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    The Festival
    The Festival
    The Festival
    Ebook138 pages1 hour

    The Festival

    By Nicole Murphy

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    About this ebook

    IT’S BEEN A YEAR SINCE ASARLAI WAS CAPTURED, BUT THINGS ARE FAR FROM SETTLED IN THE GADDA WORLD...

    If you were the member of a secret magical race, how would you hide from humans?

    The bardria and its guardians have decided to hide in the open by showcasing the gadda stronghold of Sclossin to the humans as a tourist destination, in the process proving the residents are normal.

    The purists, however, believe the best solution is to remove the gadda from all contact with humans. The Festival of the Star, the biggest celebration of the year, is the perfect place to begin their campaign.

    The guardians are sure they’re ready for anything the purists throw at them. But are they ready for the resurrection of an old enemy?

    WARNING: The Festival contains spoilers for the Dream of Asarlia trilogy, and hot steamy sex.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNicole Murphy/Elizabeth Dunk Publications
    Release dateJul 12, 2012
    ISBN9781476239422
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      Book preview

      The Festival - Nicole Murphy

      The Festival.

      Nicole Murphy

      Published by Nicole Murphy at Smashwords

      © 2012

      Cover Artwork – Image from FreeImages.com

      Design – Nicole Murphy

      The Right of Nicole Murphy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Part IX of the Copyright Act 1968 and generally under section 6bis of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

      This story is a work of fiction. Names, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any event, incident, location or person (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.

      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

      First published in Australia, 2012

      http://nicolermurphy.com

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter One – July 11, 8pm

      Chapter Two – 9pm

      Chapter Three – 9pm

      Chapter Four – 10pm

      Chapter Five July 12, 6.30am

      Chapter Six – 8am

      Chapter Seven – 12.50pm

      Chapter Eight – 1.50pm

      Chapter Nine – 2pm

      Chapter Ten – 3pm

      Chapter Eleven – 3.30pm

      Chapter Twelve – 4pm

      Chapter Thirteen – 5.30pm

      Chapter Fourteen – 7.30pm

      Chapter Fifteen – 9pm

      Chapter Sixteen – 9pm

      The Gadda books

      About the author

      Other books

      Introduction

      The Festival of the Star marks the inauguration of the gadda rules, and the first bardria. For centuries, on July 12 each year, gadda travel from all over to the town of Sclossin to partake in a festival. During the day there are stalls and games and at night, a concert. Those gadda who cannot attend are sent a present to mark the occasion. It is the most important day on the gadda calendar.

      July 11, 8pm.

      It was time.

      The meal had been superb. Many bottles of wine had been consumed. The atmosphere around the large table was convivial, with laughter and raised voices and the occasional thump on the wood to punctuate a story.

      Councillor Robert Yarrow gestured to his butler, who left the room. The councillor stood and waited for the noise to die down and for all attention to come to him.

      With every head that turned, Yarrow’s back got straighter, his shoulders more relaxed, his chin higher.

      My friends, he said, smiling at the twenty faces that looked at him. My most wonderful friends. Your sacrifice will be lauded for generations.

      Twenty faces took on varying hues of green and white as they recalled why they were here.

      The door opened, the creak shocking in the silence. The butler came forward, bearing an ornate silver bowl on a matching tray. He placed it on the table before Yarrow and then stood at his master’s shoulder.

      Yarrow lifted the lid and the rank odour assaulted his senses. He fought to maintain a stoic appearance—he wouldn’t convince anyone to eat if he showed the scent alone was this terrible.

      Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one close enough to smell it. Lisa Jane gasped and held her napkin to her face.

      We can’t eat that, she said.

      Everyone leant forward, the people at the far end of the table standing to do so. All recoiled, although Yarrow knew they couldn’t possibly all smell it.

      I understand your concern. As he spoke, Yarrow used a pair of tweezers to pick up one rancid piece of beef. The green coating on the meat was foul. He lay it on the pile of cheese slices that rested on the other side of the silver tray and pulled the corners of the top slice around the meat. But we agreed that your food poisoning be natural rather than an incantation, so the guardians won’t suspect a plot.

      He rolled the morsel between his palms so the cheese encased the meat. Then he dipped the ball in a small tureen of mustard, before laying it on a small plate and handing it to the person on his left. As he made more, the plates were passed around the table until everyone had one. Meanwhile, the butler refilled the wine glasses.

      All twenty of Robert’s guests stared down at the poison pill before them and their thoughts were clear on their faces—dread, fear, disgust.

      We do this to save Sclossin and all gadda, Yarrow said quietly. We do this to ruin the festival and so reveal how terrible the plan to invite humans into our village is. You will be revered for your actions tonight. He lifted his glass in a toast then swallowed, both to mask the smell with the bouquet of the wine and to hide his smile. He was so glad he wouldn’t be eating the meat.

      As one, his guests picked up the poison and swallowed. None chewed, and each grabbed their wine and used it to wash the horrid meat down their throat.

      Now, I suggest you all go home and make yourself as comfortable as possible. I pray that you will not suffer too much tonight.

      One by one, they transferred away, disappearing from view in the blink of an eye. Yarrow put the lid back on the silver bowl and his butler took it away to safely dispose of it. No one in the Yarrow household was to be harmed by the tainted meat.

      Yarrow went to his study and sat in his armchair. His port was open, a crystal glass standing ready. He poured himself a drink and sipped it slowly, easing into the leather upholstery with a relaxed sigh.

      Everything was in order. Each of his different groups had their task and combined, they were going to spell disaster for the festival tomorrow. The bardria would have to re-consider making the town of Sclossin more accessible to humans and the next step in cutting all access to humanity would be taken.

      Yarrow shook his head. It astounded him that it wasn’t clear to all gadda that for the sake of their survival they needed to cut ties to the human race. At the human population bloomed and their technology improved, the chances of them discovering that in their midst lived a secret race with powers beyond imagining grew.

      It would be disastrous. Everyone agreed on that. Either there would be gadda who would use their power to try and rule humanity, or there would be humans who would find a way to use vulnerable gadda for their own vices.

      Some people thought the answer was to hide in plain sight. Be right in amongst the humans. People wouldn’t conceive of the concept that their neighbour, workmate, friend wasn’t human.

      Robert’s entire being quaked with the stupidity of that idea. The only salvation was to leave the humans to their lives, their world and hide the gadda away.

      It was the right way. Tomorrow’s decimation of the festival would prove it. And the best part of his plan was the guardians couldn’t stop it.

      Robert Yarrow downed the last of his port with a smile.

      9pm

      Maggie Shaunessy, the Ceamir and thus the guardian responsible for overseeing human-gadda interactions, smiled down at the shimmering green diorama of Sclossin that sprawled across the floor of her office. Every building—houses, shops, pubs, the bardria building—stood clearly within the maze of streets.

      While for the most part she was used to living in a world in which power was normal, from time to time she found herself in wonder. She’d tried to be human until she was seventeen and had then used only basic amounts of power until she’d become a guardian eighteen months ago.

      She shook her head, smiling ruefully. Back then, she’d not even wanted to do the study involved to move from second order to third. Having that much control over her power had seemed ridiculous. Seeing power used like this held no interest.

      Then the Ceamir had died and within seconds, she’d become the sixth guardian and had access to power most gadda could only dream about. She’d stood under the moonlight in the middle of the Star of Gulagh, had felt the centuries of gadda knowledge wash over her and been forever changed.

      Now, moments like this were common place in her life. The Garramir had created this translucent model of the village so Maggie could oversee her plans for tomorrow’s Festival of the Star. It sprawled across her floor,

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