Claws on the Plain (Kings of War)

Mantica has changed. With the drowning of the Abyss, the crisis in the East is over, a victory made possible by an alliance of peoples beneath the Green Lady’s banner. Galahir is saved, the Great Cataract remains unclaimed, and the Ahmunite fleet rests eternal in the depths of the Infant Sea. The West tells a different story. Scarcely noticed by the Lady’s alliance, a massive orc invasion surged across the Ardovikian Plain. Against this green tide, the men and women of the Successor Kingdoms stood alone (with the exception of a little hired help). Rising boldly to the challenge, they united in the construction of a Great Wall along the Southern Plain, from which their armies decisively drove the orcs out of Ardovikia. It was a grand victory, and in its wake are those who talk of a new and glorious age in the West. Standing at the precipice of a new era is little comfort to Uslo Dargent, general of the mercenary company Dargent’s Claws. Known to his men as ‘the Silver Cat’, Uslo’s posting was uneventful during the war, and now, eight months after its end, it is nothing less than utter tedium. Denied a place in the defining conflict of his lifetime, Uslo itches for glory. Not everything about the war was quite so enviable. The Young Kingdoms of the Plain are devastated, unaided or exploited by the Successor Kingdoms; the roaming Plainsmen of Ardovikia, having fled south to escape the orcish swarm, find themselves trapped beyond the Wall, forced into serfdom for Southern Lords. In a stroke of mutual good fortune, Uslo and the Ardovikians discover that their desires are aligned. The indentured Plainsmen wish for a return to their northern home and will need help crossing the Wall. In exchange, they promise to lead Uslo to something far more valuable than the glories of war – treasures from the age of Primovantor! However, events in the east are not as distant as they might seem. Another has his eyes on the Plain and, with an army of the dispossessed at his back, would set his claws upon it. Two leaders seek their destiny. Both will discover they are pawns in a game far greater than they can imagine, and, on the Ardovikian Plain, both will find far more than they bargained for…

About the Author

Born in Aberdeen, 1989, James Dunbar grew up in Scotland’s historic Royal Deeside, homeland of the ancient Picts whose ruins and stone circles can still be found among the straths, lochs, burns and glens. It was in this world of Druidic scenery that the young James first opened a worn copy of The Hobbit, and he has been an avid reader of fantasy ever since. He attended the University of Aberdeen, where he earned a Master of Arts First Class in Hispanic and Latin American Studies, as well as the Pamela Bacarisse Prize for his final thesis. His passion for learning languages has seen him live in Mexico and Italy, with mixed success. Claws on the Plain is his first novel.

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