Jareth had banished roller skates from the castle, which was a concept that Sarah had never expected to face. While this made her home slightly less chaotic, the same couldn’t be said of Goblin City.
Someone Above had wished the skates away and they’d ended up in the junkyard. If they’d been the kind of skates Sarah had as a child, the goblins would have either ignored or eaten them, but these were an older kind. She didn’t know if this was old stock being disposed of, a wish that had fallen through time or an old cache of junk recently uncovered.
The goblins had soon discovered that adjustable roller skates could be fitted to a wide array of feet and there were now hundreds of goblins sporting wheels. They fell into two camps and were either incapable of staying erect or possessed of the skills of a professional hockey player.
Skating on cobblestones was not an experience Sarah wanted to try, but the same couldn’t be said of the goblins. It wasn’t just the issue of the streets being filled with flailing goblins and their rapidly moving, better balanced brethren, it was the sound, as the vintage skates sported metal wheels. Aside from the loud clatter, the upright skaters were quick enough to kick up sparks and several small fires had already been started.
Sarah looked over the chaos from a balcony in the castle. She was impressed at how the skilled skaters easily wove around or jumped over their less balanced counterparts. Although gracing the fallen goblins with a face full of sparks as they whizz past did seem to be a tad rude.
“How soon do you think before they tire of this?”
Jareth leaned on the balustrade, watching as a shopkeeper upended a jug of water over smoldering straw. “Hard to tell.” The shopkeeper brandished the empty jug in a threatening manner at the skaters who were making another pass of her business. “It’s always better to let them either get it out of their system or to break their toys, but I don’t know how much longer the skates will hold up under their punishment.”
Sarah bumped Jareth fondly. “They are a toy that was designed for children to play with on roads and sidewalks,” she reminded him.
Jareth huffed in amusement. “Even the most feral child couldn’t match the damage potential of an enthusiastic goblin.”
“I didn’t think I’d be so grateful for their chaotic natures,” Sarah laughed, before pointing out a bright cascade of sparks that had ended in a goblin bouncing off a wall before cursing his feet. “That may bode well for their fun coming to an end.”
Jareth motioned to a similar mishap in a nearby street. “It looks like you are correct in your assessment of their entertainment winding down. Shall we find somewhere quieter?”
Sarah wrapped her arms around Jareth and smiled. “Most definitely before they wrestle a replacement set from one of the fallen and start again.”
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labyfic —
drabble #216: thunderPart of the
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badly_knitted
