Staircase to Nowhere

A stone staircase curved as it ascended
in the Enchanted Forest miles away
from anything. Into air it wended.
Sarn approached and a hush fell..Run away,
his sixth sense screamed. A strange light burned silver
above where the stair plucked from a mountain
stronghold ended in nothing. Shivers
disturbed the branches’ weave above, often
signifying nothing, but winds passing.
A malevolence settled like night’s chill
on that dislocated stair focusing.
Sarn circled it, his sixth sense’s warning shrill.
Ascend and see what happens or go back,
return to the search for the lost boy’s track?

~ ~ ~

Sarn stood there ’till a hand grasped his shoulder,
spun him ’round to face his other master.
“Did you go up it?” Angry eyes smolder.
Nolo’s black face says they must be faster
to save the lost boy from enchanted trees.
Sarn shook his head. “What is it. Why’s it here?”
“I don’t know, but they always come in threes,”
Nolo said, “You steer clear of them, you hear?”
Back to the search they went but Sarn couldn’t stop
thinking about that staircase in the woods
where none ought to be with nothing to prop
it up, just air to enclose it and woods.
Next time he saw one, he vowed to explore.
Climb to the top, uncover its allure.

~ ~ ~

Read more about Sarn in the Curse Breaker Saga. An upcoming kindle book will feature an expanded version of this scene once I figure out where the staircase leads.

You can also find more vignette-style poems about Sarn and other characters from the Curse Breaker Saga on my Tales of Shayari page.

Prompt courtesy of FRIDAY FICTION with RONOVAN WRITES Prompt Challenge #2 and Jennifer Nicole Wells‘ posts on staircases in the woods drawn from fictitious Search and Rescue stories.