by Candy Crum
FINIS
Author Notes - Candy Crum
Written October 23, 2017
Here it is! Another book down! Rounding out the first arc is bittersweet for sure, but I can’t tell you how exciting it is! The reviews pouring in have been crazy amazing, the feedback in comments have been motivating, and the level of anticipation the fans show with every book—even though there are a billion other books publishing in the KGU around the same time—is nothing short of awesome.
I just don’t know how you guys do it, but I love it! As an indie author, all we ever hear is that book sales are down. People don’t read anymore. Well, guess what? Clearly, they aren’t surveying the right people. They’ve never met a KGU fan!
So, this book is very special to me for a lot of reasons. All for the obvious reasons, of course, but there are other reasons I will share as well. Some personal things happened during the writing of this book. A lot of you know from checking out my website that I lost my grandmother recently.
Well, I wanted to take the time to dedicate this book to her. My entire life she rooted for me to succeed. When a lot of parents tell their kids to quit worrying about anything art related, my grandmother was feeding me anything she could to push me.
Her name was Candy McKinley, though her real name was Bessalene. If anyone dared call her that, though, they needed to be ready for a throat punch. She was feisty—a lot like Elysia. She was one of twenty-one (yes, you read that right) children, and all of them were named with B’s.
This woman was incredibly talented. She loved music and inspired me all the time. She played the guitar (acoustic and electric), banjo, piano, harmonica, accordion, and in her mid-sixties, she took up learning to play the electric bass.
When growing up, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be an author or a rock star—but I think I made the right choice in the end. Ha!
She bought me karaoke machines, gave me instruments, bought me sheet music, and constantly pushed me. That woman never lost hope in me. In my lifetime I’ve had guitars, drums (though that’s the only instrument that really stuck with me—I LOVE them!), harmonicas, clarinets, bass, and I’m sure a couple more I forgot. Music has always been a huge part of my life, but writing is my passion.
My grandmother always asked questions about it and told me how proud she was. She was so supportive. But because of the KGU, because of all of you, in the last few months of her life, I got to tell her my books were thriving. I got to tell her that my books were a huge success.
She was stuck in bed at home, and she would call her friends and tell them all about it, and she’d call me just to see how many copies I sold. Luckily, Michael keeps us updated often because she asked all the time!
It just excited her to see me succeed. So, I have Michael, the KGU, and all of you to thank for making the last few months of her life an exciting one. That is something I’ll hang onto forever.
I shared a story about her in the last book’s Author Notes, and she definitely deserved this one. Thank you Mamaw ‘Kinley for everything. I love you!
And to end on a less bittersweet note—you guys REALLY went crazy in the reviews!!! Every book I’ve asked a question for you guys to answer, and the last time I asked what superpower you’d have if you could have one.
Almost all of the reviews answered! That’s awesome! It shows you guys are reading these. So, now I want to see you guys tell us what your special talent or dream is/was as a kid. Did you have a special person pushing you along the way?
Thanks again everyone! You guys are the best! Make sure to like the Facebook fan pages for the KGU, The Age of Magic, and my own Candy Crum Books so you get all the cool updates for all of those and my own personal ones, too!
I’ll see you guys next time! <3
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
October 25, 2017
First, THANK YOU for not only reading this book, but also reading to the end, past Candy’s notes to read mine, as well.
I’m writing this at the JFK airport, after our flight was moved…moved some more and then finally cancelled about seven hours later.
However, we had already moved our ticket and found a clean room. Not a nice room, it was TINY (the kind you step outside to change your mind?) but it was clean.
When I read Candy’s notes, I couldn’t help but think of my own grandmother, who was one of the biggest supporters in my life. Not that she understood me, but she always loved me. My grandmother is still alive, but her memory is gone. She isn’t the same person and doesn’t recognize me, which is a little hard.
Even now, this fifty-year old man is tearing up thinking about her and wishing he could wave his BAMAW (Big Ass Magic Author Wand) and change her life.
But I can’t.
I can tell you that my father, David Anderle, has tried to understand me through my life but our personalities aren’t similar. I’m much more of a creative and he is much more of a ‘job finisher.’
I would go around, creating all kinds of stuff (usually stuff that doesn’t make money) then leaving them when the fun was gone.
His personality is to have everything in its place, and to finish the jobs in front of him. He receives pleasure in ‘a job well done.’
I receive pleasure in the creating and figuring out how to accomplish something. Once it is done, my ‘fun’ slows way down and I’m off to the next creative endeavor. That I’ve accomplished 20+ books on my own, and over seventy collaborations with other writers, editors, artists etc. is more a testament to my age, than anything else. All of those bosses, mentors, and friends who helped me when I would almost get the job over the finish line.
Occasionally, it was a QC person making sure I finished, or a partner that helped, or a colleague.
However, over the decades finishing the job became … not easy, but something I worked on. Hell, I’m STILL working on it. I just understand better at fifty that you surround yourself with amazing people that can carry the ball to the goal, if I can get it seventy percent there.
Like Stephen Campbell, who will take these author notes, marry them with Candy’s and the story, the edited JIT notes (thank you all!) and the editor / artists for the cover and produce this book.
Hell, just thinking about it makes me realize what a fantastic team of people we have working to produce these books.
I’m truly, truly blessed to be working with people from around the world to make this a reality.
And in the end, all of you have provided my father a chance to realize that his often ‘odd’ son had something special in him the whole time. It just took the world, and the vision of Jeff Bezos and those at Amazon to provide him a platform to get the stories out of his brain.
My father has seen when I ranked #24 in the store, and as the #1 Best Seller in Science Fiction. While my grandmother won’t know that, even though she still lives, I know that she loved me no matter how ‘unique’ I was to every one else.
So, I dedicate this book to my Grandmother, Lillie J. Anderle who was the earliest one to just accepted the uniqueness that was in me.
I owe all of my parents (David & Jo Lynn, and Marlene) for raising me to be a good guy. They taught me to respect the law and those in the military by doing so themselves. (Even when my Dad was pulled over for speeding – he might bitch in private, but he was respectful in person.)
To all of those who came before us, we thank you for your support in making us who we are today.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
The Lost
Tales of the Feisty Druid Book 5
Prologue
It was hard for Arryn to believe that her journey in Arcadia had ended for the time being, and not even remotely close to the way she had expected. The hardships there hadn’t killed her desire to go back to the city for good, or to do good things there, but there were things she had to do before setting foot within the walls again.
At least for any purpose other than a visit to Amelia.
In th
e beginning, when she had first planned to go back to Arcadia, she wanted to get back there and make sure the people there were doing well, and work to make things better however she could.
Even Cathillian had wanted to help, which she found amusing. Before they arrived, she would have bet he would end up spending the majority of his time wandering the city and flirting—but she would have been wrong. She and Cathillian had set out to do great things: teaching at the Academy, training soldiers, training civilians in nature magic to help them better gather resources, and other things.
But more than anything, Arryn’s number-one purpose for going back had been to find her father, or at least find out what had happened to him. She had wanted to find any and all clues that might lead her to find him, but except for a single conversation with Elon, there hadn’t been anything to find. However, that one conversation had been very informative.
If everything Elon had said was true—and she had no reason to believe he had lied—it looked as though the dark druids had taken him. More specifically, Aeris.
Though there wasn’t any way for her to prove it, her instincts weren’t usually wrong.
When she had first come to the Dark Forest, Aeris hadn’t been shy about his hatred for her. Her arrival had driven him mad. To him, the druids were the elite, the best-trained warriors in Irth. They were the ones who practiced the purest form of magic.
In fact, they were supposed to be everything the Arcadians weren’t. Brave. Powerful. In tune with life and nature. They had dominion over everything around them. No one was allowed to cross their borders, and their laws were absolute.
Only that was never how it was supposed to be.
The Chieftain had never meant for the Forest to be secluded, segregated from the outside world and uninviting to any who should approach its walls. He wanted it to be a peaceful, beautiful place open to anyone who wanted to live a different kind of life.
The Chieftain was a wise man, one who saw the need for rules and laws, but also knew there were times to break them.
That was why he had taken Arryn in. She had been an innocent child, one who had been raised by kind, loving people. Specifically, by a woman who had been willing to risk her life for that of his grandson.
On the day when Cathillian’s life was threatened by a lycanthrope in the Forest, and she had put her own safety aside to save him—a child she had never met and had no responsibility for—he saw Adrien was not a reflection of all the people in his city. There were some who still believed in simple common decency.
The Chieftain saw a beautiful light and potential for great power in Arryn, just as Elysia had, and so he had allowed his daughter to bring the Arcadian girl within their borders.
But Aeris saw that as breaking a law that should have been unconditional—no outsiders.
Hell, if Aeris had known the Chieftain had left the Dark Forest completely in the hands of an outsider while they went to war with Arcadia recently, the deranged dark druid would have burned everything down himself.
He was so prejudiced against the outside world—mainly due to the biased upbringing his parents had provided—that he had developed an intense hatred for the Chieftain for what he had done. Aeris had left the sanctuary of their villages to join the dark druids.
That was why Arryn had no qualms about believing he would be capable of abducting her father.
Who else had the death touch and could move through Arcadia like an assassin, killing every guard he found to get to Christopher, her father? Who else would have hunted him down to remove him from the city?
No one else had known his location. No one else who had magical abilities like his, anyway. That kind of power sure as hell didn’t exist in the Arcadians.
Arryn knew what he had done, and the time was getting closer for her to confront him face to face. The immediate danger for Arcadia was over, and the city was back in capable hands. Now it was time for Arryn to focus on her home in the Forest.
She would soon see Aeris. She would soon face his Dark Chieftain. She only hoped his horrible brother, Jerick, would be with him. That way she could get revenge on Aeris for what he had done to her father, on the dark chieftain on the behalf of the people of the Dark Forest, and on Jerick for what he had allowed to happen to Corrine.
Though Arryn had no way of knowing what her future held, there was something deeply satisfying about the thought of going head to head with Aeris. And she knew that time would come very, very soon.
1
Sitting around the campfire with her friends and family, Arryn felt a sense of contentment and happiness. Everything had worked out in the end, and somehow, they had all managed to survive.
For the time being, they were able to relax, though the threat of the dark druids marching directly east from the Terres Forest instead of moving south to avoid the Dark Forest was still there.
The patrol had been increased the moment they had returned from Arcadia, and they had already made plans to intercept them if that were to happen. But for now, the Chieftain was satisfied Alaric wouldn’t be so stupid.
Not many people really knew what had happened all those years ago, and because of that, the Chieftain decided a history lesson was in order. It was true that his people would fight for him without question. They always had, knowing they were fighting for a good man with a pure heart.
But young Corrine had asked about the origin story. “What happened with you, Alaric, and Jerick? Why do they hate you so much?”
It had no doubt been confusion that prompted the inquiry. Given where she had grown up and the terrible things she had probably heard from people, she had learned never to trust. It must have created a great curiosity in her when she met the true Chieftain—the first of his title.
The Chieftain had now decided everyone deserved to know exactly who they fought and why. They deserved to know why their home would be threatened again, and why he would need them to defend it.
The Chieftain prepared to speak, and Zoe’s eyes turned white. The young mystic was looking forward to giving the druids of the Dark Forest a show to enhance their leader’s story. She believed this story was worthy of it, and the Chieftain had agreed.
He allowed her access to his mind, letting her see the things he would recall as he spoke. The faces. The Forest. And though the druids were wary of mystical magic, especially given the battle they had just fought, they found themselves excited to experience what she had offered.
Zoe had gone into Arcadia with them with no real battle training at all, and had risked her life to help Arryn take down Scarlett and the others. She had earned her place among them.
The Chieftain took a drink from one of his two mugs of wine. Arryn had finally discovered why he carried both. It wasn’t the obvious—that he had a problem. No, it was because he made two types and could never choose between the sweet or the tart, so he chose both.
She had quietly laughed at him as she settled between Cathillian and Elysia, who had taken Zoe’s place when she had gone to stand near the Chieftain to provide optimal visibility for everyone.
The Chieftain cleared his throat. “All right, where do I begin? I suppose at the very beginning. It will take a while to get through it, but I guess there’s no harm in us having a good story around the fire for a couple of nights, right?”
Everyone smiled and nodded, whispering amongst themselves as they got comfortable. “From the beginning” meant starting with the Founder, Selah, and even Adrien. It meant learning where each man had come from. Even Arryn was on the edge of her seat.
“Our story started over forty years ago, when the Dark Forest was simply an extension of the Terres Forest. These forests belonged to no one and everyone. Arcadia didn’t exist. There were only scattered groups of people trying to find their way during an incredibly hard time—the Age of Madness.”
The moment the Chieftain mentioned the Age of Madness, all eyes focused on him even more intently than they had before. Most in the village had no or very little rec
ollection of that time. The majority of the druids in the tribe were under fifty, but there were a few who were old enough to remember.
Those elders listened out of a deep respect for the hardships people had faced then, and the others, including little Corrine, listened with great curiosity.
“During that time, many families were ripped apart or lived life in fear, or both. There were a few larger communities that had perfected their ways of life and created safety for their people, but not many. It was from one of those places that a man named ‘Ezekiel’ came.
“Ezekiel—you might better recognize him as ‘the Founder’—traveled all over Irth in search of humans who hadn’t been tainted by the Madness. His goal was to find a way to stop it, but he knew he could never manage that feat on his own. If he were to be successful, he would need help. He would need people he could trust and turn to for support.
“Someone like you?” Corrine asked.
The Chieftain smiled, enjoying her enthusiasm for his history lesson. He nodded. “Yes, but that comes later. Right now, I want you to learn where it all began. And our life now, in many ways, came about because of Ezekiel. Without him, I never would have found my way here.”
Corrine smiled and nodded, settling back down quietly.
The Chieftain took her silence as his cue and continued, “In Ezekiel’s journeys, he came across a small group of people who clung to the hope they could find happiness in a world of darkness. Those people were starving and injured, and some were at death’s door, but they still held on. It was this fight in them that drew Ezekiel to them. Their will to carry on was exactly what he needed. If humanity were to survive, he would need that kind of inner strength to help him save it.
