I would like to give a very special thank you to my son for his "help" with the drabble this week. His timing was impeccable, though not his luck.

Drabble – Help – 500 Words

He was brilliant today. He had been in the front, middle and back of the battle and had been fearless. Surrounded several times, he cleared the pass to victory and was magnificent to watch. He was Alexander the Great.

No one that was there would doubt his bravery. He walked back to his tent surrounded by his generals, all praising and admiring him, both out loud and silently, for his sheer fearlessness.

Little known to Alexander though, a silent enemy had invaded his domain when he was in the heat of battle. Quietly he had forged ahead, even having the courage to seek shelter in front of Alexander's own tent. And so the two enemies meet head on, face to face, at the tent doorway.

The admiration the generals had been acknowledging was suddenly put into question as the once great King now suddenly started jumping up and down, dancing in circles and emitting sounds that a man should not be making. His arms and legs were flailing as he ran around yelling and screeching in tone his nether regions had not heard for 15 years.

"Get it off of me!" Alexander yelled, "Help me."

By this time the generals had recovered enough to begin to snicker a little, but only out of Alexander's line of sight. Everyone tried to help him but he wouldn't stand still long enough so they could help look for the brave little spider that dared to attack their King.

Just as Alexander started to calm down a bit, the enemy peeked up over the edge of Alexander's chiton to see if the coast was clear yet. Alexander happened to catch sight of him out of the corner of his eye and chaos resumed all over again.

Finally the warrior was captured and someone made the mistake of putting it in Alexander's face to let him know that it was finally over. Alexander practically climbed Hephaestion's body to get away from the little critter. A couple of grins and snickers were quickly muffled with one killing glance from their King. As the generals took the enemy away from the scene of the battle, Hephaestion tried soothe the King's fragile nerves.

Alexander kept pulling at the strands from the cobweb that he had totally destroyed when the battle had ensued. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get them entirely off his poor shaken body. Finally after watching this go on for a while, Hephaestion suggested a bath might help Alexander feel better.

"It is away nice to have a nice soothing bath after a big battle, don't you think Alexander?" Hephaestion said sweetly.

Alexander shot a cold stare back at him.

"I meant to big battle this morning." Hephaestion added innocently.

Hephaestion did get a little enjoyment later as he casually mentioned that he hoped that the spider hadn't laid any eggs on Alexander anywhere, only to hide his smiles as he watched him scratch himself raw the rest of the day.