Incongruous Echoes

By Gabriella Bradley

Octalia Trevarto, a Fey descendant of a goddess, returns from a fishing trip to find her village in flames, under attack by the king’s soldiers. She feels helpless, powerless to prevent the utter destruction wrought by a king who has vowed to destroy Fey, dragons, any citizens with special abilities. As a lone survivor, she decides that hiding right under the nose of her enemy is a better option than fleeing further into the forest. She does not foresee the consequences of her actions.

Octalia wakes in a clinical room to discover she has become the test subject of two scientists for a transplant experiment. And she is not alone... There is another patient. A man she feels instantly drawn to, but who is he?

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781487431471

Book preview

Life as she knew it has gone up in flames, utterly destroyed, then put back together in unexpected ways...

Octalia Trevarto, a Fey descendant of a goddess, returns from a fishing trip to find her village in flames, under attack by the king’s soldiers. She feels helpless, powerless to prevent the utter destruction wrought by a king who has vowed to destroy Fey, dragons, any citizens with special abilities. As a lone survivor, she decides that hiding right under the nose of her enemy is a better option than fleeing further into the forest. She does not foresee the consequences of her actions.

Octalia wakes in a clinical room to discover she has become the test subject of two scientists for a transplant experiment. And she is not alone... There is another patient. A man she feels instantly drawn to, but who is he?

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Incongruous Echoes

Copyright © 2021 Gabriella Bradley

ISBN: 978-1-4874-3147-1

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.

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Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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Smashwords Edition

Incongruous Echoes

By

Gabriella Bradley

Chapter One

Octalia slung her catch over her shoulder and headed for home. The fish had been plentiful that day, and she had caught enough to feed an army. Night fell fast between the mountains, and it was already very dark. Her Fey eyesight enabled her to see easily at night, even if clouds covered the moons. Hurrying as fast as she could, she made her way through the thick undergrowth. She could have flown, but the king’s soldiers hunted the Fey, and it meant she would have to fly above the trees. If one of the king’s surveillance drones spotted her, it would give away the location of her village. Not that he sent them out often, but occasionally, they saw them flying above the forests and mountains, searching for signs of hidden villages.

King Gylbard, the former king, had lived in peace with all the people on the planet. After his first mate passed on from a terrible illness, he had mated with Richessa, a goddess and sorceress, and Ricon was born of that union. Prince Heronius was the first-born son of King Gylbard and the first queen. He had inherited the throne after his father, Queen Richessa, and Prince Ricon met with an unfortunate boating accident eight years ago.

Heronius immediately began the hunt for the Fey, dragons, shapeshifters, sorcerers, anything or anyone that had any special abilities. His plan was to rid the planet of all magic and sorcery, and he promised big rewards of gold for information of their location. Why he hated them so much, Octalia had no idea. No one knew. Maybe there had been bad blood between him and his stepmother.

Her keen sense of smell picked up the scent of smoke. Her heart speeding up and darts of fear shooting through her stomach, she hurried faster. As she got closer to her home, the smoke got quite thick, and she heard screams and shouts. She dropped the bundle of fish, took to the trees, and flew from branch to branch until she was close enough, then stopped on a limb to peer through the huge leaves.

What she saw almost caused her to fall. Her hand covered her mouth to stifle the scream that threatened to come from the very depths of her soul. Her village was in flames. The king’s soldiers chased after the villagers, women, men, and children. They spared no one. Fey magic was no match against the phasers the humans used, which incinerated a person or object in less than a second, turning them into dust.

She pushed the leaves far enough aside to use her magic to disarm several of the soldiers, but too late. They had already fired at several people running for their lives, instantly disintegrating them. Tempted to slay the soldiers anyway, she softly began chanting a spell but forced herself to stop. She was not allowed to use her magic to kill unless it was in self-defense.

Octalia closed her eyes, feeling helpless, and not wanting to witness any more destruction. She leaned against the big tree trunk, tears escaping from beneath her eyelids until she heard another loud sound—the flapping of wings. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. Help had come from two dragons, but too late for many of the villagers, her friends, and her family. Deep down, she hoped and prayed that some had been able to get away, to flee to safety. But more than likely, the attack had been a complete surprise. Who had betrayed their location? Or had a drone spotted them?

As fast as the soldiers had set the village on fire and had killed most of the inhabitants, the dragons incinerated the fighters, who were looting for whatever they could find. They began to flee at the sight of the two dragons, but they were not swift enough. After a few minutes, not a living soul was left alive.

The two dragons, one looked to be green, the other silver, their scales glittering in the beams of the two moons filtering through the clouds, soared up to the dark sky and disappeared. If only they had arrived in time. But how had the dragons known in the first place that her village was in trouble? Vaguely she thought about her father and his tales of shapeshifting dragons. She always believed them to be just that, tales. Now she knew it to be true. There really were dragons on her world.

Hours later, the sun’s rays penetrated through the leaves. Octalia had not slept but spent the night mourning, then wondered what she was going to do, where she could go. Long ago, when Heronius had made the new laws, her other relatives and people from her village had fled to different regions, far away. However, her parents decided to remain closer to the cities, certain the king would see the error of his ways. Yet the hunt for the Fey was never going to stop, not while young King Heronius sat on the throne.

She dropped down to the ground and hurried into the charred and smoldering remnants of the village. Here and there, puffs of smoke spiraled up from the black remains and ashes. There were no signs of survivors.

A small section of her family home was left standing. Their house was constructed of partially wood and stone. For the part that held the bedrooms, her father had used rocks to build the walls that kept out heat and cold. Those had mostly withstood the destruction of the flames.

She made her way to the remaining walls, avoiding the hot spots. She found an undamaged bag, and sifting through the mess, discovered some of her leggings and tunics that were sooty but intact. In her parents’ room, she made straight for her father’s hiding place where he kept their jewelry and gold. Charred boards, some fallen rocks, and a layer of soot covered the square stone slab that hid the hole in the ground beneath where the bed had stood. After removing the debris, she lifted the slab, exposing the small room beneath it, hiding the family treasure. She frowned. She remembered there being way more, but right now, that did not matter.

She scooped up the jewelry and gold coins that were left and put everything in the bag, then quickly, squashing her tears and emotions, left the village. A plan quickly formed in her mind. She would hide right under the nose of the enemy. Her hair was thick enough to conceal her ears, and she could braid it in such a manner that she could easily pass for a human. The capital would be her destination. On her way, she would pass by several markets where she could buy suitable human clothing. Dressed in a tight bodysuit like most humans wore, it would be easy to get lost among the many inhabitants. Many of the humans from the city came to the village markets to buy fruit, vegetables, eggs, meats, clothing, and other paraphernalia. Pulling her hair over her ears, she headed in the direction of the capital.

Octalia stopped at the last market she came to and bought two bodysuits, some toiletries, a hairbrush, then quickly went into the forest to change and braided her hair to hide her ears. Wearing her new clothes and her ears well hidden under her thick platinum braided knots, she walked across the bridge into the city.

She remembered her father’s words. Predators hide in dark corners in the city. Danger lurks everywhere. Yet she could not imagine such a beautiful town being dangerous. She had never seen so many people in her life, and the buildings and shops awed her.

She had no idea where to go, so she just wandered through many streets. Night fell, and she had still not figured out where to find a place to live. Maybe I should ask someone, she murmured while walking through a dark alley dimly lit by just a few lights.

Two men, smoking long pipes, stood leaning against a wall. Octalia hesitantly approached them. Excuse me? Can you direct me to a rooming house? I am looking for lodging.

Oh, what a little beauty we have here, one man leered and stepped toward her.

Octalia took a step back, her senses on high alert.

What is in your bag, young lady? Care to share with us?

Not daring to use her magic for fear the men would set off an alarm to claim the reward of gold for reporting a Fey, she swiveled to run away, but something crashed down on her head. Excruciating pain for just a moment, then the already dimly lit alley turned inky black.

* * * *

Londo was about to enter the brothel when he saw two thugs attacking a young woman and stealing her bag. He quickly yanked his phaser pistol from its holster and pointed it at them. Hey! Stop, or I will shoot!

The men dropped the bag and took off. Londo wasted no time and hurried to the girl. She still had a slight heartbeat, and her breath came in small gasps. Blood pooled around her head, soaking lovely silvery hair. She was on the verge of death. Her skull had been smashed so badly, some of her brains had spilled, so he knew she would not live.

He scooped her into his arms and bent to grab the bag, then hurried out of the alley to his flyer, parked just around the corner. Once he had her inside, he quickly hooked her up to the several life support systems set up within and placed a pressure bandage around her head. The life support would keep her heart beating and supply oxygen to whatever brain cells were still active. Now, all he needed was one more subject. It did not matter if it was a male or female, although Zanika had mentioned she preferred one of each.

Beggars cannot be choosers, he muttered.

Instead of going back to the brothel to find the much-needed release of the libido