This 8 sentence blog hop is hosted by The Weekend Writing Warriors. (Click the link for the list of participants, or rules if you want to join!)
“Jabberwock Keys” is a complete just-for-fun short story that could use some polishing. A sorcerer hires jabberwock named Daisy to guard his treasure, given a silver flute to summon her, and with Daisy following, returns to his tower on a spire of rocks, stopping at a tunnel opening in the cliffs below the tower.
The tree tops tossed, and the Jabberwock slid out between the trunks, the bloody haunch of a deer caught in her jaws. She paused and dropped the haunch to the rocks, ripping off great bites, flesh and hide tearing, bones crunching under her powerful teeth.
Finished, she rubbed her bloody muzzle on a patch of grass, before taking several surprisingly dainty nibbles of a nearby bush, shearing it neatly to a stub of a trunk. Daisy crossed the distance between her and the sorcerer with flowing and lightning-quick strides, so fast Magnus recoiled in his saddle, and cocking her head to the side, the Jabberwock burbled inquiringly.
“I need you to stay close to me in the caves,” Magnus said.
The Jabberwock nodded, bobbing her head up and down.
The caves he’d carved into the rock, shored up with magic and metal supports, were large enough for the Jabberwock to pass through, so Magnus rode his horse into them, and when he glanced back to check on her, not trusting his ears in the weird echoes of the caves, she was studying the way intently.
As they emerged from the darkness into the bright light bathing the exposed cliff-top, the Jabberwock stretched her wings and neck, enjoying her freedom from the tunnels.
* * *
Due to NaNoWriMo, I’ll probably be a little slower than usual, but I still value your feedback, frazzled as I am!
caitlinsternwrites 
I want a Daisy! 😀
A jabberwock is a lot of responsibility. You have to take them on walks, and play with them, and feed them… or they’ll eat your neighbors. 😉
eat your neighbors? Where do I get one? (jk)
I like the gory details of the Jabberwock devouring the deer.
She is an enormous carnivore. They don’t tend to be neat with their meals. (At least she doesn’t eat them live, like a snake.)
I love Daisy;). Wonderfully visual descriptions and intriguing details. Looking forward to more.
She is pretty popular, for something that would send most people screaming in real life. 🙂
I think you’ve spoiled me for any other kind of pet now. Is it weird that I find Daisy adorable in spite of her horrendous dining habits?
It could be a lot worse… She could have the dining habits of an alligator, or Komodo dragon, who like their food well rotted.
That Jabberwock has a voracious appetite!
She’s reptilian, so I figure she eats a big meal once a week or so. That deer did disappear pretty quickly, though.
Great imagery! Very visual snippet.
Thanks! It’s fun to decide what Daisy would look and act like–she’s an interesting monster.
I tried to comment on your post, but got an error message three times in a row.
Sorry!
Your descriptions are getting better and better each week. Dainty Daisy cleansed her muzzle in the grass. How adorable. The world isn’t expansive enough to contain her.
Daisy can’t help how she’s made, but she’s still a lady–a large, toothy, carnivorous lady, but a lady nonetheless.
Love “shored up with magic and metal supports.” Great visuals and hint of interesting relationship between Magus and the Jabberwock.
My first thought when something is done by magic alone is that you’re in big trouble if the spell fails. Magnus is smarter than that. 😉
Great details! The Jabberwock is so compelling to me 😀 Nice 8!
Thank you. She’s great fun to write!
Eat the neighbors, you say? (Rubs chin thoughtfully). Well, everyone has said it but Daisy is awesome. I wonder how well Magus will do handling her.
Got some neighbors you want to get rid of, do you? 😉
I’m glad everyone is enjoying Daisy.
I love Daisy, especially the dainty way she eats her vegetation LOL. I’m still wondering what on Earth Magnus has to protect that requires the services of a Jabberwock! Excellent excerpt!
Magical stuff. Rare, dangerous, magical stuff. 😉
Daisy the dainty Jabberwock! So in love with her, and your imagination : )
She is quite a fun character.
The name Daisy is fantastic, even though a large carnivore has to live as nature intended, it still is such a contradiction (at least in our mind’s imagination). I like how she nibbles on the brush daintily, cocks her head to the side and burbbles. Great snippet.
Daisy practices good dental hygiene–she’s using the branches and leaves as a toothbrush/breath freshener.
(And there had to be burbling, right?)
Hmmm…I don’t think the sorcerer would want to upset her. Daisy seems to be quite capable of about anything. 😀
She could definitely make a human being go the way of that deer, if she wanted.