Cedric

Valerie Willis

Description

For almost a century Lord Cedric has hunted the supernatural, hiding the fact he’s one of Sorceress Morrighan’s abominations.


Fearful of others discovering his true nature, he weds the Lady of the Court, Angeline, after winning a tournament. The dormant magic in her veins overwhelms his senses, forcing him to realize she’s more than what she appears. He must ask himself: are his feelings a creation of his incubine bloodline or true romantic emotions? Torn between his tragic past and his suicidal quest to kill his creator, Cedric and Angeline must learn to trust each other or lose themselves to the oncoming war.


Angeline was a commoner serving a noble cousin when a sleepless night led to her discovering Cedric's dark secret: he's not human. Memories muddled by magic, she fears the revered knight and her destiny leads her to being his betrothed. As she travels alongside her monstrous, short-tempered husband, she will soon discover there is fear behind the rage and her feelings begin to shift when Cedric is at his weakest.


Enter a world with memorable antagonists like Succubus Queen Lillith, Romasanta the Father of Werewolves, Battle Goddess Badbh, and many more. Lose yourself to lores and history long forgotten from the 12th Century and beyond.

Sujets

• Fantastique
• Romance fantastique
• Bit-Lit
• Shifters
• Romance
• Fiction
• Paranormal

Informations

• Publié par: 4 Horsemen Publications, Inc.
• Date de parution: 26 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781644500385
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

4 Horsemen
Publicat ions, Inc.



Cedric: The Demoni c Knight
Copyright © 2012-2020 Valerie Willis. All rights r eserved.


4 Horsemen Publication s, Inc.
1497 Main St. S uite 169
Dunedin, FL 34698
4horsemenpublicat ions.com
info@4horsemenpublicat ions.com
Cover & Typesetting by Battle Goddess Pro ductions
All rights to the work within are reserved to the author and publisher. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 International Copyright Act, without prior written permission except in brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Please contact either the Publisher or Author to gain per mission.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used ficti tiously.
Audio: 978-1-644 50-037-8
Print; 978-1-644 50-039-2
Ebook: 978-1-644 50-038-5


Dedication
This book is dedicated to my amazing Husband. Without his patience and encouragements, none of this would hav e existed.
I Love You, Mr. Jus tin Willis




Preface
I t was brought to my attention that I should take a moment to talk to the readers and fans of The Cedr ic Series.
I wish to share my inspirations for writing this story. This will explain a lot on how I came about creating these amazing ideas, characters, creatures, and events as a fictional work with heavy fantasy and romance elements in the mix. If one really wanted to drag out all its genres, I could label this a historical fiction, mythology, or even occult and paranormal. So far, Fantasy Romance has done this work the most justice for my readers’ exp ectations.
Historical fiction can be applied to several parts throughout the series, whether it’s a scene, event, or even a reflection of a character and their on-goings. What do I mean by this? Well a lot of you might get the Vladimir Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler references, but it dove deeper than that. King Frederic was the First King of Germans, the lepers in those times did indeed have to ring bells and seek refuge in colonies, Cerdanya was a real trade town, and so on. There are a ton of subtle hints here and there because I wanted to bring the unseen, untold side of the history during Medieval Times to a tangi ble state.
As far as the Mythology side of this series, I wanted to teach you all my version of forgotten lores, legends, and mythology. I did my best to not use anything that was newer than the 12th Century as I dug deep. Some of the concepts weaved in with my own perception was hard to obtain and justify. There was a lot of book buying, digging through a Medieval-age bestiary, and though I scoured the internet, it failed me often in my journey for research. As I created and developed each character, I did my best to tie them into one or more myths so that I may weave a wondrous story without limits. At the same time, I wanted some of you to get caught in a conversation or sitting in class and have that moment of, “Oh! I know how this m yth goes!”
Let me enlighten you all on some of the tales, history, legends and myths stitched into some of these amazing characters you have experienc ed so far:
Cedric takes after a very forgotten and neglected epic legend from Medieval Times of the Russian Knight Hero, Ilya Muromets. Search him, check it out and feel free to compare what you unknowingly learned about this amazing legend. You’ll be excited to see a red haired knight on a black horse as one of the images in the mix. Included in this was some really obscure Romanian beliefs involving early vampire-like stories. The off-shoots involving the strigoi showed less of fear towards these vampire creatures, but held a tone of sorrow and remorse. People who became these creatures had not finished living their lives (Including not ever getting married) and met the insane stipulations to come back as one of the undying. Truly interesting, and I can only hope to capture that same empathetic tone I had discovered in m y digging.
Barushka combines a few tales as well, starting with his name drawn from the Russian Knight Hero tales. Other than that, I focused heavily on the Shag Foal lores. I was intrigued by the first few variants I stumbled on and found that the internet proved void of information. Amazingly, the hairy phantom horse tales started so long ago, there was no exact date as to when they began. The folklore was mysteriously always there. Adding to my wonder about this lore was the fact I stumbled on a 1927 Naturalist journal that devoted a section to them. Even this far forward, it was believed it may be an undiscovered species of horse! Despite that, the one thing I saw reflected in all the writing was that a shag foal approaches lone travelers and scares them so much that they run off to their deaths. Never once did the research say the horse actively kille d someone.
Morrighan, Badbh, and Nemaine were derived from the tales involving the evil sorcerer Calatin. This was the older tale involving them that did not mix the three as one entity. There are no words to describe my frustration and disappointment at how many times that Badbh and Nemaine were labeled as alternative names for Morrighan. Especially when the story of the Legendary Cuchulainn made it clear that they were three sisters each with unique powers. Seeing that Badbh and Morrighan had earned the title of Goddess at some point through the passing of time, I felt the need to give Nemaine her own placement as a Goddes s as well.
Romasanta is the most complex of all my characters. His name is taken from a man in history that is not as common as it once was, Manuel Blanco Romasanta. He was the first serial killer to be trailed and as you read book two of the Cedric Series you will see a lot of that history drawn upon. Feeding off the tragic aura, I pulled in both werewolf and wolf-related myths and lores, wanting to show a more accurate flow through a single entity. It was my intentions to bring in familiar aspects and add in the historically forgotten complications that modern book culture has failed to take into account. Those well-versed in mythology will be able to pick out elements on their own, but the amount of lore here is wide. Tales of Apollo and Daphne, Pan and Pitip, Fenrir, versipellis, Romanian beliefs of vampires were caused by a werewolf, Wolf of the Cemetery from Haiti, Romulus and Remus, and so on. There are deep seeds that I only give you teasers to the mythology that is menti oned here.
As for the monsters, you can say thank you to the Medieval Bestiaries. There are so many wild and crazy creatures in these that are no longer touched that I wanted to bring them to life again. Orms, Jidra, and Aitvaras were a few of the frightening things that travelers spoke of and warned each other about in their explorations. I can only imagine what they may have been based on, but there is a great sense of pride I take in including such monsters into my story. Granted, I have not followed their descriptions exactly and have embellished them with my own imagination, but I hope they make my stories more memorable.
In the end, I encourage my thirsty readers to explore what you’ve read in my Cedric Series. Search the names, look deeper in the scenes, places, events and discover these in more detail. My goal is to introduce you to the forgotten lores and history while adding my own perspective and imagination into the mix. May this tale make its mark in your heart and open your world to the legacy our ancestors once talked about over the dinner table so long ago!
Happy reading and discovery!
Vale rie Willis


Ackno wledgments
I would like to take a moment to say Thank You to a large number of friends and family who have encouraged, assisted, and cheered me on in my endeavors of writing this piece and the many that will follow it. I love you guys and this was only possible throug h you all!
Justin, My amazing Mr. F ix-it-all!
Levi, my Awesome little man who put up with my di straction!
Shannon, My writing and art Buddy and more importantly c onsultant!
Jennifer and Jessie for their edits and e nthusiasm!
To the Kristins’ for idea support and hardc ore edits!
Kris for making the intro stronger and pulling it together!
Erin and her reading buddy willing to choose my rough as their readin g project!
Alejandro and Hector for nagging me during the writin g process!
Jack and Josh for their stern insight for the beginning of the story!
Kesa for getting me over some huge writing mountains!
Stephanie for being the first to read the story in the rough!
The Alliance of Worldbuilders Gang for teaching m e so much!
To the “Shadow Legion” for sparking my want to write again a few years ago!
And Thank You to everyone else for letting me hound you all about helping me read and edit this monster e pic story!
Table o f Contents
De dication v
Preface vii
Acknowl edgments xi
Chapter 1 : Pre sent Day 1
Chapter 2 : Cedric’s story the 12 th Century 5
Chapter 3 : The To urnament 11
Chapter 4 : Bait 19
Chapter 5 : Cursed Woods, Cursed Village 27
Chapter 6 : He llhounds 37
Chapter 7 : Shade for a Horse 49
Chapter 8 : Shaman in t he Woods 57
Chapter 9 : Venoms, Poisons, & Toxins 65
Chapter 10 : A Cure 74
C