ASHES OF AVARANTH

Avaranth is dying. Without warning, the Kingdom of Varkesh declares war, burning villages, slaughtering civilians, and driving Avaranth's armies deeper into their homeland. With defeat drawing closer, Commander Alaric Thorne and the renowned 1st Battalion are ordered to become the kingdom's spear—the vanguard sent wherever the fighting is fiercest. Among them is Cassian Veyr, a quiet swordsman known as the Black Hound, whose home was among the first destroyed by Varkesh. Armed with the longsword Gravesong, Cassian has survived battles that buried entire companies. But survival has a cost. As Varkesh's true reason for starting the war begins to surface, Cassian and his comrades discover that Avaranth may be fighting something far greater than an invading kingdom. Dead men don't protect kingdoms.