It began to rain the next day. The angry, swollen sky spat at the forest below it, spewing cold, wet bullets to rap viciously against the leafy canopy and squeeze through every possible gap to sting the traveling Elder. Griffin yanked his long, black fur-lined coat tighter around him, but didn't bother to pull up the hood. The winds would simply tear it back off and besides; his hair had already collected an uncomfortable amount of water and remained plastered to his face. The others shuffled through the sheets of pelting rain, limbs shaking violently with every step. Although they had all changed into winter clothes the night before, the change in wardrobe did little to keep out the numbing cold now that the clothes had all quickly become damp and heavy.
"Do you think it's possible to make something water-proof with our magic?" Solar asked, half-halfheartedly trying to ring out the bottom hem of her cheetah-print coat.
"Wouldn't matter now," Jolt grumbled, his gray coat turned black in the rain.
"It's cold," Cyanus complained from beneath Gilda's coat. The old wisp had snuggled Jubilee and him tight against her sides, blanket-like coat tented over top them all.
"And wet," Sir added, lifting his arms in disgust to show that the rain had adhered the mint green sleeves to his arms.
Taru whined in miserable agreement. The dog's long, fluffy fur had shrunken in against his skin, hanging down beneath his chin and belly in dripping, peaked clumps.
"Da dog reeks," Celadon commented, keeping a good distance away from Taru.
"Wet dog never does smell good," Starlight agreed, attempting to cover up her nose with the purple collar of her coat.
Night Shade remained by the dog's side despite the odor, though Griffin wondered if she really had a choice.
"Gilda, it's so cold!" Cyanus grumbled again. "Make the rain stop."
"Is that possible?" Pounce asked curiously from where she was hopping around at the head of the group.
Griffin glanced at Night Shade, expecting a snarky reply, but the red-glowing wisp simply continued to stomp sullenly through the rain without a word.
"I hate rain," Sir grouched, attempting to shake off the water from his wings. "Quite unsophisticated."
"It could be worse," Fern spoke up, trying to sound positive despite the water staining her brown coat black and the violent trembles wracking her limbs.
"True. We could be even wetter," Pounce agreed, skipping around the group then leading the way once more. The cat-eared wisp playfully jumped in a puddle, splashing everyone and speckling her white coat with mud.
"Quit it, you stupid cat!" Jolt snapped, brushing off the front of his coat as if the muddy water were a disease.
"Cat?" Pounce echoed, looking around in a bemused daze at the trees as if looking for something.
"Jolt!" Starlight protested.
"You're wet anyway," Fern pointed out. "A little more water isn't going to harm you."
"Yeah but that freak drenched me in mud!" Jolt retorted, nose wrinkling in a snarl.
Solar frowned. "Seriously? Drenched? I can barely see any mud on you."
Jolt jabbed a finger at the front of his coat. "Look at that! That's brown! That's mud!"
"Yeah and there's like three specks of it." Solar rolled her eyes, a mixture of exasperation and irritation flashing in her eyes.
YOU ARE READING
The Land of Green and Gold Part II: Silence
Fantasy*On hiatus until the rewrite for book 1 "Flight" is finished. Also note that chapters 1-19 are being rewritten and will actually form the final part of book 1* Long ago there were humans and a magical people called Elder. The humans despised the El...
