Captain Wilder & The Dragon of Margundor: Legends of Animarl, #1

By Erron Adams

Book One of the Legends of Animarl series.

"My tale is simple but hard to tell. I died a man and was reborn a monster."

Told he can only gain release from a curse of sea dragons by destroying the evil Djinn of Margun in its lair, ship's captain Linden Wilder sets out to confront the demon.

But the Djinn lies hidden in a fortress behind the dreaded Margundor, and it has never been bested. The venture goes badly, and Wilder's quest swiftly shifts from seeking cure to a desperate struggle for simple survival.

Erron Adams has worked at everything from farmhand to software engineer. A restless spirit in childhood led him to the secluded cache of occult books in the local library, which in turn kicked off a lifelong interest in the supernatural and psychology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bright Stream Publishing
• Release date: Apr 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9780987628527

Erron Adams

Short Version: Erron Adams has worked in jobs as diverse as farm hand, factory worker, teacher and software engineer. Now a full time writer of The Legends of Animarl fantasy series. Longer Version: For someone who would go on to write at a later age, the house I grew up in was conspicuous for its lack of books. Unlike most authors who seem to have been writing since they were able to hold a pen, I was too busy exploring the bush, fishing, hunting and generally doing foolish and dangerous things, to sit down long enough to write anything even if I had caught the bug. In my turbulent teenage years I discovered poetry, and became fascinated by the way words could work magical transformations in the reader’s mind. Around this time I also made efforts to understand my place in the universe. I haunted bookstores and local libraries, seeking out those semi-banned books about the occult tucked away on lower shelves in the back racks. Attempting to hide them like that only increased their mystery and appeal. As I have grown older my interest in spirituality and our existence as soul has only increased.

Book preview

I AM NAMED

I was born by the banks of one of Melen Darit's great salt lakes one day when my mother had ventured fully pregnant out of the Night Forest where we lived. I know this story well as my oldest sister, Judith later related it to me many times while we sat by the fire late into the night, me begging for more stories and fables, she patient through all my pestering.

Mother had come to fetch some of the little silver fish that lived in the Lakes. Each night she would set traps for them and each morning set out to check her luck. But this morning the fish in the traps would have to wait for my sister to come fetch them in the evening.

Help me, daughter! She shouted to Judith, who'd gone to check traps further along the banks of the lake. The child comes suddenly!

Judith hurried over, though she was not panicked. As forest dwellers, our family fended for itself in everything and feared nothing from birth through to death. The two women retired to a grassy sheltered area and set about the business of bringing a new soul into the land of Animarl.

I came into the world so silent they thought I may have been dead born. But no, look, it kicks and wriggles, and it is a boy! Both mother and Judith smiled; there were two other girls in our family but no males.

It will be nice to have a man about the house again, my mother said as her smile faded to a faraway look. The loss of her forester husband when a tree fell on him in a storm still grieved her even after the many moons separating that event and now.

That evening they named me as they sat around the fire after dinner passing me from one to the other for inspection. My mother wanted me named Linden, but my sisters were taken by my big bright eyes of blue and tufts of red hair; they suggested Foxbright. At the end of the discussion, it was amicably decided: my name thenceforth was to be Linden Foxbright Wilder.

IN THE WOODS WITH JUDITH

The early life of a cherished child is usually comfortable, and my experience was no exception to this. The memories preserved of my first years in the woods with family are all pleasant.

We lived in a house hewn from beautiful, red coloured wood my eldest sister, Judith told me was the red oak of the Night Forest. Judith was my teacher in almost all things at this early time.

Our father built this house long before you were born, she told me. I am old enough to remember him finishing the posts that hold the veranda out front, and our mother planting the jasmine that now grows up those posts to the roof.

I was always pestering Judith for more information about our father. She had by now told me how he had died in an accident. On his way back from some journey into the forest, a storm had broken and a tree fell on him. The details of his death were the one thing I never asked about after hearing them the first time. But everything else about him, and about our people in general, was information I never tired of hearing.

Judith was patient but I’m sure she got tired of questions like, where are we from? or tell me more about father! Most times she would smile and retell the story of how our parents came to these woods a little north of Melen Darit at the edge of the Night Forest, long before I appeared on the scene.

They had to leave their home far to the north to escape pirates.

What are pirates? I would ask once more, even though I’d heard it all before, and she would answer, they are very bad people who live on the sea, way up the top of Margun's Sword. If they meet people like us they rob us. They take everything from those they attack, including their lives!

But why? Are they hungry, do they need clothes or a place to live? I would question her.

I’ve told you before, she would say with a sigh, they need for nothing. In fact, they live very well on all the things they have stolen from others.

But why do they kill people?

They don’t care about anyone but themselves, and kill those who would just be a burden to them. Although, they don’t kill everyone. They keep young girls – and boys – whom they find attractive. Believe me, it would be better for those children to share the fate of their parents!

A chill would go through me when she said this, but she would never say more about what happened to those boys and girls. I was left wondering about everything except the fact that pirates were to be avoided at all costs and to be greatly feared.

How our father built the house was another favourite topic of discussion. I knew so little about him, only what Judith and occasionally our mother told me, and I was hungry to fill in the details of this stranger who'd helped bring me into this world.

He was a shipbuilder, long ago, before he and mother had to leave their homes in a hurry and come to this part of Animarl. He helped to build many a fine ship, and his skill was renowned by all those who sailed in them, she told me often.

So, was my daddy a pirate as well?

NO! she would say with a shocked face, although there was the hint of a smile behind the shock. He would never have associated with such people. But they knew of his skills, and that was partly why he had to flee them. They wanted him to build ships for them. But he said no, as he knew very well what such people would do with a fine vessel to get them about.

Eventually, Judith would tire of my questions. Stop now, and look here, she would say suddenly. Do you see this plant? And there would be a lesson in how to use some herb for medicinal or other purposes.

I didn't mind, I loved learning about the plants in the woods. All my life I have been fascinated by the magical powers in nature, and I believe it grew out of these early explorations in the Night Forest with Judith.

Look here, she said to me one day. This is one of the most important — and dangerous — plants in the whole of Animarl. It only grows in the Night Forest, but it is used throughout the land. It's highly prized by all the tribes. Even the Rory come down from their mountain strongholds along the Dragonspine to harvest it. And all who harvest it do so at considerable cost!

What do you mean? Do they have to trade to get the plant? I asked. Exchanging things like herbal medicines and homemade jewellery for the things we couldn't get from the forest was something I'd been made familiar with. Many visitors would come through from Melen Darit looking to trade town goods like flour and dried foods for what my mother and sisters produced by their labours.

But I could not understand the trade people engaged in to get this mysterious plant. Judith had said so much in so little and told me even less in what she said. As ever, I was hungry for more information.

Judith understood my confusion. Yes, it is a lot to take in, and I haven't explained myself well. She knelt beside the small plant.

The thing looked very boring, to me. It had dark, almost black leaves and plain white, tiny flowers with an even tinier red circle at their centre. Nevertheless, she motioned to me to kneel beside her and went on.

This, she said, nodding at the plant, is Black Angel. In the last warm days of the year, just before the snows begin to appear, it sets small seeds. If anyone handles these seeds and does not thoroughly wash afterwards they will likely become quite sick. And if they are foolish enough to eat one, they will certainly die.

I looked on the plant with renewed interest and a great deal of respect. Now I understood what my sister meant by 'considerable cost'.

If it is dangerous, why do people come here for it? Wouldn't it be better to stay away from it?

Well, it has certain uses. Sorcerors and witches claim to be able to use it to cure people of a great many ills. And for those near the end of their life, for whom every day has become a torment of physical suffering and sickness, its seeds offer a painless way out of this world and into the next. For though it is deadly, it causes no distress to those who eat the seeds. They just fall asleep quickly and their spirit is freed.

The Black Angel plant began to look like a crouching animal that took the form of leaves and flowers but was really some malevolent being, just waiting to leap upon me. For I was a small boy, and scary tales like this worked a potent magic.

Who are the Rory? I asked.

They are a tribe of proud warriors who live mostly in the northern parts of Animarl. Judith replied.

How far north, I wondered. If they live up there, are they pirates, too?

Judith shook her head. No, they have no taste for the sea. But on land they are truly fearsome, and everyone treats them with respect.

I looked around the forest. What had always seemed a wonderland to play in before I’d been old enough to ask so many questions, now took on darker tones. Would some Rory warriors leap out and attack us?

My sister read my face and laughed at my sudden fearfulness. Don't worry, the Rory are no danger to us. They are friends to we Wilders and other dwellers of the Night Forest.

Not like the Tohubuho, then? Judith had warned me about Tohubuho. They were seldom to be seen in these parts, but everyone feared them. They seemed to be a very lawless people, like pirates on land.

No, not like the Tohubuho at all. The Rory are our allies. She smiled. Now, take a good, long, last look at the Black Angel plant. Each day I will show you a new plant of power to be found in the Night Forest. You must learn which ones can be harvested for food and medicine, as well as for such purposes as poisons to tip arrows with, and which ones to make glues from. All around you are trees and plants, but that is not all they are. Each one has its own special properties, its powers. You must learn to live in the forest, and to do that, you will need to know how to use all that you find here in order to survive.

Judith had suddenly taken on a very serious expression. It was the first time she had spoken to me like this. I wondered what had changed.

Why must I know how to live in the forest? I like it here, but I like our little house better. That's where I want to live, always, I said in childish innocence.

Yes, our house is nice, and we all love to live there. But it may not always be that way. Someday trouble may come, and if it does we will all flee to the forest where we feel safe, because we know the forest well. Any who hunt us in here had better know how to survive in it and use its qualities better than us, or we will use it against them.

Judith's eyes went dark and hard when she spoke this. I'd never seen her like that, and I was glad when a smile replaced the worried look and she said, but that is enough for today. For now, remember to avoid this plant until the day I teach you to harvest its seeds safely.

She rose to her feet, taking me by the hand with her. The sun was getting low and the light filtering through the trees was fading fast.

What will we have for dinner? I asked.

Judith laughed. Always hungry, I don't know where you put all that food!

I LEAVE HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME

I had truly meant what I said to Judith in the forest about my home. The little timber cottage was well sited on the edge of the Night Forest, with a short path leading away to the road taken by traders from Melen Darit. We had the safety and utility of the forest nearby, with ready access to the comings and goings from the nearest major town. But at this early age, it was inside our little home in which I felt most safe and happy. And the best of times in that little home centred around meals. As Judith had said, I was always hungry. For food, and for knowledge.

So, the evening table was the best of all opportunities to pursue both. Stop eating with your mouth full of words! my mother would laugh. Your stomach will ache afterwards and we can't understand you anyway.

I would smile, finish chewing and swallow what was in my mouth, then ready another morsel of food and bring it halfway from the table to my face before asking another question. I was constantly chided, laughed at, but also informed.

One thing I never learned was my father's first name. He was always only referred to as ‘our father’ or ‘your father.’ Mother's first name, Alice, I only learnt from hearing her addressed in such manner by traders and visitors. But I only ever called her mother, as did my sisters.

I spent many idyllic years in such fashion, but as I grew through the seasons my body began to change, as did my moods. I no longer found the answers given to my questions quite so satisfactory. I began to grasp that the world beyond our little house was immense, with opportunities never to be encountered while I remained in the woods, living such a comfortable existence.

But more than my mind was changing, and one balmy night in the hot months of the year, as we bathed in the little brook that ran by our house, something happened that set my life on a new course.

I had been thinking about the traders who had called through that afternoon. The father was a potter, and mother bought some plates from him in exchange for herbal medicines she specialised in. I can’t even remember their conversation, as I was totally engrossed in the trader’s daughter.

She was about my age, perhaps a summer or two more, and had, for some reason, accompanied her father on their travels. Perhaps the old man needed help carting his wares and looking after their wagon; he seemed somewhat shaky and a little unsteady on his feet.

I had of course, seen other girls her age by this time, and even had Meg living under the same roof as me. Meg was perhaps even older than the trader’s daughter, but looking at this new girl made me feel something I had never felt for any girl before.

Suddenly the feeling became very