LEGENDS OF GREEN ISLE
The Forgotten Spell
(Book One)
CONSTANCE WALLACE
LEGENDS OF GREEN ISLE: THE FORGOTTEN SPELL
by
Constance Wallace
Copyright © Constance Wallace 2015
Cover Copyright © Sandip Choudhury 2015
Published by Chimera
SMASHWORDS EDITION
(An Imprint of Ravenswood Publishing)
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher and/or author..
Ravenswood Publishing
Raeford, NC 28376
http://www.ravenswoodpublishing.com
Printed in the U.S.A.
ISBN-13: 978-1518888441
ISBN-10: 1518888445
Table of Contents
The Beginning: Act One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dedication
Carlene Dockery, my friend, brave enough to read the first draft Lonnie Henderson, “Chief” Editor for his help in reviewing the very first draft
My wonderful children: Chase, Calle, and Kelsey. These books are for you and your children. I created them with my love.
THE BEGINNING
ACT ONE
The smell of rotting food overwhelmed the young dragon as he awoke slowly from a forced slumber. Shaking his horned head, he struggled to move the shadows from his thoughts, his reptilian eyes adjusting to the darkened enclosure.
“Aye, dragon, and what did ya do to make the Flower Fairy Queen pin ya in the dungeons?” a sharp annoying voice asked from across the cell.
“What do you mean?” the dragon questioned irritably. Regaining his focus, he squinted into the dimness around him, hoping to see what caused his aching head so much trouble.
“Just what I be sayin’. Whatcha do? Ya be locked up just like me.”
Peering into the gloomy light, the dragon saw a small man dressed in a brown jacket and green trousers. A dingy derby hat rested cockeyed upon his fire red hair, and the jacket appeared to be patched with small bits of felt. The redheaded individual leaned upon the far wall with his hand in his pocket, smoking a small pipe and grinning from ear to ear, waiting patiently for the dragon to size him up.
“Whatcha be? A fledgling?” the tiny man finally asked, squinting and pointing the tip of his pipe towards the small dragon’s snout.
“I’m no youngster, leprechaun. I’ll have you know I’m considered a giant where I come from.” The dragon snorted unpleasantly.
“Yeah, if ya be living with Queen Onagh and her flower fairies,” the leprechaun laughed, slapping his knee.
Rising, the six-foot dragon adjusted his stance in the cramped space. His head pounded from the rough journey he had endured, locked within a cage in the back of a rickety wagon. Thrust into the tight prison, he had not a smidgen of space in which to turn around. Not in the best of moods, he eyed the leprechaun with doubt, contemplating the thought of either ignoring him or devouring him. “Best be careful, little man, I’ve not eaten for two days, and you’re looking mighty tasty right now.”
Holding his hands up, the leprechaun drew back, his smile disappearing. “Now, I was havin’ just a wee bit of fun. No need to threaten with the teeth. My name be Lamfada. I was once the great blacksmith for the Fomorian King before the Great War with the Black Warlock, Uthal.”
“I’m DaGon, the record keeper for the Elf Queen, Erulisse...well, not anymore.” Sighing, he lay down on the straw in the corner. “I’ve made a grave error in judgment, trusting the wrong creature with a certain artifact. So the Fairy Queen gave orders to have me imprisoned here, until my fate can be decided.”
“Aye, thrown to the very depths of Crystal Palace.” The leprechaun lit his pipe and leaned against the cold stone, silently offering his sympathy. “Queen Onagh is not the forgivin’ kind. I should know. On the morrow she wishes to put me head in the gallows noose.”
DaGon tilted his scaly chin. “Why would she do that? What have you done?”
“It’s what I didn’t be doin’ that she is angry with,” Lamfada replied sorrowfully. He blew a large smoke ring towards the low ceiling, his eyes swirling with some inner turmoil. “She is treacherous, that one. Wants me to remake a magic key. One that I once created for the Fomorian King, without the Fairy Queen’s knowledge. Secrets should remain secrets, if ya be knowin’ my meaning.”
“A key for what?” The dragon inched closer, intrigued.
“It be a key for a map. One that leads to a valuable treasure.”
“What kind of treasure?”
Lamfada shook his head. “I don’t be knowin’ ya that well, Mr. DaGon dragon, to give ya any more information.”
The two stared at each other in silence for a Moment, until the leprechaun cursed under his breath. “Okay, okay, ya pulled it out of me. See, the key be to an ancient map. Without the key, the runes of the map’s language showin’ the secret whereabouts of a magic sword can’t be read.”
“I know the map you are talking about. That was the artifact taken from me by a wretched feline named Sonya. She tricked me into giving it to her.”
“Ya gave her the map?” Lamfada roared, anger settling in his eyes.
“Unfortunately, yes. But it was retrieved by the fairies before she managed to flee with it.”
Sighing with relief, the leprechaun eased back. “That be good. For if the map should fall into the wrong hands, the sword would be used for darkness instead of the good it be intended for. But that be explainin’ it now...the circumstances in which the Flower Fairy Queen be needin’ the key made. I won’t be havin’ it, though. That knowledge was entrusted to me long ago by the Fomorian King and I won’t be givin’ it away to the likes of her.”
DaGon scratched his chin, his face scrunched in puzzlement. “Then we must find a way out, for she will torture you...the hanging tomorrow, an idle threat, I’m sure, but she is up to something, and I need to warn Queen Erulisse.”
“Aye, ya are wise as well.” The leprechaun put out the fire of his pipe and began digging into his pockets. “Good thing they put us down here in the rock.”
“We’re fathoms below the Crystal Palace. How can you be so happy about it? This makes our escape more difficult, or have you not noticed we’re surrounded by stone?”
A look of glee appeared suddenly on the leprechaun’s
face. “Aye, it be not an escape, but a rescue, Mr. DaGon dragon. For this little thing will be doing our rescue.”
Pulling an elongated piece of white chalk from an inside pocket, he walked to the rock that encircled them and drew a large round line on its surface. He finished with a small circle on its left that resembled a doorknob. “Okay, there it be.” Lamfada stood back and looked upon his drawing with pride.
The dragon rolled on the floor, laughing until tears gushed from his eyes. “You call that a rescue. Why...it’s a chalk-drawn door.”
Stomping his foot, the leprechaun’s anger flashed. “Dragons be so stupid. Look here.” Tapping three times on the surface of the bedrock, Lamfada patiently waited as the line began to glow white-hot and the rock, groaning under its own weight, moved outward into the cell.
DaGon stopped his hysterical outburst and sat at attention. “It really is a door.”
“Aye, and it leads down into the realm of me home.” Lamfada nodded to the darkened hole gaping before them.
DaGon peered down into its blackness and saw a small sliver of light in the distance. “I wouldn’t have believed it.”
“Come, Mr. DaGon dragon. We’ll go enjoy the quiet roar of a small fire and discuss what the good Fairy Queen Onagh be up to.”
After the dragon and leprechaun entered the hole, the rock closed and the chalk line disappeared. None were the wiser the next day of how the two vanished from within the cell, especially the Fairy Queen.
* * * *
“What do you mean, disappeared?” the Fairy Queen screamed, rage filling her cheeks and flushing her skin a bright pink. “How could those two manage to escape the lowest possible point in my dungeons?”
The ogre who was the unfortunate one to pull the shortest stick out of the lottery in his group backed away as Queen Onagh flew at him. She whacked him with her Wand, leaving a small welt on top of his forehead.
“I told you to make sure someone was posted outside the cell at all times. That leprechaun is tricky. Look what he did to my gold. Zapped the whole surplus into butterflies and they flew out the window. It took me two years to find it all.”
“We did post someone there, Your Highness.”
“Who? The invisible ogre?”
Thinking on the statement for a Moment, the guard slowly answered. “I don’t think....we...have...anyone by that name...on the payroll.”
“You idiot!” She thwacked him again. “It was a rhetorical question. Go back downstairs.”
Pacing in the air, her wings beating frantically, the Queen huffed several times in exasperation. “What are we supposed to do now?” she finally questioned aloud.
“There is another way.” A black and white cat stepped out from her hiding place, her voice low and menacing. “But it will take some time.”
“I don’t have time, Sonya. I need to retrieve the sword today, now, immediately...get the picture? Are you sure of what you read in the Elf Queen’s journals?”
“Yes, I’m positive. It was hard getting around Erulisse, but I managed to steal the book. The map was easy. DaGon has too good of a heart and didn’t blink an eye when I gave him my sob story.”
The Queen fluttered to a tiny chair in the middle of a tulip bed, and threw herself on the cushions. “This whole thing is making me tired. If Erulisse finds out DaGon escaped my dungeon, she’ll come here herself and investigate. I don’t need that Elf poking into my business.” She held her tiny fingers to her temples.
Sonya stretched slightly, her back arching. “What’s happening in Crag Cairn is the business of the entire island, not just Fairy Dell. You should tell her what you know. Maybe she’ll help you.”
“No. I don’t need her assistance. I’ll clean up my own mess.”
Sauntering out the door, the feline purred sinisterly. “All right, have it your way. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Shoving her head into one of the cushions, the Queen let out a fierce scream. After the release, she lay back on the pillows and stared at the ceiling. How could she be so stupid to think a human would actually fall in love with her? And to make matters worse, she discovered he was working for Uthal all along.
Charles Stewart was a dashing and daring man. With his wavy black hair and handsome smile, he almost conned her into thinking he actually needed her to save his family on Earth; the map and the Wand were most important in their release from the clutches of the Black Warlock. How dare he do what he did.
Showing him the Wand had been a mistake. A powerful artifact from the old Fomorian land, the fairies of Crystal Palace had safely guarded it for centuries. Hiding it away from Uthal had been their task since the Great War on Earth. Charles had marveled at how well she had kept it secret from the outside world and from him.
How could she have been so naïve? Small consolation for betrayal, she fumed, remembering the look on Charles’ face when she realized his deception and locked him in a painting. There were worse things that could have happened, she mused. The Wand could have actually been delivered to the Black Warlock, along with the map.
She suddenly felt stupid for getting Sonya involved. “You wicked little fairy,” she muttered.
Now, everything was blown out of proportion. She made Erulisse order an innocent dragon locked away for something she did, and Sonya had read the Elf Queen’s diary and uncovered a darker secret, which put her wings in a flutter. Now, she had to work extra hard to get the whole thing straightened out before anyone knew she was behind this whole mess, especially Queen Erulisse. If only Lamfada would have cooperated and reconstructed the key. Finding the magic sword would put things right and her allegiance to Green Isle would be unquestioned.
Onagh pushed herself up, resolve suddenly strengthening her heart. She would get her scholar Fontinose to review the map. Perhaps he could decipher the Fomorian language written on the edges and she wouldn’t need a key to figure out the sword’s hiding place.
Rising quickly, Onagh rushed from the room. Intent on her own agenda, the queen did not see her maid behind a garden wall, observing the events unfolding in the bedroom.
* * * *
“...and that cat, the one that can go invisible, scaring the willies out of ya, Sonya, that’s her name, well she stole the map, but on bequest of Queen Onagh, and now that poor dragon is framed for it. Sent him to the bottom of the dungeons, she did, but he and the leprechaun escaped, and no one knows how,” the old fairy concluded to her daughter, Delila.
Delila, a dark-haired fairy with pale green eyes, fluttered to the ground to stand beside her mother. “Momma, you shouldn’t be eavesdropping like that. Who’s this dragon you’re talking about?”
“His name is DaGon. Came from Elf Court, apparently their record keeper, wouldn’t ya know. Seems that I remember him from somewhere else, though.” She tapped on her bottom lip with her fingertip. “Well anyhoo, Lamfada got locked up with him.”
“If Lamfada was in the dungeon with him, then he was there for a reason; maybe the arrival of this dragon? Lamfada has never been one that anyone could hold prisoner. He’s very artful in the manner of escape.”
The two walked beside a small stream until they came to a grouping of small mushrooms growing under an oak. Sitting on one of the taller ones, Delila rested her head on her hands, thoughtfully staring at a doodlebug on the ground.
“I think I know where they disappeared to,” she offered finally.
“And where would that be?”
“Lamfada’s caves. He’s master of the underground. When I was a little girl, he would sometimes show me the secret openings. The dungeon is in bedrock, right? He would be able to open a temporary doorway with his magic.”
“Ya know, that would make sense.” Her mother chuckled softly. “Most likely why no one knew how they escaped, especially those mindless orges the queen hired.”
“I need to find him. I have to let him know about Queen Onagh and Sonya. This dragon needs to have his name cleared.” Delila spread her wings and took to the sky.
“Be careful, my girl. Ya don’t know what’s out there,” her mother cried after her. Hoping her words reached the ears of her only child, the old fairy shook her head and flitted back towards the Dell.
* * * *
Feeling the fire crackle with inviting warmth, the leprechaun watched the sleeping dragon curled up before the flame. After the coolness of the damp cell, the heat felt good. Lamfada stirred the contents of an iron pot that hung over the flames. He watched with amusement as the nose of the small green and gold dragon twitched to life.
“What are you making?” DaGon finally inquired, opening one eye.
“A secret recipe...handed down to me by me mother. Soup...good for those who spent a wee too much time in the dankness of a dungeon.” Taking a spoonful, the leprechaun blew on the mix and nibbled it. “Ahh, just right.”
“A question has been forming in my mind.”
“What question is that, Mr. DaGon?”
“Why didn’t you escape several days ago? You had magic chalk all along, and you didn’t use it? Why?”
“Aye, so the dragon has a brain after all.” Lamfada smiled. He dipped out soup into a large bowl and placed it before DaGon. With a wink he whispered, “I told ya, it be not an escape, but a rescue.”
DaGon nodded as he spooned a portion of the hot liquid to his mouth.
“Queen Erulisse sent me a message about ya comin'. She knows it not be yer fault, the map and all. There be things at work that go beyond what others be knowin'.”
“She knew and still let the Fairy Queen imprison me?”
“She be allowin’ some things to come to pass, so that other things may not. For example, take me own imprisonment. If I not be in the dungeon yesterday, ya still be there.”
“Well, it might have been nice if someone informed me,” DaGon fumed as he sipped the soup. “I lay in torment in that cursed wagon for two days, having people throw rotten food at me. The lettuce was especially unpleasant.”
“Ye should’ve been eatin' it then. Two days without food, ya told me.”
The Forgotten Spell (Legends of Green Isle Book 1) Page 1
