Jacob Peppers

The hardest war is the one a man fights alone. One hundred years ago, the Eternals, thirteen men and women of immense power, closer, many believed, to gods than mortals, stood against the greatest threat the world had ever faced. And they lost. They died. All save for one, known as the Youngest...

Dragon riders once ruled the skies… And soon they will fly again. Centuries ago, dragons and humans defended the land of Astria side by side. Then the empire invaded, with huge creatures of ice and stone. And the dragons abandoned their allies. Now, every Astrian is born in chains.

The wages of a soldier are pain and regret his reward. Soldier himself had told the wanderer that. Old words from another life but true words nonetheless. The wanderer knew this, for he still carried the scars such pain had brought, and a life spent on the run left a man little else but his...

Some nights are darker than others. Some shadows are not shadows at all but Death, watching, waiting. Only sometimes, Death is not content to watch. Sometimes, he comes with purpose. And tonight, on this darkest of all nights, Death came not for the wanderer, as it had so many times, but for his...

A warrior's path is trodden in pain and death lies at its end. Those were his father's words from long ago. Not just words, in truth, but a warning. Despite this, in the end, Cutter, like so many others, had chosen pain, had chosen death. Maybe he had done so when he lay dying in some back alley...

Assassins are bad. Angry gods are worse. All that plus cults and demons? In the hero business, they call that Monday. The worst thing about a man being led to his execution—aside from the whole impending death bit—was that he immediately tried to figure out what choice had brought him there...

The path to peace is paved in blood. Or so Cutter tells himself during the long nights as he travels deeper into the Black Wood, wrestling with his inner demons and battling those creatures which emerge from the shadows seeking his life. Meanwhile, in New Daltenia a violent organization thought...

I am fire and all I touch turns to ash. Despite the odds, Cutter and his companions managed to bring Matt to the capital, where he was crowned king. But instead of getting better, things have only gotten worse. The Known Lands and its people stand at a precipice. One false move, one mistake, and...

Dannen Ateran spent the week following his battle with the necromancer and his undead army doing exactly what he enjoyed most—nothing. Certainly nothing heroic. At least nothing more heroic than lying in Claire's bed and reveling in the feeling of having no one try to kill him. At least, that...

When a man goes out seeking blood, he will find it. Always he will find it. It was a truth Cutter had learned long ago, for he had been that man. For countless years, on countless battlefields, he had sought violence and blood...and the gods help him, he had found it. Found more than his share...

The world needed heroes.... It got them instead. A swordsman past his prime who has vowed to never wield a blade again. A mage who'd rather throw fists than fireballs and thinks magic is for sissies. An assassin who grows sick at the sight of blood. And a man with a pet squirrel he believes to...

Where he walks, death follows. He was once known as Prince Bernard, ruler of his people and the man who led them in the Fey War against creatures out of myth and legend, beings out of nightmare. A man renowned for his strength, a man feared by his own people as much as his enemies. But there are...

Fifty years ago, the nightwalkers appeared, creatures of shadow and darkness, thirsting for blood and death. Thousands died, and the kingdom of Entarna was brought to its knees. Then the Chosen came: six men and women endowed with powers by Amedan, the God of Fire and Light. The Chosen joined...

War sweeps the land as the sons and daughters of the late King Marcus battle over who will claim their father’s throne and able-bodied men and women flock to one cause or the other in the hopes of a better tomorrow. At least, most of them. If life has taught the jaded sellsword Aaron Envelar...

The light fades. The darkness comes. Alesh and his companions managed to survive Aldrick’s betrayal, defeating the nightlings and driving them back out of the city, but their troubles are just beginning. For there are other traitors in their midst, hiding in the shadows, and while they should...

The warriors of Darkness approach. The Long Night comes. With the help of his friends, Alesh has defeated Tesharna and taken over the rule of Valeria, bringing the Light back to a city swallowed by Darkness. But some shadows linger, even in the face of the day, and some threats hide in plain...

Blades hidden in the dark lose none of their edge.... Alesh and his friends have evaded the Broken and his warriors, fleeing into tunnels hidden deep in the earth. They travel to Peralest, a city where they hope to find help, to find sanctuary. But when night falls and the shadows caper, hopes...

The Downs, the poor district of the city of Avarest, is home to cutthroats and thieves, pickpockets and prostitutes, all of whom pay tribute to one of two powerful crime bosses. It is also home to Aaron Envelar, a disillusioned sellsword known as the Silent Blade, who cares nothing for the...

No armies march. No generals marshal their troops on some distant battlefield. Yet the people of Entarna are at war. And they are losing. The nightwalkers have returned, creatures that roam the darkness searching for anyone foolish or unfortunate enough to find themselves without light to...

The final battle has come. Grinner and his conspiracy to overthrow Perennia have been defeated, but victory came at a high cost. The alliance suffered losses it could ill afford, for the true enemy still lies in Baresh, growing stronger with each day that passes. Leading the combined armies of...