Blackest Knights

by Phipps, C. T.

“It will redeem the honor of the Castille family,” Anne said, raising her nose in disdain. “I will also be known as the woman who killed Cassius Mass, a hero who betrayed his nation to work for the dogs of the Commonwealth.”

  Anne aimed her gun and fired, only for her blast to strike against my personal energy shield and dissipate. I had managed to acquire this back when I was still richer than Croeus and it was above military grade. Her eyes widened as I aimed my fusion pistol upward and gunned her down.

  I checked them both for the information Vincent stole on the way out. It had been in his dinner jacket pocket and was completely fried by Anna’s blast. No one was getting their honor back today.

  So, I focused on the millions my team made selling the Kvari Queen back to its holding company.

  About Our Authors

  James Alderdice writes dark fantasy and weird westerns because the voices in his head won’t quiet until someone else can hear them. He is a great fan of sword & sorcery, ghosts and lost ruins, so of course he lives in Utah with his wife and children. www.kingdavidjwest.com

  Allan Batchelder is the author of Immortal Treachery, a series of dark fantasy books that will culminate in Book Five: The End of All Things later this year.

  Matthew Davenport hails from Des Moines, Iowa where he lives with his wife, Ren, and daughter, Willow. When his scattered author brain isn’t earning weird looks from the ladies of his life, he is the author of the Andrew Doran series, the Broken Nights series (along with his brother, Michael), The Trials of Obed Marsh, and Satan’s Salesman among other titles.

  Matthew Johnson is a current student in the MFA Creative Writing program at University of Riverside Palm Desert. He has published stories in both fantasy and horror genre, Lazarus Rising, a zombie play, and is currently working on two novels and another play. He resides in Riverside California with his wife, director and actress Wendi Johnson, and his two loveable puppies. You can find more about his works at www.matthewjohnsonauthor.com

  A. M. Justice is a lover of science and wit, sporadic scuba diver, and once and future tango dancer. A Brooklyn-based author and science writer, she writes about medicine by day and fiction by night, and has received honors from Writers Digest, Reader’s Favorite, and the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Her characters live only in her head, but they’re real, and she puts them through hell. You find out more on her website, www.amjusticeauthor.com.

  Paul Lavender has been lied to all his life. He thought he was born in Gateshead, England when really, he was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This may seem like a small thing (the two places are about 200 yards apart) but it means Paul is a true Geordie. Of course none of this matters as he now lives in Worcester with Sam, his very supportive wife, and Ryan their son.

  When he was younger, Paul was heavily influenced by the dark arts of comics, RPGs, fantasy novels, power metal and computer games. It really is amazing that he’s turned out so well adjusted. You can find more about The Orcslayers at http://pslavender.wixsite.com/the-orcslayers

  Frank Martin is a comic writer and author that is not as crazy as his work makes him out to be. He writes and produces the biblical mythology comic series Modern Testament, which features a wide ensemble of artists throughout its four volumes. His most recent novel, Mountain Sickness, was published last year by Severed Press. Frank currently lives in New York with his wife and three kids. www.frankthewriter.com

  Martin Owton is a UK-based writer and the author of two published books Exile and Nandor in the Nandor Tales series, the world in which this short story is set. He is a member of the Gravity’s Angels (formerly the T-Party) writing group in London. He holds a PhD in Chemistry and in real life is a drug designer for a major pharma company. www.martinowton.com

  C. T. Phipps is a lifelong student of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. An avid tabletop gamer, he discovered this passion led him to write and turned him into a lifelong geek. He is the author of the Bright Falls Mysteries, Cthulhu Armageddon, Lucifer’s Star, The Supervillainy Saga, Wraith Knight, and others. He is a regular blogger on “The United Federation of Charles” http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/.

  M. L. Spencer was born in Southern California and grew up on the works of Steven R. Donaldson, Stephen King and Frank Herbert. By day, she works as a biology teacher. By night, she sweats over a beaten-up keyboard. She enjoys writing and reading and writing, not necessarily in that order. She is the author of The Rhenwars Saga.

  Michael Suttkus (II) is an author from Leesburg, Florida. He is infamous for his love of cats, tabletop roleplaying games, reading science magazines, and other stereotypical NERD activities. Michael is the co-author of the Bright Falls Mysteries, Lucifer’s Star series, and Running Free novels. He’d have preferred to not write this biography because he argues that authors should remain mysterious purveyors of words that sit in dark spooky towers where they dictate their decrees from on high.

  Jesse Teller fell in love with fantasy when he was five years old and played his first game of Dungeons & Dragons. The game gave him the ability to create stories and characters from a young age. He started consuming fantasy in every form and, by nine, was obsessed with the genre. As a young adult, he knew he wanted to make his life about fantasy. From exploring the relationship between man and woman, to studying the qualities of a leader or a tyrant, Jesse Teller uses his stories and settings to study real-world themes and issues. He lives with his supportive wife, Rebekah, and his two inspiring children, Rayph and Tobin.

  https://jesseteller.com/

  https://www.facebook.com/PathtoPerilisc/

  Ulff Lehmann has spent quite a while waiting on his Midlife Crisis and decided he won’t go there. For the past two decades he has been developing the stories he is now publishing. Born and bred in Germany, Ulff chose to write in English when he realized he had spent most of his adult life reading English instead of his mother tongue and brings with him the oftentimes Grimm outlook of his country’s fairytales to his stories. A wordsmith with a poet’s heart, Ulff’s goal is to create a world filled with believable people.

  David Niall Wilson is awesome. He has been known to edit, design, and write books simultaneously while carrying on Facebook chats with authors. He runs the publishing company, Crossroad Press, that will one day take over the world and believes that a time traveler named Frederick Douglass will be our salvation. You can find him at http://www.davidniallwilson.com or on Facebook and Twitter.

  Richard Writhen is originally from New England, Richard Writhen has lived in both Rhode Island and New York City. He was raised on a steady diet of eighties fantasy films, horror television and universal monster movies. After briefly attending college for music and video, he began his first online serial about five years ago. He has since been e-published on several notable blogs and websites and is now also the author of three independently published novellas on Amazon: A Kicked Cur, A Host of Ills and The Hiss of the Blade. Richard is currently at work on several short stories, as well as completing his fourth novella, The Angel of the Grave. The Vampire’s Lair is set in the mysterious rainforests of the continent of Mestes, on the southern hemisphere of the planet Cedron. It is a place where many tribes of native peoples eke out a hardscrabble existence, in a dark world of superstition, never knowing quite what is real and what is not.