by Candy Crum
CONTENTS
Kurtherian Gambit
Dedication
Legal
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
Epilogue
Author Notes - Candy
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Social Links
Series List
THE LOST
Tales of the Feisty Druid Book Five
By Candy Crum and Michael Anderle
A part of
The Kurtherian Gambit Universe
Written and Created
by Michael Anderle
The Kurtherian Gambit Universe
(and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are
Copyright (c) 2015 - 2017 by Michael Anderle and LMPBN Publishing.
DEDICATION
From Candy
To my boys, thank you for
being my reason for everything.
To my family who support me
no matter what.
To the fans and readers--thank you!
From Michael
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
To Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
To Live The Life We Are
Called.
The Lost Team
JIT / Beta Readers
Kimberly Boyer
Kelly O’Donnell
John Findlay
Daniel Weigert
Larry Omans
Micky Cocker
Alex Wilson
Tim Bischoff
Thomas Ogden
Joshua Ahles
Paul Westman
If we missed anyone, please let us know!
Editor
Lynne Stiegler
THE LOST (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.
This book Copyright © 2017 Candy Crum, Michael T. Anderle, CM Raymond, LE Barbant
Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://www.mihaelavoicu.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, November 2017
The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015 - 2017 by Michael T. Anderle.
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 the 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 ha
d 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.
CHAPTER ONE
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 recollection 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.
“In that time, things were very different. Magic hadn’t yet manifested in humans, though other creatures had certainly been touched by something: magic, a curse—no one could be certain. Just waking up every day was a risk, and people could only hope a miracle would come along to save them. Unfortunately, that hope had quickly faded in most of us. Even I had begun to lose my way.
“It seemed like the world was doomed to fail against such a powerful darkness, but Ezekiel stumbled upon a group who believed in the Matriarch and believed she would once again find them, that she would come back for them. Within a very short period of time, he grew close to those people as he helped mend the ones who could be saved and bury the ones who couldn’t, and they began to trust him. They saw him as an outside strength they could lean on, and they became even stronger.”
The Chieftain prepared himself for the next part, Zoe pausing in her images of the middle-aged man scouring the lands for reliable people he might turn to. He knew the next bit would come as a shock to some, given how things had changed so drastically over the years—and how they had ended.
He cleared his throat again before continuing, “Among his new people, there were two he clung to most. One was a young boy of only twelve named Adrien, who had a pure heart and a willingness to help Ezekiel no matter what the task. The older man felt responsible for the orphaned boy, and soon began to treat him like his own.
“The other person he came to lean on was a wildly handsome and strong young man in his early twenties named Alexander.” Everyone laughed as he said his own name, including Corrine. He looked at Arryn, but she only smiled knowingly at him, shaking her head.
She had to know that was coming…
“Before that time, I knew very little about planting or growing so much as a flower, let alone what we do now. Even when Ezekiel came, I was only just learning. I wasn’t a farmer by trade, but had
quickly picked up a talent for it once safe farmland and educated farmers became scarce. I had no other choice. I’d worked on farms, so I knew more than the average person, though it still wasn’t much. I took that burden onto myself, and within only a short time, I learned how to grow almost anything, and did so to feed the people. Alaric and his brother Jerick helped me most.”
Arryn shifted where she sat, catching the Chieftain’s attention. “You knew Adrien from that young an age? I knew the three of you were involved with the Founder together, but I didn’t know you knew one another even that far back.”
The Chieftain nodded. “He was only about five or six when a small group wandered into our area. We didn’t have many people, but they had even less. His parents had been killed, and friends of theirs had taken him with them. We accepted them and helped them. He was a strong-willed and kind young man, even at six. I liked him very much, and he assisted me often. When Ezekiel arrived, and the boy chose to cling to him, I wasn’t surprised at all.”
Arryn snorted. “Seems he craved power even then, attaching himself to the stronger men in the area in hopes of learning and growing.”
The Chieftain smiled. “What you just described is exactly what any child does. It’s natural. It’s how they grow. To deny them a figure like that is to stunt their growth and limit their true potential. It’s only because you know how that child turned out as an adult that you second-guess his motives. Trust me—I know, because I did the exact same thing. For many years I wondered if I, or even Ezekiel, had led him down that path.”
She nodded, understanding his words. “That makes sense, I suppose. I guess I clung to you and Elysia. I still do. But if it wasn’t lust for power that drove him early on, what was it?”
The Chieftain gave a sad smile, his eyes briefly drifting to the flames. “Fear.” He paused. That word resonated with everyone there, most of all Corrine. “Fear, especially at a young age, makes people crave power. If they’re strong, nothing can harm them. But then, how much is enough? Soon, it becomes an obsession.