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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

“Anyone would’ve run,” he said again. It was another thing he was prone to doing: repeating himself. Something about the repetition calmed his nerves before they could fray, or perhaps it was simply the sound of his own voice that made him feel less alone, regardless of what his lips were saying.

Orum chuckled, a breathy, rasping sound that spoke of inhaling too much campfire smoke. “Never ran faster than I did on that day, did I? Probably ran faster than any man has ever run, am I right? Shouldn’t be ashamed of it, better than being dinner for whatever that thing was, no? Given the size of its eyes, the rest of it must’ve been bigger than a house, right? Was a wonder it could squeeze itself into that cave at all, unless there was a back entrance. That’s what I should do, look for a back entrance, a way to sneak up on it from behind. Can mask my scent with some stinkmoss. It will never know I’m there, will it?”

He continued his incessant rambling and reasoning, talking himself into the plan he already thought he was fully committed to. In truth, it wasn’t his shame at having fled from danger that drove him back to the place, but something else that drew him. Something he couldn’t fully explain or define. Something in those bright, glowing eyes had drawn him in, and despite the fear that had rattled through him he’d found himself taking a step forward, his first instinct to move toward danger rather than away from it. That truth, more than anything else, had bothered him on countless nights as he lay awake, unable to sleep, listening to the legs of crickets sawing out their melody.

“Oh,” he exclaimed, cutting off his own monologue as he ground to a sudden halt. For he was here, much earlier than he’d anticipated. The last time he’d visited the cluster of boulders that had created a crawlspace large enough to house…whatever creature it was that owned those massive, ethereal eyes…it had taken him a full half day to reach this spot. A fifteen-mile hike at the least, maybe even twenty. But now he’d reached the clearing in the wood in little more than an hour, the sweat barely having time to form its beads on his forehead and cheeks. “Tricky forest,” he muttered. “Always shifting, always playing its games.”