More Janet and dragons, forests and planners … I might one day go back and pull them together into a proper short story. See what threads I’ve lost!
Hopeless trying to sleep. Not tonight. Janet lay in the vast feather-mattressed bed and stared at the moonlit ceiling high above her. She had forgotten the grace of this room, her bedroom high in her parents’ castle, with its stone arched ceiling, tall windows, and a wide balcony overlooking the forest beyond the castle’s walls. Not her parents in the village where the planners were devising a terrible future. This was her king and queen parents, whom Janet, Dragon, Pixie and Fairy had once rescued from the Terrible Green Giant, and saved the Forest from destruction.
Janet hadn’t thought about those times in a long while, busy with her university studies and her work in the city. And if she did, she might smile at her youthful imagination. Although something deep within her always stirred at the memory – a sense of other self, like a phantom limb.
She had been right to think this. She rolled over, knowing she should sleep, prepare herself for what would come tomorrow. It was hopeless.
Janet slipped from the bed and walked onto the balcony. The warm summer air enveloped her like a silk gown. Janet lightly grasped the stone wall and gazed out over the forest, silvered in the moonlight. Like the other forest, the one under threat from the planners and developers. She shook her head.
The appearance of the Goblin King had had the two men in the Council office staring open-mouthed.
When questioned, the one with the fuzzy chin who had cried out, ‘What are you doing here?’ turned out to have been a long ago classmate of Janet’s.
It took her a while to remember him. When she did, she said, ‘You’re Simon, the boy who was in trouble for writing a story about dragons and fairy princesses with flowing golden hair.’
Simon blushed. ‘Yes, that was me.’ He stared at her. ‘And you were the princess riding the dragon. I saw you once, when I was very small.’
The Beefy one found his voice. A loud laughing voice. ‘Is this a play of some kind? Am I the butt of some huge joke?’ Before he received an answer he killed the laugh with a scowl, turning it from Simon to Janet. ‘Ok, fun’s over.’ He waved at Janet and the Goblin King. ‘You two get out.’ And to Simon, ‘You get back to work.’
Simon stared at his boss who blinked at this apparent mulishness.
Janet and the Goblin King exchanged a look.
‘No,’ Simon said. ‘I’m done with your destructive plans.’ He took two steps across the office to stand by Janet. ‘I’m on their side.’
Janet grinned. The Goblin King waved the sword, nearly cutting into Simon’s waist, and cried, ‘Victory will be ours!’
‘You two stay here, destroy these plans and then meet me tomorrow.’ Janet strode to the door. ‘There are things I need to do to put a total stop to all of this.’
On the balcony in the castle, Janet sighed. The things she needed to do were going to be very difficult. And time – as the great green moon here reminded her – was running out. She hoped her cousin Sophie was on her way – Janet needed her. Like she needed to get some sleep.
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SHE STARED AT THE MOONLIT CEILING
She stared at the moonlit ceiling, too excited to sleep.
Tomorrow was her big day – the day she would marry George.
At long last he had proposed. Only taken him 10 years – 10 years of sitting on a knife edge waiting for him to finally see the light.
Katrina sighed. What a battle it had been. Flirting, encouraging, open suggestions about a future together.
But George was your perennial stick in the mud. Katrina felt that even hitting him over the head with a lump of wood would not have changed his behaviour.
Made him see this adoring maiden in front of him whose only goal in life was to please – regularly and often.
Oh, George was always there. Turning up for breakfast, lunch, dinner (thanks Mrs D) but never apparently wanting to make a move towards the lovely, blonde vision he had known since childhood.
It was only when Mrs D (her mother) had suggested to that he might like to take Katrina out, perhaps become her boyfriend, that he had looked sideways at his adoring fan and reluctantly agreed.
Dating was more of a pain than a pleasure – but Katrina simply had eyes for no one else. George was her dreamboat and, no matter how badly or indifferently he treated her, she stuck by him, despite the efforts of her close friends trying to convince her otherwise.
Other boys fawned over her, first at school and later university, but she would not be dissuaded. George was her man, and that was all there was to it.
Then came the day when George finally proposed. And, again, it was at the behest of Mrs D that that only came about.
“How about you propose to Katrina and start planning a life together?” she had said. “After all, you have been taking her out for 10 years now.”
“But we have a life together,” he had protested. “I see her all day, every day.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Mrs D had replied. “You virtually live here. May as well sleep here since all I ever do is feed you. You need to start a life on your own together – in your own house. Start planning for a family.”
“Oh, see what you mean. Ok then. Hey Katrina. Come here a minute. Wanna get married?”
Katrina couldn’t believe it. Finally. Success. They were going to be a proper couple.
And tomorrow was the big day. Of course, that is if George could be bothered turning up.
Well, really? Doesn’t sound like a good bargain to me!! Hope they’re happy LOL
Janet is becoming a bit like a warrior queen here. Queen Boadicea perhaps?
But what she will do next, I have no idea …