New Release: THE BEASTLY BEAUTY, Enchanted Castle Archives Book 2

 

New release today!

THE BEASTLY BEAUTY is the sequel to LIARS' QUEST.

NOW AVAILABLE in paper, ebook, and audiobook, from Ye Olde Dragon Books, at the Ye Olde Dragon Books website or your favorite online retailer.

To celebrate, ALL the Enchanted Castle Archives stories are on sale, for a limited time.

Save $2 on the full-length novels (BEASTLY BEAUTY and LIARS' QUEST) or $1 on the short stories, in both ebook and audiobook, at the Ye Olde Dragon Books storefront.

What's the series about?

THE ENCHANTED CASTLE ARCHIVES

 

The enchanted castle lies somewhere in the enchanted forest, which touches all kingdoms.

At one time or another. There's no predicting when the portal into the forest will open.

Getting in is difficult.

Getting out is even harder.

The castle moves about in the forest, needing an anchor. And a princess.

The forest moves from kingdom to kingdom.

Until two wanderers stumble inside, and meet in their separate quests to break curses and find answers.

 

 

LIARS' QUEST

 

An orphan servant, Ash successfully masqueraded as a boy until she was nearly 15 -- then a spoiled brat nobleman's daughter accused her of assault.

A quixotic justiciar got involved, and with both girls revealed as liars, sentenced them to a quest. Ostensibly, the one who succeeded in accomplishing the list of deeds would be proven the innocent, injured party.

Ash fled to avoid being captured by the spoiled brat's servants and forced to do all the quest work for both of them. Along the way, she stumbled in and out of trouble and learned a great deal of magic -- including the magic born into her blood.

Her traveling companions: Fang the bunny, who complicated things when he was only partially turned into a vampire, and a spirit ring, to allow the justiciar to spy on her adventures. When the ring decided to become Ash's friend, then things got interesting.

 

THE BEASTLY BEAUTY

 

Ash was warned, and she tried to be careful, but with the Purple Sky magicians hunting her to carry out Lathia's vendetta, there were only so many options open to her. The magic awakening in her blood and breaking free of the binding spells of her enemies made her even more vulnerable to trouble. And attractive to new allies and new enemies.

When she rode through the wrong magical doorway and found herself in the enchanted forest, Ash knew she needed to find her way out as quickly as possible. The enchanted castle, however, had other ideas. It needed a princess, and clever, resourceful, magical Ash was just what it had been waiting for. She refused to be a princess, but the castle apparently wasn't listening.

As she gained new allies and discovered just what clever traps awaited her, Ash settled in for a battle of wills that might occupy her for the rest of her life. Was it any wonder that when her only freedom lay in being beastly, she dove into the magic and the mask … and maybe enjoyed it just a little too much?

New Release sample: LIARS' QUEST

 

“Is this judgment?” Ash whispered, pausing in raising her hand to knock. She grinned, knowing how Granny Phlox would react if she posed that question to her. Granny had a wry, commonsense view of A’theosius and what the creator expected of people. She shook her head and thumped three times on the frame of the door.

Silence.

Ash held her breath. Granny should have called out. Had she grown deaf since the last visit? Or was she ill?

The latch rattled. The door slid open. Lantern light spilled out, over the shoulder of Hazel.

“Ashlyn. Good.” She chuckled when Ash gaped at her. “Did you think you could keep your secret from me?”

“My name—” Ash shook her head. She was going to say her name wasn’t Ashlyn, but a sensation like a warm breeze swirled around her, and she heard echoes of a woman calling to her, laughing, calling her Ashlyn. Tears warmed and blurred her eyes at the sudden certainty she heard her mother’s voice. “I haven’t used my name for … years.”

“Yes, well, change is being forced upon us.” Hazel stepped back, pulling the door wide open. “We don’t have as much time as I would like. You are blessed with powerful friends. Whether they are powerful enough … well, only A’theosius knows.”

“Is that my pup?” Granny Phlox’s creaky voice emerged from the shadows, twined with a warm chuckle that always hinted she was ready for mischief, and could outdo her twelve charges in any sort of trouble they might try to make.

New Release sample: LIARS' QUEST

“He wouldn’t try to destroy my magic, would he?”

“If he finds out you have any. I’d suggest pretending to be far less than you are, until this whole ridiculous inquiry is over.”

“Could you take me as your servant? Take me to the warrior maidens?” Ash sighed and spread her arms. “I’m not exactly built to be a warrior, but … isn’t there something I could do to be useful?”

“I will confer with Aunt Charlotte. Right now, Granny Phlox wants to see you. She might have some words of wisdom to help you through this. And it’s only common sense to get you away from the castle, from the curious and those who are angry you fooled them so easily.”

Leena squeezed Ash’s shoulder, then gave her a gentle shove forward. She stumbled a few steps and looked back once. The older girl nodded to her and stepped back, clearly not going the rest of the way with her. This reluctance to return to the only childhood home she remembered was ridiculous, Ash knew, but she couldn’t help it. Her legs wobbled for a few steps before she silently scolded herself to stop being a ninny. Granny Phlox was stern, but she was never cruel, and more than once she had turned into a whirling fury to defend the children given into her charge. If they were her pups, then she was a she-wolf, unhindered by her blindness.

Ash took several deep breaths and focused on the muffled thud of her heart in her ears as she approached the door of the cottage. She wished now she had come back more often to visit Granny Phlox, especially after nearly all the boys who had been brought here with her had gone away, either adopted or apprenticed. Three boys who had been infants when Lady Charlotte brought them here still lived in the cottage and spent their days tending the cows and chickens and pigs in the nearby fields and byres. That was no excuse for neglecting the old woman who was the only mother she could remember.
 

New Release sample: LIARS' QUEST

 

“The leach potion wasn’t a tonic after all?” she asked, after they had walked for several minutes and were nearly to the other side of the cow pasture. “Tonic implies something good for you.”

“Exactly. The leach potion wasn’t called the leach potion until the demand for it spread beyond the kingdom where it originated, and a small battle erupted, to force the alchemist who created it to share the recipe, so others could make it in their countries. Several wizards joined forces and took apart the falsely labeled tonic to discern the ingredients and process. That was when they realized it had been designed to kill magic before it could finish blooming into life, not help ease the process.”

“You think your father made your mother drink it?” Ash asked, her voice dropping nearly to a whisper.

“Oh, he wouldn’t have been that open. He put it in her food for maybe years. Killing her magic weakened her body and mind.” Leena’s mouth twisted, as if she fought not to say something. They climbed over the stone wall of the cow pasture, and ahead of them was the thatched cottage where Ash had lived when she first came to Castle Fairhold. “Just see the difference between Lathia and me, from prolonged dosing with the foul stuff. Mother’s family couldn’t do anything to help her, by the time they realized something was wrong, but they were able to do something for me. My patron had me cleansed, and I wear several defensive charms. Every once in a while, my father tries to slip some potion into my food, but he’s essentially given up on me as a lost cause. He couldn’t interfere when mother’s relatives helped me petition to join the warrior maidens, and he’s such a hide-bound fool, he thinks he can’t marry me off to better his fortunes. Everything rests on Lathia now, which is why he’ll do everything dirty and dishonorable anyone could imagine, to punish you and exonerate her.”

New Release sample: LIARS' QUEST

NEW AND AVAILABLE TODAY!

In paper, ebook and audiobook.

If you'd like to taste test before buying, check out a few episodes from Season 1 of the Ye Olde Dragon's Library storytelling podcast.

Note: If you were listening during Season 1, this was a work-in-progress, and an experiment, where I asked for input from listeners, to help in the final revisions and polishing process. There are slight differences in details between the original podcast episodes of LIARS' QUEST, and the book now available online in bookstores and from audiobook apps. Not noticeable, unless you were really listening closely. If you were -- Thanks!

The sequel, BEASTLY BEAUTY, is scheduled to be released on the podcast in September, as well as in print, ebook, and audiobook. Stay tuned. Better yet, look for the Ye Olde Dragon's Library group on Patreon, join, and support the podcast -- and claim free short stories and other goodies as they become available!

*****

 “Leach potion, mi’lady?” Ash asked. She looked up at Leena and caught her breath at the brief expression of hurt and anger that touched her face, gone as quickly as it appeared.

“A tonic originally created, they say, to ease the suffering of those awakening to their inborn magic but having a hard time of it.” She rested a hand on Ash’s shoulder, guiding her to walk a little faster as they cut a corner across the horse meadow and came to the low, raw stone wall separating it from the cow pasture. “Magic doesn’t always arise easily for those chosen to bear the weight. Sometimes the power hurts. Sometimes it steals the mind. Sometimes it crushes the body with a heavy burden that the bearer never recovers from. Why do you think seers are usually blind? Why do you think so many healers are twisted and broken in some way? The magic needs a power source, and when the channels for power to feed that magic are blocked or are thin and twisted, the magic draws its strength from the flesh of the possessor, who is then possessed. The master becomes the servant.” She inhaled slowly, deeply, with thin lines forming around her eyes and mouth, just for a moment. “Watch your feet.”

Ash flushed and caught herself before she tripped over a stone partially hidden in the tall grass. She had been so fascinated by the subtle play of emotions on Leena’s face, she had ignored the land around them. A snort escaped her when she saw the brown deposits dotting the field. This was not a good place to be distracted. Best to watch where she put her feet for the time being.

Upcoming release sample: LIARS' QUEST

Leena escorted Ash out of the castle. Lady Charlotte asked her to do it to protect her from Winston’s few manservants who were loyal enough to try to harm her. Ash glimpsed one of them and wondered if the wrinkly, sour-faced man had some kind of magic that he would try to use against her. She couldn’t imagine any other way he could best her.

“Hmm, they’re all like that,” Leena said, when she caught Ash watching the man as they crossed the main courtyard of the castle. “Only the desperate are willing to put up with the pitiful wages my father offers, and they’re the only ones Lathia doesn’t terrify.”

Ash didn’t feel any tingling or stinging in her two stars, but she suspected using her two birthmarks to detect the presence of magic might be a dangerous kind of mistake. When she asked if the manservants had any magic, Leena laughed under her breath.

“If they ever had any, they foreswore it or stifled it, working for my father. He’s the sort who won’t allow anyone around him to be more powerful. People say my mother’s family has magic in their blood, but what fledgling magic she had faded away after she married him.” She didn’t continue until they had crossed the dancing meadow that lay between the castle’s outer walls and the first of the pastures for horses and cattle. “My patron fears that the leach potion still exists, and my father or perhaps his father obtained a large supply of it, and they erased what magic my mother had, and I might have had.”
 

Upcoming Release: LIARS' QUEST

THE START OF A NEW SERIES

Have you heard the episodes on the Ye Olde Dragon's Library podcast?

Plenty of time to catch up!!

THE ENCHANTED CASTLE ARCHIVES

 

The enchanted castle lies somewhere in the enchanted forest, which touches all kingdoms.

At one time or another. There's no predicting when the portal into the forest will open.

Getting in is difficult.

Getting out is even harder.

The castle moves about in the forest, needing an anchor. And a princess.

The forest moves from kingdom to kingdom.

Until two wanderers stumble inside, and meet in their separate quests to break curses and find answers.

 

 

LIARS' QUEST

 

An orphan servant, Ash successfully masqueraded as a boy until she was nearly 15 -- then a spoiled brat nobleman's daughter accused her of assault.

A quixotic justiciar got involved, and with both girls revealed as liars, sentenced them to a quest. Ostensibly, the one who succeeded in accomplishing the list of deeds would be proven the innocent, injured party.

Ash fled to avoid being captured by the spoiled brat's servants and forced to do all the quest work for both of them. Along the way, she stumbled in and out of trouble and learned a great deal of magic -- including the magic born into her blood.

Her traveling companions: Fang the bunny, who complicated things when he was only partially turned into a vampire, and a spirit ring, to allow the justiciar to spy on her adventures. When the ring decided to become Ash's friend, then things got interesting.