#NowAvailable #MM #Epic #Fantasy #Adventure #Romance
Anchors: Loyalty and War 2
by Devon Vesper

The choice between love and duty has never been harder.

Valis is on his way to free his father from the enemy compound, but it seems like everything is working against him.

The team sent to eliminate the last Anchor of Qos needs his help. Tavros falls ill after an accident, and if he doesn’t get help quickly he’s going to die. And the constant blizzards mean they are moving so slowly Valis is afraid they may be too late to save anyone.

With so much at stake—lives, family, his heart—one wrong move may cost Valis a price he’s not willing to pay.

His army needs him. His husband needs him more. Valis can’t afford to fail either. The race to save his family is on.

Get it HERE!

“Shields up!”

Valis felt every person in his magic-wielding army snap their shields into place. Valis vaulted off his horse to get into the thick of battle, his sword drawn the moment his feet hit the cobblestones. Tavros rushed to his side, and together they rushed the enemy.

“Break their shields!” Valis shouted above the din.

Magic started flying in the next instant, both gold streaks and black lightning. The entire scene felt almost surreal. The tall, sand colored buildings that surrounded the town square hemmed in the forces of both sides, leaving stragglers to go down side streets to continue the fight. Valis could only spare them a small bit of his attention as Aesriphos went in pursuit of those who fled, trying to keep them away from the shield’s edges so no one could raise the alarm about the trap.

Letting go of that thread of thought, Valis put his full focus on what was in front of him. Horses screamed. The Kalutakeni mounts bashed against black-veined shields with their powerful hooves while the others fled toward the outskirts. Valis gave a thought to reconnecting the city’s shield to himself, and added in the parameter that any with black magic could not escape, but all others could leave. That would allow the horses to escape, and give the Aesriphos time to regroup if things went sideways.

Once he had the parameters in place, he broke the shield off from himself again and laid stasis to a woman who lost her shield under Tavros’ attacks. “Laymen, carry the dead and those in stasis from the field!”

It would drastically help if they didn’t have to crawl over bodies while fighting, or so Valis hoped.

The Qos adherents looked like a black sea, lightning cracking over the waves, accentuating their blood red tabards. Valis had never seen so many before, and his stomach pitted hard. Thankfully, it didn’t feel precognitive. More like an “Oh shit, we’re in trouble,” kind of anxiety.

Bodies clashed. The Qos adherents’ initial surprise at the attack didn’t last long before they hardened into a fighting force that far surpassed the skill level of those Valis and his friends had battled at Tigak.

Valis tried to keep his mind on the battle, but it kept wandering. How many people were dying around him? How many of his friends would make it out of this alive? How were they supposed to beat this kind of force? Where were all these Qos adherents coming from? How long would this battle last?

“Where’s your head?” Tavros shouted as he blocked a sword aiming for Valis’ neck.

Only then did Valis realize he’d let his shield drop on accident. Tavros had expanded his personal shield to keep Valis protected, but his focus was so honed in on their attackers that it kept flickering on and off as he swung his sword and sent volleys of magic. Valis snapped his shield back up and joined the fray.

One Qos adherent almost got a shot in while Valis and Tavros’ shields were down. Stomach in his throat, Valis forced his mind back into the battle and away from his insecurities and fears. Or, at least, he tried.

Valis scanned the area in front of them and grabbed Tavros’ wrist. “Come on. I’m phasing us. Be ready. We’re too clogged here.”

“Ready.”

With a thought, Valis and Tavros were at the back of the Qos adherents’ forces. Valis immediately started blasting down shields, leaving Tavros to lay stasis on whoever dropped their shields first. Then Valis had a thought. He shouted at Tavros, “Wait here and do what you can. Don’t let them kill you. I’ll be right back.”

“Where the fuck are you going? Stay with me.”

Valis’ heart throbbed hard. “I’ll be right back. Trust me!”

“Fine. Hurry.”

Valis disappeared from his side in the next breath, reappearing in the center of a mass of Aesriphos who were stuck in place. “Grab onto me and your partners! Now!”

He waited only a few moments. But as he looked around, about sixteen people grabbed hold of him. Their free hands held tight to their partners. That would have to be enough. With the next thought, he and his group appeared behind Tavros and Valis retook his position.

“Good. You didn’t die.”

“And you brought reinforcements.”

“Better than fighting the ass-end by ourselves.”

“True.”

The banter stopped as soon as more Qos adherents realized they were being attacked from behind. Some turned almost as a unit. Cries of alarm arose from their ranks. Soon more turned, and Valis wondered just how smart of an idea this had been. From a quick count, he’d only brought around thirty people with him, and with the masses turning toward them, he didn’t know how they were going to do this.

“Focus!” Tavros shouted. “Valis, you have to focus!”

Fuck. He was doing it again. Why wouldn’t his mind stay on task?

Volleys of black magic streamed toward them like a fierce storm, rending the air with the acrid smell of black magic and charred bodies. Valis shattered as many shields as he could. He felt the burn of holy gold magic streaming around his body, some laying stasis. Others trying to shatter shields.

The mayhem continued, and Valis still felt like he was drowning. Nothing made sense. Nothing felt real. Bodies hit the ground with sickening thuds as they either died or glowed with the stasis spell, but Valis felt nothing.

At first, he thought he was about to be overcome with a vision. But the longer he fought, the less likely that appeared because the vision never came. It was starting to worry him. All he could do was try to keep up with the attacks while shielding those beside and behind him so that their ranks wouldn’t fall.

And it scared him, because this had never happened before.

One Qos adherent broke off from the rest and charged at Valis. Valis focused on him, blasting his shield to nothing and laid the stasis spell in almost the same instant. Then another charged, and another. Soon the whole back of the Qos army charged, and Valis braced for impact. He added another layer of one-way permanence to his shield and watched in horror as the first wave bounced off, but those behind them crashed into the first bodies, sending gore into the air as heads got crushed, necks snapped, and bodies got trampled.

Valis fought to blast all their shields at once, but it wasn’t working. They were at a stalemate, and Valis scrambled to figure out what to do. With them all pressed in like this, there was no room to maneuver.

Then a thought hit him, and Valis grinned. It made those closest to his shield blanch white as all the blood drained from their faces. In a quick move, Valis tossed a shield over the Qos adherents. With a mental shove, he created a golden lightning storm inside, using the shield, itself, to cast the spells to break the enemies’ shields. Within moments, that whole section laid motionless in heaps and piles of people as Valis cast the stasis spell on the entire group at once.

But the move cost him. Valis stumbled. He’d used too much magic at once. Now he felt drained, even though magic still swirled within him in vast quantities. His magic wasn’t drained, but he was.

“Good job!” Tavros called. “Think you can do that a dozen or so more times?”

Valis shook his head. “No. I’m not feeling well. It drained me too fast. My body’s struggling to catch up.”

“Fuck.”

Yeah. Valis had that thought, too. He had to keep going, though. He had to push through. One more time. He could get one more section down before–

“Don’t you even fucking think about it!” Tavros shouted. “No, Valis.”

With a single nod, Valis promised that he wouldn’t. It would be a stupid move that could cost him his life, and that of his husband. What would happen if he fell here? What would happen if his body just shut down?

Fuck! He was doing it again! While Valis struggled to gain control of his mind, he threw more bolts, shattered more shields, tried to do more. But with each passing moment, the more he tried, the less control he had over his mind.

Worried, Valis had the thought that he should just give up. If he gave up, everything would be better. If he gave up, his friends would be safe. If he just gave up, he could save at least his husband.

And then he met a set of blue eyes that flashed with mirth from across the battlefield. While everyone moved around her, that one woman stayed absolutely still, her eyes locked onto Valis.

Scrambling, Valis erected a shield around his mind and locked it down tight. Suddenly his scrambled thoughts reordered themselves as if they had been tangled in a web that he just wiped away.

Focusing on those blue eyes that had gone from mirth to murder, Valis blasted her shield to nothing. As he went to lay the stasis spell, another shield popped up. It seemed this woman was a Patron Priest of Qos or higher. Either that, or someone else was keeping her shielded. From this far away, Valis couldn’t tell, and he couldn’t see anyone focusing on that singular woman amid all the chaos.

Just to be sure, Valis shielded Tavros’ mind, too. Once he felt it click into place, he shouted for his husband to hear. “There’s a mind controller in their ranks. Follow my bolt and lay the stasis spell as soon as her shield shatters.”

“Got it!”

Valis grinned at her, heightening her fury. He felt her trying to break the shield around his mind. Felt her sending waves of pain that would have brought him to his knees, but bounced helplessly off the barrier. As Valis gathered his wits, he sent a bolt flying. Tavros’ stasis spell was only a second behind.

In the next breath, her face transformed from fury to shock, and froze like that as she fell to the ground.

A roar of rage echoed around the square, bouncing off the buildings that hemmed everyone in. A man started pushing his way through the throng of people toward Valis, pure hate in his eyes. Either that was the woman’s lover, or he was close to her in some other way. It didn’t matter. Valis shattered his shield with his next bolt. Tavros threw the stasis spell. He hit the floor just like the others.

But when Valis glanced up, there were even more Qos adherents than before. Either some had stayed hidden inside the buildings, or they had translocated in. That last option terrified Valis, because if they could translocate, that would change the battle completely.

Then he saw people streaming out of the buildings and got his answer. Had they hidden in cellars? They would have to check later. For now, Valis got busy trying to shatter as many shields as he could. But still the fear remained. Just how large were their numbers if the scouts had counted around four hundred, but more were pouring out of houses, shops, and common buildings with each passing second?

Shoving the fear aside, Valis called above the din. “Aesriphos, shatter their shields as a unit!”

The attacks ramped up in intensity. Golden light streamed from every Aesriphos under his command. Valis could feel the excitement in the air. They thought they were about to win this battle, but Valis still had a healthy amount of doubt. This battle was far from over, because people were still streaming out of the buildings, leaving Valis to wonder where they had been hiding. Even though the buildings were several stories tall, they could still only hold so many. Couldn’t they?”

As shields fell, Valis tossed a blanket stasis spell over the Qos adherents, watching them as they fell like autumn leaves. A second later, the fatigue Valis had experienced with the dome he’d thrown over that one batch kicked in again.

With a groan, Valis fell back into line with Tavros.

“What’s wrong?” Tavros asked as he threw another bolt of golden light toward the horde.

“The fatigue is hitting worse. I can’t cast spells like that anymore without fainting.” Valis pushed his long blond hair over his shoulder and wiped the sweat from his eyes, hoping that was the reason they were blurry. If his vision failed, he was fucked.

“Think I can siphon off you?”

“Try it,” Valis said. “Just be ready in case I yell at you to stop.”

“Got it.”

Then Valis felt the drain. After a few moments, Valis felt slightly better. Was he just getting overloaded? Then he realized he had been draining the black magic from everyone’s shields into himself without realizing it. He could see the streams of black now, running from every golden shield and straight to Valis’ chest. And with that realization, Valis groaned.

“Are you okay?”

“Just realized something. Keep going. I feel fine.”

While Tavros focused on the horde, Valis focused on their shield, renewing it on occasion if it started getting weak, and moving it as those near him moved so everyone could see the battle that waged before them.

It felt like Valis was stuck in thick, cloying mud. His fatigue weighed him down to the point where he could barely hear the sounds of battle over the ringing in his ears. His vision kept blurring on and off as if he had a pounding headache, but without the pain. He heard his pulse pounding in his ears. Each limb felt as if they were weighed down by pounds of lead. It got so bad that Valis wished he could sit down, but he knew it wasn’t from Tavros draining him. That actually made things marginally better.

“Valis!” Tavros screamed when Valis stumbled.

“I’ll be fine. It’s not because of the drain!”

“Bullshit!”

“Tav, keep going! I’m fine. It’s just fatigue from those two spells. I promise!”

“Fuck!” Tavros yelled. “Fuck fuck fuck.”

Valis shared his sentiments, but forced himself to pay attention. Someone was coming toward them, and Valis had to spare enough of his energy to take care of them.

But then someone else hit them, and Valis cursed. He was too slow. In this battle, he was a liability. But if he stopped the drain, his army’s shields would shatter, and he’d lose too many people to continue with their main mission. He wasn’t about to risk that. He had to rescue Darolen at all cost.

“What is wrong with you?” Tavros demanded. Still, even with berating Valis, Tavros kept his focus broad and did his part to help their ranks deal with the Qos adherents from behind. “Tell me!”

“I’m draining all the Qos adherents’ magic. And I’m doing it by absorbing it from everyone’s shields. It’s a bit much to handle, but I need the magic going forward, and it’s keeping their magic from breaking our army’s shields. It’s also weakening the Qos adherents. I can’t stop.”

“Valis, you have to!”

Instead of stopping the drain, Valis focused on converting it to holy gold as it streamed into him. If he could manage that, maybe it would refuel his strength. But as he tried, something blocked him. He tried again, and grunted with the strain. His focus was too thin, his mind too weak from beating back the darkness that always came with an influx of dark magic. He had been fighting it off subconsciously, and now it took a toll on Valis’ mind and energy.

He had to do better, be better. But it was almost like he was stuck in time, unable to do anything but what he had been doing all along. No matter what he did, it wasn’t enough. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t try hard enough for it to matter. All he could do was suck magic and pray that Tavros could use what he took in to keep them both safe.

Then everything came rushing back in. Valis surveyed the battle before him and his stomach pitted. This time, it felt precognitive, a sensation of something tugging at his mind at the same time his stomach gave him the “We’re fucked” signal.

Bodies were strewn everywhere. The laymen forces had been forced back for their own safety since this was a battle waged mostly with magic. The Aesriphos all looked fatigued while most of the Qos adherents still looked mostly fresh.

Valis couldn’t tell who on the ground was dead, and who were in stasis. Blood drenched everything. The Kalutakeni horses still screamed, still bashing against shields and creating valuable distractions, but they couldn’t afford to lose any horses this trip, even if they did bring most of the herd with them. Shit, they couldn’t afford to lose any people, either. But still, he saw several bodies on the ground wearing silver armor, and it made Valis’ heart clench.

Rubbing the sweat from his eyes, Valis made the hardest decision he had available. Raising his voice and augmenting it magically, he shouted above the noise of battle, “Retreat! Aesriphos, retreat!”

 

If there’s one thing Devon likes most, it’s chaos. She has a chaotic mind, messy house, and throws her characters into every calamitous situation possible. When she isn’t writing, she’s editing or formatting other authors’ works, building websites, creating graphics, reading, playing video games, or watching Fortnite streams on Twitch. She likes to stay busy. So yes. Chaos.

Starting in 2003, Devon turned her writing bug away from poetry and online role play in chat rooms to write her first novel. Yes, it was trash, but the process of learning to edit that piece of garbage spurred her to learn more and more. By 2013, she read an author by the name of Raythe Reign, and somehow, Raythe’s stories finally made all that learning in Devon’s mind click. She wrote her first semi-salable book in two weeks. The next in ten days, and by the beginning of 2014, had seven books written.

Were they all trash? No, but she’s in the process of rewriting them, and has already written one, turning Duty and Sacrifice into three books of a nine-book series, The God Jars Saga. Those three books were followed by more, and the last two books in the series will be published in the first quarter of 2019.

Born on a Navy base in Patuxent River, Maryland, Devon has traveled the world, living in Sigonella, Sicily for three years, and visiting many European countries before moving back to the states around the age of seven. She’s lived in Florida for sixteen years, Oklahoma for a year, and Pennsylvania for the rest. She graduated from surgical technology school near the top of her class in 2004, and uses her medical and worldly knowledge to enrich her books whenever possible. Being the worldly woman she is, and having spent most of her teens as a broody goth, Devon has four tattoos, nine piercings, loves techno, electronica, dubstep, and similar music genres, and has an incurable internet addiction.

She builds her own computers, can’t stand Mac-anything unless it’s to format books in Vellum, and purple and black are her favorite colors, though that can change to burgundy and gray depending on the day. Since she has bipolar disorder, PTSD, social anxiety disorder, general anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and has trouble leaving her house due to all that, Devon works full time as an author and editor, and spends as much time as she can talking to other authors and her readers.

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