Jack's biceps rippled as he climbed hand over hand easily ascending the gigantic beanstalk that had sprouted in his backyard. Taking care of his aging widowed mother and her house had left him with an athletic build desired by any twenty-year-old man.
He looked down at the small cottage-style house below. He had put his youth on hold to care for her. In addition to his job in town managing the finances for the local pub, he was the sole caretaker for her home that had been in her family for generations. He had all of the responsibilities of a husband without the wife or any of the pleasures a wife could add to his life.
He climbed with anticipation, the sun beaming brightly, lighting his way upward into the sky. There was magic in the air; a crackling sensation of static electricity and heat.
Magic was undeniable to Jack. He had only thrown that handful of seeds out of his bedroom window last night and now a beanstalk towered over his mother's house; an impossibility without the workings of mysterious forces. That crazy old man on the road to town had exuded an aura of enchantment that made the hairs on his arms stand up. He didn't have a choice in trading his mother's cow for the beans. He was rendered powerless from the first moment of eye contact. He didn't like that feeling. A virile man like himself liked to be in control at all times.
He had been traveling upwards for more than an hour. Any other man would have been out of breath and straining to carry on. But Jack was nimble; there was no challenge here yet. He had heard stories of castles in the sky and couldn't wait to confirm or deny the theories.
He squinted to view his destination in the bright sun. In several yards, the beanstalk disappeared into a bank of white clouds. His pulse quickened, not from the exertion, but from the eagerness of what lie ahead. Something propelled him forward; something more than curiosity.
The air changed as he went through the cloud cover. Cool, damp, and ominous, the quality of the atmosphere felt like the result of dark magic.
He shivered. For some, this would be a moment of decision. But he was never one to back down from a goal and he believed that there was something at the top of this beanstalk that he was meant to experience.
His belief in magic should have made him more cautious, more apprehensive about the unknown above him. Instead, it compelled him to accelerate his climb.
The cloud was not large and it required few upward steps to break through. Finally, the fog cleared and he paused to take this leg of the journey with more vigilance. He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't reckless either.
The top of the beanstalk emerged into a grassy field. The leafy tip barely showed as it swayed in the tall grass. The sun shone again in a clear blue sky but the foreboding presence still lingered.
As he pulled himself out of the hole, he remained in a crouched position to investigate his surroundings without immediate detection.
The field bordered a large piece of manicured property. From this angle and distance, he struggled to assimilate what he saw. About half a mile away stood a massive stone structure. It featured turrets, peaked roofs, and arched windows. Jack's jaw dropped.
He was staring at a castle in the sky.
There was a semblance of a path leading to the building which had grown over from lack of travelers. He followed it remaining in his crouched position until he broke through the long grass. He planned a route to the castle which took him off the path and hid him from the view of the windows as much as possible. This involved ducking behind trees, running behind hedges and crawling near flower beds.
A small outbuilding stood next to one such flower bed. He took a minute to catch his breath next to its wooden wall. Just as he dropped to his knees and started crawling beside the tulips, a melodious sound floated out of the garden shed.
It was a woman's voice and she was singing an unfamiliar song that was both forlorn and beautiful.
He froze. Should he duck and stay there until she left? Should he risk being seen to scramble back to the side of the shed? But there was no time for indecision because her voice grew louder as she exited the shed.
The instant silence screamed his discovery.
He stood, brushing the dirt from his trousers, to stare into the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
She boldly held his gaze without fear or anger. She looked at him curiously as if she had stumbled upon a deer or rabbit stepping into her garden. As the seconds passed, he saw daring in her stare while the rest of her face remained passive.
She finally broke the eye contact to regard him more fully. He took the opportunity to do the same.
Her hair was a golden blond and she wore it in a thick side braid. Her skin was smooth and tanned suggesting she spent many hours in her garden. Long natural lashes framed her eyes. Her pink lips were full and he had trouble tearing his eyes away from them. He imagined how they would look arched in a big smile and how they would feel locked with his. His trousers suddenly felt a little tighter.
He guessed her age to be about thirty based on her smooth skin and the maturity he saw in her face. She wore a sleeveless shift-like dress that billowed around her bare legs, its hem just inches from the ground. Her noted her feet were bare too on the soft grass. The neckline of her dress was v-shaped and stopped just above her cleavage. Her breasts looked full and generous, but small enough to hold themselves up without undergarments. As his eyes paused there, he was surprised to see her nipples suddenly appear hard and projected through the thin material of her dress.
He looked up to see her cheeks had reddened and their eyes locked again. The fullness in his groin would soon be visible as well.
"Hi," she said. There was still no smile; just that level gaze with her head tipped slightly forward.
"Hi."
"Did you climb the beanstalk?"
He gave a slight nod as his response.
"Few have made that journey and lived to tell the tale," she stated unemotionally.
While Jack pondered these words, he sensed he had nothing to fear from the woman standing in front of him.
"What is your name?" she asked.
"Jack."
"Jack," she repeated. A couple of seconds passed before she spoke again.
"You have nice eyes, Jack."
Jack felt as if he were in a trance. He couldn't pull his eyes away from hers.
"Yours are special too," he said.
She took a step toward him.
"You're having quite an effect on my body, Jack."
