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.