Book Title: The King’s Champion
Series: The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy
Author: Nancy Northcott
Publication Date: May 1, 2023
Publisher: Falstaff Books
Page Length: 378
Genre: Historical fantasy with romantic elements
Twitter Handle: @NancyNorthcott @cathiedunn
Instagram Handle: @NancyNorthcottAuthor @thecoffeepotbookclub
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The King’s Champion
Nancy Northcott
The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy
A wizard’s misplaced trust
A king wrongly blamed
A bloodline cursed until they clear the king’s name.
Book 3: The King’s Champion
Caught up in the desperate evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France in the summer of 1940, photojournalist Kate Shaw witnesses death and destruction that trigger disturbing visions. She doesn’t believe in magic and tries to pass them off as survivor guilt or an overactive imagination, but the increasingly intense visions force her to accept that she is not only magically Gifted but a seer.
In Dover, she meets her distant cousin Sebastian Mainwaring, Earl of Hawkstowe and an officer in the British Army. He’s also a seer and is desperate to recruit her rare Gift for the war effort. The fall of France leaves Britain standing alone as the full weight of Nazi military might threatens. Kate’s untrained Gift flares out of control, forcing her to accept Sebastian’s help in conquering it as her ethics compel her to use her ability for the cause that is right.
As this fledgling wizard comes into her own, her visions warn of an impending German invasion, Operation Sealion, which British intelligence confirms. At the same time, desire to help Sebastian, who’s doomed by a family curse arising from a centuries-old murder, leads Kate to a shadowy afterworld between life and death and the trapped, fading souls who are the roots of her family’s story. From the bloody battlefields of France to the salons of London, Kate and Sebastian race against time to free his family’s cursed souls and to stop an invasion that could doom the Allied cause.
The King’s Champion concludes Nancy’s Northcott’s exciting Boar King’s Honor Trilogy.
Excerpt From Chapter 1
– Dunkirk beach
#
Dodging blast
craters, rubble, and wrecked autos, the soldiers double-timed it through the
ruined streets. Kate set her jaw against fatigue and kept up.
At last, they
came to the end of the pavement. Dunes a short distance away flanked the access
to the beach. Each dune had a machine gun emplacement atop it covering the
approach. The unit rushed past them, and the men in front pulled up short. Only
because there was room to the sides did those behind them avoid a collision.
“Sweet Christ,”
the man beside Kate breathed.
She couldn’t
blame him—or the ones who had stopped so abruptly.
The beach was
covered with men. Thousands of them. Standing, sitting, or lying on the sand or
on stretchers, they waited for the promised ships.
Somehow, she
hadn’t expected there to be so many left. But she did know Britain needed every
one of them. Hitler would surely aim there next.
Kate’s throat
tightened. She opened the camera and snapped several photos of the crowded
beach. It would take a miracle to transport all these men away. But Britain
would need every one of them in the coming days.
If she went on
an early boat, she would take a slot one of them should have.
Thirsk stepped
out of the throng streaming toward the beach. “Come with me, Miss Shaw.”
Following him,
she gazed over the sea of men on the sand. They should go before her. But if
the Nazis broke through before she boarded a ship, she and everyone else
remaining would become prisoners.
The United
States was neutral. Of course, Norway, Holland, and Belgium had been neutral
too. Now they were occupied. Yet Germany wanted the US to stay out of the war.
At least, the cynical side of her thought, until the Nazis had conquered
everyone else. So the Germans had no reason to hurt her and every reason to
send her safely home.
Kate swallowed
hard. She had to do what was right. “Corporal Thirsk, would you do me a favor?”
He looked
baffled, probably wondering how he could do anything for anyone on this crowded
beach.
Kate offered
him her pack. “If you would see this gets to Lew Banks and Consolidated News
Union in London, at number seventeen Manchester Square, suite B, I would
appreciate it. The story of this retreat needs to reach CNU, to be published.”
“Why can’t you
take it?”
“You men should
go first. I’ll take the last boat. Do a few interviews, maybe—”
“Bollocks to
that. My orders are to see you make it back.” As though to emphasize his
resolve, he caught her arm.
It was just her
luck to pick someone chivalrous. If she could shake him, though, someone else
might listen. In the distance, coming nearer, the silhouettes of ships and
smaller boats darkened the sunset-dappled water.
Hurry, she thought.
Foolish, as they were undoubtedly coming as fast as they could.
Thirsk led her
past a man sprawled on the beach. Stepping around him, Kate realized he was
dead. So was the one a few feet away. And there was an arm. A riddled torso.
Another body, with the left side of his body gone and the sand beneath him
blood-soaked.
They were just
lying there? But…of course. Because there was nowhere to put them.
Her stomach
revolted. She clenched her teeth.
I will not be sick. I will not be sick.
She’d thought
she had learned to bear such sights. Yet the men dying here, with rescue on the
way, somehow made their mangled bodies worse.
Seeking
somewhere safe to look, she turned her eyes toward the sea. The water looked
unusually calm, moving in slight, gentle swells instead of waves. A man stood
chest-deep in the water, as though waiting. Beyond him…a floating corpse. Bits
of corpses.
Dear God.
Kate swallowed
hard and gritted her teeth. This beach might be the road to salvation, but it
looked like a slice of hell.
Thirsk marched
her up to a man barking orders about staying in line. He wore the same
battledress as everyone else but had a Royal Navy patch sewn to the top of his
sleeve.
“Join a queue,”
the man barked, leveling his sidearm.
Kate froze.
Thirsk,
unperturbed said, “Happy to, once this lady has seen whoever’s in command.”
The man jerked
his head to his right. “Royal Navy. Foot o’ the mole.”
“Really,” Kate
said, “there’s no need—”
A great,
dread-laden shout from the waiting men drowned the words. As the queues
scattered along the water’s edge, the drone of aircraft engines and the scream
of Stuka divebombers’ sirens drowned their shouts. Messerschmitts strafed the
waiting men.
“Bloody sodding
blighters.” Thirsk pulled Kate back from the water. “Get down,” he ordered.
She was already
diving for the sand, useless though that was with no shelter. Around them, men
lay down, pulling corpses over them as though for shields. Others fired back at
the planes with their rifles though the attackers were well out of range.
Don’t see us, don’t see us, don’t see us. Hard to believe they wouldn’t though. Even in the fading light,
everyone’s brown battledress must stand out against the sand.
“Stay down,”
Thirsk shouted, dropping down on top of her.
Wishing her
cameras were under her, she complied. But she couldn’t help peeking under his
arm at the beach to the east.
Far down the
sand, something hit the ground. An instant later, it disappeared in a spray of
sand. Then came a thundering, concussive roar. Men flew in all directions, and then
something hurled Kate. Everything went dark.
This series is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Universal Buy Links:
The Herald of Day
Universal Buy Link
The Steel Rose
Universal Buy Link
The King’s Champion
Universal Buy Link
Nancy Northcott’s childhood ambition was to grow up and become Wonder Woman. Around fourth grade, she realized it was too late to acquire Amazon genes, but she still loved comic books, science fiction, fantasy, history, and romance.
Nancy earned her undergraduate degree in history and particularly enjoyed a summer spent studying Tudor and Stuart England at the University of Oxford. She has given presentations on the Wars of the Roses and Richard III to university classes studying Shakespeare’s play about that king. In addition, she has taught college courses on science fiction, fantasy, and society.
The Boar King’s Honor historical fantasy trilogy combines Nancy’s love of history and magic with her interest in Richard III. She also writes traditional romantic suspense, romantic spy adventures, and two other speculative fiction series, the Light Mage Wars paranormal romances and, with Jeanne Adams, the Outcast Station space mystery series.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.NancyNorthcott.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/NancyNorthcott
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nancynorthcottstreetteam
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancynorthcottauthor/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/nancynorthcott/
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nancy-northcott
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Nancy-Northcott/author/B00ITY5KLS
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3468806.Nancy_Northcott
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