Sigils ...

[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 here to be taken back to 1 January 2025, and then look for chapters to appear weekly between Tu-W-Th]

  Elowin Sableleaf had been watching Thal from a distance for quite some time since he returned to their forest.  She knew something had happened to him, but since all she knew were rumors and overheard whispered conversations, she wasn't going to rely on anything but what she heard from Thal himself.

  That afternoon she followed him through the forest until he finally veered sharply to the edge of a creek and lit a small fire.  She watched as he took a burning brand from the fire and used it to draw a sigil into another log nearby.

  "What are ye drawing there, Thal?"

  Thal jumped as if she had stuck him with her hatpin and tried to hide the smoldering brand behind his back.

  "Nothing, Elder Elowin.  I was just drawing something I saw in a dream."

  "A dream, eh?  You just became an impromptu artist of the forest, have you?  You ought not be drawing things that come to you in dreams, lad.  Not all the things in our dreams are good."

  "Does this mean something?"

  "Aye, it does.  But are you certain you don't know the meaning of it?"  Elowin watched his face to see if his eyes averted or he blushed in a caught lie, but his eyes stayed clear and worry etched his face instead.

  "Come, sit here with me, lad, and I'll tell you of a time my great granny took me on holiday."

  Elowin spoke softly and slowly of the history of the wood elves, the forests before time was counted, and the ways of their ancestors.  She spoke of magic, invisible armies, and powerful sigils for both good and evil.  Thal sat transfixed, listening to her words until he became unaware of anything else but her eyes and the sound of her voice.  She told of how other forest creatures had been their constant companions and protectors.

  He vaguely remembered seeing paintings in some of the oldest tree caves of creatures that no longer walked the Earth, and he wondered to himself if that was what she meant.

  "Yes, lad.  Those paintings were created to honor our companions who sacrificed their lives to save us."

  "Wha ... but I didn't say anything.  How did you know that was what I was thinking?"

  "It's a gift from my great great great granny, and one that I think you might also have a touch of.  These dreams of yours, how do they make you feel when you wake from them?  Do they frighten you?"

  "No.  Well.  Not at first because they were just dreams.  But then I started to wake up and feel an urgency to walk the woods in all directions.  Then later, I would sometimes feel like I was waking up again, like I'd been sleepwalking or something, and I'd find smoldering fires and these signs I'd drawn on rocks or trees.  That's when I started to feel afraid because I didn't always remember starting the fire or drawing the signs.  What do they mean, Elder Elowin?"

  "I doubt this will be much solace to you, Thal, but I believe that this sigil is for protection.  I would have to look at the others to be sure."

  "Protection from whom?  Or what?  How would I even know how to make them?"

  "I believe it is our ancestors that are using you through your dreams, Thal.  And as for protection from what, I think it is an evil that your generation hasn't ever faced before."

It's not a dream ... it's Words for Wednesday again.