Paulanos eyes darted back and forth a few times for good measure and ducked back behind the boulder he had been hiding behind and looked down at his wide eyed and semi addled coworker Darro.
"Is it gone?" Darro squeaked as he crouched down nervously trying to stay as close to the ground as possible.
"I think so, I dont hear it anymore" Paulanos said as he turned back towards the open field grassy ahead of them. Beyond was a deep canyon where they'd find safety and the narrow path that lead to their work.
"Why does Babos have to put the workshop way out here?" Darro complained.
"Look Darro I've told you its because Babos is a stooge man. Now come on. On the count of three we go." Paulanos said as he swatted Darro on the shoulder. Darro just whimpered a bit and stood up to get ready.
"Ok. Here we go. 1...2...3!" And with that he started to bound across the field, huffing and panting while taking the quickest path possible to avoid the random boulders laying about. Somewhere overhead he could hear the beasts screeching and roars and the flapping of its massive wings.
Finally he made it to the safety of the gorge on the far end and turned around to watch Darro.
Darro had hesitated before taking off on his run and was now squealing while running haphazardly across the field in a wasteful zig zag motion. He looked like a cluckbird with its head chopped off running around like an idiot.
What's the dunce doing! Paulanos thought to himself.
"Run! Run Darro! Not that way! Over here. Run. To. Me. No!" And just then the Rift Dragon plunged down with its talons and plucked poor Darro off the ground and flew away with him over the next ridge line.
"I told him! The mans an idiot!" He mumbled to himself shaking his head and set off down the trail leaving the field behind him.
The trail was narrow and followed along side a cliff where a steep drop off to one side plunged down into the depths of the ravine below. At one point the path collapsed from a previous landslide. Paulanos always hated this part of his commute. The Rift Dragons weren't bad but jumping across this gap was always a pain in the ass. Each morning he'd find that it had disintegrated a bit further. Making the gap even wider and harder to jump across.
I've told Bados about this so many times and he's still to cheap to fix it! Paulanos lamented.
Paulanos took his ruck sack off his shoulder and then, after windmilling his arm and the bag a few times, flung it across the gap to where it clattered loudly upon landing.
"Stupid Babos" he growled as he backed up far enough to give himself a running start.
"Here goes. I swear if I die this time I'm coming back as a ghost to haunt Babos!" Paulanos cursed and then sprinted towards the ledge as fast as he could, leapt across and landed on his knees hyperventilating and trying to catch his breath.
I swear I hate this job he grimaced and collected his rucksack and checked inside.
"Aww! Would you look at this! Half my things are broken! Man!" Paulanos whined as he rummaged his hand around inside the bag before marching off back down the trail.
Finally after a half hour he made it to the cave entrance that lead to work.
"What is this! Will you look at that!" Paulanos grimmaced as he gestured towards the cave entrance. Along both sides bronze statues had been erected with jets of flame shooting out their mouths into the cave entrance. On the ground next to him was a note. Paulanos bent down to read it.
Polanos,
The trolls ar steeling my suplies again.
I've booby traped the enterance.
Trolls hate fyre.
-Babos
Paulanos clenched his fist in frustration and looked at the fire and then the note again before crumpling it up and throwing it aside.
"Damnit Babos. I swear one of these days I'm going to quit this stupid job!" Paulanos complained as he approached the flaming statues.
For a moment he watched the pattern to the flame jets to figure his timing while shifting back and forth from one foot to the other and then he dove through the flames and rolled on the ground making sure he wasn't on fire himself.
Ahead of him was one last obstacle. A series of gates blocking a flight of steps. In front of the gates were three pillars with symbols on them. Paulanos would have to rotate the cylinders so that the right engravings matched some code and unlock the gates.
Where did I put it Paulanos questioned as he searched his rucksack for a tiny piece of parchment he had written the solution on. Babos had put the locking mechanism on the gates because cave Goblins hated puzzles. Only thing was Paulanos hated puzzles too.
"Damn!" Paulanos bit out as he realized he had lost the stupid piece of paper.
Now, what was it? I think it was this He thought as he tried spinning the three columns. Nothing happened and Paulanos could see the silohuette of his boss Babos at the top of the steps with his arms crossed.
" Boss! I cant remember the pass word! Let me in!" Paulanos shouted through the gate.
"No!" Babos shot back
"Come on Babos just open the gate. You've got the lever thingy right there next to you!" Paulanos pleaded.
"No! You know the rules! I dont want the goblins getting the password!" Babos growled.
"But Babos the lever its right there!" Paulanos pointed at the switch that opened the gate two feet from his boss.
"No!" Babos bellowed.
"Come on Babos! This is bullshit!" Paulanos whinged as he went back to fiddling with the puzzle and fruitlessly trying various permutations spinning the cyphers.
"Hurry up!" Babos barked for encouragement.
Finally after fifteen minutes Paulanos managed to get the puzzle solved and the gates opened up. He ran to the top of the stairs to meet Babos with the best smile he could muster.
"Hello Babos! I am here for work!" Paulanos said with a flourish.
"Your late!" Babos bit back pointing accusingly at him.
"Babos! Thats not fair! I got here in time, you saw me. It was that stupid puzzle you make us all do!" Paulanos shot back.
"I'm docking you eight gold coins pay!" Babos interrupted.
"But Babos I only make five gold coins a day!" Paulanos exclaimed.
"Shut up! Wheres Darros! Wasn't he with you?" Babos questioned.
"Well he was.... but a Rift Dragon got him. I'm sorry Babos I couldn't do anything. " Paulanos tried to explain.
"Good! I was going to fire him today anyways!" Babos laughed.
"Babos thats not very nice. I dont understand why you set up the shop way out here and not in the city like every one else. It would really be a lot easier for us to get to work if-"
"Too expensive!!! Now get to work" Babos interjected and slammed a bag of tools into paulanos arms. "These tools are for an order in Avenrun! They need to be there in thirty minutes! Now go!" Babos barked.
"Avenrun! But I just came from Avenrun! Thats where I live! " Paulanos protested.
"Shut up and get back to work you bludger!" Babos spat and recrossed his arms menacingly.
Paulanos shuffled off carrying the heavy order of tools muttering to himself. "I hate this job"
Hello Hive and Freewriters! This is written thanks to 
@mariannewest/day-885-5-minute-freewrite-monday-prompt-describe-a-typical-commute
Instead of tackling the prompt "your typical daily commute" as a five minute free write, I unexpanded on the idea and came up with a long story describing the arduous commute our protagonist Paulanos must undergo daily to get to his job working for an aweful boss Babos.
Hopefully you guys enjoyed it and got a little bit of a chuckle out of it. I was partially influenced by an old aussie tv series.
I'm almost caught up to todays prompt and on track.
Hope everybody is having a good day, and take care everyone.
Best,
Hidave (formally steemydave)
All images by pixabay.com
