[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.]
Thal sat quietly, considering all that Elder Elowin had told him. "If sitting on the throne will stop The Grimma, will it also stop the gnolls and the human that Kael told us about?"
"If the kingdom of Queen Legodia is risen again, it will unite all of the kingdoms together, and that will defeat the gnolls, and protect us from the human."
"Then what must I do? Where must I go?"
"You must take a ferry across the great river to ...." A rustling noise in the underbrush behind Thal and Elowin stopped her from finishing her sentence. "Who is there?" she called.
El, Lyri, and Kael slowly revealed themselves and came forward. Lyri spoke determinedly for all of them, "Forgive us for eavesdropping, Elder Elowin, but Thal is our friend, and this involves all of us. Wherever he goes, we go with him."
Elowin nodded approvingly and waved the three of them to come closer. "Child, I knew you were there all along. I was waiting to see what kind of friends you truly were."
~*~*~
Alexander took a box filled with small gold bars from where he had hidden it behind a loose brick in the fireplace hearth. He knew the gnolls could care less about the gold, but it would help him convey to them the seriousness of his intention to find the wood elf and others of his kind.
His appearance had taken on a pastey purple shade as his anger and blood pressure continued to rise the longer it took the gnolls to find the elf. His heart worked overtime trying to keep up with the demand, growing larger and thicker with each passing day. But he hadn't noticed. Finding the elves was all he thought about. Finding and destroying them. He barely ate now, and his body had begun to show bones he hadn't seen since he was a much younger and healthier man. Sleep evaded him, and when his mind was able to rest somewhat, he dreamed of Kael and what he would do with him first when he found him.
*~*~*
Elder Elowin continued to speak. "What will be required of each of you, will be to accept the fact that in spite of past differences, you are all connected. You are not simply friends. You are, and always have been, family. All elves are uniquely related. Not simply by blood, but by a connection to the forest, to the animals, birds and trees. You are an extension of the earth by birth."
Kael raised his eyebrows in astonishment but said nothing. His childhood, or rather lack of one, had shaped much of his adulthood. His parents had set the example for his own bad behavior of lying and obtaining things by taking advantage of others. He'd never felt as though he belonged to the wood elf community because of it. Overhearing what others said about his parents, he did all that he could at first to avoid becoming like them. But their reputation was passed onto him undeservedly, and he soon fell into their patterns of talk and actions.
Eldrin looked at the four of them, "Excellent! When can we start on this magnificent adventure?!?!?"