Family Ties

By Octavia Montgomery

Welcome back to Zamaria—a place where the sea is clear, dragons fly free, and there is a war that has been raging for generations.

Audra and her family know their trials at ending this war is just beginning. There is much that has to be done. On the top of their list is finding the missing priestess. What can go wrong when you have dragons, sea animals, elements, and Zamaria herself to back you up? Everything when you’re looking for someone in a different realm.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781662401831

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Family Ties

Octavia Montgomery

Copyright © 2020 Octavia Montgomery

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-66240-182-4 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-66240-183-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Who’s Who and What They Do

To everybody who walked into Zamaria, welcome back. To everybody just visiting, welcome. To the people who inspired this series and helped it come to life, thank you.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to acknowledge the trademarks of the following:

Faithfully by Journey

Professor X, Marvel Comics, and Stan Lee

Prologue

Audra was still in shock. That was truly the only way to put it. She could not believe everything that happened…and most of it, she did not fight as hard to stop. She married as promised, had a party, lost friends, buried Zamarians, and had a telepathic battle with the strongest unnamed one. However, currently she had to bury three more Zamarians—people whom were friends and thus known to her mother and father. The king and queen of Kjin fell on the first day, and a servant who saved her brother died second. Zamaria considered these three as important heroes—almost as important as their god was.

For that reason, the royals had thrown one hell of a funeral procession for them. The king and his queen were laid to rest side by side in their family crypt located on the grounds of the Kjin palace. They were buried in a shroud of animals and harvest. The world of Zamaria knew there was something wrong. The sky darkened with different species of birds, and the ground was laced with an assortment of wild animals looking for their lost lord. Audra had never seen so many animals at once—wild ones—and up close, that is. Audra was concerned with this. Who was going to protect the people of Zamaria from the wild animals now that Damon was killed?

That day the harvest moon appeared in the bright daylight sky. As all things hid, the air took on a stale, humid feeling. Nothing Audra could do saturated the air. Nature cried out as its mother was arranged to rest. The grains that once were healthy and golden had quickly died. This scared everyone more than anything else. Now that the mistress of harvest passed on, what would happen to harvest now? Would there be a new mistress of harvest? If so, who was capable of such a job?

The servant, Rai, was given a high honor burial. She was buried in the mausoleum on the Camin grounds. She was, is, and will be the only servant buried there. What made her even more special? Rai was barely an adult who also had no powers. Rai was shrouded in gold, blue, and silver—the colors of Camin house. Another honor was that her family had free range to visit her as needed or wanted.

Audra’s parents and father-in-law were having meetings just about every day. There was so much that needed to be known and many things that needed to be sorted out. The problem was no one knew where to look for the answers to the questions. Yes, Nasian could give them the answers. However, as of late, the god was missing. Within the past week, Audra had not heard or dreamed of God Nasian, and she was starting to get worried. More than that, she was starting to get pissed.

As if that was not enough, Ann-Marie and Lanyon had a wedding coming up. This wedding would be the last celebratory event within this wartime…so she had been told. Nico had said, Thank God, now we can take our honeymoons, relax for a bit, and then finish what has been started. Audra worried about this, as very few things went as planned. Yes, Aryaman and Rashell had been married for a little more than two weeks. Audra and Nico had been married a bit longer than one week. However, after both weddings, there was a battle. Not even Aryaman and Audra’s sixteenth birthday celebration was safe. There was a reason to believe this wedding would not be safe either. Audra was not the only one thinking about this. Lanyon’s people were all over the protection and security of this event.

As it stood now, they were leaving for the Earth realm as planned. They were going to three different locations and were supposed to stay safe—with little help. Audra figured their parents were expecting them to stay safe by using their powers. One major flaw there was that Nico, though Audra was coming to like him, still had a very useless power. He could control dragons! Like how stupid were these adults? Hello, what was he going to do in the Earth realm, a place where dragons did not exist? A place where dragons were known as mythical creatures, magic was whispered about as a cursed evil thing, and people generally didn’t believe in either magic or dragons. They also thought of magic as a cult following.

Justly, with everything that was going on, there was one thing Audra was trying to forget. She had a friend who was lost, missing, or dead: Nate. No one probably even cared but Audra. Well, yes, someone else might care—Monica. However, Audra just wanted her friend—Nate, the friend who had children being born soon. Children who might never know anything about him. She was the person who knew Nate the most. Therefore, she felt she should be the one to tell his children about him. However, there was the problem of Monica. Monica did not like Audra too much at the moment. Unfortunately, Audra understood this. It was taking everything in her to allow Monica the time to adjust to being pregnant. At that, from a man who was lost or dead. A man whom she did not have a relationship with. This was nothing compared to the fact that the said man, Nate, had magic flowing in his veins.

Monica was the new mother of the fairies. Nate was supposed to be the last fairy. Audra wondered if Monica even knew what was truly going on. Truthfully, she wondered if Monica was carrying boys, girls, or both. Audra knew there were going to be multiple children. However, as she was one of the last people to have a fairy pregnancy, how long the pregnancy would last was anyone’s guess. Thus far, it had been a week from discovery. That put her at three, almost four, weeks; and she was big. They were going to meet her sometime soon. That way the kings and queens could know more about the fairies. Moreover, it was to see what she knew of Zamaria. That was if she knew anything at all. Hopefully, that would mean that she had no idea that there was anything to know. Hell, with Audra’s luck, Monica might know everything about Zamaria and the people within it.

Chapter 1

The White and Lilac Wedding

Days after the last funeral, Audra and Rashell stood in the Fajain Cathedral awaiting Ann-Marie, who, honestly, was late. Ann-Marie was supposed to have been at the altar twenty minutes ago. Nevertheless, as she was the bride, everyone else had to wait. If this was a human wedding, everyone would have assumed she was standing up the groom. Audra wasn’t worried though. Audra stood on the bottom steps in her white dress. It was floor-length and had a lilac wrap. The dress was free-flowing. Rashell’s dress, on the other hand, was floor-length but hugged her figure. Her dress was lilac with a white wrap.

Just as luck would have it, Ann-Marie and Falan, king of the elven people, appeared out of nowhere. Please, my lord, we don’t need to travel like that again, declared Ann-Marie wide-eyed, pale in color, and still gasping for breath.

Come now, child, that is how we elves travel. You should get used to it, young one.

Her reply was cut off by Rashell’s retort, You should have been here twenty minutes ago. Everyone is waiting.

Relax. Lord Falan called ahead and told them we were running late. There was something he needed to get from home.

All right then, ladies, I need to see my son for a second. Get inside and relax a minute, and I’ll be right back.

*****

While the girls went inside, Falan popped to his son, Lanyon. Inside this room, Lanyon, Aryaman, and Nico sat around a table. Did you find it, Father?

I did. It was where you said. Have you seen your brother today?

Yes, he’s still out. I’m worried about him.

Worry tomorrow. Here, you wanted this?

So, Lanyon, what was so important that you delayed your own wedding? If I did not know better, I would think you were scared. That can’t be it…can it? Aryaman asked.

This, Aryaman, is a golden circlet. It is to bind Ann-Marie and me. She will be my bondmate. That is deeper than just being my wife. This tells my people—past, present, and future—that she is my queen, my heart, my bondmate, my choice. Each circlet is different. My mother’s is blue and gold. Ann-Marie’s is gold and purple. It has a cat’s eye stone embedded within it. It wasn’t completed until yesterday. I just hate that it wasn’t delivered here versus at home. It doesn’t matter now. I have it. That’s what matters.

That is beautiful.

Yes, it is. Now I need to get married. Come on.

*****

Decked in a white tunic with lilac trim, Lanyon stood in front of his family and friends awaiting his bondmate. She was due any minute. He, however, was looking at the white doves flying above the room, the lilac roses suspended above the altar, and the jasmine, thyme, basil, and stephanotis flowers and herbs randomly placed in the four corners of the cathedral. Lanyon made sure he was getting married in a circle of protection. As was the custom with his race, there would be no ceremony tonight after the human wedding ceremony. His people did not bless the couple like his friends and families did. No, they married in a circle of protection, released birds, and sang all night to the gods for protection, health, love, prosperous blessings, and good future. The main focus was the food though. There were different foods offered; multiple drinks were also passed out.

As Lanyon was looking about, the music signaled the wedding party was entering. Both males dressed to match their queens and the colors of the night. First, Rashell in her floor-length, figure-hugging dress of lilac with a white wrap. On her arm was her husband, Aryaman. Aryaman was dressed in a lilac-and-white tunic, specially made for him by the elves just for this occasion. Next, Nico strutted in with his queen and wife, Audra. Nico wore a tunic as well. His, however, was made in white. Audra’s floor-length, lilac-wrapped, free-flowing dress suited her. After what seemed like forever, Ann-Marie walked in. Although she was marrying an elf royal, Ann-Marie chose to wear a lilac-corseted ball gown. Her ball gown has white lace weaved into the lilac corset.

Gliding toward the altar, Ann-Marie had little time to take in her surroundings. What she did take in stunned her. Everything was beautiful. This was more than she thought she would have