broken trust ...

   Several generations before that of Thal, Kael, Lyri, and Eldrin, and even before that of Vondran, there had been peace in the forests for most of each year.  There were trade and commerce between the wood elves, gnomes, and fairies.

  But at some point, a more competitive wood elf suggested that they hold an annual competition of Olympian style games to see who was really "the best" in the forest.  Naturally, each of the competitors had the full support of their villages, and it was all fun and games.  For a while, anyway.

  No one remembers the whole story of what happened, but what was passed down from generation to generation was that it was suggested one year to have feral tabby cat races down the mountain.  As one could imagine, the race didn't go as planned.  Cats, feral or domesticated, are not known for their willingness to follow commands, especially when there is something small and possibly tasty riding on their backs.

  Later, the story that was shared by the men folk around fireplaces with warm whiskey making the tales longer, was that the village of the spotted black caped clan had deliberately sabotaged the games in order to gain a trade monopoly in the forest.

  The women whispered across clotheslines that it had been the oak clans, while others insisted it was the river clans, or the mountain clans who had been responsible for the massacre.

  Regardless of who or why, the damage was done.  Darkness and distrust began to spread in the forests, and friendships between the elves, gnomes, and fairies were sharply severed.  Soon the wars would begin, kingdoms toppled, gnolls rose up from the black earth and shadows, and The Grimma was born.

 [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.