Where he walks, death follows. He was once known as Prince Bernard, ruler of his people and the man who led them in the Fey War against creatures out of myth and legend, beings out of nightmare. A man renowned for his strength, a man feared by his own people as much as his enemies. But there are other names for him, too. Kingslayer. Oathbreaker. Traitor. The Crimson Prince. And they are all true. Now, he is simply Cutter, a man who arrived at the village of Brighton, a small place on the outskirts of the Known Lands, where men and women brave the harsh temperatures and freezing winds to survive. A man who brought with him a past full of regrets and an infant child, one he swore to protect. For fifteen years, he watched over the child, hidden away in the desolate wilderness. But a man cannot run from his past—not forever. Sooner or later, it catches him. Always, it catches him. Death comes to Brighton, led by a brother he betrayed and the troops of a kingdom he betrayed. Death comes to Brighton—and it is he who brought it. With an entire kingdom against him, with the Fey stirring restlessly in the Black wood, eager for revenge, a lone warrior, once a prince, will be forced to take up his axe once more to protect the youth. To keep his promise. It is heavy that axe, that promise, but he carries it, as he must. It is the price of his sins. It is a warrior’s burden. A Warrior's Burden is the first book in Saga of the Known Lands, a new series by bestselling author Jacob Peppers. It is a grimdark epic fantasy tale of creatures out of myth and legend, magic, battles, and warriors pitted against each other in a deadly struggle to survive. Are you looking for an action-filled character-driven fantasy? Then come and take your first steps into the Known Lands...

When a man goes out seeking blood, he will find it. Always he will find it. It was a truth Cutter had learned long ago, for he had been that man. For countless years, on countless battlefields, he had sought violence and blood…and the gods help him, he had found it. Found more than his share. But there was another truth, one he was only now beginning to understand. The truth that, once a man wed himself to violence, to war, he could not easily put it aside, for carnage was a jealous bride who, upon discovering that its groom had forgotten it, set out to make him remember. She did that reminding not with soft words but with battle cries and the screams of the wounded. And death, of course. That most of all. And so Cutter finds himself taking shelter in the woods with the remaining survivors of a bloody massacre. Now, he and his companions journey to New Daltenia, the capital of the Known Lands and the seat of his brother’s power. For only there can they prove Matt’s royal blood and keep him safe. But Feledias is not the only threat they face. The Fey were defeated once, but while the kingdom of the Known Lands has nearly ripped itself apart during the feud of its royal princes, the denizens of the Black Wood have worked within the shadows. In the darkness of the Black Wood, they have plotted their revenge. They do not know it yet, but the people of the Known Lands are at war. A war taking place not on distant battlefields but in the quiet alleyways of their own cities, within the walls of their own homes. The Fey aren’t coming—they’re already here. So it is that in order to save the kingdom he failed so long ago, Cutter must stand against his enemies and those he once called friends. Should he fail, should he fall, then the Known Lands will fall with him. And if by some thin chance he succeeds, then perhaps he might find what he has sought for fifteen years—redemption.

I am fire and all I touch turns to ash. Despite the odds, Cutter and his companions managed to bring Matt to the capital where he was crowned king. But instead of getting better, things have only gotten worse. The Known Lands and its people stand at a precipice. One false move, one mistake, and they will all fall into the abyss. Cutter wants only to protect his people, to right his many wrongs. But a warrior’s hands are made for killing, not healing, and fingers drenched with blood can only ruin anything they touch. Such is the warrior’s truth. Such is the warrior’s curse. A Warrior's Curse is the third entry in the bestselling epic fantasy series, Saga of the Known Lands. A grimdark adventure into a world of magical creatures and deadly threats. A legendary warrior prince, an aged assassin, a world-weary mage, and a reformed criminal stand against the armies of the Fey. But against such threats as they face, will even their significant power be enough? Come and find out now!

The path to peace is paved in blood. Or so Cutter tells himself during the long nights as he travels deeper into the Black Wood, wrestling with his inner demons and battling those creatures which emerge from the shadows seeking his life. Meanwhile, in New Daltenia a violent organization thought long-extinct reappears and assassins roam the castle. Matt, Chall, and Priest search for the truth about the Crimson Wolves, a search that will lead them to unimaginable peril. Meanwhile, hoping to stop the attempts on their lives, Maeve is forced to return to the Assassin’s Guild, where any wrong move might mean her death and the death of those she’s come to love. In the Black Wood, the Fey stir. In the Known Lands, the shadows lengthen, stretching across the world. And one man, known as the Crimson Prince, carries his axe, and the world’s hope, as he walks the bloody path before him. He can do nothing else… For such is a warrior’s penance. A Warrior's Penance is the fourth entry in the character-driven dark fantasy, Saga of the Known Lands. An action-packed epic about monsters and warriors, mages and assassins, and one man's quest to atone for a lifetime of blood and violence. Read less

A warrior’s path is trodden in pain and death lies at its end. They were his father’s words from long ago. Not just words, in truth, but a warning. And yet, despite this, in the end, Cutter, like so many others, had chosen pain, had chosen death. Maybe he had done so when he lay dying in some back alley of his home city. Maybe it had been when Yeladrian, the Fey King, had gifted him the Breaker of Pacts. Or perhaps he had not chosen his path at all. Perhaps it had chosen him. Either way, there was no choice left to him now. His path lay before him, and so the only thing left to do was to walk it. And so he did. His brother beside him, Cutter walked through the shadows and into the alien darkness of the Black Wood. He was wounded from the countless fights which had come before. He was tired from days and weeks, a lifetime spent striving in battle. He was hopeless, for his life had taught him little of hope but much of pain. And yet, he was breathing. He was alive. And so he walked the path before him. He walked a warrior’s path.