A disillusioned soldier. A spoiled, untried prince. A coup that threatens the country they love.
When retired soldier Kemen finds the young prince Hakan fleeing an attempted assassination, he reluctantly takes the role of mentor and guardian. Keeping the prince alive is challenging enough. Making him a man is harder.
As usurper Vidar tightens his grip on power, Kemen wrestles with questions of duty and honor. What if the prince isn’t the best ruler after all?
Invasion looms, and Kemen’s decisions will shape the fate of a nation. What will he sacrifice for friendship and honor?
Since 2012, when this book was published, I've sold about 3000 copies of the ebook on Amazon, along with about several hundred ebooks on other platforms and about a thousand paperbacks at in-person events (plus a few on Amazon). Probably 75% of those sales have been in the last 15 months - my sales are increasing as I learn more about marketing and as I continue to publish new works.
With minimal advertising, this book is currently selling 40-80 copies a month on Amazon (ebooks only), with a ranking in the 50,000s. It continues to get good reviews, with a 4.2 rating (out of 5.0).
The audiobook is in production (in English).
I crossed his tracks not far outside of Stonehaven, and I followed them out of curiosity, nothing more. They were uneven, as if he were stumbling. It was bitterly cold, a stiff wind keeping the hilltops mostly free of the snow that formed deep drifts in every depression. By the irregularity of his trail, I imagined he was some foolish city boy caught out in the cold and that he might want some help.
It was the winter of 368, a few weeks before the new year. I was on my way to the garrison at Kesterlin just north of the capital, but I was in no hurry. I had a little money in my pack and I was happy enough alone.
In less than a league, I found him lying facedown in the snow. I nudged him with my toe before I knelt to turn him over, but he didn’t respond. He was young, and something about him seemed oddly familiar. He wasn’t hurt, at least not in a way I could see, but he was nearly frozen. He wore a thin shirt, well-made breeches, and expensive boots, but nothing else. He had no sword, no tunic over his shirt, no cloak, no horse. I had no horse because I didn’t have the gold for one, but judging by his boots he could have bought one easily. There was a bag of coins inside his shirt, but I didn’t investigate that further. His breathing was slow, his hands icy. It was death to be out in such weather so unprepared.
He was either a fool or he was running from something, but in either case I couldn’t let him freeze. I strode to the top of the hill to look for pursuit. A group of riders was moving away to the south, but I couldn’t identify them. Anyway, they wouldn’t cross his path going that direction.
I wrapped him in my cloak and hoisted him over my shoulder. The forest wasn’t too far away and it would provide shelter and firewood. I wore a shirt and a thick winter tunic over it, but even so, I was shivering badly by the time we made it to the trees.
