The Bard of Seven Oaks: Book 1
By H. L. Fowler
The world wavers on the edge of darkness as new gods rise. The people are crushed by the ever-turning wheel of capital. They pray for a champion of the light, a god-sent hero of compassion, piety, and righteousness who can save them.
They get a bard.
Chouncey of Seven Oaks is many things: an alcoholic, an unapologetically queer man, a jerk, and a liar. But to Irminric the Black, the feared Warchief of the Byrian Isles, Chouncey is his most prized possession, the gem of his hoard, the scop ...
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The world wavers on the edge of darkness as new gods rise. The people are crushed by the ever-turning wheel of capital. They pray for a champion of the light, a god-sent hero of compassion, piety, and righteousness who can save them.
They get a bard.
Chouncey of Seven Oaks is many things: an alcoholic, an unapologetically queer man, a jerk, and a liar. But to Irminric the Black, the feared Warchief of the Byrian Isles, Chouncey is his most prized possession, the gem of his hoard, the scop who was supposed to sing his story—
And, most importantly, the only slave to ever slip through his grimy claws.
It's only a matter of time before Chouncey is split open for the tide as punishment. He might as well keep his flask filled and his rocks empty until Irminric catches him.
When a long-suffering cleric is tasked by her sun god to pull Chouncey (intoxicated) and his mandolin (magical) from a ditch (questionable), he can only assume she’s an evangelist like the rest. Why should he care about gods who don’t care about him? If only this sun god could apologize for arriving fashionably late, maybe Chouncey could believe in something beyond a full shot glass, a partner(s) for the night, and pithy one-liners. Even if the humor is real, so too are the churning, black waters beneath it.
But the cleric persists and they’re joined by a young bounty hunter on a quest to spend more time outside. Chouncey doesn’t mind friends, but the more immediate, horrifying prospect is that his new allies care for him—even as he refuses to be saved quietly.
They doggedly point Chouncey toward what he already knows: that he could achieve true freedom. All he has to do is send Irminric and his slavers to the abyss and break the chains of oppression. And that by spreading light, Chouncey could become more than another forgotten bard.
He could become a legend.
For fans of Kings of the Wyld, Orconomics, and TTRPG-inspired fantasy: meet the Bard of Seven Oaks and hear how he became unforgettable.
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