The Spirit Well Read online

  Legends of Windemere:

  The

  Spirit

  Well

  Copyright 2016 © by Charles Yallowitz

  Kindle Edition

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Design & Illustration by Jason Pedersen

  Legends of Windemere

  Beginning of a Hero

  Prodigy of Rainbow Tower

  Allure of the Gypsies

  Family of the Tri-Rune

  The Compass Key

  Curse of the Dark Wind

  Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue

  The Merchant of Nevra Coil

  The Mercenary Prince

  Tribe of the Snow Tiger

  Charms of the Feykin

  Dedication

  To everyone who has entered Windemere

  And left their mark upon its soul

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Prologue

  Nyder Fortune curses under his breath as he stands on the high platform and repeatedly fires glass orbs at his dangerous resources. The projectiles burst upon impact and release sleeping powder onto the heads of the dragons whose mouths are bound by metal muzzles. Demonic workers hurry to complete their task of removing the great beasts’ wings and placing the parts in a large bin. Acting as warnings, broken bodies are still stuck to the walls from where the dragons smashed the less careful of their torturers. The back of the factory has been opened up to Shayd’s barren landscape in order to allow the collection of powerful tails to flail without collapsing the building. Staring off into the distance, Nyder groans at the sight of more subjects that he needs to work on and gives up on trying to keep them sedated. As much as he had hoped to make the procedure as painless as possible, the dragons are too willful and strong for his sleeping powder to have an effect. Only a few of the beasts have fallen into a light slumber and the gnome is well aware that they will awaken as soon as he begins his real work.

  Wiping his hands on his lime green pants, Nyder returns to his table where a collection of schematics are sitting. The inventor ignores the large, red-scaled dragon whose head rises above the railing and lets out a rumbling growl. Fire drips out of the beast’s restrained lips before it attacks the yawning gnome. A blinding light causes the workers to stop their work and stare at the crackle of energy that erupts from the powerful barrier protecting Nyder’s lab. Created by Baron Kernaghan, the spell is potent enough to splinter the dragon’s snout and send it crashing to the factory floor. It remains whimpering on the ground until the gnome hits a button to release a spray of healing potion. The great beast struggles back to its shackled feet and eyes the inventor with a renewed sense of confusion and fear.

  “Don’t be too happy since I need your pieces intact,” Nyder says while sliding large goggles over his red eyes. Wiping the sweat from his bald head, the gnome jots down a note to thank his master for the protection. “This isn’t going to be easy with only the demons to help. Might have to approach the chaos elves and convince them to work the forges. I have a bunch of food that could work as payment since most of it is still edible. Dammit, Trinity! Why did you have to betray us and leave me shorthanded? I was always nice to you, so there was no reason to make me suffer. Great, I’m talking to myself again. Kind of lonely around this place with everyone either dead or exiled.”

  “You still have me,” Yola Biggs declares, the former Chaos Goddess appearing as a doodle on one of the schematics. The immortal tosses her rapidly growing son out of the picture, the laughing toddler landing heavily in Nyder’s lap. “I’ll always be around to help you, Lord Fortune. Never getting rid of me. Nope. Uh . . . Can you draw a door or window for me to get out of here? Don’t worry, Walter! Mommy will be out soon and then you’ll get your feeding. I ate a lot of your favorite sandwiches today.”

  “One second,” the gnome says before handing the giggling child a rattle. The toy shimmers as Walter waves it around and releases a spell that puts the child into a trance. “Last time you brought your son here, he tried to turn my factory into a mechanical elephant. So I’m giving him a timeout for a bit. Kids need discipline, Yola, and your spawn is showing to have very little regard for reality.”

  “Guess he takes after me.”

  “Not sure if that’s better or worse than him following in his father’s footsteps.”

  “He did that this morning. It was cute.”

  “Where is our master and benefactor today?”

  “Let me in and I’ll answer your question. I think there are wolves in here and I don’t want them to bite my elbows.”

  Nyder chuckles as he draws a pack of mechanical wolves, the images coming to life and racing toward Yola. He erases them before they can do more than surrounded the former goddess, who has created a tree to climb into. After a minute of mindlessly tapping his pencil, the gnome makes a simple window on the page and steps back as green hair sprouts from the schematic. The tresses slither across the table like a swarm of furry snakes that blindly grope for the edges. With a friendly giggle, Yola’s head comes into view and her eyes shift colors until stopping on a sharp yellow. Nyder is quick to catch her hand when it appears that she is about to fall back inside, the inventor barely able to haul her out of the picture. Both of them glance at the mesmerized child and wonder if he is trying to contain his mother, but he appears to still be enamored by the rattle. Satisfied that the black and white-skinned woman can finish freeing herself, the gnome retrieves a jug of water and two goblets.

  Naked and smiling, Yola stretches her arms and cracks her back by spinning her upper body in a full circle. Accepting the offered drink, she takes the rattle from her son and crushes it into a fine powder. With a wave of her hand, the enchanted dust travels across the factory and forces all of the dragons into an obedient trance. Yola takes a seat and hoists Walter onto her lap where he relaxes in the crook of her elongated arm. The immortal looks like she is about to nurse the toddler when she opens her chest like it is a kitchen cabinet. Instead of her ribs and organs, there is a plate of steaming sandwiches and two glasses of milk sitting on a wooden shelf. Walter claps his hands and sits up to reach his lunch while his mother sips at her water.

  “Arthuru had business to attend to in the Chaos Void,” Yola explains before turning her hand into a napkin. She licks the fabric until it is soaked and roughly gets some dirt off her son’s face. “All he would say is that it has been a long time since he needed to travel so far into the other realm. My orders are to continue nurturing Walter and help you get the army ready. Both will be needed soon. I assume for a party or to play a big game of chess. Personally, I’d rather play checkers because the pieces taste like ham and the winner gets to dress the loser up in poison ivy.�
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  “Now that you’re no longer a goddess, it’s a lot creepier when you say random stuff like that,” Nyder claims while organizing his schematics. He steps on hidden buttons to raise several empty posting boards out of the floor and goes about pinning up his plans. “The master’s Weapon Dragon army will be ready eventually. I know he won’t like that answer, but it’s the best I have. I need more workers with experience, which means someone has to either kidnap me a bunch of gnomes from Nevra Coil or convince the chaos elves to return to the forges. The demons are great at removing pieces without killing the dragons, but they are terrible at creating the mechanical parts. One would think they were born only to destroy and cause pain instead of help make new life. So, do you think you can talk your best friend’s people into helping this old gnome out?”

  Yola scratches her head with a pair of arms that sprout from her lower back, the fingers massaging her itchy scalp. “I promised Trinity that I would keep them safe and this place is dangerous. Then again, they need to earn a living. Without work, they’re just sitting around and telling stories. Also throwing rocks and jumping on squares, which I don’t understand. Trinity would be angry if I let them get lazy, so I’ll bring them over. The shields around them stay and you give them three meals a day. Oh, and they get nappies at noon . . . or is that Walter?”

  Removing the shelf from her body and fusing it to the edge of the table, Yola stands and lets her son float to the floor. Skipping to the far side of the elevated lab, she creates a swarm of swirling portals around her body. Each of the discs shows a chaos elf, the cobalt-skinned figures resting in their caves. Most of them are children, but the villains know that they are just as experienced as the adults. In an ancient tongue that reminds Nyder of a snake being throttled, Yola explains the situation to the mortals and appeals to the darkness in their blood. The manipulative tactic causes the chaos elves’ skin to lose some of its color until the immortal stops talking. Nodding their heads, the lifelong servants pass through the portals and land in the nearby forges. With several snaps of her toes, Yola makes fire erupt from the gathered coals and has several illusions of the needed parts appear before the workers.

  “I sense that you did something I shouldn’t tell Trinity about,” Nyder mentions as he joins his companion. Even from so far away, he senses a few flickers of aggression coming off the chaos elves and nervously taps his fingers on the railing. “I promise to give them food and water while they work. Once the parts are made, they can go home since I’ll be using golems to help me build the Weapon Dragons. These new models require more prep work, but it’s easier to put them together. I guess this is what we do since the champions have one temple left. The master has been rather elusive about his plans.”

  “Our dear Baron has had a plan involving the Spirit Well for a long time. Even Stephen didn’t know about it,” Yola says as she creates a hole in the ceiling. Returning to her child, she tosses Walter into the sky where he steals a piece of cloud before he falls into her arms. “I’ve been with Arthuru longer than most, but this part of the game is a mystery. To be honest, I’m not sure what is going on now. He only wanted to destroy and stop the previous champions, which makes sense since they are supposed to have the power to kill him. This group is getting treated differently. Almost like he’s letting them advance and only challenging them enough to make them grow stronger.”

  “I’ve had the same thought, which makes me wonder if I should hold myself back on these creations,” the gnome admits before feeling a dull pain in his temples. Fearing that his master is spying on him, Nyder falls to his knees as if to beg. “Not that I would do so because I swore to always do my best. The point I was trying to make is that it feels like we have sacrificed a lot to gain so little. On the other hand, these champions killed Stephen and may be better than we realized. Not so much strength, but a tighter team than their predecessors. You would be surprised how far a group of weak people can get when they unite for a common goal.”

  “Like a bunch of ants tossing a bear into a volcano?”

  “Not feasible, but you got the gist of it.”

  “Do I get a treat?”

  Nyder is about to insult the immortal when he feels a cookie appear in the pocket of his ugly yellow shirt. Rolling his eyes, the gnome tosses the snack into the air where Yola snatches it with a net-like tongue. Before she can enjoy her prize, Walter splits her tongue in half and lets the cookie fall into his mouth. The child sprouts an inch and spits out a few baby teeth to make room for their replacements. Yola sighs and places her slumbering son on a bed that drops from the ceiling. The sheets turn black and coil around Walter to create a cocoon that covers everything, except his fluttering eyes.

  “They grow up so quickly,” the immortal says with a few sniffles. “Can he sleep here, Uncle Fortune?”

  Nyder rubs his bulbous nose and gently takes the woman by the hand. “No. I have work to do and your son is scaring the demons, which in turn is terrifying me. So I’d appreciate it if you take him back to the castle. It’s less dangerous there. You can decide on whose safety I’m concerned about.”

  Pouting like a scolded child, Yola hops onto the bed and stomps hard enough to send it through the metal floor. The gaping hole fades away while Nyder holds onto a hook that prevents him from falling into the shrinking abyss. He breathes a sigh of relief when the factory stops shaking and his workers return to their jobs, all of them afraid that the former goddess will return. Dragging a seat to the middle of the lab, the gnome calmly examines his plans and creates large illusions of his new beasts. Focusing on the translucent Mace Dragon, Nyder alters the image to split its club-like feet and move the studded balls an inch off the ground. A wicked grin is on his face as he makes the last minute alterations and imagines the sky being filled with his beautiful creations.

  *****

  Standing atop the roaring waterfalls, three deities examine the remains of Rhundar the Feykin city. With the ground having collapsed, the ruins have been swallowed by a deep lake that is fringed with vine-covered trees. The broken remains of a temple sit in the middle of the water, its top remaining above the surface to become home for various animals. Most of the creatures are rodents that are attracted by the lingering smell of death or simply curious about the quiet coming from the once vibrant city. Colorful birds soar over the area to nest beneath the protective falls while river otters dive to examine a submerged forest. Birthed from the graves of the Feykin, a tight network of palms have grown from the muddy earth. Each one is topped with a glowing flower that matches those found scattered about the bottom, the plants connected by thin, ivory roots. Several of the trees have grown tall enough to pierce the water, their stiff fronds home to frogs and newts. Monkeys use these islands to jump across the area, many of them fearful of predatory fish that are found in the other bodies of water. Little do the animals realize that without tributaries or rivers, Rhundar Lake is isolated and only an outside influence could bring such dangers to its depths.

  Gabriel turns away from the elaborate graveyard and watches a seven-headed beast wander across the horizon. His keen eyes pick out the details of the Akota’s shell, which has regained its hypnotic luster and sprouted a willow on its top. The guardian is tending to the large tree that sits in the center of the Birthing Land, which the god has not visited since before the Great Cataclysm. Like before, he finds the place underwhelming considering most life was created on the plateau. Uninterested in dwelling on the past, Gabriel glances at the goddesses who have joined him at the edge of the revived holy land. It is not surprising that Zaria stares at the lush landscape with tears in her eyes. The Purity Goddess is old enough to have developed a connection to the region, one made stronger the day she gave birth to her own daughter on the plateau. The dark-skinned deity with jeweled wings and ivory snakes for hair appears less interested in her surroundings. In fact, Gabriel is sure that the Jewel Goddess is bored and one step away from returning to Ambervale.

  “Please speak your mind
, Jayde Pentis,” the Destiny God requests, startling the woman out of her thoughts. He glowers as she yawns and lets her hair hiss at him, one of the serpents spitting a glob of acrid poison. “We have some time before our guest arrives. Though I warn you that I will remove any pets that bare their fangs at me again. This is your only warning.”

  “I have no reason to be here, so I want to go home,” the robe-wearing goddess whines. She floats over the roaring falls and dips her footless legs into the water. “This place is nice, but not very sparkly. Reminds me of the water plane, but not really. You know, I have gifts to accept from my followers, so I’d like to leave.”

  “I have to agree with Jayde,” Zaria interjects, her crimson hair waving in the breeze. She kneels to touch a familiar patch of earth, the whisper of a crying baby echoing in her ears. “If you wanted to ask for her help then I am afraid your words fell on deaf ears. The Hoarding One has no interest in these events. At least not since it was deemed that those with psychic powers did not require their own deity. Need I remind you that it was a decision you pushed forward under the guise that it wasted Jayde’s time.”

  Sensing that their guest is still several minutes away, Gabriel nods his head and moves to the edge of the falls. “I know she no longer has an insight into Dariana, but that is not why I asked her here. My true concerns do fall into her specialty. Do you sense a change in the Compass Key’s power, Lady Pentis?”

  Jayde runs her tongue along her fangs, which causes several drops of stone to fall into the water. She stretches her arms to display an array of bracelets and rings, all of the colorful gems reflecting rainbow light for miles in every direction. With her white eyes closed, the goddess sniffs the air for the taste of the Compass Key. She practically drools at the potency of the relic’s magic and excitedly imagines the perfectly polished orbs set in ancient silver. Reaching out with her power, the Jewel Goddess follows the energy across Ralian, but stops when her hunger for the gems grows too strong. Fearing that she will get herself sealed again, Jayde plants her legs into the earth and becomes a statue of black diamonds.