The Well of Eternity Read Online Free PDF Page A

time.”
    “What’s it called?”
    “That knowledge is not mine.”
    Korialstrasz settled down, allowing Rhonin to dismount. The wizard stepped just far enough from his companion to catch one last glimpse of the ruins before darkness enveloped them.
    “Something tragic happened here,” Korialstrasz suddenly commented.
    “You sense it, too?”
    “Yes…but what it was I cannot say. Still, we should be secure up here and I have no intention of transforming.”
    That comforted Rhonin some, but even still he chose to remain as near to the dragon as possible. Despite a reputation for recklessness, the wizard was no fool. Nothing would entice him down into those ruins.
    His gargantuan comrade almost immediately went to sleep, leaving a much more wound-up Rhonin to stare at the night sky. Vereesa’s image filled his thoughts. The twins were due shortly and he hoped that he would not miss their coming because of this journey. Birth was a magic unto itself, one that Rhonin could never master.
    Thinking of his family eased the mage’s tensions and before he knew it, he drifted off to slumber. There, Vereesa and the as-yet-unborn twins continued to keep him loving company even though the children were never quite defined as male or female.
    Vereesa faded into the background, leaving Rhonin with the twins. They called to him, beseeched him to come to them. In his dreams, Rhonin began running over a countryside, the children ever more distant shapes on the horizon. What started as a game became a hunt. The once-happy calls turned fearful. Rhonin’s children needed him, but first he had to find them…and quickly.
    “Papa! Papa!” came their voices.
    “Where are you? Where are you?” The wizard pushed through a tangle of branches that only seemed to tangle more the harder he pushed. At last he broke through, only to find a towering castle.
    And from above, the children called again. He saw their distant shapes reaching out to him. Rhonin cast a spell to make him rise up in the air, but as he did, the castle grew to match his efforts.
    Frustrated, he willed himself up faster.
    “Papa! Papa!” called the voices, now somewhat distorted by the wind.
    At last he neared the tower window where the two waited. Their arms stretched, trying to cut the distance between Rhonin and them. His fingers came within a few scant inches of theirs…
    And suddenly a huge form barreled into the castle, shaking it to its very base and sending both Rhonin and his children tumbling earthward. Rhonin sought desperately to save them, but a monstrous, leathery hand snatched him up and took him away.
    “Wake up! Wake up!”
    The wizard’s head pounded. Everything around him began swirling. The hand lost its hold and once more he plummeted.
    “Rhonin! Wherever you are! Awaken!”
    Below him, two shadowy forms hurried to catch him…his children now trying to save his life. Rhonin smiled at the pair and they smiled back.
    Smiled back with sharp, vicious teeth.
    And just in time, Rhonin did awaken.
    Instead of falling, he lay on his back. The stars above revealed that surrounding him now was a roofless ruin of a building. The dank smell of decay assailed his nostrils and a horrific, hissing sound beset his ears.
    He lifted his head—and looked into a face out of nightmare.
    If someone had taken a human skull, dipped it in soft, melting wax and let that wax drip free, that would have come close to describing the gut-wrenching vision at which Rhonin stared. Add to that needle-shaped teeth filling the mouth, along with red, soulless orbs that glared hungrily at the wizard, and the picture of hellish horror was made complete.
    It moved toward him on legs much too long and reached out with bony arms that ended in three long, curved fingers that gouged into the already ravaged stone. Over its macabre form it wore the ripped remnants of a once-regal coat and pants. It was so thin that at first Rhonin did not think it had any flesh at all, but then he saw that