BooksBarbecue
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

She risked a glance back to find the bird so much closer already. It shrieked, a glee-filled sound that seemed to cut into her with all the effectiveness of a knife. She whipped back around, lowering her head to duck under another branch, pushing herself to run faster than she’d ever run before. Still, she sensed her pursuer gaining with every step, until its shrieks rang in her ears, its attack imminent. She could picture its claws reaching for her, excitement pulsing through its veins as it imagined stabbing into her flesh. She waited a second longer and then dove.

Not a moment too soon either, as she felt its claws rake across her back, carving long lines into her skin but falling just short of grasping hold of her. The root-infested forest floor punched her in the gut, knocking the air from her lungs as she tumbled and flailed before coming to rest.

Overhead, the dark eagle wheeled around before angling back toward her.

That was the least of her worries.

For, with a cacophonous roar, the air behind her filled with sound. As she turned, her jaw dropped open. Dozens more black-winged eagles flew toward her, an army of shrieking, flapping fowls void-bent on scratching her to death.

She stood, hesitating. Running toward the lone eagle was the obvious choice. If she could dodge its next attack, perhaps she stood a chance, finding somewhere to secret herself away where they couldn’t get to her—inside a rotting log perhaps.

And yet, she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to run away, not anymore. It had never helped her, never made things better. And, she suspected, it wasn’t what her mother would want her to do. So, instead, she turned to face the army of winged death, the single eagle at her back like a fell wind. And then she ran toward them.

They came at her, coal-black eyes burning with an intensity that should’ve scared her but didn’t. If anything, it excited her, energized her, made her want to prove herself to them, to show them that she wasn’t the easy prey they were used to—more than some quaking, fearful fieldmouse trying to collect seeds in the tall grasses.

The first scythed in, slashing at her with daggerlike talons but she spun to the right, grabbing a small tree to steady herself, ripping a dead chunk free as it toppled from the impact. Still, it was enough to allow her to change direction to dodge a beak aimed at her face, slapping the eagle in the head to ward it off.