Misplaced Mercenaries

Smart-mouthed Keane and feared warrior Sarah escape the mercenaries of Wallace’s Company to start somewhere fresh, where no one is trying to kill them. Keane steals the company’s wages in return for his attempted murder, and Sarah agrees to the plan. Unfortunately, Keane doesn’t have one. On the run from the vengeful lord marshal and his wicked mercenary cutthroats, Sarah and Keane hop from danger to disaster.

Ex-mercenaries Keane and Sarah struggle to keep their heads above water in the roles of snarky pretender-king and sorceress-in-training for the kingdom of Greenshade — which alone would make it a good day. But good days are clearly for better people. As the nations of the Thirteen Kingdoms line up against them, assassins stalk the castle halls with hidden daggers and deadly salted fish. The only weapons Sarah and Keane can count on are each other and the few friends they’ve made, none of whom are safe.

Somehow, Keane, the ex-mercenary king of Greenshade, must outwit a wicked usurper from within and an overwhelming army from without. And if that weren’t enough on his royal plate, when Keane flees with his pregnant queen and brainwashed mother-in-law, his own nefarious past rears up to smack him in the face. A thousand miles away, Keane’s best friend Sarah, a swordswoman and sorceress-in-training, treks toward the only possible ally strong enough to help them: the goddess of either beauty, seduction, obsessiveness, or insanity. Depending on who you ask.

After serving with Keane to save Greenshade, the cowardly, illusion-making runecrafter Morholt leads a group of mercenaries on a mission to save the women from his past. His one rule: No killing. But after a terrible accident leaves one of Sarah’s oldest friends dead in the Sedrian jungle, the unstoppable Hill Fury pursues Morholt relentlessly across the Thirteen Kingdoms. Because the renewed Temple of the Sky is trying to murder all those with the sacrilegious runecrafting ability, Sarah requests their help. But soon Sarah must decide who her true enemies are.

The fear of Tyrrane and their Anger Under the Mountain has gone on long enough, and King Keane of Greenshade has finally decided to end it—personally. Until he talks with his wife the queen, whereupon he decides to send warrior/sorceress Sarah to end it for him.