In the fantasy realm of Gondawyn, an odd seer proclaims that an outcast maiden named Elandriel will save the land from Makir, the Demon Master. She is joined in her battles by a motley band of companions. Her mystic powers continue to grow as she is guided in her quest by her dreams and visions until at last she is consecrated in her mission by blessings from Queen Ethyriel in the legendary Land of Idannu. On the surface, the plot sounds like the that of many fantasy novels, but there are hidden spiritual depths conveyed in this story of adventure, suffering, sacrifice and victory. Elandriel is one of those rare souls whose dedication to her mission and whose pure spirit offers a beacon of light to guide our lives. The book is illustrated with digital artwork by the authors. The sequel to this book, Thunder Maiden, will be available soon.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface to Book I: The Despoiling Of Gondawyn
Part 1 THE WELL-SPRINGS OF MYSTIC POWER
Chapter One: The Wondrous Oracle
Chapter Two: The Way of The Sorcerer
Chapter Three: Child of the Dawning
Chapter Four: The Unfolding of the Gifts
Chapter Five: Unending Travail
Chapter Six: The Sorcerers’ Conspiracy
Chapter Seven: The Mysterious Bushranger
Part 2 – THE CRUCIBLE OF THE SPIRIT
Chapter Eight: Forsaken in Davon Castle
Chapter Nine: The Seduction of the Heart
Chapter Ten: The Broken Treasure
Chapter Eleven: The Demented Patriarch
Chapter Twelve: The Hallowing of the Synod
Chapter Thirteen: The Secret of Ghoryn's Keep
Chapter Fourteen: The Purging of Hebat
Chapter Fifteen: Hounded by the Demon Master
Chapter Sixteen: Trapped in Dybukkin Deep
Part 3 – THE FULLNESS OF THE GIFTING
Chapter Seventeen: Bewitched In Gnarlwood
Chapter Eighteen: The Cave of Treasures
Chapter Nineteen: The Lodges of the Cybandir
Chapter Twenty: The Sword of Brandolin
Chapter Twenty-one: The Healing of Elfin Haven
Chapter Twenty-two: The Coming of the Wyrdes
Chapter Twenty-three: The Leaguing of The Kindred
Chapter Twenty-four: Journey to a Fabled Land
Chapter Twenty-five: The Blessings Of Ethyriel
Epilogue: Out of Idannu

A passage from Chapter Ten involving two of the main characters:

Daryl opened his eyes to see Elly sleeping on the couch. Her face and form were so soft, so lovely in the light of the fire. How he desired to go over and hold her in his arms!

Suddenly, out of the air, there came a clarion voice: “Daryl! Daryl! Do not touch her. She is as pure as lamb’s wool and white as the snow. You must be her guardian and councilor, nothing more.”

He could not believe his ears and looked around for the speaker, but the darkened room was empty. Was it his imagination? A dream perhaps? Then he began to feel an inner peace flow over him.

Elandriel opened her eyes at that moment. Before Daryl tell her of his amazing experience, she said, “Daryl, I have something to tell you.” Without pause, she went on to tell him of her dream. “I was in a cathedral. The light was dim so I could not see the person in front of me. She had a small brush and was dipping it in a bowl of oil. My shift was open and she was brushing the oil all over my uncovered breasts.” Elandriel stopped with a flush on her cheeks. Then she asked shyly, “Why did that person brush my breasts with oil?”

Daryl lowered his head in wonder. The message from the ethereal voice and now this dream revealed to him the truth about Elandriel. “You are to be a mother, but never a wife—a mother of many souls, but a childless virgin,” he murmured as if to himself.

He looked up at Elandriel, the flickering of the firelight creating a sense of transcending reality. “Ya’el has anointed your breasts, sanctifying you for His service. You have been purified as a sacred vessel to nurture the children of the All-father. Your motherhood is to be for all the souls in the kingdom.”

“Then you do understand who I really am!” she exclaimed. The deep relief in her heart and her unbounded joy at his understanding overflowed into a warm smile—a smile that expressed a myriad of feelings: the comforting of the frightened little girl whose father was executed by the mindless lackeys of Makir, the consoling of the peculiar young woman who had done such strange things in Old Orchard, the deliverance of the maiden who had brought light into a dingy tavern and who had almost become lost dancing in the pavilions of the King. All the emotions of a woman who had passed through the crucible of suffering and temptation triumphantly—and finally the wonderment of another soul, truly understanding what she had become.

A world of feeling Daryl had never known before washed over him and raised his own battered and beseeching soul to dizzying heights. He let her smile bathe him in all its love and delight; it was love, but not the passion he had sought. It was the intense love of a dearest friend, the heartfelt intimacy of an cherished companion, and the radiant warmth of a saint’s encompassing compassion. It was the love of the All-Father flowing through a willing vessel to lift up the heart of another human spirit.

“Thank you, Elly,” he said softly. “Thank you. Thank Ya’el, for giving me in this moment something I have never felt before.”

For a time they sat silently in the shimmering light and then wordlessly drifted away, each to their own private devotions. This night Elandriel had gained a truehearted companion and Daryl had found his destiny.


About the Author:

Noel Schutz is an associate professor at National Chi Nan University, Puli, Taiwan and lives with Judy Wu in an indigenous mountain village in central Taiwan. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri and as an army brat has traveled all his life. He got his Ph.D. in linguistics and anthropology at Indiana University Department of Anthropology. His dissertation was on Shawnee myth and ethnohistory. Judy Wu has worked with Noel for many years to complete several epic fantasy novels, the first of which is Demonbane. She was born to in the native Formosan tribe of the Bunun (Austronesian) in the mountains of central Taiwan at a time when it took days to walk forest trails to the nearest town. She lived a dozen years in the states before returning to Taiwan to work as an independent, Christian mystic in her native vilalge. She believes that what is important is that this life the place where we plant the roots of our spiritual life so our soul can bloom into what we will truly become in the Kingdom of God.