heirs ...

  Far from where Alexander met his fate, the innocent wood elves continued their journey to find Queen Legodia's throne and the evil King Oom.  Thal would have to challenge him face to face in order to claim the throne and kingdom as rightfully his by birth.  

  King Oom had been expanding the kingdom, but not by conquering adjacent kingdoms in battle.  His method was to bully landowners until they signed away their land for pennies on what they paid for it; or he would take it by eminent domain even if the land had been in the same family for centuries.  Laughing as his men burnt houses and barns, he would toss a few coins to the families that had been heirs born to the land before King Oom was even a thought in his father's pocket.

  It would come as no surprise to Elder Elowin how King Oom had been growing his kingdom, but she wasn't with the four as they traveled again at the earliest hours of the day.  Vondran had been silent as the closer they came to the kingdom, the greater the risk to their lives.

  There are many on this planet we call home that would betray their closest friend or family, neighbor, town, even country for the most minor of reasons for financial gain.  Vondran knew of Kael's past and had reason to believe that if offered the right price, he would betray them all.

  Thal sensed that Vondran was concerned about Kael but couldn't pinpoint why.  It was the least of his worries for the moment because he also sensed that they were being followed.  But no matter how hard he tried to get Vondran to speak to him and tell him who it was, he'd not been able to get a response from Vondran.  He hesitated to mention it to Kael or Eldrin because he didn't want to frighten Lyri... something he needn't worry about.

  At the next break they took for a meal, it was Lyri who brought up the "shadow" that crept along in the woods parallel to their every step.

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts, beginning with the most recent. To start from the beginning, continue to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page until you get to 1 January 2025, then click "Newer Posts" to read the next date. You can thank Blogger for the inability to list them by chronological order under the labels.]

This week's Words for Wednesday prompts can be found here.

thursday...

  It's been a weird week for me, and twice I've gotten my days mixed up.  Stress, I think.  Overwhelm.  Monday was a bit of an early rise for the drive again to Hot Springs for a dental visit and more fillings.  This is the view from the office, and some of the fall colors:

  After that was done, I thought I would go to Gathright Dam and Lake Moomaw [<links] to see more of the fall colors.  Let's just say I found water, but I have no idea where I was or if it was Lake Moomaw.

  After passing the same houses more than once, with my gas gauge clicking down, I made a decision to reset Google Maps to take me home instead.  The damn lake will have to wait until another time.  I did pass by The Homestead [<link] which was absolutely massive, and not at all what I was expecting it to be since all of the signs I'd seen were brown (usually indicative of some historical, state or national park, or natural site, like a waterfall).  It's a bit over the top and in reading up on it, I'm not sure I could have afforded to look any longer than I did in passing it while driving.  The $150M restoration [<Wiki link] that was completed in 2023 needs more than my meager income to be profitable. Ouch!

  Tuesday morning was a really early wake-up to get my pre-ops done before my knee replacement surgery a week from tomorrow.  No caffeine was ingested until well after the lunch hour, so I felt in a brain fog most of the day, even after a frosty diet Pepsi.  

  That afternoon I got a copy of the Utah Sheriff's investigation into my nephew's December 2023 disappearance in Paducah, Kentucky.  It starts with January 2024 when they found the Jeep he was driving at the time he disappeared to when they found his remains on 5 October 2025.  Their case has not yet been closed, pending the final "autopsy" report, and whether or not they were able to find anything on his phone after it had been charged.

  I'm a fan of forensic shows and so the details of how his remains were found wasn't disturbing.  When I'd been told that "remains" were found, not a body, it told me he had been dead for quite some time, most likely since December 2023 since he wasn't dressed for the weather in the area the Jeep or the remains were found.  What has been most upsetting for me that last few nights are just thoughts of him dying alone and afraid.

  I had a dream not long after I found out he'd gone missing, where he came to me and said it wasn't intentional.  He hadn't planned on disappearing; he just found himself in a bad situation that he couldn't get out of.

  His remains were found about two and a half walking hours away from where the Jeep was found.  The Jeep had gotten stuck on a rock, with one of the front tires showing that it had "spun" in the dirt.  There was no snow found under it, so he had gotten stuck before the foot of snow that it was found in had fallen.  The Jeep was out of gas, so if it was late in the day, he might have stayed the night in the Jeep before setting out the next day to what he may have thought was the nearest town or gas station.  He wasn't dressed for a Utah December; he was only wearing sneakers on his feet. His remains were found near a riverbed, with his backpack found near a large log in what might have been an attempt to take shelter from the weather.  His jeans still had his wallet, ID, credit cards and money in them.

  We will always have unanswered questions about what happened, and why.  But I don't believe it was suicide, or a desire to die.  I think it just was what he said in my dream ... he found himself in over his head.

  Still ... 💔 Ci

rage...

   Fortunately for the hotel and the restaurant, Alexander and his merry band of gnolls had moved on the next morning, but the damage to the restaurant's reputation was done.  Now, 24 hours later, Alexander was meeting with gnoll chieftain in what would be the straw that broke the chieftain's less than patient back.

  "I should have known better than to think you would be able to follow my simple instructions.  How difficult is it to find the next town with a large hotel when you have all night to search for one?  Your stupidity and ignorance, and blatant disregard for my comfort just astounds me.  If you think I'm going to lower my standards and join you and your diseased looking lot by sleeping on the forest floor, you are sadly mistaken!"

  As previously mentioned, language was a barrier between Alexander and the gnolls when they first started communicating.  But with time, the chieftain had quickly picked up the English language as he, and the other gnolls, were not as stupid and ignorant as they wanted Alexander to believe.  It was to their advantage to keep him in the dark, literally and figuratively, when it came to who was the more intelligent race.

  Now, the chieftain turned his back on Alexander and began to wave his arms and yell random insults about Alexander to his army as if he were relaying to them all that Alexander had said.  The gnolls were not a shy race, and the moment was not lost to them that the anger of the human might finally mean that they would be feasting well that night.

  Ignorant to the fact that the joke was now on him, and that he was far from any city or town that could save him from his self-created destruction, Alexander stood with his hands on his hips, nodding in oblivious agreement with whatever the chieftain was saying.  Nodding that is, until he realized that the horde were surrounding him and his end was at hand.

  In another 24 hours, the gnolls were still rubbing their swollen and distended bellies, laughing amongst themselves about the stupidity and ignorance of certain arrogant humans who failed to have any regard for others.

  Giving up their pursuit of Kael, and all other wood elves, they made their way back to familiar forests, hauling behind them bones that had been stripped clean of all flesh, muscle, and tendons.  They would reassemble them when they got home as a wind chime, hanging as a warning to others who might doubt their fighting skills and strength.

  For his part, Alexander never did comprehend how they could have betrayed his trust, and to this day his ghost is rumored to haunt that portion of the woods.

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click on the Words for Wednesday 2025 label to the right and it will pull up all of the weekly posts, beginning with the most recent. To start from the beginning, continue to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page until you get to 1 January 2025, then click "Newer Posts" to read the next date. You can thank Blogger for the inability to list them by chronological order under the labels.]

This week's Words for Wednesday prompts can be found here.

brb...

 I'll be right back to continue my Words for Wednesday story (a few days late) but wanted to first get these photos uploaded from yesterday.

It was the annual Fall Foliage Festival in town, which actually won't end until tomorrow.

The Shriners sponsor it, so of course I had to try one of their World-Famous Doughnuts.

Eh, as doughnuts go it was good.  Wasn't a Krispy Kreme, but it was good.

This is a Carpenter Bee trap!!!  I never knew such things existed, and I'm super excited that it does!

They wreaked havoc on my house in the back yard over the spring and summer.

They are made by developmentally disabled adults in one of their life skills classes and sold to help support their programs [same as the bat house below].

I was thrilled that they also had bat houses for sale and can't wait to get this one put up near the front porch.

The Alleghany Highlands Arts & Craft Center where I volunteer was also having a "Back Room & Attic Treasures" sale, which I gladly supported as well.

I got a glass bird bath dish (been wanting one forever!) for just $3!

These were also from that sale, and I got the entire set for $15.  They are from the Enoch Wood's English Scenery line, also known as Woods Ware made by Wood & Sons in England.  Established in the late 18th century, I haven't been able to find much information on this particular maker's mark:

I moved my pretty colanders over to the wall by my pantry cabinet, and I'm still working on where to hang my two kitchen linen towels that were there before.

Okay... now to find the words for Wednesday...