Episode 3: "Destiny"

A impressionist image of a figure walking down a curved tunnel of trees. Across the top in yellow block caps, "DRABBLETOBER".

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 3, for Thursday the third of October 2024.


Destiny

by Elizabeth Guilt

She was born, red-haired and screaming, on the third full moon. The priests took up their chanting.

Her siblings, whom she never met, worked the fields; she was taught to read the scrolls.

They starved and huddled by the hearth; she ate banquets and slept on silk.

They fought among themselves; the priests waited for her to fulfil the Prophecy.

They laughed, and shouted, and danced, and ran; the priests waited for her to fulfil the Prophecy.

And yet, the priests were surprised beyond belief when she escaped out the window, and ran away with a band of strolling players.


It's amazing how many books start with a kid hearing about a prophecy and, lo and behold, by chapter ten there they are, growing into their own and fulfilling it.

I honestly think we need more books about people who hear a prophecy, and run rapidly in the opposite direction.