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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
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She dragged her blade from his chest, unwilling to part with a good weapon just to avoid a bit of blood. When she turned back, the other two thugs were still writhing on the alley floor. She stood over them, until they looked up at her, expressions twisted with pain. One of them, the one who’d suffered both groin and face contusions, noticed the knife in her hand. “Are you going to kill us, too?” he blubbered from lips wet with tears, snot and blood.

“Are you going to continue to be the cruel bastards you’ve been tonight?” she asked.

“No,” the first one said. “I swear it.”

“On what?”

“On my own life.”

That was good enough for her, as this man clearly valued his own life above all else. To the second man, she said, “Well?”

“I’ll clean up my act, too.”

“Why?”

“Because I hate myself most days. Hate what I am, what I’ve become.”

She nodded, not unsurprised by his answer, nor the sincerity she felt in his tone. “I’ll hold you to your oaths. Now go, heal, and do better. One day, I’ll return to see you again.”

Together, they helped each other to their feet, hobbling out of the alley, their lurching forms providing crooked shadows under the weight of the stare by the only witnesses to what had transpired: the moons high above.

It was still a few hours until midnight, but Bryony headed for the meeting place to which she’d been directed. She always preferred to be the first one to a meeting, especially when it was with a stranger.

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She cleaned the blood from the throwing knife slowly, meticulously. Bryony had always enjoyed cleaning, polishing, sharpening, and otherwise maintaining her knives. It felt good and meaningful to spend time restoring something to a state of perfection after it had been marred. If only she could do the same to those humans in her life who had failed her.

The moons hung in the sky above, near to each other but still days away from crossing paths. There was something comforting about their consistency, predictability, but it also made her envious, especially now, when everything in her own life felt utterly unpredictable.

No, she thought. That’s not true. I am predictable. I can be counted on. I will always win.

That thought eased some of her anxiety, at least until a soft sound pricked her ears. Someone was coming, but their passage was impressively silent. Despite the fact that she’d been trained to listen for those enemies who might wish to sneak up on her, it required all of her concentration to detect the next sound, so soft she thought she might’ve imagined it.