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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

The main body of foes arrived, a pecking, clawing, flapping mass of darkness swarming from all sides. Weaponless, she swatted her hands at them, stifling cries of pain in her throat as they tore into her. Two sets of stabbing talons dug into her back and then she was weightless, carried upwards into the sky. She bounced off of a branch as they lurched her skyward. Other eagles darted in, tearing at her while she kicked and struggled.

She looked down, immediately regretting it as she realized how high she was already. High enough that a fall would break bones, maybe worse.

Their maelstrom of dark, flurrying wings passed another branch, and an idea occurred to Perfidy. A wild, mad, last-ditch beauty of an idea. Through the terrifying wall of wings and claws, she groped upwards, targeting not her captor’s wing, but its neck, roping her fingers around its throat.

And then squeezing with all the strength she had left.

This earned her a new sound, a strangled squawk amidst the raucous chorus of shrieks, like a perturbed chicken that had been caught in the yard by a man with a very large knife. She felt the creature release her. Their flight, which had heretofore been a slow and steady rise, now careened sideways, almost bashing them straight into a tree. Perfidy would’ve almost welcomed it, but as it was, she spied a sizeable branch beneath them, just ahead.

Her left hand still clamped on the throat of one eagle, she stabbed her right hand in the opposite direction. She missed her mark, but not badly, her fingers poking into the other eagle’s eyes.

And then she was free, dropping far faster than she was ready for. For a brief moment, the air around her was empty, having slipped free of the tangle of eagles battling over their prey. Her eyes widened as she realized she’d timed it perfectly, the branch she’d spotted directly beneath her. All she had to do was grab it.

With a grunt, her fingers clawed at the bark. By sheer skill or a whole lot of dumb luck, she caught the branch, her momentum sending her into a daring swing that would launch her back into empty air.

Or at least it would have, if the dead branch hadn’t chosen that exact moment to break free of its tether. They fell together, her heart in her lungs, her eyes darting about as she searched for something else to grab hold of, something else to break her fall.

There was nothing. Just the unforgiving forest floor.