Blaise of Gorhaut is a warrior. He fought for king and country until the king died with an arrow in his eye at the battle of Iersen Bridge and a dishonorable treaty ceded a good part of his country to foreign lands. He has broken relations with his father, advisor to the king of Gorhaut, and abandoned the use of his family name. Now Blaise is a mercenary. He never expected to work for the lords of Arbonne, the warm, fertile lands south of Gorhaut, whose people praise the love of women--they even worship a goddess instead of a god. They are a soft people, or so he thought. But for all their nonsense about love, their troubadours and songs, they will fight for their country when invasion comes from the north.
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