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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 old woman, Allegro, ignored her. “Ol’ Welbernius up to his tricks again, I see. The door opened for you? Interesting. What did you see, child?”

Bryony felt the displacement of air so close to her face she couldn’t stop herself from shifting back a step. The two old women seemed to be able to move so quietly she couldn’t track their positioning. And the woman who’d given her the initial scare, Crescendo, hadn’t offered another word since. Where was she? A thought occurred to her: What if there were more than two women here? Or what if they weren’t women at all, but some clawed, fanged monsters who spoke with the voice of them? The thought made her want to rip her blindfold off and sprint for the first exit she could find. The only problem: her hands were tied.

Not that Ludo seemed to care, as fully engaged in this conversation as he’d been in any with her.

“I saw, well, I saw you. And your sisters. The Daughters of Ereniel. That’s who you are, right?”

“More like great-great-, and a bunch more greats, granddaughters now. Though you wouldn’t think it to look at us.”

“Except we can’t…,” Bryony muttered.

“Ah, yes, where are my manners? The blindfolds. Of course. Now that we’ve gotten acquainted, you don’t need those silly things.” Bryony thought ‘acquainted’ was about as wrong a word as the woman could’ve used to describe their conversation, but she let it go, happy her vision would finally regain its freedom. “A word of warning, though, do not directly look upon us or you will surely die.”

“Hold on a second,” Ludo said. “Maybe we should leave the blindfolds on.”

“You believe this rubbish?” Bryony said. Despite her bravado, she felt a chill run down her spine as the sense that someone was very close to her returned.

“I don’t think we should dismiss her warning so casually.”

“Fine. If we can’t look at you directly, then how do we look at you?”

“In the mirrors,” Allegro said simply, as if that explained everything. “The mirrors hide our true natures, changes them. You’ll see us, but not really. Do you understand?”

Bryony didn’t, but she didn’t think any words this woman could string together could clarify things. “Got it. Look in the mirrors only. But what if your mischievous, drama-loving sister Crescendo decides to jump in front of us?”