WarMage: Uncontrolled (The Never Ending War Book 3) Read online

  WarMage: Uncontrolled

  The Never Ending War™ Book Three

  Martha Carr

  Michael Anderle

  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 © 2020 Martha Carr & Michael Anderle

  Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://www.mihaelavoicu.com/

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  A Michael Anderle Production

  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, April 2020

  ebook ISBN: 978-1-64202-862-1

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64202-863-8

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Free Books

  Goth Drow

  Author Notes - Martha Carr

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  Books by Michael Anderle

  The WarMage: Uncontrolled Team

  Thanks to our JIT Readers

  Larry Omans

  Dorothy Lloyd

  Veronica Stephan-Miller

  Diane L. Smith

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  James Caplan

  Deb Mader

  Kelly O’Donnell

  Dave Hicks

  Paul Westman

  Debi Sateren

  Editor

  SkyHunter Editing Team

  Chapter One

  “Sequantur Flamma!” Raven Alby raced across the field at Fowler Academy as her dragon’s massive column of fire burst from his mouth. Her spell manipulated his attack and corrected it enough to streak into the wooden dummy with the burlap sack of pebbles at its base. The target ignited and she pumped her fist. “You were very close with that one.”

  “I merely wanted to give you something to do,” Leander muttered, his wings spread a little as he ran beside her.

  “Ha. Well, thanks.”

  Despite the fact that it cracked and split in the flames, the dummy unleashed another attack spell of green light directly toward the young mage in training.

  Her dragon sensed her intention and lowered himself to the ground. She leapt onto the base of his tail and ran up the ridges of his red-scaled back as he launched himself skyward. The dummy’s attack hurtled past them at the last second but of course, it missed.

  “She didn’t tell us they were rigged to keep attacking,” she muttered.

  Leander wheeled a few yards above the field’s rippling green grass. Below them, Bella Chase and her firedrake Wesley darted continuously to dodge the magical attacks launched by the other five dummies stationed around the field.

  “Let’s go in and help.”

  The great dragon flapped his translucent red wings and swooped downward even before she finished the sentence.

  She grinned from her seat on her familiar’s back. I don’t even need to say it.

  The other girl evaded two more hurtling green balls of magic, then faced the closest dummy squarely and shouted, “Adsulto protentia!”

  The rocking force of her spell careened into its wooden chest and head and the target splintered dramatically while the base, weighed down with pebbles, wobbled madly.

  “Careful,” Raven shouted seconds before her dragon landed behind the other dark-haired mage in training.

  “I got it, thanks.” Bella didn’t acknowledge the young dragon rider any more than that as she searched the sky for her firedrake. “Wesley!”

  The small flying lizard the size of a large bird uttered a high-pitched screech and followed his mage’s wordless command. He swooped toward the dummies from behind and released an impressive column of flames for such a small creature. The fire crackled along each wooden head before he wheeled to return to her.

  The girl folded her arms and darted a satisfied smirk at Raven seated on her dragon. “Don’t worry about it, Raven. I took care of the rest for you.”

  “Bella, they’re not—”

  “Where’s Alessandra? I’m ready to move onto something else—”

  “Watch out!” She vaulted from Leander’s back and ducked as she barreled into Bella.

  The dark-haired mage grunted as she was thrown across the grass onto her hands and knees in time to avoid one of the burning dummy’s next attacks that rocketed over both their heads.

  Bella whipped her head up and settled onto her knees, although she made no effort to stand. She pushed strands of hair away from her face.

  “They’re rigged to keep attacking, Bella.”

  “What?” The girl pushed to her feet and scanned the flaming, smoking remains of the wooden heads and torsos. “That’s cheating.”

  “Yeah, I had the same—”

  Her words were cut short when the dummies unleashed another round of hurtling green spheres toward the young mages at the same time. Leander took to the air to evade two of them, and Raven ducked to avoid the others before she attempted the spell she’d only heard Bella use. “Adsulto protentia!”

  Two of their lifeless adversaries exploded at their bases and hurled scraps of burlap and pebbles in all directions.

  With a surprised grin, she straightened and studied the damage. “That was awesome.”

  “How did you learn that spell?” the other girl demanded.

  “What? I didn’t. I heard you cast it and thought I’d give it a try.”

  “You—” Bella clicked her tongue and folded her arms. “You can’t trust ‘give it a try.’ I spent weeks learning that spell.”

  Raven simply shrugged and offered her a wry smile. “And you’re really good at it.”

  “You’re so condescending, you know that?”

  “Bella, I’m not trying to—”

  “No, you’re merely trying to make me look like an idiot. There’s no way you haven’t practiced that force spell.”

  “You’re not an idiot—”

  “I know that! We’re already stuck in war mage training together, Raven. What are you tr
ying to prove?”

  She stared at her in surprise. “That’s the point. We’re training together—”

  Above them, Wesley uttered a piercing shriek and darted toward his mage. Both girls looked up and scowled at two more churning green dummy attacks that careened toward them.

  Bella raised her hand. “Defle—”

  The assaults found target on both young mages in training and catapulted them across the grass.

  Raven lay motionless for a few seconds, stunned, then slowly pushed to a seated position in the grass and rubbed her chest. “Damn. That was way more like getting kicked by a goat than I expected.”

  Bella growled in frustration and thumped her fist on the earth. With a groan, she scrambled to her feet as Wesley swooped to land on her shoulder. “Now look what you did. I got hit and now, we have to start all over at the beginning.”

  With a tiny frown, Raven glanced at the other young mage as Leander landed gracefully in the grass behind her. “We both got hit.”

  “And that wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t trying to be such a showoff.” The girl’s nostrils flared.

  “Hey, I didn’t have to tell you those dummies keep firing after we blow them up.”

  Bella scoffed and folded her arms. “Yeah, a lotta good that did us.”

  Wesley curled his long, slender tail around one side of his mage’s neck and snorted twin plumes of steam.

  The dummies flashed with a pale green light in unison, and Alessandra slid from her perch on the roof of the huge domed barn. She landed gracefully on her feet with a muted thump and placed both hands on her hips. “What happened this time?”

  Raven chuckled. “We both got hit.”

  “Obviously.” The older woman with the tight knot of a gray bun at the back of her head stepped forward toward her war mage trainees. “Why?”

  “Because Raven thinks lying about how long it takes her to learn spells is gonna get her anywhere.”

  She stood as well and raised her arm to pat the top of Leander’s ridged muzzle gently when he nudged it against her side with a loud sniff. “Wait a minute. That has nothing to do with it, and I didn’t lie.”

  “Of course not.” Bella wouldn’t look at her. “You’re perfect.”

  “Seriously, Bella? What’s—”

  “That’s enough.” Alessandra approached them, took a deep breath, and glanced from the one girl to the other with an expression of exasperation. “You’ve been at this for a week already, and you still haven’t learned that this is about more than only you as individual mages. This is about how you can work together to get the results you need without blowing holes in each other.” When Bella cut a scathing glance toward their trainer, the woman raised a warning finger. “Or your instructor.”

  Wesley launched himself from the girl’s shoulder and darted toward Leander. The tiny firedrake wings batted fiercely barely inches from the red dragon’s face. Raven didn’t turn to look, although she was tempted. He’ll take care of it.

  As soon as she had the thought, his huge, powerful jaws snapped shut with a startling crack. He raised a front paw to swipe at the firedrake, missed deliberately, and put Wesley off-balance enough to make the flying lizard topple onto the grass. The firedrake uttered an angry screech, but Leander merely lowered himself onto the ground to rest his huge head on his forepaws with a snort.

  Wesley hopped back and immediately left the little spat to find his perch on Bella’s shoulder again.

  Alessandra watched the whole thing with an expression of distaste. Finally, she tossed a dismissive hand in the air. “We’ll pick this up again tomorrow. You two need to find some space. Maybe from each other too, huh?”

  “It’s like you can read my mind.” Bella gave their trainer a quick smile, turned on her heel, and stormed across the field.

  “Bella, wait.” Raven hurried after her and had to jog a little to catch up. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “You heard her, Raven. Running after me isn’t exactly finding space.”

  “I’m sorry I pissed you off so much by using your spell. It’s a very good one.”

  “Go back to your dragon.” The other young mage didn’t slow or turn to look at her rival and new training partner, which didn’t exactly come as a surprise.

  Raven stopped short and dropped her hands against her thighs with a little slap. “See you tomorrow, then,” she muttered.

  When she turned, Alessandra and Leander hadn’t moved from where she’d left them. The war mage—with the patch on her shoulder to prove her competence and authority—darted the red dragon a perfunctory glance but said nothing.

  She approached them and shrugged at her trainer. “Apparently, that force spell belongs to Bella.”

  Alessandra raised an eyebrow. “Sarcasm won’t get you where you need to be either, Miss Alby. I suggest you tuck that away while you’re training as well.”

  Leander snorted and both mages glanced at him. The red dragon closed his eyes and said nothing.

  “I don’t know why she hates me so much.”

  “I don’t think it’s hate, Miss Alby. But if you want to know what it really is, you’re the one who has to figure that out.” Alessandra cleared her throat. “Now go do something else while I clean up the mess you two made by trying to outdo each other.”

  Without waiting for a response, the war mage turned swiftly and headed toward the dummies, which were now all reduced to smoldering remains and a few tattered strips of burlap.

  With a sigh, Raven approached her dragon and stopped in front of his face. She lowered into a squat and stared at him until he opened one huge, glowing yellow eye. “I won’t apologize for being me. This is who I am.”

  “Would you apologize even if you were pretending?”

  A tiny smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “I don’t know, Leander. I haven’t tried pretending yet.”

  “And if you want to keep this dragon around, you won’t start.”

  She laughed. “I won’t start anyway, and you know it.”

  A low rumble escaped him.

  “So. We were cut loose early. What could we possibly do with all this extra time today?”

  With another rumble, he spread his wings in a quick whoosh of air and opened his other eye too. “I can’t think of a single thing.”

  “Oh, too bad. It looks like we’re out of options.” Raven straightened quickly and paced slowly along the agile length of the red dragon’s body. She took one step onto his tail and hovered her other boot above the ground. “We have such a boring life, don’t we?”

  “Raven, if you don’t hurry, I’ll launch you across this field. A week in that human pen they call an infirmary would be very boring indeed.”

  The young mage uttered a mocking gasp. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Try me.”

  The image of all the countless times Leander had batted her across the dragon pen and into metal walls at Moss Ranch made her laugh. She ran up the great dragon’s back and her boots found easy purchase on the ridges of his hardened scales. When she reached the base of his long neck, she stood and spread her arms. “I already spent a week in the infirmary, thanks. Let’s—”

  Leander pushed to his feet and she crouched to steady herself against his scales before she sat fully on his back and gave his neck a little pat.

  “Ready when you—”

  The beat of his powerful wings cut her off as Leander launched skyward. Raven squeezed with her thighs and wrapped her arms around his neck as far as she could as they rocketed almost vertically toward the thin wisps of clouds in the blue sky. Yeah, he’s always ready. So am I.

  Chapter Two

  The young mage uttered a whoop of joy as Fowler Academy disappeared below them. Leander finally leveled out and found a current of air to support them in a gliding sweep that whipped her hair around her face. Air ruffled across the thin edges of his translucent wings with a tiny flutter. The fresh spring air buffeted her face again as they banked, turned, and d
escended slightly to the right.

  Raven straightened fully on her dragon’s back and spread her arms. She couldn’t help the tears that streamed from her eyes and were whisked away past the long red braid that fluttered behind her. But at least I’ve learned how to be able to breathe up here.

  “Anywhere you wanna go today?”

  He scanned the green valley racing below them and his massive dark shadow flickered across the tops of the forest. “You want to see William.”

  She laughed. “Well, we haven’t yet since we knocked out the Swarm. I feel a little bad about it.”

  “You want to see him.” The dragon released a rumbling purr and turned to fly in a wide arc around the town of Brighton.

  Dragons might not be so much of a terror after this one saved them two weeks ago. But it’s good to be careful anyway.

  Leander elevated a little and brought the range of the Mountains of Jordan into view as they headed south toward Moss Ranch. She closed her eyes and didn’t care about the chill in the air or the wind that buffeted her clothes. This is where we were meant to be.

  Ten minutes later, they swooped over the huge dragon paddock of Moss Ranch. He uttered a piercing screech and a great red dragon below raised her head to echo the cry.