The Exiles of Ondd...
... is a series of fantasy novels for adults and young adults about a young woman, called Ro, and her family who are exiled from their remote community. All three novels in the series, Discord's Child, Discord's Apprentice and Discord's Shadow, are available as ebooks from Smashwords and as ebooks and paperbacks from Amazon.
Check out this page, my blog or Goodreads for updates and extracts, and news of contests and offers. The Exiles of Ondd have their own pages on Facebook and Bluesky with quotes, news and all things relating to their world at @ExilesofOndd.
Best Novel Nominee – Discord's Shadow was nominated for Best Novel in the British Science Fiction Association Awards 2021.
Don't Miss...
Discord's Child is FREE throughout July in the Smashwords Summer-Winter Sale. Visit http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ksdearsley
Discord's Child
Trouble was coming–the elements weren't where they should be, a baby was born deaf and then there was Ro.
The Vitae-hearer drew the flower from her healing bag. "No wood-stars should flower in this season–it's beautiful, but it doesn't belong. Ro, nothing can survive where it does not belong."
And Ro has never fitted in. Born without the ability to feel the elements as everyone else in her village does, she creates discord. Now her niece has been born deaf and she is blamed.
Exiled before she can do more harm, Ro and her family set out for Najarind city in search of a cure, but discord follows them. Accused of murder, hunted and betrayed, they find themselves entangled in the eternal struggle between the Dragon and the Worm. If legends are to be believed, only Ro and a baby stand between the world and destruction.
Now includes chapter one of Discord's Apprentice.
Available at:
Paperback and ebook: http://www.tinyurl.com/exiles-of-ondd
Ebook only: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/410566.
Read the first chapter here.
Discord's Apprentice
The only way she can keep those she loves safe is to find the Dragon and wake it.
King Channan controls Najarind once more, and Ro thinks that she and her fellow exiles can rest, but as guests from all over the Empire gather to celebrate the naming of the heir, she makes a disturbing discovery.
The forces that would plunge the world into chaos are regrouping, and a storm is gathering about her. Can she find the Dragon before they do? She sets out on a search that will test her will and courage, and lead her ever deeper into danger.
Available at:
Paperback and ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Discord's-Apprentice-Exiles-Ondd-Book-ebook/dp/B00XL9L0VU
Ebook only: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/542490.
Read the first chapter here.
Discord's Shadow
Time is running out. Ro is no closer to waking the Dragon than she was when her family was exiled from Iyessa.
Her niece was born deaf and Ro's inability to feel the elements was blamed. Then, her only hope had been to find a cure for them both. Instead, they found themselves accused of murdering of the king, becoming entangled in treachery and the struggle to make the Worm all-powerful. Now, people are falling into an unnatural sleep from which they cannot be roused, and Ro is blamed again.
Forced to flee once more, can Ro find the Dragon in time to save the world from chaos?
Available in both ebook and paperback formats at:
http://www.amazon.com/Discords-Shadow-Exiles-Ondd-Three-ebook/dp/B09KQRY6MS
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1094827
Read the first chapter here.
Iyessi Songs
For the Iyessi, music is fundamental and essential. Making music is a way to balance the elements; to create harmony, not only of sound and emotion, but throughout the world and inside themselves. That is why each time a song is performed the music changes to take account of the vibrations around the performers. Ro has no sense of these vibrations and harmonies. For her, music is simply a combination or sequence of sounds, but she can remember the lyrics.
There are Iyessi songs to mark every occasion and to accompany each chapter in the Exiles of Ondd series. Once, they headed every one, but you will not find them in the novels. So where have they gone, and what will happen to them? They are being gathered together along with the songs scattered throughout the novels, and will one day be published as a digital anthology and an illustrated paperback.
Here are a few to make up your own tunes to.
WELCOME
You are new to the world
As we are new to you
We welcome you.
Your eyes open, and we see again
A world that is fresh
And full of hope
And wonder.
MOVING ON
One step,
The journey's begun.
No sense in looking back,
Time and life move onward.
Water flows to the sea,
The wind blows with Ondd's sighs,
Fire leaps and vitae dances,
Not even the stone stands still.
Mountains thrust fingers towards the sky
And sink when youth is gone.
And we must move too,
Wherever the path may lead us,
Wherever the path may lead.
DARKNESS AND LIGHT
I'll sing you a story of darkness and light
Of friends found unlooked for
And enemies' might
Of cowards and heroes
Of fair deeds and foul
Of love and of hatred
And hearts full of spite.