The Factory on the Hill

By Gabriella Bradley

In two days, Chanta is to go to The Factory. She wishes time would just stand still. Rebellious by nature, she hates her life, abhors the laws, restrictions, and rules, but what can she do?

The forbidden woods have lured Chanta since childhood. Within the dark forest, she has befriended the witch, Esadora, whom she often visits. A few days before her dreaded eighteenth birthday, she decides to visit Esadora to say goodbye to her.

Little does Chanta know the big secret that Esadora will reveal to her, or that on her birthday, her life will change forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Aug 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781487428815

Book preview

Limburgia, a dark forbidding planet, with stringent laws and rules... and one young woman ready to rebel against them.

In two days, Chanta is to go to The Factory. She wishes time would just stand still. Rebellious by nature, she hates her life, abhors the laws, restrictions, and rules, but what can she do?

The forbidden woods have lured Chanta since childhood. Within the dark forest, she has befriended the witch, Esadora, whom she often visits. A few days before her dreaded eighteenth birthday, she decides to visit Esadora to say goodbye to her.

Little does Chanta know the big secret that Esadora will reveal to her, or that on her birthday, her life will change forever.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The Factory on the Hill

Copyright © 2020 Gabriella Bradley

ISBN: 978-1-4874-2881-5

Cover art by Martine Jardin

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by eXtasy Books Inc

Look for us online at:

www.eXtasybooks.com or www.devinedestinies.com

Smashwords Edition

The Factory on the Hill

By

Gabriella Bradley

Chapter One

Chanta looked at the calendar, dread churning her stomach, fear causing her heart to pound. The big red cross indicated her looming eighteenth birthday, a celebration she feared and didn’t want. Celebration? It was called that, but there would be no party. Merely a goodbye. That day was also her last day of school and the start of a new chapter of her life. A chapter that would be a beginning for most female students, but for her, it would be the end.

Limburgia was a male-dominated planet. Females were of little consequence. All young women at the age of eighteen, after finishing school, were sent to The Factory on the hill for two years. Each large city on Limburgia had such a Factory. A place where they trained young women and got them ready to join with the mate chosen for them at birth.

To become their slaves.

That’s how Chanta saw it. A woman was nothing. Merely a vessel to bear children, a workhorse to do all the housework, tend the gardens, the animals, and work the farm. And of course, be ready and willing whenever her mate demanded her undivided attention.

She knew who her chosen mate was. Mastaluk Shernon. And she hated him. Well, not exactly hate. She didn’t know the man, but she had seen him from afar. He was old—twenty years older than her—fat, and ugly. At least in her eyes he was. He’d already had one mate, and she had died in childbirth. After he was widowed, he had immediately applied for a new mate, drawn Chanta’s name, and had waited all this time. Why he had chosen to draw a name from the newborn list, she had no idea. There was a list of widowed women waiting for a new mate.

Chanta would not meet Mastaluk in person until she completed her two years in The Factory.

A stranger.

An old man.

A man with an adult child.

By the gods, I do not want this.

Chanta hated that she was a female. Her deepest wish, to go to the space academy’s medical division and become a doctor and work on a spaceship, could never be realized. She dreamed of traveling through space like her older brother, Brunok, who was an engineer on a ship. She longed to visit other worlds, to meet other species, to explore the universe, the unknown.

Freedom!

Chanta wanted to be the one to decide when she was ready to take a mate. She dreamed of love, of romance. Of a hero who would come and rescue her from what was going to be forced on her. She wanted to choose her own path, not have it chosen for her.

Exploration was in her blood. From when she was a little girl and allowed to play outside without supervision, she had often gone to explore the forbidden forest. In her imagination, the woods were a different world. One day, she had happened upon the witch who lived deep within the trees, close to the mountains.

Mysterious legends surrounded the woman. Her mother had warned her never to play too far from home, never to go into the forest because there was a wicked old witch who roamed it. And never to go near or talk to the witch if she should happen to appear.

But of course, Chanta was a rebel and had not listened. One day, when she was five and playing deep within the woods, she had gone farther and deeper into the forest and discovered the witch’s small house. Cautiously, she had hidden behind the big trunk of a tree and spied. To her surprise, when the woman came outside, she hadn’t been scary at all. As a matter of fact, Chanta found her quite beautiful and definitely not old. She looked nothing like the witch she’d conjured up in her imagination—a wrinkly old woman with wild hair, growths on her face, nose, and chin, wicked blazing eyes, and wearing ragged black clothing. No, this woman was dressed in a gorgeous blue gown and her hair was silvery blonde. She looked more like a nymph or a fairy queen.

You can come out from behind that tree, little girl, the woman had called out. No need to be afraid.

It had startled Chanta. How had the woman known she was there? She’d always been bold and never felt fear.

Bravely, Chanta had approached her and discovered a kind, caring woman. And from that day on, they had become close friends. Closer than she had ever been to anyone in her life, even her mother. Esadora, as she was called, was not a witch. She’d told Chanta that she was an enchantress.

Thinking about Esadora now made Chanta want to go and see her one more time and say goodbye to her. Once she was in The Factory, she would not be able to roam the forest anymore.

It wasn’t a school day, and she’d already finished her chores. She quickly braided her long blonde hair and wound the braids around her head, then hurried downstairs.

Mother, I’m going out for a while. I’ll be home in time for dinner, she called out.

Her mother came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron. She brushed strands of graying black hair away from her flustered face. Chanta, where are you off to?

Oh, I am just going to hang out with some of my girlfriends.

Talk about your big day next week, huh? Excited?

Chanta didn’t answer that. What could she say? No, Mother, I hate the thought of going to that institution. I don’t want to go. Her mother would have a fit.

I’m sure going to miss you, honey. The house is going to be so empty.

I don’t know why I can’t just sleep and eat at home. It’s not that far from here.

The rules are the rules. For two years, you have to be away from all outside influences, including your parents and siblings. And after you graduate, you will immediately be joined with Mastaluk and will live with him.

Stupid rules.

Enough said. You keep those thoughts to yourself, girl, or you’ll be in a heap of trouble.

See you later, Mother.

Chanta quickly left. Her drongo leapt in joy, thinking he was going for a walk. No, Skip, stay. You can’t come with me, she told her pet. Stay.

Their farm bordered the woods. Chanta climbed over the fence and entered the dark forest then headed down the narrow path she had created over the years, leading to Esadora’s little house. It was at least three-quarters of an hour’s walk at a fast pace.

Esadora met her outside. I knew you were coming today, she greeted. And not a moment too soon.

Chanta gave Esadora a hug. You look so lovely. That yellow gown is beautiful. Did you make it? She stood back and scanned Esadora from head to toe. The dress was a pale yellow, embroidered with delicate orange flowers that got bigger closer to the hem. Her long blonde hair draped around her shoulders like a veil. Her violet eyes met Chanta’s, and she smiled.

No, child. You know I am not a seamstress. I have magic, remember?

Chanta sighed. Yeah. I wish you could conjure up such a dress for me. Then again, I wouldn’t be able to wear it. I hate these coarse woven skirts and ugly cotton blouses I have to put on every day. And next week I’ll have to wear the uniform of The Factory, which is even uglier.

Come and sit with me. I’ll fetch us some jujube juice. Esadora indicated the chairs on the porch and entered her cottage. She soon returned, carrying a jug of red juice and two glasses. She poured them each a glass and sat opposite Chanta. Now tell me what’s troubling you.

The Factory.

I thought so. You don’t have to go.

"Esadora, I have no choice. I have to go, or I’ll be severely punished."

You can come and stay with me. They wouldn’t think of searching for you here.

It’s bad enough that I have to go to that stupid Factory to be trained to mate with an old male, but if I run away and they find me, it will be a whole lot worse for me. The law—

Listen to me, girl. There is something I need to tell you now. I’ve kept my mouth shut all this time because the gods ordered me to wait, but I can’t let you get buried in The Factory and become a workhorse mate to some man you don’t love.

What are you talking about?

You know I’ve told you many times, that even though there is much gossip about me, strange tales, that many women from the city and afar seek me out. They ask me for herbs, salves, and potions for illnesses, spells to make their mate love and desire them more, and for elixirs to help them get with child.

Yes, I know.

Your mother was one of those women. Almost nineteen years ago, she came to me. Her son was already ten years of age, and she had not conceived since he was born. Her mate, your father, was becoming impatient and angry with her. He wanted more children, especially more sons.

Mother came to see you? Really? Why then has she always warned me to stay away from you? Made you out to be an old, wicked witch?

Esadora smiled patiently. "Don’t all the mothers warn their children to stay out of the woods, and to beware of the witch? I think it’s more because of the predators that roam the forest than me. They just add the wicked witch part to make it even more scary. As for your mother, she did not want the truth surrounding your birth to come out or for your father to find out that long ago, she had visited me."

I don’t understand.

"When she came to see me so many years ago, I gave your mother an elixir and placed a spell on her. Soon after, she was with child. But her time of carrying the infant did not go well. She was often ill. She came to see me when she was three months, and I tried to convince her to stop working in the fields because I foresaw what her hard labor would do to her health and