by CM Raymond
CONTENTS
Dedication
Legal
Map
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
Rearick
Remnant
LE Barbant
CM Raymond
Michael Anderle
Series List
Series List MA
Social Links MA
DEDICATION
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
To Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
To Live The Life We Are
Called.
REAWAKENING
JIT Beta Readers
Alex Wilson
John Findlay
Keith Verret
John Raisor
Sherry Foster
If we missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
Candy Crum
Reawakening (this book) is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2017 CM Raymond, LE Barbant and Michael T. Anderle
Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://mihaela-voicu.squarespace.com/
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, 2017
Version 1.00 March 2017
The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2017 by Michael T. Anderle.
Prologue
Sparks flew around the factory floor like a meteor shower on a clear winter night. Workmen rushed in every direction. The task called for perfect productivity, and if there was one thing that Doyle, the Chancellor's personal assistant, knew, it was how to get shit done—and fast. Groups of exhausted workers in dirty clothes rushed in every direction; their number grew every day. The structure of the machine took form before his eyes. He could almost see its destructive potential.
The thought gave him chills.
“Everything is proceeding as planned.” The Chief Engineer appeared out of nowhere, and his presence made Doyle jump. Elon had been under pressure from the Chancellor to build the machine quickly, but more so since the heretic and his little unlawful apprentice had taken out a group of their best Hunters only a month earlier. Chancellor Adrien was feeling pressure, and he passed that pressure on down the chain.
“Good. The Chancellor will be pleased,” Doyle said, trying his best to imitate his boss’s strength. “The additional labor is speeding up the process nicely. Any problems on the floor?” Doyle glanced at the man whose neat cloak matched the bifocals sitting on his nose.
Elon never looked at ease, but the tension in his jaw had only increased since he had been made Chief Engineer after the very untimely death of his predecessor. The job was a significant promotion, but was still one few wanted due to its occupational hazards. “No problems, sir. Let the Chancellor know that we are on pace to catch up with his timeline. As long as everything goes as planned.”
“As planned?” Doyle asked.
“Yes, um, the workers are men with mouths to feed at home, and therefore, easy to control. They are doing precisely as we expected. But the magicians working the machine, they aren’t exactly used to this kind of work. I mean, it is a bit like herding spoiled cats, after all.”
Doyle’s face tightened. “You better fucking shepherd them well, Elon. You don’t want to give another engineer a shot at your position, do you?”
“No, sir.” The engineer failed to add the necessary confidence to his voice.
“That’s good to hear,” Doyle sneered. In the presence of the Chancellor, Doyle felt like an ant waiting to be stamped out of existence. But overlooking the floor of desperate men and fool-hardy magicians, it was easy to feel the power of the gods.
If he could only keep his seat at the table, he would one day rule beside one.
CHAPTER ONE
With her back to the tree, Hannah felt sweat drip off her forehead. She wasn’t sure if it was pure terror that caused the perspiration, or the heat from the fifteen-foot-tall, molten, metal monster that was hunting her through the woods. She had never seen anything like the damned thing before. It was like something born of hell and given energy by every master magician that had ever walked Irth.
Victory was unlikely, which pissed her off beyond belief.
As the monster advanced, she could feel the ground quake with every one of its steps. The coolness from the shade of the trees disappeared, and she felt like she was in the baker’s oven just off the edge of the market.
Hannah peeked around the tree and saw the hell-beast advancing.
Twenty feet. You’ve got this, bitch, she thought. Focus!
Taking just enough time to breathe away the fear and self-doubt, she dove out from behind the trunk and hit the ground, tucking into a roll. The tumble ended with one knee on the ground and her arms facing the fiery metal beast. Sub-zero daggers of ice formed in her hand, then launched from her fist, landing hard on the monster’s face. It screamed in anger and pain as it stumbled backward into a large maple.
Hannah tried to capture the advantage. While the creature was temporarily blinded, Hannah placed both of her hands on the ground. She felt the power of the forest flowing through her hands, and she recited a silent prayer to nature.
The tree responded immediately.
Its branches reached down, grabbing hold of the fire monster.
Hannah smiled, amazed that the old tree responded to her and that she actually had this giant monster up against the ropes. She decided to finish it off.
She marched forward, working again on her ice spell. But this time, as the ice began to appear, she pulled her hands apart. The dagger turned into a spear, and she ran forward, ready to plunge it into the thing’s chest.
But as she neared her target, the molten monster roared in rage. The heat from its fires began to burn the old tree. The branches loosened, and the monster broke free. Jagged wooden splinters rained down on Hannah, cutting at her skin.
She shielded her eyes from the shattered branches, which blinded her to the monster’s attack. A giant fist swung down at her. Quickly, she raised her spear in defense, but her spell was no match for the monster’s strength. His
fiery hand smashed her spear and knocked her to the ground.
Still roaring with rage, the hell monster stepped closer to its prey, slamming its arms into its chest.
“Ah, shit, I think I made him mad,” Hannah muttered under her breath.
She tried to crawl backward, but the giant advanced. Looking up, Hannah saw Hades’ servant on top of her; two fiery fists raised to the sky, ready to end the melee and her life.
“Screw me!” she screamed.
It was over.
The monster dropped an inferno in her direction, but just as it was about to send Hannah to meet her mother in the world beyond, it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The sound of battle quickly faded into nothingness.
A dry voice echoed among the trees, breaking the silence once again.
“Damn it, Hannah. You need to focus,” Ezekiel, her mentor, scolded as he walked toward his fallen pupil.
Hannah’s heart continued to race, even though she knew the monster was only a figment of her imagination—a mental spell cast by Ezekiel. It was a damned good one, too, giving her not only a visual image, but the feeling of scalding flesh and the smell of burning hair in her nose.
“I was focused. Didn’t you see that shit I pulled?”
“Had this been a real fight, that shit would have gotten you killed,” Ezekiel argued, his face filled with scorn.
It had been a month since the event in Arcadia which forced her to flee the city for good. A group of asshole Hunters had set a trap for her. They killed her father and tortured her brother to death, expecting her to come along with them willingly. But Hannah was no meek child. Rage had welled up inside of her, and she unleashed a passion-filled, magical shitstorm on them. She destroyed the Hunter’s—and her home in the process.
It caused quite a commotion.
Ezekiel had hardly gotten her and her best friend Parker out of the city before the Governor’s Guard filled Queen’s Boulevard. And teleporting the three of them had nearly wiped the exhausted magician off the face of the earth. But the old man was stronger than he looked, and his wells of magic ran deep.
Since then, she had been training every day, preparing to exact justice on the person responsible for her brother’s death. The Hunters she killed were just pawns. Adrien, the Chancellor of Arcadia’s magical Academy, was her true target. And she was getting better—a fact Ezekiel seemed not to notice.
“Come on. Admit it. I did good against that thing.” Hannah smiled up at her teacher.
“It’s did well. And no, you didn’t.” The old magician cracked the faintest smile. “I mean, that was pretty smart, adapting the ice spell I taught you to make that spear. But, seriously, trying to capture a fiery, molten monster in the tangles of some tree? What were you thinking? The nature magic flowed well, but it’s the damned application, Hannah. No matter how strong the magic is, if it isn’t mixed with wisdom—or at least some common sense—it is for naught. You wasted energy and asked the forest to put itself in danger needlessly. I’ve told you a million times; nature magic is a relationship. Proving you’re worthy of respect, that matters more than you can imagine. The same will be true when you lead others someday.” As he said this, he reached out a hand and pulled Hannah to her feet.
Hannah stood as tall as she could, but her knees were weak. Not from her teacher’s chastisement, she was certainly used to that by now, but from the amount of power she used casting the spells. He was right, and she knew it—even if she’d never concede to Ezekiel. She had to learn how to fight, not only with strength and cunning, but also with wit and insight.
“Well, hopefully, I won’t be leading people against something like that monster. What the hell was that anyway? Are there really creatures like that in the world?”
Ezekiel smiled. “Not to my knowledge—not our world anyway. I’m not sure where that particular image came from. Maybe I read it in a book when I was younger.”
Hannah brushed the dirt off of her. “Well, it’s kind of hard to take any of this bullshit seriously when I know it is just child’s play,” she quipped.
“If you can’t handle child’s play, young one, you won’t stand a chance against a minion of the Chancellor, let alone, Adrien himself.”
“Trust me, if I ever see the Chancellor, I won’t miss. But in the meantime, why don’t you give me something real to fight?” she asked. “There has to be a better use of my magic than fighting your childhood demons.”
Ezekiel grinned and planted his staff in the dirt. “Don’t wish danger upon yourself, Hannah. It will come soon enough. But as it just so happens, you’ll get your wish. It is time for stage two of your training—an infinitely harder and more dangerous series of magic.”
Hannah’s eyes grew. She hungered for the challenge. “What are you going to teach me?”
Ezekiel looked down at her. “Infiltration. But this time, I won’t teach you anything. It’s time for you to meet the mystics.”
CHAPTER TWO
The house had been reduced to near rubble, but Parker still pictured it the way it had been the night that Hannah unleashed the power of the universe on a group of Hunters. It was pure and unadulterated vengeance, and it was as effective as it was terrifying.
Walking past the ruins of his best friend’s house, he was reminded of her and how much he missed her. For years, Hannah had been his partner on the streets, hustling for coin any place they could find it.
But all that changed when the Founder returned.
The Founder was an Arcadian legend—or so Parker used to think. The great man of the gods beat back the Age of Madness that had laid waste to the old world. Then the Founder brought magic to Irth, helped found the Academy, and Arcadia itself. And, the way Parker had always heard the story, the Founder instituted rules dictating who could use magic and who could not.
One day the Founder would return and rid the world of the Unlawfuls, those who used magic without the Academy’s permission and lead Arcadia into a new time of peace and prosperity—all in the name of Matriarch and the Patriarch, Irth’s gods of old.
Hannah and Parker used to think it was all a scam. Until the Founder actually did show up and called on Hannah to be his student. It wasn’t until she was gone that Parker started to imagine that she was something more than just the best wingman a street kid could have.
She was his best friend.
This burnt-out shell of a house brought all of these thoughts to the surface. And then, like every other day, it made Parker think of William.
Parker had always known that the Hunters were some of the most inhumane assholes in Arcadia. They extorted the commoners and took every opportunity to kill Unlawfuls on sight, even if the official policy was to bring them in breathing—if possible. But the men who had tortured William and Hannah’s father for information showed that this city’s leadership was more despicable than Parker ever imagined.
Those men had received their just desserts from the newly minted rogue magician—the Founder had taught her well. Parker pictured the Hunter’s bodies torn to pieces by Hannah’s magic and couldn’t help but grin. It might take some time, but justice seemed to have a way of catching up with the corrupt. He imagined that it might sweep through the land with the hand of gods.
It gave him hope.
Through the Founder—Ezekiel as he liked to be called—Parker learned that the Matriarch and the Patriarch were real. And that the magic that Ezekiel brought to Irth in their name was meant for the good of everyone, not just the special few who lived in the Capitol. Once Hannah completed her training, she and Ezekiel would lead the charge, making real changes in the lives of those who lived on the Queen’s Boulevard.
Queen Bitch Boulevard, what the locals liked to call it, was the quarter where the poorest of the poor lived. As Parker walked down its rough-hewn streets, he noticed that it was abuzz with life, despite the early hours. This was, for most in Arcadia, the most pronounced change since Hannah had blown up the Hunters. The Governor’s Guards and H
unters marched in every direction looking for Hannah or any other Unlawfuls and making their presence known with every step.
