by Justin Sloan
CONTENTS
Dedication
Legal
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
Author Notes - Justin Sloan
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Social Links
JS Book List
Series List
DEDICATION
From Justin
To Ugulay, Verona and Brendan Sloan
From Michael
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
To Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
To Live The Life We Are
Called.
SAVED BY VALOR
Reclaiming Honor Team
JIT Beta Readers
Alex Wilson
James Caplan
John Raisor
Joshua Ahles
Keith Verret
Kelly ODonnell
Kimberly Boyer
Micky Cocker
Paul Westman
Peter Manis
If we missed anyone, please let us know!
Editor
Lynne Stiegler
Thank you to the following Special Consultants
Jeff Morris - US Army - Asst Professor Cyber-Warfare, Nuclear Munitions (Active)
W.W.D.E
SAVED BY VALOR (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 Justin Sloan and Michael T. Anderle
Cover by Mario Wibisono
https://www.artstation.com/artist/mario_wibisono
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
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Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, September, 2017
The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2017 by Michael T. Anderle.
CHAPTER ONE
Over the Atlantic
Flying in an airship back to Europe was definitely something Valerie never thought she would be doing, yet here she was on just such a ship, with some of her closest friends. Their mission: to bring a boy back to his family and see what they could do about a group of bandits who had been taking people from their homes and collaborating with the pirates of Toro.
This trip was infinitely more glorious than the journey that had brought her to New York. Every time she passed the cargo hold, she remembered hiding behind crates in that other ship with Sandra. That’s where they had met Diego, the Werecat who had since stolen Sandra’s heart. Soon they would be a family, and Sandra had threatened Valerie with death if she missed the baby’s birth.
She planned on returning eventually, but it wasn’t like she could rely on plans in this crazy world.
This time she occupied the captain’s quarters; Captain Reems had insisted. Cammie and Royland had come too and were taking care of the boy, Kristof, but were on the other ship, captained by William.
Reems was still welcome in his own quarters, of course, and at the moment was sitting at the desk while Valerie etched a map into the bulkhead with her vampire claws. She could have used a blade, sure, but the exercise would have dulled the blade. With Michael’s power surging through her, those claws were damn powerful.
“So you’re suggesting we go north of the island?” the captain asked, pointing to the section she had just carved.
She took a step back, looking it over. She had created a map that showed the coast of America and Canada, including her best estimate of where New York, Prince Edward Island, and the Golden City were. She had also made little marks farther to the left to indicate Cleveland and Chicago, but didn’t bother making sure the distance was to scale.
Then there was the ocean. She remembered sailing to America from France, and Reems had made a couple of journeys to Spain in his time, so they had jointly been able to piece that area together.
But everything north of France was conjecture. They knew there was land north of France, because they had both seen it on their travels. And she had met people who had made their way across the water, immigrants from England, Scotland, and Ireland, so she assumed those countries still existed. She wrote those three on the landmass, but had no idea how large they were, or exactly where.
They were currently over an island north of where she guessed the land once known as the United Kingdom had been. An initial push to the north to avoid a storm before heading east had brought them here. So far, the journey had taken them two days. Two days of sailing smoothly through the skies, two days of sailors telling stories and singing songs. There had even been a bit of dancing one evening.
She had been quite surprised at the pipes on the man named William; that boy loved to sing. It was nice, because that wasn’t something she heard much of. She certainly hadn’t with the vampires of Old France, except for one night when she had gone out, watched a family, and wished she had that feeling with someone.
Then Sandra had come along and she suddenly did have a family, in a way.
“The island below us could be small or damn huge—I’m just not sure.” She used the nail on her index finger to make a large “X” northeast of the island. “And to my understanding, our destination is somewhere over here, in a land once called Norway.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Enter,” Valerie called.
Martha came in, her face pale. She had been a pirate of sorts, sailing and working in the open air. That exposure had given her skin a tanned, leathery quality, so pale on her was saying something.
“What the hell’s going on out there that’d make you look like a ghost?” Valerie asked.
“Storm,” Martha replied tersely, glancing at Reems.
Valerie turned to him now too. “Isn’t it your job to steer us clear of storms?”
“My job is to get us to ‘X’ on that map.” He stood, putting on his leather vest and a broad captain’s hat. “The crew needs to warn me of storms before it’s too late, so that I can get us through. I hope that’s what is happening here?”
Martha gave him an apologetic shrug. “The crew isn’t used to the skies this far east. I mean, really the best crews, the ones that normally went out this way, they were all with the prince, and likely died with the prince. We’re sailing with the best we’ve got, but that ain’t saying much.”
“Spare me the excuses,” Reems snapped, moving toward the door. He paused, looking over his shoulder. “I imagine we’ll need all the help we can get, if it’s bad enough to give Martha here the shakes.”
Martha rolled her eyes, but sure enough, her hands were shaking. She quickly hid them behind her back.
“You weren’t really much of a sailor, were you?” Valerie asked, grabbing her own hat and strapping on a sword just in case. For all she knew, they might find airships out there with pirates waiting to attack. Perhaps Europe had evolved pirates who were able to control storms for this purpose.
“Some of us on the island sailed, and some ran things on land,” Martha replied, following them through the door and up the darkly-lit stairwell. “Since the land things side required less killing, guess which I chose?”
“Good for you, then,” Valerie said. “Bad for us right now, though.”
“If I could travel through time, I’d be sure to go kill a bunch of innocents to give us a better chance of survival right now.”
“Hmm.” Valerie paused on the top step, looking back with a smile. “Better to use it to go back a few seconds and refrain from snark, so I don’t have to teach you a lesson.”
Martha’s eyes went wide.
“Joking,” Valerie said with a laugh. “The day I start hurting people for speaking their mind is the day I’m no better than those I’m out here to put down.”
“Good for me, because right now I’m feeling a lot of snark.”
“Right now I’m feeling that you two need to shut up and follow me,” Reems shouted, opening the doors that led to the deck.
Valerie nodded in mock submission and followed with a quick glance to Martha that said, You made daddy upset.
When she saw the storm, however, all humor vanished.
She might be a powerful vampire, able to heal from most wounds, walk in the sunlight, and even read minds—kind of. She could sense emotions, anyway, and right now a hell of a lot of fear was coming at her.
The fear made sense. A bit of it might even be originating from her. Hell, she imagined she would be able to swim for a long time if this ship went down or she was blown overboard, but the freezing waters would be damn uncomfortable.
And there was a chance that she might not make it. It wasn’t like she had ever tested herself to that extent.
On deck, men and women were securing the barrels of food that had been brought out for the journey, stowing them belowdecks or securing what couldn’t be moved. Most were heading to their sleeping quarters, but two sailors stood at the helm with their arms spread, hollering into the wind.
“Reems!” Valerie shouted.
Her voice must’ve carried over the harsh wind, because Reems stuck his head out. “Yes?”
“Make sure those idiots don’t go overboard.”
“You got it!” he yelled back, voice barely audible, and then ran over to check on his men.
Valerie supposed that something bad had to have happened sooner or later, considering what good luck they’d had so far.
The wind was picking up and soon strong gusts were bullying the airship, lightning breaking through the dark clouds that swirled about them. Raindrops were pounding the cheeks of anyone outside; it was clear the storm was upon them.
“Get us out of here!” Valerie shouted to Captain Reems at the entryway to the command center, then ran out to tell the others to get below deck.
The captain had just course-corrected and they were starting to steer clear of the storm when a loud ripping sound came from behind, followed by the ship’s massive shudder. Valerie spun, looking up to see what had hit them.
Oh, no. In the chaos of controlling their own ship, they hadn’t paid enough attention to where Captain William’s ship was, with Cammie and the others aboard.
No confusion about where it was now, because its hull had just struck their balloon, rending a massive tear in it.
“ALL HANDS!” Captain Reems shouted, pointing to the hooks and ropes they had used for boarding other ships in their pirate days. “Abandon ship!”
CHAPTER TWO
Over the Atlantic
Cammie was belowdecks when the crash shook their airship. She and Royland had been talking with Kristof about his family for the last two days, asking questions about what they were like and what he remembered.
There was one story in particular that got to her. He told them about his older sister, and how she often took him to the waterfall to go swimming. One day she had played a horrible trick on him, jumping from the top and then quickly swimming to the spot behind the waterfall, where she hid.
When he couldn’t find her, she had jumped out from behind the water to scare him. But seeing the tears welling up in his eyes, she had hugged him and didn’t let go, hand patting his back as she told him she was sorry over and over. That was the day he always remembered after he had been taken from his home, and it was the reason he felt so strongly about returning. Sure, he missed his family and wanted to be with them.
But mostly he wanted to feel that hug again; to embrace his sister and be there for her like she had been there for him that day. He wanted to look her in the eye and tell her he would never leave her, ever again.
Cammie and Royland had held each other that night, after hearing the story. Just sat on the bed, arms around each other, heads leaning together, appreciating the moment.
“You ever have someone who loved you that much?” Cammie asked.
Royland laughed. “You love me way more than that.”
“I mean, growing up?”
He frowned. “Growing up… Sometimes it feels like I’ve always been an adult.”
“Yeah?” She laughed, then put her hand to her mouth to remind herself to be quiet, so as to not wake Kristof. “Then why do you act so childish sometimes?”
“First, I don’t think that I do. Second, if I did, it would likely be to try and make you feel comfortable. You know, sinking to your level.”
“Pshh, you don’t want to come down to my level. It’s deep down here. You’d drown for sure.”
“Think a vampire can drown?”
She thought about it, then nodded. “Yes. I think you can heal from an awful lot, but you’re not the immortal beast from stories, a devil walking or whatever. I think you’d die when oxygen stopped flowing to your brain and your brain stopped working.”
He shrugged. “Makes sense to me…maybe.”
“Maybe. But think about it, right? We’ve seen vampires die by decapitation, so I’d have to assume it has something to do with the brain. Otherwise, couldn’t I just reattach the head and watch the healing powers go to town?”
“I’m not willing to be your experiment, so we’ll just have to assume you’re right. As always.”
“Don’t give me that shit just because I’m a woman.” She shoved him. “I’m right an awful damn lot, but usually we’re right about stuff together.”
“Okay, now you’re patronizing me,” he countered with a chuckle.
They had talked for half the night, and then Cammie had curled up to sleep while Royland went upstairs to take the watch. Everything had been fairly uneventful until the next day, when the storm hit.
Chaos broke out and she ran belowdecks to tell Royland they were fine, but with the clouds coming in, he might soon have a chance to come on deck. It was quickly becoming dark as night, unless you counted the flashes of lightning.
She left him to care for Kristof and the dog, returning to the control room to check on William.
“Get us out of this mess!” she shouted, and he turned the wheel, face red with effort.
“It snuck up on us!” he countered. “I’m doing the best I can!”
She turned, eyes searching for ways she could help, when she noticed one of the female sailors slip on the rain-drenched deck, the wind blowing and, with the strong turn the airship was making, it looked like she was in danger of hitting the railing and going over.
Cammie rushed out, pushing with her
Were muscles to leap farther through the air. She grabbed the woman around the waist and away from the rail, pulling them both to the deck and letting her claws come out and dig into the wood to hold them in place.
“Get belowdecks!” Cammie shouted, helping her to stand and running with her to the hatch. “EVERYONE GET BELOW! NOW!”
Thunder boomed, drowning out her final words, but the sailors got the message.
With the airship’s deck being lashed by rain and the steep angle from the sharp turn, it was too dangerous for any of them to be out there. Cammie was about to join them when she noticed a flash of black that was too sleek to be cloud and too close to be the other ship. Too close, that is, unless they were about to collide.
Using her claws, she scrambled to the upper edge of the ship, the side angled toward the storm, and grabbed the railing, peering over.
Another flash of lighting, and sure enough, there was Valerie’s airship below them.
“Pull up!” she shouted to William, but she knew there was no way he could’ve heard her.
As she watched in terror, the two ships moved closer together and, as William straightened out his ship to face away from the storm and make their getaway, their keel met the other ship’s balloon. The force of it nearly threw Cammie overboard, but she dug her claws into the railing and hung on.
“All hands on deck!” Cammie shouted to William, who was peering out of the control room with a pale face. “We’re going to need the sailors’ help getting everyone aboard.
He didn’t question her, just ran to the rear hatch to see it done, leaving her to stare down and wonder how the hell they were going to pull this off.
CHAPTER THREE
Over the Atlantic
Valerie’s ship had been struck and was, in all likelihood, about to be out of commission. But while the ship had grown on her, especially with the great logo her crew had carved for her on its side, the lives of the men and women sailing her were her responsibility.