I couldn’t look him in the eyes — guilt weighed on me for sending him to the deadly lands of Cragkeep.

“I’ll come back,” he said with confidence.

“I hope you do,” I replied, though deep inside I knew the odds were against him.

Cragkeep was a brutal place — home to monsters, rival clans, and endless bloodshed. No one had ever managed to rule it. For centuries, war had consumed that land, and survival chances were almost zero. Only a few — maybe five out of a hundred — ever ...