the voice

[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 and Thal spent the rest of the day walking the perimeter of the elves' village, looking at all of the sigils that Thal had placed in his fugue.  At times they spoke of the past, but at other times Elowin was silent which was little comfort to Thal.  Occasionally, she would write an extra sigil near his, sometimes even rubbing out his and putting another in its place.  

  Thal trusted her wisdom more than he trusted his dreams, and as they walked memories flowed back out of the corners of his mind of when he first walked the same paths.  Occasionally, he would shudder with the memory, especially of ones when he was walking in the imposing darkness on nights of the new moon.

  When they finally returned to the village, Elowin looked exhausted, and oddly older than she had when they first set out.  Thal bid her good night and then went in search of Lyri and Eldrin.  He needed to be around friends who could make him laugh and forget all of the nightmares of the gnolls and sigils.

Image Source:
Bill Ward Photography

  Finding the two of them sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, whispering to each other by a bonfire, he almost kept walking, feeling oddly like a third wheel who had just discovered his best friend and girlfriend were cheating on him.  But Lyri had heard a twig snap as he approached, and looking to see who was trying to sneak up on the two of them, saw him.  She jumped to her feet and quickly ran to Thal, hugging him so hard he found it almost hard to breathe.

  "I guess this means you didn't dump me for El."

  Lyri smiled and kissed him.  "Not a chance! Sorry El, but my heart belongs to Thal."

  "Oh, no worries there, Lyri.  I've got my eyes on someone else, anyway.  No offense."

  "Ha, ha, ha, none taken!"

  Dragging Thal by the arm, Lyri and El moved to a log a little farther from the rest of the elves who had started to gather around the bonfire.  Thal watched Lyri closely as he realized that her weak femininity was more of an act than a reality, disguising a strength that was more than just muscles.  He wondered if there was a war brewing with the gnolls if they would be a match for her fierceness.  He doubted it.

  As he was about to tell the two of them about his day spent with Elowin, a quiet, yet firm voice interrupted his thought.

  "Begging your pardon for my rude manners, Master Thalion, but I wouldn't tell them just yet about what Mistress Elowin has shared with you."

  Thal spun in a circle to find the source of the voice and when he saw no one, he realized that it had not been a voice he heard with his ears, but one he heard with his mind.

Better late than never to Words for Wednesday...