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Back Forsworn
Chapters (53)
  1. Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area- Western Half
  2. Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area - Eastern Half
  3. Map of Kingdom of Finfalla and Surrounding Area - Full Map
  4. Important Trigger Warning
  5. Prologue
  6. PART I
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Interlude: The River of Life
  20. PART II
  21. Thirteen
  22. Fourteen
  23. Fifteen
  24. Sixteen
  25. Seventeen
  26. Eighteen
  27. Nineteen
  28. Interlude: Fallow Fields
  29. PART III
  30. Twenty
  31. Twenty-One
  32. Twenty-Two
  33. Twenty-Three
  34. Twenty-Four
  35. Twenty-Five
  36. Interlude: Of Man and Monster
  37. PART IV
  38. Twenty-Six
  39. Twenty-Seven
  40. Twenty-Eight
  41. Twenty-Nine
  42. Thirty
  43. Thirty-One
  44. Thirty-Two
  45. Thirty-Three
  46. Thirty-Four
  47. POSTLUDES
  48. Postlude 1: Lana Vica
  49. Postlude 2: Ludo Vica
  50. Postlude 3: Cainan
  51. Acknowledgments
  52. An excerpt from Heartsworn, Volume II in The Forsworn Oath, available for preorder now!
  53. PART I

Early in the afternoon on the third day, Tomas reached a small settlement nestled in a bend in the river. He marched up to the first person he spotted, a thickset man using a pitchfork to drag clumps of straw into a trough for his horse to eat. “I wish to buy your horse,” he said.

The man looked up, features immediately pulling themselves into a scowl. “He’s not for sale.”

“I’ll pay you a hundred gold coins.”

The man stared at him, and at first Tomas thought he could detect him already counting his gold and praising the Scribe for fating him with such good fortune. But then his expression swiftly transformed into something nasty, a scornful laugh filling the silence. “You have a hundred gold coins? Show me.”

“Well, not with me, but I promise you, good man, that I can get them for you after I return to Marchessault. I’ll have my men deliver them to you immediately.”

“Aye? Are you some kind of a lord then?”

“Not, but I am…” He hesitated, if only because he didn’t know how swiftly rumors had spread through Finfalla. This was a sleepy town, but it was also one of the closest places to Drouin, a border village to Kinkalla itself. He was also acutely aware of the haggard state he was in. His filthy clothes. His unshaven cheeks. His knotty hair that hadn’t seen a comb in half a week. Then he realized none of that mattered. “…I am your future king, Crown Prince Tomas Vedran, First of His Name, son of King Artemus Vedran, First of His Name.”

The return of the man’s laugh was immediate and boisterous, with much slapping of his knees and reddening of his face. Then, suddenly, he stopped laughing, stepped forward, and shoved Tomas with both hands. The force was sufficient to knock him off his feet and onto his backside, where he lay, stunned and even muddier than before.

With a snort, the man led his horse away. “Prince of Mud, more like,” he muttered to himself. “If he was really a Vedran, I’d do more than shove him in the dirt.”

The man’s words shocked him. He knew his father had drawn the ire of many of his subjects due to his constant raising of taxes and harsh treatment of criminals, but the animosity he felt emanating from this man was bordering on hatred.

Tomas was vaguely aware that his altercation had drawn the eyes of several other villagers, but none made a move to help him up, most of them averting their gaze if he glanced in their direction.