The Heroes

Set in the same world as Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, this standalone novel unfolds over three days of battle in the Valley of Osrung, where two armies converge on a ring of ancient standing stones called the Heroes. The story follows soldiers, schemers, and commanders on both sides, examining war from every angle and finding little glory in any of them.

Black Dow, a ruthless warlord who rules the North as its Protector, commands an army of fractious clans. The Union, a southern empire, has sent forces north under Lord Marshal Kroy to bring Dow to heel, aided by the Dogman, a Northern chieftain who opposes Dow. Curnden Craw, an aging Named Man (a veteran warrior of reputation) who leads a small fighting crew called a "dozen," is the first to reach the Heroes. Craw is tired of war and dreams of retirement, but duty keeps him in the field. His crew includes Wonderful, his sharp-tongued female Second, and Whirrun of Bligh, a famous warrior who carries a legendary greatsword called the Father of Swords and claims a seer foretold the time and place of his death, making him fearless. Craw talks a rival scouting party into leaving the hilltop peacefully, securing it for Dow.

Prince Calder, the younger son of the dead King Bethod and a self-confessed coward and schemer, is pulled from exile in the Northern capital of Carleon by Caul Shivers, Dow's scarred enforcer. His pregnant wife Seff remains behind as hostage. Calder arrives at Dow's war camp surrounded by enemies. Dow's War Chiefs, his senior clan leaders and battlefield commanders, include the feuding Glama Golden and Cairm Ironhead and Brodd Tenways, who particularly despises Calder. Calder's father-in-law Caul Reachey is the only sympathetic chief, while Calder's brother Scale, Bethod's brave but dim elder son, holds the weakest command.

On the Union side, Colonel Bremer dan Gorst serves as the king's observer, a humiliating demotion from his former position as First Guard. A supremely skilled swordsman with an absurdly high-pitched voice, Gorst was disgraced after an incident in the city of Sipani and craves redemption through combat. He is hopelessly in love with Finree dan Brock, Marshal Kroy's ambitious daughter, who has married Colonel Harod dan Brock. Bayaz, the First of the Magi, a centuries-old wizard who controls the king's Closed Council of advisors, arrives at headquarters demanding the campaign end immediately and bringing experimental weapons to test.

When the Union advances, Craw retreats from the Heroes, which General Jalenhorm's division occupies. Jalenhorm is brave but tactically inept, promoted through friendship with the king. Before reinforcements arrive, Dow launches a coordinated counterattack. Reachey feints toward the town of Osrung with all the Northern standards. Golden's cavalry catches Union infantry in the open and slaughters them. Dow storms the Heroes, where the Sixth Regiment collapses. Scale captures the Old Bridge while Calder hangs back from the fighting. Gorst fights with devastating skill at the river shallows, killing many Northmen, though Colonel Vallimir's cavalry and flatbowmen ultimately drive the attackers back. The first day ends in a crushing Northern victory.

On the second day, Bayaz's experimental weapons, primitive cannons, are fired at the Heroes. One shot kills Dow's Second, Splitfoot; another tube explodes, killing its own engineers. Meanwhile, Beck, a young farmer who joined Reachey's forces dreaming of glory, hides in a cupboard during the Union assault on Osrung while his crewmates fight and die around him. When he emerges, he accidentally kills his own companion Reft, mistaking him for an enemy. Flood, the veteran Named Man commanding Beck's unit within Reachey's forces, finds Beck covered in blood and assumes he killed the Union dead nearby. Reachey dubs the boy "Red Beck," a battle name built on a lie.

Dow makes Craw his Second. General Mitterick, the sharp but reckless commander of another Union division, launches repeated assaults on the Old Bridge. Scale defends fiercely until Gorst leads the breakthrough and cuts him down. Calder, behind a drystone wall, intercepts a Union order revealing hidden troops in the western woods. His decision to hold position saves the army's flank but costs Scale the bridge. Stranger-Come-Knocking, a literal giant allied with Dow, attacks Lord Governor Meed's headquarters on the eastern flank, killing Meed. Finree is captured and taken to Dow, who releases her with a peace offer. Bayaz vetoes the peace, insisting on one more day of fighting.

That night, Calder asks Craw to murder Dow. Craw refuses and warns he will tell Dow in the morning. Facing exposure, Calder acts boldly on the third day: He raids Mitterick's camp at night and steals two Union standards, taunting the enemy at dawn. Mitterick charges in a fury, but concealed trenches devastate his cavalry. Tenways arrives with reinforcements as Union infantry presses in overwhelming numbers. Jalenhorm leads a massive assault up the Heroes, where Gorst duels Whirrun of Bligh until a stray spear pierces Whirrun through the chest. Whirrun dies in Craw's arms, saying the seer's prophecy was wrong. Beck saves Craw by striking Gorst unconscious. Jalenhorm is killed, and the assault is repulsed.

Kroy raises a flag of parley over Bayaz's objections. Dow agrees to a ceasefire. An explosion engineered by Ishri, Dow's sorceress ally, then destroys much of Osrung. Finree finds her husband Hal alive beneath rubble. Gorst carries Hal to safety, having nearly strangled him out of jealous obsession.

That evening, knowing Craw will expose him the next day, Calder demands a duel in the circle, the traditional Northern trial by combat. Dow accepts and toys with Calder, breaking his hand and slashing his chin. As Dow lifts Calder by the throat, Shivers steps forward and splits Dow's skull. In the stunned silence, Calder kills Tenways and is proclaimed "Black Calder" as the remaining War Chiefs rush to declare support.

Bayaz then reveals to Calder that he orchestrated everything: He sent Foss Deep and his brother Shallow, killers once loyal to Bethod, to protect Calder, used Tenways as a double agent, and placed Stranger-Come-Knocking as an ally. Bayaz demands obedience, showing Calder a mass grave as warning. Calder learns Scale survived, missing a hand. When Shivers awaits the signal to kill Scale, Calder refuses. He places their father's chain around Scale's neck, making Scale King while Calder rules from behind the throne. Privately, he orders Shivers to murder Reachey and frame Golden for the killing.

Gorst receives a letter restoring him as First Guard but is crushed when Hal is made lord governor of Angland, the Union's northern province. He confesses his love to Finree, admitting war is the only place his failures do not matter. She recoils in contempt. Finree secures Hal's appointment through Bayaz but is privately haunted by the trauma of her captivity.

Beck confesses to Craw that he killed Reft, not Union soldiers. Craw tells him such things happen in war and counsels him to earn his survival. Beck returns home, gives back his father's sword, and takes up the wood axe. Craw buries Whirrun with the Father of Swords and retires to a small house. Months later, when Hardbread, the Dogman's Named Man whom Craw once talked off the hilltop, arrives offering a place as Calder's Second, Craw initially refuses, then grabs his sword-belt and follows, unable to resist the only life he has ever known. Corporal Tunny, a cynical profiteer in the Union army, receives new recruits as the regiment ships to Styria, a foreign country where another war awaits. The cycle continues.