Fandango’s FOWC is anyway, the Word of the Day challenge is river, Paula’s 3 Things Challenge words are ghost, loan, password , and Teresa’s Haunted Wordsmith Daily Prompt is the picture below.

Rodolfo was the right hand servant of Danu, Goddess of the Rivers. When the goddess loaned her water divining rod to Anubis, the jackal, Rodolfo was sick at heart. Anubis was known to be untrustworthy and capricious, but Danu had a certain affection for Anubis’ rakish charm. Further, she was overconfident in her divinity. Nobody would act against a goddess without knowing retribution would be nigh at hand. Going against Rodolfo’s counseilng, Danu assented anyway to its being loaned, but for 3 days only.

Anubis was overjoyed at his opportunity to distract his rival, Jeremy, watcher of the waterlands to the south, from the hand of Intellectia, the woman they both loved. He traveled to the Red Forest and sought out Homer, a dust devil’s ghost, who hid in a nearby cave. The ghost had been driven out of the Painted Desert by Danu and hated her. He missed desert living but was afraid to return because as a dust devil he had power but as a ghost he didn’t.

Anubis approached Homer carrying a torch, with caution, as Homer was known to be spiteful to any container carrying water, living or dead. Homer, who looked like a piece of burning charcoal, was small, but could flame up to scorch under the right conditions. Anubis, as has been stated earlier, had a certain rakish charm, which is irresistable to a ghost, so when Anubis laid out his offer, Homer was receptive to it. Anubis agreed to give Homer the password to the secret underground passage gate of Danu’s garden if Homer would help him use the water divining rod to turn the Red Forest into desert and dry up the waterlands of the south.

Ah! Homer would have desert again and might even resume his devil form to live in and rule by day, and then he’d be able to launch a surprise attack on Danu by getting into the castle with the password. He agreed. Using the divining rod, he located the underground springs and enchanted the sources to flow deeper underground instead of into the waterlands. These waterlands fed the rivers and streams, but they also fed the giant red trees in the forest, as well as the many woodland creatures who lived there. In a matter of months, the once lush Red Forest was red dust, its trees withered, its wildlife dead or gone.

When Jeremy heard about the waterlands, he left Intellectia’s side in the north to investigate.

Anubis returned the rod to Danu within the 3 days. She smiled at him then glanced at Rodolfo as if to say, I told you he wouldn’t abuse the privilege. Rodolfo, however, was not so sure as he caught a miniscule crack in Anubis’ smile along with a certain shiftiness to his gaze. Rodolfo sent out his best trackers, blue-black crows that had been loyal servants to Rodolfo’s family for many generations, to find out where Anubis had been.

The crows learned of Anubis’ visit with Homer and saw the creatures’ bones, now bleached and littering the desert that used to be The Red Forest. They reported back to Rodolfo, who then asked to speak with Goddess Danu in her garden. When Danu learned what Anubis had done with her divining rod, she asked Rodolfo to send out the crows to find him, which they did — serenading Intellectia under her windowsill. Danu’s Royal Water Sprites had no trouble building a cage to contain Anubis, who was transported by Mist Faeries, over the air to Danu’s castle.

Anubis was starved and tortured until he told all, including his giving the password to Homer. The password was changed, then Homer was captured and locked into a flameproof box. The box now sits next to the statue of Anubis that rests, smiling, in Danu’s garden. Danu restored The Red Forest and removed the enchantment on the waterlands of the south. She thanked Rodolfo for his loyalty and sent him on a nice vacation. The crows, who already had everything they wanted and needed, crooned to each other and were satisfied.