Seven Virtues Series by Jacob Peppers
Seven Virtues #2
A Sellsword's Wrath
Jacob Peppers
Aaron Envelar thought that a sellsword’s life was just about as dangerous as any life could be.
He was wrong.
Trapped in a conquered city with a reward on their heads, Aaron and his companions must find a way to elude the soldiers pursuing them while he struggles to understand his bond with Co, a magical creature of myth and the Virtue of Compassion. There is power within the bond, power that could help him protect his friends, if he’s lucky enough to master it before the darkness within it consumes him.
But luck, Aaron knows, is a blade reached for in the dark, the man who grasps it as likely to bleed for his trouble as find the handle.
Stalked by Belgarin’s soldiers, Aaron and his companions struggle to find allies before it’s too late. But Belgarin’s army is not the only danger they face, and even should they escape, even should Aaron master his bond with a legendary creature of magic, they may still fail. They may still die.
For there are other legends in the world, other magic. And not all legends are good ones. Not all magic is benign.
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Seven Virtues #3
A Sellsword's Resolve
Jacob Peppers
War isn’t coming. It’s here.
Aaron and his companions prevented the assassination of a queen but in doing so they angered an ancient evil. Angered it, wounded it, but did not kill it, for such evil never truly dies.
An army greater than any the world has ever known marches bringing steel and death with it and somewhere a thousand year old evil lurks in the darkness, plotting and bending its will toward revenge.
Aaron and his companions have gathered allies to help them in the coming battle and each day his bond with the Virtue of Compassion grows stronger, gifting him greater and greater power.
But if life on the street taught Aaron anything, it’s that no one is better able to stab you in the back as those standing behind you. And as his power with the legendary creature grows so, too, does an uncontrollable rage that threatens to consume him.
His enemies are many, his friends few, but no matter what happens, they will all learn the truth of a sellsword’s strength.
He will show them a sellsword’s resolve.
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Seven Virtues #4
A Sellsword's Valor
Jacob Peppers
The battle is won. But the war is just beginning.
Belgarin’s forces have retreated, but in the city of Perennia there is no rejoicing. The air is filled with the mourning cries of survivors, and the wind that blows through the city carries the smell of freshly dug graves and death.
As the city grieves, Aaron and his companions attempt to hold together an alliance that threatens to crumble around them. While the alliance’s leaders bicker and argue, Boyce Kevlane, an ancient wizard bent on revenge, has taken Belgarin’s place as king and uses his twisted powers to create an army out of nightmare.
To stand a chance of keeping the coalition together, Aaron is forced to venture into Baresh, a city gripped by madness and terror, in search of proof of the coming danger.
But evil is a thing of shadows and darkness, and it will not go easily into the light.
To survive, Aaron will be forced to call on his friends and the growing power of his bond with a creature of myth. Yet even this may not be enough. For there are other powers in the world, darker ones, and there is no telling what secrets the shadows hold.
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Seven Virtues #5
A Sellsword's Will
Jacob Peppers
To battle the creatures of darkness, one must first leave the light behind.
Aaron and his companions return from Baresh with the truth of what the alliance faces, yet such knowledge is little comfort. Throughout the city, men and women whisper of demons, of monsters. But though they might disagree on the nature of Kevlane’s twisted creations, there is one thing they have in common. Fear.
For the creatures they face are not men—not any longer. They are death given form and function. They are, it seems in the darkest hours—and there are many such now—Telrear’s doom.
Crippled by indecision, the alliance leaders argue; they bicker, they argue, and they hesitate. A hesitation which, Aaron could tell them—if only they would listen—will kill them swifter than any blade or bow.
For shadows move in the night. Shadows which feel no pain or mercy, that have long since forgotten the meaning of compassion. But there are other threats in the darkness, other mysteries, and in poorly-lit taverns, men and women huddle together and whisper. If one listens closely enough, he will hear a name, one spoken in hushed, fearful tones. He will hear Akalians. Little is known about the followers of the Shadow God, only that where the Akalians walk, death follows.
Meanwhile, Kevlane bends his dark desire to creating even more terrible horrors, confident of victory. Yet there is one thing he has not accounted for, one which the coming days and weeks will teach him—the strength of a sellsword’s will.
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Seven Virtues #6
Seven Virtues #7
