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
Epilogue
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.
RESTRICTION
JIT Beta Readers
John Findlay
Alex Wilson
Jed Moulton
Warren Wheeler
Sherry Foster
Keith Verret
Kimberly Boyer
Bruce Loving
Micky Cocker
Doreen Johnson
Diane Velasquez
If we missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
Candy Crum
Restriction (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
The Far Future…Irth (Earth)
Catherine smoothed her white skirt over her long, slender legs as she prepared to enter the classroom. She was about to give the most important lecture of her life, and she needed to look the part.
Five years working in the Ministry of Education, and she still got butterflies before she walked into the room. Having a great amount of respect for the vocation of teacher, some anxiety was natural, but Catherine hoped that someday she would feel comfortable amongst the students. She swallowed one last time and stepped through the door.
The classroom was abuzz with its normal electricity. The students were curious and even excited to learn. She knew that joy in schooling wasn’t typical for students of this age, but she was lucky to have been given the honor students—the best in New Arcadia. And she also knew that many of them, if she did her job well, would advance far beyond their teacher.
It was not unlike the story she was about to tell—the story of the girl who changed the world.
“Take your seats,” Catherine called out over the hubbub with a cheerful tone. “Settle down everybody!”
After what seemed like an eternity, the students complied.
She stood at the podium and shuffled her notes. “Good. Right. Who remembers what we were talking about last class?” Catherine asked.
Francis, whose parents were both teachers at the University, raised his hand. She nodded in his direction. “You had just introduced a new topic—the Age of Magic.”
“That’s right, Francis. We had finally finished going over the Age of Madness. Someone give us a quick recap into what the Age of Madness was. Remember,” she looked over those looking back at her, “it will be on the final exam.”
All the students stirred in their seats. It was the kind of question that was too easy to want to answer, so they all waited for the others.
Finally, Randall, a boy whose parents were both manual laborers, raised his hand. “The Age of Madness was a time of chaos. Empress Bethany Anne had left the earth to travel the stars some time before. And in her absence, war had broken out dropping humanity into the Second Dark Ages.
“It was after her leaving that the Kurtherian nanocytes had affected most of humanity over generations, changing the world forever. Humans, for the most part, weren’t prepared to handle the mutations in the programming. Michael had returned and stopped an effort by several mutated humans from taking over large areas of Earth.
“She had come back to Earth to pick Michael up after stopping the M’nassa and other tribes from attacking Earth and placing the Orbital Defenses around so that we could never be attacked again.”
The boy paused, then continued. “However, they left without understanding the issues with the changes to humanity. So, instead of giving humans a gift that the Kurtherian Tribe Essiehkor had envisioned—instead of allowing people the ability to tap into the etheric—the nanocytes transformed many into monsters. Ravenous creatures who looked like humans, but who lacked logic or sense of affection.
“The Mad had no love for anything but their desire to consume human blood to get at the Etheric energy the blood imparted. It significantly decreased an already lower population and plunged the world from the Second Dark Ages into the Age of Madness.”
“Good,” Catherine said. “And how did the Age of Madness come to an end?” she asked.
Melissa, a girl in the front row, looked up and spoke without raising her hand. “The Founder appeared. He was a man of great power and could cure humanity of the Madness. He taught them how to control the desires within them. And in doing so, he showed them how to tap into the etheric and produce magic.”
Catherine felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing her student’s words. She had taught them well, and they were now ready to push into harder lessons.
“That’s right. And today, we pick up where that story ends. The Founder was only the beginning of the Age of Magic. He had an important role to play, but his gift was but the Genesis of our world. In the end, he would not be nearly as important as the one who came after him.”
All the students leaned in. She was blessed to have such a hungry group. They’d been waiting all year for the good stuff, and it was time for Catherine to give it to them.
This is exactly what she was ready to do.
“I’m sure all of you have heard the legends, but today we are going to learn the true story of the Hero of Magic. How she rose from nothing to become the most powerful magician the world had ever known to that point and—more importantly—how she used that magic to vanquish evil from our land. She led us out of the darkness and into the time of peace that we all now k
now.
“It is time to tell you the truth... about her.”
CHAPTER ONE
Hannah didn’t know it, but in a few more minutes, her future would be changed.
Forever.
And how could she have known? It was a day like any other. She and her brother William were on their way to the park in uptown Arcadia, the one clean place they could enjoy themselves in this crowded, sweaty city. Their weekly trip to the beautiful lawn was the only thing in her long, hard days she had to look forward to.
Being with her fifteen-year-old brother was, in ways, the only time she truly felt human.
Turning the corner onto the Street of the Patriarch, William suddenly stopped.
Hannah turned, allowing a little impatience to color her voice. “Let’s go, Will. We don’t have much time.”
Her brother stared off into the distance, his small face ashen, sweat breaking out on his forehead. “Go ahead, Hannah. I… I don’t feel so good. I’ll catch up. I think I might need some—”
Mid-sentence, her brother dropped to the ground. Hannah scrambled back to his side. Eyes rolled back into his head. Her brother, five years younger, started to tremble.
“William?” She checked over his body, her voice rushed out, “Will, this isn’t funny.” The words rushed out at the end.
His trembling turned to shaking, which transformed into full-body spasms. William’s arms tightened against his chest, and his legs kicked like wild beasts. Drool leaked from the side of his mouth.
Someone was screaming his name, repeatedly, “William, WILLIAM!”
But, her screams were accomplishing nothing. His ashen color started to turn, not back to his usual pink, but blue.
Her heart pounding in her ears, Hannah fought back fear and tried to think. Pulling him into her arms, rocking him, she whispered desperately, “Breathe, William, breathe, breathe!”
She looked around, frantically. “Help me. Somebody help me!” All around the bustling square, the early evening market goers streamed right by them noticing nothing amiss. Hannah wasn’t surprised—this city had little room to care for people like them—but their indifference made her angry nonetheless.
Unable to hold herself together, Hannah shouted upwards into the empty sky. Anger swept through her body, electrifying the ends of her arms as people continued stepping around her and her convulsing brother.
Her body grew hot, sweat broke across her forehead and spread throughout her limbs. Hannah felt like there was something inside trying to escape the confines of her skin. She looked down at her brother, but a slight movement caught her attention.
A tiny, white lizard crawled out from behind a vendor’s barrel, walked over crawling up her brother’s arm and sat on top of her shaking brother’s body. The creature stared her in the face and cocked its head.
It was strange. Her brother lay dying in her arms, and all she could focus on was this damned lizard.
As she focused on the small, slimy reptile, the pent-up fear and unease rushed out of her. Every muscle in her body tensed and then released at once. Green light emanated from her, and in that moment, the lizard grew to the size of a cat. Tiny spikes pushed through its skin and its pale color turned into a dark green.
It blinked at her twice, then scurried out of sight.
Her breath caught, What the hell?
Hannah looked down at her brother lying quietly in her arms, breathing less erratic.
THANK GOD!
“What happened?” he asked. His color turning back to normal and his breaths falling back into a regular pace.
Hannah dropped into a slouch, pulling her brother into her body. Life in Arcadia without him would be pointless. William was her purpose. All that she did day-to-day was to care for him.
“Hell if I know,” Hannah said, looking down. “You OK?”
“I think—” he started to answer.
A commotion across the street cut her brother’s response short.
A street vendor was talking to a man with a head the size of an ox and a body to match. The vendor stopped arguing with his hands and pointed in Hannah’s direction. The large man looked over and stared right at her, yelling, “Get her!” Two smaller men followed as he pushed people out of his way, heading toward her and her brother.
Hannah’s eyes opened wide. Their chests were emblazoned with the sign of the Hunter; they were mercenaries hired to kill or capture anyone using magic unlawfully within the walls of Arcadia. They were licensed to use magic themselves, and while many in the community held them in high esteem, folks from Hannah’s quarter generally despised the preferential treatment they were given.
All they had to do was flex their magical muscles and people would bend over backward for them. And what choice did they have? Hunters could wield their magic with impunity. While these men were a terror for the Unlawfuls, they had little to do with Hannah’s life.
She was just a common girl.
Hannah glanced behind her looking for their target—an Unlawful brave enough to use magic in the market square. Her face scrunched up in confusion, there was no one there. A sick realization fell over the young woman, her eyes opening in fear.
The green light. The strange lizard, she thought. The Hunters were heading straight for William and her.
She was their target.
Scrambling up, she yanked William to his feet. She pushed him in the direction of their home. His safety was her only concern.
“Go. Run!” she hissed at him.
Sweat beaded up again on her forehead, and her stomach flipped over. Holding her ground, she waited for the men until they were a few yards off, slowing down their approach.
She reached into her cloak. The men froze, eyes wide. If they thought she was some sort of magician, caution would be called for. After all, she could be preparing some sort of a spell. She slowly pulled out her middle finger like it was a wand and waved it at them. “Screw you, douche nuggets!” Hannah yelled, a smirk on her face as she turned and ran for the nearest alley.
She had given William time to make his escape, and that was all that mattered.
****
“Hmph,” Ezekiel snorted, leaning on his staff in front of Jones’, his old favorite watering hole. The boards across its windows and door were rotted, giving an indication of how long it had been closed. The sight of the abandoned pub soured what was turning out to be an all-together disorienting homecoming.
The old man had been gone for nearly half a century, but it seemed as if he had been gone an eternity.
He looked around, scratching his bearded cheek. Apparently, a lot could happen to a city Arcadia’s size in four decades. His city had been transformed into a bustling trade center—the heart and some would say, soul, of Irth. He turned from the abandoned bar and ambled on, taking in the few places which had stayed the same and the many that were as different as a lifetime could make them. But each cobblestone still felt familiar under his feet.
Rounding the corner, he was nearly knocked over by a shirtless man covered in body art. The tattooed man rode a contraption that looked like a cart cut in half down the middle. The rider cut close on two wheels as he zoomed past. Stepping back, Ezekiel tripped and fell on his ass.
Mumbling under his breath, he noticed a hand extended into his view, offering to help him up. Ezekiel took the hand that belonged to a kid with a smile that reminded him of the old days. Proof that there was still good in Arcadia.
“OK, pops?” the kid asked.
Forcing a grin through his beard, Ezekiel nodded as the boy pulled him to his feet. “Will be. Not as swift as I once was.”
“Well, those damn magitech speeders are a danger to all of us. Mostly just the rich ride them. Not sure how that guy got one,” he nodded down the road in the direction the speeder had gone, musing to himself. “Probably stolen.”
“What’s a—”
Shouts from a block away cut him short. A young woman with a boy in her lap was screaming and looking in every dire
ction. Zeke’s eyes widened as he saw the green light flow from her into a tiny lizard. His jaw dropped as the creature suddenly grew.
It was magic, there was no doubt about it. But that power was unlike anything he had personally witnessed. Following the disappearance of the green light, the boy’s tremors ceased and life came back to his face.
A toothy grin cut across the young man’s face, which lasted until a group of men rushed them. In a beat, the boy and the woman were running in opposite directions.
“What the hell is that all about?” Ezekiel pointed to the action down the block.
The young man was watching the action as well. “Hell’s got nothing to do with it. They’re Hunters. If they catch her they get a bounty. Pretty lucrative position if you can get it.”
“Hunters?”
“Sure. To catch the illegal magic users. Unrestricted use of magic is outlawed here. Hunters bring in the Unlawfuls—dead or alive.”