by J. J. Green
Carina couldn’t remember the last time she’d been close to another person in that way, not as a casual hookup. Though the warnings of her grandmother would probably haunt her forever, she thought she could get used to it.
Bryce’s breathing was steady and regular. He’d fallen asleep. Carina felt herself drifting off too. The terrifying, harrowing events of the day were slipping away from her. Her mind was shifting to the future. It was uncertain, but at least they were free.
The days that followed as the shuttle crawled toward its destination were both boring and tense. Military craft were not fitted out to entertain children, and even if the vessel had contained toys and other distractions, the atmosphere wasn’t conducive to play. Castiel’s seething hatred of them all seemed to grow stronger every hour, and Nahla was morose and withdrawn. Carina would have loved to entice the little girl away from her brother but she wasn’t interested, preferring to dwell in his overbearing shadow.
Even eating didn’t provide any momentary interest. The rations stowed aboard the shuttle were enough for a much larger group of adult men and women, but they were bland, nothing more than calorie input.
The death of their mother and the excruciatingly painful murder of their father had thrown a pall over the children that Carina worried might never lift. She also felt especially ill-equipped to help them. She had lost her mother too, and she didn’t think she had ever gotten over the death of Nai Nai or the loss of her father many years ago. She hadn’t recovered, only moved on. She didn’t know when or if the children would ever move on from the tragic events of their early years.
As the days wore on, Carina was grateful for Bryce’s warm, friendly, calm presence. He would make sure the children were well covered in blankets during the sleep periods. The shuttle was so cold, an exposed foot or hand would soon chill and wake the sleeper. Carina and Bryce slept together as they had that first night aboard, sharing the warmth of their bodies.
On the final night before they expected to arrive at Ostillon, Carina was awoken by someone shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes to darkness, then remembered that she’d put the blanket over her head. When she pulled it down, Darius was standing in the aisle, looking cold and scared.
“What’s wrong?” Carina asked. The rest of the children were sleeping. Bryce woke and sat up.
“The shuttle wants to tell you something,” Darius said.
“What?”
“The shuttle was talking, but no one was listening to it, and it stopped.”
Carina stared at her little brother for a moment as she came to her senses and tried to figure out what he was talking about. “The shuttle…? Oh, you mean there was a message broadcasting in the pilot’s cabin?”
When Darius nodded, she leapt out of her seat. A message could mean many things, most of them bad. The shuttle might have been reporting a critical failure, or that someone had fired on them, or… Carina cursed. Then she saw where they were and her heart rose a little. Perhaps they weren’t screwed after all.
“What is it?” Bryce asked, coming into the cabin.
“We’re about to be boarded.”
“Shit.”
“I know. But the good news is, we’re at Ostillon.”
She ran out into the passenger area and found the jug of elixir. The shuttle juddered. Metallic scrapings sounded along the hull. The children were waking up. She had only a minute or two. Carina ran back to the pilot’s cabin and looked down on Ostillion. They were over a large landmass, thank goodness. She had no idea what the conditions were like down there. She just had to hope they weren’t too harsh to survive.
“Carina,” said Bryce. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to Transport everyone down to the surface.” She pushed past him. The distance to the surface was great, but she could manage it, providing she had enough elixir. She took a swallow, closed her eyes and focused. She couldn’t send everyone together, but she could send them in pairs so they wouldn’t be alone.
“Where are we?” Castiel said. “Unfasten these straps!”
Carina wrote the character and sent it out. When she opened her eyes, empty straps hung where Castiel and Nahla had been sitting. They were gone.
“Oriana and Ferne,” Carina said, “get ready. You’re next.”
The twins held each other and nodded.
“Wait,” Carina said. “Take something of Parthenia’s. When you’re on the surface, make some elixir and Cast Locate to find her.”
Parthenia removed a bracelet and pushed it into Oriana’s hands. Carina took another large swallow of elixir. She wrote the character, and the twins were gone. Wrenching sounds were coming from the airlock.
“You take one too,” Parthenia said, giving Carina her other bracelet.
She put it in her pocket and gulped down some more elixir. She was feeling faint with the non-stop Casting. “Darius, go to Parthenia.”
“But I want to—”
“Now!”
A jolt rocked the ship. The boarders had to have the outer airlock open.
Darius threw Carina a sulky look and stomped over to Parthenia, who held out her hand for him. Carina closed her eyes. When she opened them, her oldest and youngest siblings had disappeared.
Brilliant lights shone from the direction of the airlock.
“Get ready, Bryce,” Carina said. She looked down into the jug of elixir. There was only a little left. Not enough to Transport two people safely.
Bryce registered her expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she replied, upending the jug to tip the remaining drops into her mouth.
“Carina, wait,” said Bryce. “Don’t you dare—”
He was gone. The passenger cabin was empty. Carina put down the jug and picked up the weapons.
Author’s note
Thanks for reading Daughter of Discord! If you made it this far, I hope that means you enjoyed the book. In case this is the first of my novels you’ve read, I’ll introduce myself. I’m a British writer and I live in Taiwan with my family and a black cat called Black Cat. Like many writers, I wanted to be a full-time author from when I was a young child. Despite the fact that several teachers encouraged me to take that route, it wasn’t until I reached middle age that I found the time—and confidence—to finally give it a go.
You can probably guess from my location that I’m interested in far-off, exotic places. I’ve also lived in Australia and Laos and visited many destinations that are off the beaten track. And, of course, nowhere is more distant or strange than the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, where my mind has roamed most of my life.
If you know a little about Mandarin and Chinese culture, you’ll see their influences in Star Mage Saga. Nai Nai, which is what Carina calls her grandmother, is the Mandarin term for father’s mother, and Faye calls the same personLao Po, which means husband’s mother. The five elements of wood, metal, earth, fire, and water figure strongly in ancient Chinese culture and were thought to govern all the interactions in the universe. The five Seasons in the story are an extension of the same idea. There are many other “fives” that I might include in later episodes.
Star Mage Saga is my first dark space fantasy, and it’s really pretty dark, isn’t it? I surprised myself with the places my imagination was going as I wrote. I don’t believe that sexual violence and torture should be included in stories only to add drama, but I felt in the universe I’d created they were a natural consequence of the characters’ personalities and the situations they found themselves in. Human beings can be terrible to each other. However, they can also be exceptionally loving and kind. I hope I showed that too.
If you haven’t read Star Mage Exile, the prequel to Daughter of Discord, you can pick up a free copy by signing up to my reader group. The link is below. If you don’t want to belong to the group, just unsubscribe after you collect your book. I really don’t mind.
Want to say hi, tell me what you thought about my book, or meet other readers? Come
over to Starship JJ Green. I’d love to see you there.
Jenny Green April 2018
P.S. One last thing, if you enjoyed Daughter of Discord, an honest review would be much appreciated, even if it’s only a few words. You can leave a review here.
Carina’s story continues...
DARK MAGE RISES
STAR MAGE SAGA BOOK 2
Appears July 2018
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ALSO BY J.J. GREEN
SHADOWS OF THE VOID SERIES
SPACE COLONY ONE SERIES
CARRIE HATCHETT, SPACE ADVENTURER SERIES
THERE COMES A TIME
A SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION
DAWN FALCON
A FANTASY COLLECTION
LOST TO TOMORROW
Copyright © 2018 J.J. Green
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First Edition.
