Oath of Fealty

Author’s Note What Has Gone Before

When Paksenarrion rode off into the fictional sunset twenty-odd years ago at the close of Oath of Gold, I knew I would want to return to her world someday and write more about the other characters there: Kieri Phelan, his captains Arcolin and Dorrin, Sergeant Stammel, and the rest. They had stories of their own waiting to be told. I never thought it would take this long to return … but finally I was able to find the door and here we are, this time seeing the world through other eyes than Paks’s.

The Eight Kingdoms north of the Dwarfmounts, and the land of Aarenis, south of those mountains, have had a seemingly stable relationship for generations. Northern mercenaries fought southern wars; southern merchants kept trade flowing over the mountains along the Merchants’ Guild routes and controlled most of the southern cities. The Elder Races—elves, dwarves, gnomes—kept their distance from humans for the most part, except that elves and humans mingled in Lyonya, the oddest of the Eight Kingdoms.

But change is upon them, brought by hidden forces and their instrument, the paladin Paksenarrion, whose story is detailed in The Deed of Paksenarrion.

Briefly, Paks ran away from her family’s sheep farm to become a soldier, joining Duke Kieri Phelan’s mercenary company in Tsaia. After three years of service in Tsaia and Aarenis, during which she matured from raw recruit to skilled veteran, she left to adventure on her own. Through many trials, she became a paladin of Gird, a holy warrior, and felt a call to return to the Duke’s Company. There, the powers granted paladins led her to the discovery that her former commander was not a bastard duke, as most thought, but half-elven, and the true heir of the throne of Lyonya, next kingdom to the east.

Immediately, forces of evil tried to prevent Kieri Phelan’s travel to Lyonya, capturing him and his companions. Paks pledged to exchange herself and endure five days and nights of torment for his freedom. She endured and survived, to be healed by the gods she served. She followed Kieri east, knowing he would be attacked again, and arrived with additional troops in time to save him.

Thanks to Paks, Kieri Phelan becomes king in Lyonya, a role he could not have expected. He must leave behind those he ruled, led in battle, and cared for so long, and that parting is wrenching. In a widening ripple, everyone Paksenarrion met or came near is thrust into change, from the powerful—the crown prince of Tsaia, the Marshal-General of Gird—to the powerless, including a ragged, starving, one-eyed former mercenary in Aarenis.