PILLARS OF LIGHT AND FIRE: THE COMPLETE SERIES, page 1
PILLARS OF LIGHT AND FIRE
©2017-2021 KEN BRITZ
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Contents
FALL TO EARTH
1. Crossroads at Dawn
2. Leap of Fate
3. Bingo
4. Plan B
5. Delta Series
6. Opportunity of a Lifetime
7. The Ring Things
8. Waking the Crazy Old Bear
9. Phoenix
10. Augmented Future
11. Pushing Boundaries
12. Guiding Lance
13. Elysian Fields
14. It’s Never That Easy
15. Defy Gravity
16. Ultimatum
17. Taking the Gloves Off
18. A New Acquisition
19. Lerna
20. Equal Halves
21. The Hind and the Stag
22. Geneva
23. Consequences
24. Fallout
25. Sisters’ Farewell
26. Experiments
27. Crossroads at Evening
28. Adapt and Overcome
29. Love, Hate, and Good-byes
30. New Opportunities
31. More Experiments
32. The Gravity of the Archimedes and Longinus
33. Janny Speaks
34. Going Alone
35. Rites of Passage
36. Moving Pieces
37. Death and Life
38. Making a Choice
39. The Archimedes Is Ready
40. Countdown
41. Liftoff
42. Delta-V
43. Flight
44. Objects in Space
45. Objects in Motion
Epilogue
APOLLO BURN
1. Death in the Family
2. Jump-start
3. Leveling Up
4. Fly to Camelot
5. Trust Issues
6. Broken Dreams
7. Priorities
8. Systems Integrate
9. New Data Input
10. No-Fly Zone
11. Family Problems
12. Into Dark Corners I Go
13. Test Fight
14. Three-Letter Words
15. Fallout
16. Prison Break
17. King Sacrifices Knight, Queen Takes
18. Giving
19. The Rundown
20. Looking for Answers
21. Hand of God?
22. Matron, Mother, Daughter
23. The Stag and the Doe
24. Sisterly Chat
25. Family Strife
26. Call to Action
27. Focus on Delphi
28. Fight Prediction
29. Mind Killer
30. In Their Element
31. Reince Returns
32. Right
33. Dear Longinus
34. Mind Trip
35. Cutting Free
36. Doubling
37. Making Appearances
38. Lockdown
39. Cascade Effect
40. Awaken, Chimera
41. Shifting Snows
42. Bridge to Nowhere
43. Bullets, Rockets, and Bombs, Oh My!
44. Burnout
45. Black Hounds Close In
46. Body Dump
47. Chimera Meets Phoenix
48. River of Life
49. Madam Secretary
Epilogue
MATRIX TRIGGER
1. Balancing Dragon Scales
2. Interview with a Dragon
3. That Tripoli Will Remain
4. Whatever the Powers May Decree
5. Getting Warm
6. Jump into the Unknown
7. The Dragon and the Gryphon
8. Warmer
9. Goldberg
10. Cold to Hot
11. Lights Out
12. Awaken
13. Sublime
14. Unfolding
15. Held
16. Essence of Power
17. Eyewitness Report
18. Poking the Dragon
19. Perilous Within
20. Degrade Condition
21. Speak Its Name
22. New Regime
23. Triggering Events
24. Testament of Will
25. Broken In
26. Triggered
27. Sisterhood
28. Reunion
29. The Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep
30. Unsheathing the Blade
31. Undead
32. Trial of Water and Fire
33. Suns of Apollo
34. Assault at Dawn
35. Brooding Dragon
36. Contact
37. Learning to Fly
38. Open the Vault
39. Enemy in Motion
40. Stirred, Not Shaken
41. Fight On
42. Dragon, Phoenix, and Bears, Oh My
43. Armor Up
44. Mercy and Justice
45. Bunker Buster
46. Boar and Bear
47. Endgame
48. Gathering
Epilogue
RISE OF AVALON
1. Sibling Rivalry
2. The Cairn
3. You Can Never Go Back
4. Headwinds
5. Siege Perilous
6. Twin Blades
7. Isle of View
8. Pathways of Memory
9. The First Test
10. Leader of Battles
11. Quest for Truth
12. Long Distance Message
13. Rook and Bishops in the Greenhouse
14. The Second Truth
15. Divine Grace
16. Collision
17. Nesting Dolls
18. Immortal Birds
19. Trust Exercise
20. One Shot
21. Power Down
22. Long Distance Phone Call
23. Acceleration
24. Monster Within
25. Back in Time
26. Race Condition
27. It’s a Trap?
28. The Final Truth
29. Cold Night
30. Brother and Sister
31. Suit Yourself
32. Counterstrike
33. A Lady in Waiting
34. Two Minds
35. The Immortals
36. Awaken Once More
37. Grail Keeper
38. It’s Definitely a Trap!
39. Break Free
40. Showdown
41. Dodge and Weave
42. Twin Blades, Redux
43. To the Last
44. Morté
45. Truce
46. Reconciliation
Epilogue
Thank you for reading PILLARS OF LIGHT AND FIRE
More …
FALL TO EARTH
Book 1
1
Crossroads at Dawn
NEW YORK CITY, NY—
“I’m not sure if I’m looking at futility or triumph in defeat,” the man next to Indiana said. “Of course, that depends on what kind of person you truly are.”
Indiana turned, ready to burn flirtation to the ground and salt the earth afterward. The man was gazing intently at the painting they sat before. She followed his gaze and drank in the riot of vivid blues and browns of a battle in progress. Why had she come to this painting? She was unsure. Perhaps it reflected her mood, or she was merely exhausted from the daylong flight from Beijing and her nerves were jangled.
“That’s a terrible opening line,” she growled.
The handsome man with close cropped blond hair and startling blue eyes shrugged and then smiled. “I was talking about the painting.” He nodded at the mural and then smiled at her, offering his hand. “Lieutenant Arthur MacGabran, ma’am.”
“Indiana Beckham,” she said, taking his hand. If t
His hand was rough, callused, and felt like a larger version of hers. His handshake was like her father’s—strong, purposeful, and warm. There was verve in it, a vibration in the blood that matched her own. It was an instant equality of being. A feeling sparked between them and arrested her mind. The connection was broken when he released her hand, but the moment lingered in her subconscious. Déjà vu hit Indiana with a case of vertigo. Her tumultuous emotions receded in the face of new input.
“You can call me Arthur.”
“You can call me Miss Beckham. Like army lieutenant?”
“Navy.”
“You’re not in uniform.”
“Most of us don’t travel in uniform. I’m also not attached to a full military unit at the moment. Easier to get around.”
“Interesting,” she lied, trying to place where she had seen him before. She studied him, recognizing his eyes.
“Is it?”
“No,” she admitted. “Do I know you?”
“You might, if you remember. I met you last year when you were leaving for the world championship.”
Indiana processed this, then the picture snapped in her head. This man had indeed been in a uniform, wearing a set of fatigues and the beginnings of a beard. “Chicago?”
“O’Hare,” Arthur confirmed.
“That’s fucking weird.”
Arthur shrugged. “We shook hands.”
“That I remember. I remember you said something that struck me as—”
“Also weird?”
“Yes.”
“I had that coming.”
“No, really. You said something that until this moment, I hadn’t given two seconds of thought. ‘If you want to be something more, we’ll meet again in a year. Failing is only beginning.’ Why would I remember that?”
“Good stories should have a memorable beginning,” he proposed.
“Do you remember what I told you?”
“You laughed in my face.”
“Of course I did.” Indiana frowned. “You know how many lines of bullshit I’m fed on a daily basis?”
Arthur spread his hands in apology.
Indiana continued, “I didn’t come find you, but here you are. Why?”
“I didn’t say you’d find me. I said we’d meet again.”
Indiana mulled that over but was not ready to ask the most obvious question: how did he know? He had some angle, some way of knowing she would be here. It was the Information Age, after all. She studied him but saw no veil, nothing that told her anything about him except what he was in that moment—a man studying a painting.
“What’re you going to do now?” Arthur asked.
Indiana tilted her head back and closed her eyes. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
“Get ready for next year’s world championship?” Arthur probed.
Indiana shrugged. What was she going to do? She was ready, more ready with each passing year and championship under her belt. But now what was she ready for? She was adrift, unmoored from her established path. Her life had been derailed this week. She’d certainly made a mess of things with the National Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee, everyone. Anger burned in her belly again about what had transpired.
“What does this painting make you think of?” Arthur prompted.
Indiana opened her eyes. “A lost cause. Everyone died at the Alamo,” she said.
“And yet, every one of these men fought and died there against a numerically superior force. Not only fought, but resisted for days before the final siege broke through. Do you think they were simply stupid?”
Indiana shrugged. “I don’t see why they fought so hard for nothing.”
“Just because you die doesn’t mean the fight ends there. There’s a lot that goes on after you’ve fallen. The Alamo was a rallying cry that’s still remembered today. It was the beginning of the freedom of Texas from Mexican hands. The Mexican army outnumbered the Texans, yet the Texans won the war.”
“Starting to feel like a lecture,” Indiana warned. The painting’s flat images took on a quality she could not define.
Arthur spread his hands. “At the risk of stretching a bit too far, I was thinking it reminded you of the futility of your own fight. You’re down, but it’s not a last stand by any means.”
“I’m not sure. I may have burned the only bridge I had.”
“I’d say that it was more of a burning-of-your-boats situation.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means you’ve committed to a course of action in such a way that you can only succeed or be destroyed. Burning bridges means you cannot return the way you’ve come, but there are other options, other directions to go.”
Indiana thought about her tirade at the press conference when it was announced that the entire US Olympic fencing team was banned. After all, only their team captain, Elijah Prince, had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. She could have gracefully accepted it, but she was Indiana Beckham—the best in the world. So she let everyone know what she thought of the ban, of Elijah, and of the IOC. She frowned. “I think I see the distinction. You think I’m going down a path where I may only succeed or fail?”
Arthur’s look was faraway, as if he were seeing something beyond the painting. Indiana knew that look. She had it every time she stepped onto the piste and calculated every move between her opponent and herself.
Arthur said, “Every person who makes that kind of decision knows the risk and endgame. They may not succeed, but there is no other option but to go on.” He nodded at the painting. “I’d say these men had the same idea. They could have gone their own way. They didn’t have to be in this fight. I doubt they even knew how much that one last pledge to fight would mean to the rest of Texas. But they burned their ships and made their stand. They lost the battle but won the war. The fight isn’t over when the last man is down.”
