path: root/posts/2026-01-25-tower-on-the-moor.php

<h1 id="tower-on-the-moor">Tower on the Moor</h1>
<div class="description">

<p>
<a href="https://nat1publishing.com/wcwc/">Nat1's Winter Court</a> is a prompt-driven writing challenge! The goal is to write a short story with specific parameters once a week throughout January. This is my third submission for the fourth week. Get your copy of <em>Winter Court: Year One, 2026</em> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0GRGCJXL8?ie=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.P6OQNY7CnMVR1NvzlNriw55uoLAqWRgKV7YvnNSTlblycrsGvTmM1qr-W4MubFtYqZrLQlTiNcPsR3lrwwYhgQKvldz63JOVkJ3POEFphu3Kz8-FqWYsru2H2Q09Zt_980GMbqJ8caQYwac5YZw54nxAGdHSoxK6feTaJfu2WXfa6dM_Wen2eAwcXlbCY66hEGs8YChjKd9ARRXos6xPTgVM5piP1XNkQ2sn0gNJXm0.pK7Qt86-fJhop6akBeOXQ27ioBaO9IRTLun4nzj22BE&qid=1772932438&sr=8-1">here.</a>
</p>

<p>
<em>Prompt</em>
<br>

The cat in the library is essential for everybody’s safety.
</p>

<p>
<em>Required components</em>

<ul>
<li>A spiral staircase</li>
<li>A pair of homonyms used in the same sentence</li>
<li>Petrichor</li>
</ul>
</p>

</div>
<p>In far off place and distant time</p>
<p>Did warming rays of gold light shine</p>
<p>On earth and leaf of grassy moor</p>
<p>Where old rain called up petrichor</p>
<p>’Tween river and deep sea’s embrace</p>
<p>Great arching tower of wood face</p>
<p>And torches bright with orange flame</p>
<p>A library’s figure proclaimed</p>
<p>Where weary minds and feet found rest</p>
<p>And hungry readers’ eyes were blessed</p>
<p>With stacks of shelves and quiet nooks</p>
<p>That teemed with mountains of old books</p>
<p>For these they quested far from home</p>
<p>Some to consult a magic tome</p>
<p>Or maybe ancient tales of dead</p>
<p>Perhaps the secret to good bread</p>
<p>Among the rafter’s bird’s eye view</p>
<p>One could perched see the tall corkscrew</p>
<p>And watch the bustling visitors</p>
<p>Close, open and pass through oak doors</p>
<p>To access volumes leather bound</p>
<p>Did that great staircase spiral round</p>
<p>It twisted up and down again</p>
<p>To airy spire and deep dark den</p>
<p>One not secured by lock or key</p>
<p>For every title there was free</p>
<p>All written truths were on display</p>
<p>To be enjoyed through night and day</p>
<p>Old myth and fact on heaven’s grace</p>
<p>Deep secrets hid in that grand place</p>
<p>‘Mong reams of childrens’ painted scribbles</p>
<p>All these belonged to old wise Nibbles</p>
<p>This Nibbles, guests would speculate</p>
<p>Kept to himself to concentrate</p>
<p>They did not know or failed to see</p>
<p>The true form of this addressee</p>
<p>Since teacher, bookworm, study too</p>
<p>Could truly not be sure just who</p>
<p>He was he came and went as pleased</p>
<p>To rub his chin upon their knees</p>
<p>Mentees ignored his trotting round</p>
<p>The tower’s dorms and maintained grounds</p>
<p>His spritely hunting of white rabbits</p>
<p>And lengthy, lazy sleeping habits</p>
<p>In fact they paid no mind at all</p>
<p>To that cat’s slumber in the hall</p>
<p>Yes, whiskers white and coat of gray</p>
<p>Adorned the master of their stay</p>
<p>Curled up in lap he sometimes read</p>
<p>Whilst getting pet upon his head</p>
<p>Rare times at their fingers he nipped</p>
<p>One man’s notes were freshly ripped</p>
<p>But for their respite so secure</p>
<p>In his great tower on the moor</p>
<p>Did Nibbles have but one lone rule</p>
<p>Books mustn’t cross the vestibule</p>
<p>These writings he would share with all</p>
<p>Should never leave his reading hall</p>
<p>To take a book twas leant not sold</p>
<p>Was certainly a crime of old</p>
<p>In the dark nightfall wreathed in black</p>
<p>Dared bands of bandits to attack</p>
<p>With quiet, skulking thieves to take</p>
<p>His tomes but not for learning’s sake</p>
<p>Whilst raiders leered and lurked about</p>
<p>The cat’s sharp claws did protrude out</p>
<p>Those not asleep up high in dorm</p>
<p>Saw Nibbles in his lion form</p>
<p>Great razors grew from small cat claws</p>
<p>To befit shaggy mane and paws</p>
<p>So massive, gray, and outraged he</p>
<p>Defended his vast library</p>
<p>He crept and stalked the thieves of night</p>
<p>Who wished that they had died of fright</p>
<p>Instead he rent them flesh from bone</p>
<p>And purged their bodies from his home</p>
<p>When twilight waned and dawn arose</p>
<p>Would Nibbles yawn and twitch his nose</p>
<p>Exhausted from his dim campaign</p>
<p>And he became tomcat again</p>
<p>So beast of claw and sharpened tooth</p>
<p>Curled up again on window booth</p>
<p>No reader ever was the wiser</p>
<p>They just presumed him a late riser</p>
<p>And thus the tomcat of the halls</p>
<p>Did keep his books to share with all</p>
<p>For questers coming to and fro</p>
<p>To seek the orange torchlight glow</p>
<p>Not once would they raise the alarm</p>
<p>While on his watch they saw no harm</p>
<p>Don’t try to ask to them; they won’t say</p>
<p>They minded not the cat of gray</p>
<p>Birds and rats and rabbits too</p>
<p>Know Nibbles more than humans do</p>
<p>And keep his secret without doubt</p>
<p>They do not dare to rat him out</p>
<p>Should journey you in place and time</p>
<p>Heed this bird’s warning of short rhyme</p>
<p>Ye burglars had just best beware</p>
<p>The fat old cat with the gray hair</p>
<p>Who slinks among his books and purrs</p>
<p>But after dark he grows and stirs</p>
<p>There’s no place for wayward crooks</p>
<p>Among the stacks of Nibbles’ books</p>