Magitech Rises (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 3) Read online

  Magitech Rises

  Exceptional S. Beaufont™ Book 3

  Sarah Noffke

  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 Sarah Noffke & 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, January 2020

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-64202-714-3

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64202-715-0

  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

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 119

  Chapter 120

  Chapter 121

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 124

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 133

  Chapter 134

  Chapter 135

  Chapter 136

  Chapter 137

  Chapter 138

  Chapter 139

  Chapter 140

  Chapter 141

  Chapter 142

  Chapter 143

  Chapter 144

  Sarah’s Author Notes

  Michael’s Author Notes

  Acknowledgments

  Books By Sarah Noffke

  Check out Sarah Noffke’s YA Sci-fi Fantasy Series

  Books By Michael Anderle

  Connect with The Authors

  The Magitech Rises Team

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Angel LaVey

  Billie Leigh Kellar

  Dave Hicks

  Deb Mader

  Debi Sateren

  Diane L. Smith

  Dorothy Lloyd

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  Jeff Eaton

  Jeff Goode

  Kathleen Fettig

  Larry Omans

  Lori Hendricks

  Micky Cocker

  Misty Roa

  Nicole Emens

  Paul Westman

  Peter Manis

  Veronica Stephan-Miller

  If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know!

  Editor

  The Skyhunter Editing Team

  Once again and a thousand times more, for Lydia.

  — Sarah

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  to Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  to Live the Life We Are

  Called.

  — Michael

  Chapter One

  The gravel slipped under Sophia’s fingers, sending her sliding another inch. She gasped and bit her tongue, tasting blood.

  She kicked and tried to secure her footing on the side of the crumbling cliff where she dangled. The dirt fell away, granting her no reprieve from her precarious situation.

  Don’t look down, Lunis calmly warned in her mind.

  Sweat dripped into her mouth as she shook her head.

  Why did you have to say that? Now I have to look down, she answered, hardly able to hear her own voice in her head over her heavy breathing and racing heartbeat.

  The fall to the bottom of the ravine was several hundred yards. Sophia wouldn’t survive it.

  And I can’t rescue you, Lunis reminded her for what felt like the dozenth time.

  I know. Sophia grunted. She tried to claw farther up the rocky wall. Her fingers were numb from the cold, making it harder. She’d started the climb halfway down the cliff wall. Just another few inches and she’d be safe at the top.

  Looking down, she shuddered. That, or she’d die a painful death.
r />   Finding a root with her boot, Sophia secured her foot, grateful not to have to use pressure to keep her position on the wall.

  You’re almost there, Lunis urged. Don’t give up.

  I’m not giving up, she complained. I’m breathing.

  You can breathe when you get to the top.

  Sophia’s hand shook as she reached for a hold a few inches up. A wind sent by the devil nearly blew her off the wall.

  She cinched in tighter and pressed her face to the rock, her teeth chattering from the cold and adrenaline.

  “Angels above!” she yelled. The winds had been unrelenting since she started, but now they seemed to have a special vendetta against her.

  The wind is a dragonrider’s friend, Lunis explained.

  “With friends like that…” Sophia muttered.

  It’s meant to make you stronger, Lunis stated.

  “Is that what friends do?” Sophia asked, surprised she had the energy to laugh as the wind howled past her ears.

  Yes, he answered simply.

  “No wonder I never made friends growing up,” Sophia joked, daring to take one of her hands off the wall, her fingers climbing a few more inches as she pulled herself up.

  You’re turning away from the wind, Lunis observed.

  “Yes, that’s my attempt not to get blown off the side of this cliff,” Sophia told him.

  If you embrace the wind, you’ll find more often than not it propels you in the right direction, instead of the wrong one, Lunis told her, a sage-like quality heavy in his voice.

  Sophia allowed his words to wash over her. She wanted to make a joke, but deep down, she knew there was great wisdom in what he was saying. She felt it at her core, and as if unlocked by his words, Sophia felt a rush of wind glide underneath her to push her up a few inches. Given that momentum, Sophia’s hands began to move, her feet following.

  Her fingers came over the edge of the cliff and found the top. She scrambled for a hold, but the surface was smooth grass and dirt.

  You’re almost there, Lunis urged.

  Sophia could feel the heat of her dragon close to her hand. He wasn’t helping her, though. Not now that she’d come this far. It was strange to have him so close and be all on her own, but that was the lesson of the exercise. Something she hadn’t expected to get out of it was the realization that she had to make peace with the wind, but that would take time.

  Sophia pushed with her legs, remembering a woman’s strength as a climber was in her thighs—not the upper body like a man. It might have been a bit late in the trek to remember, but the timing might have just saved Sophia.

  She hiked up her leg, slid her knee over the edge as she kicked off, and scrambled firmly over the side. Rolling away from the edge, Sophia lay flat on the earth, grateful to be horizontal after the long climb.

  Her dragon swung his head around and looked down at her from only a few inches away. You made it.

  Through hyperventilating breaths, Sophia said, “Barely.”

  “In battle, there is no victor who barely wins,” Lunis stated. “There is only life and death. You lived, and that’s what counts.”

  Sophia turned her head to the side and looked out at the clear blue skies of Scotland and the landscape spread out beyond the crumbling cliff. She couldn’t help but appreciate the green hills right then or the gentle breeze which wrapped around her forehead beaded with sweat.

  Returning her attention to the blue dragon, Sophia smiled up at him. “You would have saved me if I fell, right?”

  He shook his head. Let’s go with no.

  She rolled her eyes as she pushed up to a sitting position, making him retract his head. “It’s just a training exercise.”

  What we do in training will determine whether we survive the battles to come, he informed her. If you train always thinking you have a safety net, then you’ll surely fail when the time comes to face real danger.

  Wilder strode across the Expanse, closing the distance between them, a proud smile on his face. He extended a hand to Sophia. “You’ve earned a shot of whiskey.”

  She wrapped her fingers around his and allowed him to pull her to standing position. Her legs quivered under her, fatigued. “I could use two shots, actually.”

  He gave her an impressed grin. “You haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

  “So?” she argued.

  Shaking his head, Wilder said, “I swear, you might have Scottish blood in you after all.”

  “Do you need some porridge before your morning whiskey?” Sophia teased.

  He laughed. “A real Scotsman brushes his teeth with Scotch Whiskey, my friend.”

  “That’s surprising,” Sophia remarked. “I didn’t know you even brushed your teeth.”

  He flashed her a smile. “There’s a lot about us that will surprise you. Speaking of surprises, you beat Evan’s time when he first did the climb.” He indicated the cliff she’d just scaled.

  Sophia scoffed at him. “Why are you surprised? Because I’m a woman and Evan has more upper body strength than me?”

  Wilder smirked. “Yes, actually, but you’re quickly dispelling all my stereotypes.”

  Sophia stretched her neck and felt the tension start to roll out of her muscles. The next phase of her training was to focus on building her strength, agility, and speed. According to Wilder, she couldn’t just rely on Lunis for these things. Individually, Sophia needed to be strong enough to withstand obstacles without her dragon. He’d told her that before pushing her over the side of the cliff where she fell quite the distance before catching herself on a thick root. She’d been forced to climb back up, her heart nearly beating out of her chest from the scare.

  “What if I hadn’t caught myself on that root?” she asked Wilder. She had the urge to punch him in the face for the assault.

  He winked at her. “I knew you’d catch yourself.”

  “What if I hadn’t?” she challenged.

  He strode off for the Castle after giving an appreciative nod to Lunis. “Well, then you’d be dead, wouldn’t you?”

  Sophia shook her head at her dragon as she hurried after Wilder. “One of these days, I’m going to get you back for that stunt.”

  Wilder flashed her a crooked grin. “I have no doubt, Sophia.”

  Chapter Two

  “You realize weapons of mass destruction are not my specialty,” Alexander Drake said to Thad Reinhart as the pair strode through the top-level-security facility. They halted in a room with viewing windows into the other research areas.

  The billionaire stopped, his usual expression of annoyance covering his scarred face. “I simply asked you to look into the matter since you installed the weapons for Ember 2.0.”

  “Is that really the name you’re going with?” Drake dared to ask. “I mean, it’s not really a machine and not really—”

  “Do you not value your position here?” Thad replied.

  Drake straightened, used to the threats. “Of course, and I figured you’d prefer my honest feedback rather than—”

  “I don’t care about your opinions,” Thad interrupted. “What I care about is whether the magitech you recently installed could be used on a larger scale system?”

  Drake combed his fat fingers over his equally thick chin. “In theory, it makes sense. Something like that could be enough to wipe out an entire country. Is it something you really want to do?”

  Thad’s eyes fluttered with annoyance. “None of that should be your concern.”

  Drake pursed his lips, his beard twitching. “Thing is, I live on this planet too and would like to see it continue.”

  “When did you start caring about this world?” Thad challenged.

  Blowing out a breath, Drake ran his hand over his bald head. “I was aware you had ambitious plans, but…” He swept his arm at the many compartmental rooms lining the hallway. “I was under the impression you needed my help with dragon genetics and technology connected to them. And that alone won’t maim the world. What you’re talking
about—”