He could not stay here. He would never make it to the river. But he could not stay here. It had to be now. He broke from the undergrowth, running for the shallows. There were other runners everywhere, most of them without weapons. Mad, desperate faces, eyes rolling. Wetterlant saw the cause of their terror. Horsemen. A large number of them, spread out across the fields, converging on the shallows, herding the fleeing Union soldiers southwards. Cutting them down, trampling them, their howls and their whoops echoing across the valley. He ran on, ran on, stumbling forward, took another look. A rider was bearing down on him, he could see the curve of his teeth in a tangled beard.

Wetterlant tried to run faster, tried desperately but he was so tired. Lungs burning, heart burning, breath whooping, the land jerking and see-sawing wildly with every step, the glittering hint of the shallows getting gradually closer, the thunder of hooves behind him—

And he was suddenly on his side, in the mud, an unspeakable agony burning out from his back. A crushing pressure on his chest as if there were rocks piled on it. He managed to move his head to look down. There was something glinting there. Something shining on his jacket in the midst of the dirt. Like a medal. But he hardly deserved a medal for running away.

“How silly,” he wheezed, and the words tasted like blood. It had all happened so very, very fast. He found to his surprise, and then to his mounting horror, that he could not breathe.

By Joe Abercrombie

THE FIRST LAW TRILOGY

The Blade Itself

Before They Are Hanged

Last Argument of Kings

Best Served Cold

The Heroes

Red Country

Praise for
Best Served Cold

“Joe Abercrombie takes the grand tradition of high fantasy literature and drags it down into the gutter, in the best possible way.”

—Time

“Abercrombie is both fiendishly inventive and solidly convincing, especially when sprinkling his appallingly vivid combat scenes with humor so dark that it’s almost ultraviolet.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold is a bloody and relentless epic of vengeance and obsession in the grand tradition.”

—George R.R. Martin

“A satisfyingly brutal fantasy quest. Best Served Cold? Modern fantasy doesn’t get much hotter than this.”

—Dave Bradley, SFX

“A rich, memorable tale, exciting and well structured.”

—sffworld.com

Praise for
The Heroes

“Abercrombie never glosses over a moment of the madness, passion, and horror of war, nor the tribulations that turn ordinary people into the titular heroes.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Brilliant.”

—Guardian (UK)

“Reminiscent of… Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera novels in terms of scope and military action, this will appeal particularly to military fantasy buffs.”

—Library Journal

“Magnificent, richly entertaining.”

—Time

“The Heroes is as irresistibly inviting as a bowl of pistachios. After that first taste, you’re going to find it almost impossible to stop until it’s all gone.”

—Philadelphia Inquirer

“It’s violent and full of treachery and horror, but it’s delivered with Abercrombie’s signature dark humor and a hint of cynicism.”