R. H. OATHWELL

Ten Thousand Hands

Book One

In chess, the king barely moves and the little pieces take the hits. King Herrold of Oromund has never lost a battle. Swords snap on him and arrows splinter on his cheek, because more than a million people have lent him their hands by oath.

Piran Sedge, a clerk in the capital, strikes the war dead from the rolls, adds up the living, and gets a very different number from the one on the cathedral door.

Across the lines, Sarai Corvel, who has never lost either, counts what each win has cost her.

And on Candle Row in Esk Varrow, a city about to be besieged, Oona Bracken has four children and one loaf. When the siege comes, who is the king, and who is the pawn?

Coming to Amazon in paperback and Kindle.