes like polished stone, Then turned away, unbothered by the din. Now back at base, he smiles through broken teeth: “My quarry wasn’t stone — but what lay beneath.”

I wrote this drabble in ottava rima — eight-line stanzas with an ABABABCC rhyme scheme in iambic pentameter — a form made famous by Byron’s Don Juan. I’ve been finding my feet (and metre) with Stephen Fry’s brilliant poetry guide, The Ode Less Travelled. Excellent fun! (See below)

[embed]Rhyme, Reason & a Side of Fry A Review of ‘The Ode Less Travelled’ by Stephen Frymedium.com

A huge thanks to Nancy Oglesby and her wonderful team at Fiction Shorts for the daily challenge. 😊☘️

[embed]RWDrabble 2.0.130 Saturday, May 10medium.com