The Eight-Petaled Rose: Akahana, #1

By Blaze Ward

Familiars don't survive their master's death, so why did Akahana? 

She finds that she needs the help of a god disguised as a goldfish to get even. Nobody  can stop this tree octopus sorceress from getting her revenge.

"The Eight-Petaled Rose"--the first story about your favorite militant lesbian tree octopus sorceress--delights both young and old.

Make sure to pick up "Backwards on the Way" and "Whimsical Beasts" for Akahana's additional adventures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Knotted Road Press
• Release date: Mar 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386179498

Blaze Ward

Blaze Ward writes science fiction in the Alexandria Station universe (Jessica Keller, The Science Officer,  The Story Road, etc.) as well as several other science fiction universes, such as Star Dragon, the Dominion, and more. He also writes odd bits of high fantasy with swords and orcs. In addition, he is the Editor and Publisher of Boundary Shock Quarterly Magazine. You can find out more at his website www.blazeward.com, as well as Facebook, Goodreads, and other places. Blaze's works are available as ebooks, paper, and audio, and can be found at a variety of online vendors. His newsletter comes out regularly, and you can also follow his blog on his website. He really enjoys interacting with fans, and looks forward to any and all questions—even ones about his books!

Book preview

The Eight-Petaled Rose

The Eight-Petaled Rose

Akahana 1

Blaze Ward

Knotted Road Press, Inc.

The Eight-Petaled Rose

Akahana hung from the underside of the window sill by arms number seven and eight and tried to identify that stranger, lit by the moonlight and reflected in the smooth water of the rain barrel below her.

The skin was still the same soft red it had been before. The face was the same, but her soul wasn't. She wanted to rant about that and maybe destroy things, but something in her was broken. Missing, perhaps.

Gone, like one of her arms, forcing her off-balance.

Fire was a lovely way to assuage her anger. A month ago, she would have painted this town in it.

Before.

She had tried to warn the fool, but men never listened. Even human men weren't immune to feminine wiles.

But that was the downside of being merely a familiar, even an impressive one like a tree octopus. Mister Immortal Enchanter had chosen to believe that his greatest enemy had finally fallen under the spell of that oh-so-awesome charisma, reformed her ways, and wanted him to take her in that most disgustingly-carnal way of the landwalkers.

At least tree octopus mating wasn’t supposed to involve so much screaming.

Akahana let go of the rough wood and drop-slithered her way quietly down into the cold water of the rain barrel. Her skin wasn’t dry yet, but this day also promised to be ugly and hot, once the sun’s fierceness replaced the moon’s polite glow.

At least there were no pickles in this barrel. She didn't ever want to make that mistake again. One bad pickle-vinegar drunk in a lifetime was enough.

Refreshed from the clean water, Akahana reached up with arms one and five to pull herself up and peaked over the lip at the neighborhood around her. She wanted to hate it as well. Dominate the fool humans as her master Terion had done for decades before this.

But it just wasn’t worth it today. Was anything?

From this low vantage, she could see the still-smoldering column of Terion's grand, marble-faced tower on the hillside above town. Three days had passed. It hadn't fallen in on itself yet, but the next big storm would probably bring it crashing down. Certainly, he wasn't around to reinforce the stone with his magic. And she had done a wonderful job destroying everything inside with fire.

Akahana still wasn't sure how she had survived the man’s death. According to all the legends, no familiar could out-live her master. None. Written in stone.

But he was very much dead, obliterated by Stacia's eldritch fury after