Jacob Peppers

The world needed heroes.... It got them instead. A swordsman past his prime who has vowed to never wield a blade again. A mage who'd rather throw fists than fireballs and thinks magic is for sissies. An assassin who grows sick at the sight of blood. And a man with a pet squirrel he believes to...

War sweeps the land as the sons and daughters of the late King Marcus battle over who will claim their father’s throne and able-bodied men and women flock to one cause or the other in the hopes of a better tomorrow. At least, most of them. If life has taught the jaded sellsword Aaron Envelar...

The hardest war is the one a man fights alone. One hundred years ago, the Eternals, thirteen men and women of immense power, closer, many believed, to gods than mortals, stood against the greatest threat the world had ever faced. And they lost. They died. All save for one, known as the Youngest...

Some nights are darker than others. Some shadows are not shadows at all but Death, watching, waiting. Only sometimes, Death is not content to watch. Sometimes, he comes with purpose. And tonight, on this darkest of all nights, Death came not for the wanderer, as it had so many times, but for his...

The wages of a soldier are pain and regret his reward. Soldier himself had told the wanderer that. Old words from another life but true words nonetheless. The wanderer knew this, for he still carried the scars such pain had brought, and a life spent on the run left a man little else but his...

Dannen Ateran spent the week following his battle with the necromancer and his undead army doing exactly what he enjoyed most—nothing. Certainly nothing heroic. At least nothing more heroic than lying in Claire's bed and reveling in the feeling of having no one try to kill him. At least, that...

Assassins are bad. Angry gods are worse. All that plus cults and demons? In the hero business, they call that Monday. The worst thing about a man being led to his execution—aside from the whole impending death bit—was that he immediately tried to figure out what choice had brought him there...

Aaron Envelar thought a sellsword's life was 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...

The truest stories are written in blood. The wanderer knows this, for over the last century, he has lived those stories, has seen them scrawled in his blood or the blood of others. Others like those dead Perishables scattered about the noble's courtyard, like those servants of the enemy, mortal...

The Downs, the poor district of the city of Avarest, is home to cutthroats and thieves, pickpockets and prostitutes, all of whom pay tribute to one of two powerful crime bosses. It is also home to Aaron Envelar, a disillusioned sellsword known as the Silent Blade....

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...

The final battle has come. Grinner and his conspiracy to overthrow Perennia have been defeated, but victory came at a high cost. The alliance suffered losses it could ill afford, for the true enemy still lies in Baresh, growing stronger with each day that passes. Leading the combined armies of...

When darkness comes, there is no knowing who will carry the light and stand against it. Aaron and his companions have been saved from Kevlane's creatures only to find themselves in the power of the Akalians, a shadowy group of warriors many believe aren't men at all, but creatures of nightmare...

Dragon riders once ruled the skies… And soon they will fly again. Centuries ago, dragons and humans defended the land of Astria side by side. Then the empire invaded, with huge creatures of ice and stone. And the dragons abandoned their allies. Now, every Astrian is born in chains.

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...

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...

Hero checklist for a long and happy life: Step one: Don’t be a hero. Step two: If by some horrible miscalculation, a man finds himself a hero, then he should not, under any circumstances, accept a “quest”. Particularly one including magical rings, swords in stones, or any talk of “chosen...

The nightwalkers have returned, creatures that roam the darkness searching for anyone foolish or unfortunate enough to find themselves without light to protect them. And the people of Entarna carry lanterns and torches, wielding them as shields against the night's creatures....

Fifty years ago, the nightwalkers appeared, creatures of shadow and darkness, thirsting for blood and death. Thousands died, and the kingdom of Entarna was brought to its knees. Then the Chosen came: six men and women endowed with powers by Amedan, the God of Fire and Light. The Chosen joined...

Death has a voice. The wanderer knew that, for he had heard that voice often enough. And as he walked through the village of Alhs, past the corpses of those who had chosen to stay, he heard it again. He heard it in the rasp of the wind along the eaves of the abandoned homes he passed, heard it...