Valor and Violence

Valor and Violence is a series of short stories following different, yet all equally colourful, characters set in the same world. Birth of a Legend, the first short, follows Captain Erskine Erwell, a newly promoted Captain in the Calandorian Royal Navy, charged with protecting his people from all who would do them harm. Great news for the Calandorian citizens, bad news for the Skjar reavers that ravage the shores in search of slaves. But when a small reaver fleet slips the net and escapes to the southern jungles of Marduk, Erwell must fight a war on two fronts; one against the raiders, and a far more difficult war against the hostile landscape. If he can't find allies in this strange land, he may end up being the one in need of saving.  The Calling follows Ferez Ahud, an aspiring young battlemage charged with the unsavoury job of 'terminating' a rogue member of his college. But how this nobody of a mage became a fugitive remains a mystery, and when the answer is discovered, the tables are turned and the hunter becomes the prey. A Family Dissassemblance follows a young woman named Elizabeth. She's a simple young gal; sweet, charming, and with a heart of gold. She loves her family, she loves fun, and she loves making things and people explode!  Blood Reparations picks up Levi's story a little while after he and Erskine parted ways at the end of Birth of a Legend. Read along as Levi struggles to find a solution for his village's woes, battling the attitudes of obnoxious foreign snobs, drakes (again!), and something altogether far more sinister, lurking deep underground... A Vow of Wind takes us back to the dynamic trio of Ferez, Ingrid, and affable idiot, Leo! This time, the happy couple's comfortable lives of hiring their services out as battlemages is interrupted when Leo asks to tag along on a job. Things escalate quickly in a life or death race from Aderath all the way to the frozen north. For King and Country is currently in the process of being uploaded. It follows Captain Erskine Erwell as he escorts a servant of the Crown attempting to piece together the truth of a Royal Army unit's disappearance within Calandor's borders. What starts out as a routine hunt to purge corruption and treason escalates as the captain uncovers signs something sinister is happening in the mountains. BONUS STORY - 'TIS THE SEASON. This has nothing to do with the other stories in the anthology, its just a fun little Christmas story that popped into my head one day that I decided to jot down and throw up for your (hopeful) enjoyment. It follows a young mercenary standing guard over demonic badlands on Christmas Eve. Things start off bad and get rapidly worse as he faces off against threats mere humans were never meant to face. But as the bloody night continues and the body count rises, salvation may come from an unexpected corner... Content Guidelines: coarse language and violence.