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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

“Yes. Now let’s go. It’s getting late.”

Ten

Soraya

Seer, Finfalla

The Mortal Marsh was well behind them now, for which Soraya was glad. They’d spent far too much time in that place, for Shim had required “time to bask”, which for a man of his race meant finding a spot directly in the sun and promptly falling asleep, letting the rays warm his cold skin.

With him and Morg passed out and Errol a rather poor conversationalist, that had left Soraya to commune with only her own thoughts and the virulent-green water. For some reason the place had given her the creeps, and she planned to request they return to the Rocklands via a different route once their mission was complete. Unlike Shim, she’d refused to go anywhere near the marsh water. Morg, however, did have a bath after he awoke from his nap, and he seemed to be fully back to his normal chipper, chattering self, now bounding along beside her as they departed the safety of Lostwood. Every so often he would stop to munch on the various wildflowers that grew abundantly in this part of the forest.

She froze at the same moment as Shim. Everything about the space beyond the forest felt completely and utterly wrong. The sky was too big and too blue, the sun too bright, the clouds too puffy and white. The space ahead was too open, the horizon a long line that ran as far as the eye could see on either side. Everything was too empty, which only served to make Soraya feel as naked, helpless, and exposed as a babe on her name day. There was occasional foliage, of course—a tree here, a bush there—but they were scant and far between compared to the lush vegetation they’d just departed. And not far up ahead: a collection of structures of wood and stone interlaced with the motion of carts and beasts, adults and children, more activity than Soraya had ever seen in her life in a single place.

She had the sudden urge to turn tail and race back into the forest. Void, she’d rather face another six-limbed, mutated bear than what she could see in the middle-distance. But then she recalled that voice that had appeared amidst the fearful clamor of her mind, still and calm and full of faith. In her. She wasn’t doing any of this for herself, but for the Goddess of the Wood, Narcissi. In this moment, as it had in countless others, such knowledge brought her the strength to take her next step, then another, only to realize that Shim hadn’t followed.

She turned back, a question in her eyes.

“The village is too close,” Shim said. His features were furrowed by the kind of frown he rarely wore.

“Tell me about it,” Soraya said lightly. “I was hoping it was so far away we’d never actually reach it.”