Heir of Obsidian (A Throne of Glass Fanfic)

9 - Breakfast Tempest

Asterin grasped the ivy covered window sill, sinking her nails into the soft stems as she flipped herself into the now-empty throne room. Her bare feet protested against the cold marble of the floor, but right now she didn't even care about the aches and pains of being a morning person. What they had just heard was life changing, but in what way she wondered . She looked back down to Benji, who was struggling to find his grip on the slippery, tangled ivy.

Come on, slow poke, you need to get a move on if you want to catch those Valg in the next hundred years."

Benji huffed a laugh. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not as practiced at being sketchy as you are." Asterin rolled her eyes and watched as he painfully tried to get a better grip on the ivy.

His hurried movement sent a large jolt down the green rope, which pulled taught with a snap. The large string of vine ripped away from the building and plummeted towards the ground.

"Benji!" she exclaimed, mirth lighting her voice. "Stop destroying your castle."

He groaned, "I'm sorry it's not my fault you made it look easier than it actually is, besides, I'm so excited my arms have gone all stupid and weak." He looked at her imploringly. "This is my chance, Asterin."

She looked down at him a little skeptically. "Hold your horses, we haven't even left the castle yet." She returned his imploring look with one of mischief. "Besides, if you can't even conquer this plant... " Benji cocked an eyebrow in mock offence at her not-so-subtle baiting.

"Let me demonstrate." he decreed. She smiled at the knowing expression and his huffing laugh as he crouched a little to catch his breath.

A leopard launched at her from where moments ago a her friend had been awkwardly clinging to a wall. She watched as he prepared to leap to the window, an easy feat for his leopard form. His front paws grazed the windows edge as he jumped upwards. He was going to make it. Snap. And suddenly those back paws, mere seconds away from launching powerfully over the sill, were yanked back in an almighty lurch. Asterin eyes widened in disbelief and she quickly leant over to see what the hell had happened. And what she saw was both very concerning and ridiculously hilarious. Benji was dangling obscurely by his tail. A vine wrapped tightly around it, locking him in place. The idiot could have just done a chin up. He wriggled and tried in vain to scramble up the wall but only seemed to be succeeding in cutting away the fine greenery sprawling the castle wall. The fine greenery that was stopping him from falling.

She swore, he really didn't think this through at all did he. With quick movements she wedged herself securely against the window frame and leaned her body dangerously out over the ledge, precariously balanced. Her hips scraped the edges of the sill as she careful lowered her whole upper body down to reach her friend. She grabbed onto his back paw and avoiding his claws she yanked. The leopard let out a yowl. Whether from embarrassment or pain she couldn't care less; for across her in one of the fields, she spied the young stable hand who had been chasing her, just yesterday. He seemed to be heading from the stables to the kitchen courtyard and to her surprise had not noticed the precarious situation they were in. Please don't see us, please don't see us, please don't see us. But the Gods were dead and luck was not on their side. The stable hand looked up and gawked. She redoubled her efforts.

Muscles straining she managed to untangle the ivy constricting his tail. It fell to the ground below and she jolted forward as she took his full weight, his leopard form now dangling only by the strength of her arms. And, as she now realised, her ability to do a sit up while holding him. She looked down hair curtaining her face as she unintentionally made direct eye contact with the gawking stable hand, now standing almost directly beneath them. She pictured herself pulling a helpless, squalling leopard into the two-story window of the castle, practically by his tail. It was absurd and she could only imagine what they were thinking. She raised one of her hands in a friendly gesture, mistakenly transferring his weight to only one arm. The imbalance of this stance caused her to lurch forward, feet slipping slightly on the window frame. They began to swing and Benji yowled again, this time more frantically. Instead of being reassured by her wave the stable hand now had rather terrified expression on his face and his hands were up as if he planned to at least attempt to catch them if they did indeed fall. How had this gone so wrong. She gritted her teeth and again grabbed Benji with both arms but continued to smile cheerfully at the stable hand. It's fine, everything's all fine.