Spotted ...

   Thal and Kael quietly crept through the trees until they could see the village and its inhabitants.  They weren't wood elves like themselves, but they also weren't gnolls much to Kael's relief.

  He whispered to Thal, "What are you feeling?  Friendly or not?  Has Vondran told you anything more?"

  Thal slowly shook his head no, and motioned to the group before he whispered, "Look.  They are wearing spotted black cloaks."

  Kael's eyes grew wide, and he began to back away into the shadow of the forest when the unthinkable happened.  Stepping on a large stick that cracked loudly, the two of them froze in place as the singing and dancing group stopped and turned to stare in their direction.

  Unexpectedly the wind picked up, blowing hot embers from the bonfire onto the thatched roof of a cottage opposite of where Thal and Kael were standing in the shadows.  Suddenly, all attention was on the fire that was quickly growing in size and threatening to spread.

  As the dancers ran to get water to douse the fire, the two young wood elves took the opportunity to further disappear into the trees and made their way back to where Lyri and Eldrin were waiting for them.  

  "No time to fish, Eldrin, or do any shopping for dinner in the village, Lyri  They are the spotted blacks that Vondran said to avoid, so we must hit the road quickly and get this trip moving.  As quietly as you can, we must circle around the village in the shadows."  Thal spoke with a harsh urgency that revealed his fear.

  He didn't know why he felt so afraid of them and wasn't sure he wanted to ask Vondran for more details.  But he sensed that the further away from the village they could get before dark, the better.

 [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.