An Exile’s Tread on Forbidden Soil

JP Tate’s reinvention of the Epic Fantasy saga as a political allegory. Can you understand the allegorical meanings within the text? This is serious adult fantasy with something to say.

Set in a world of ethnic allegiance and incessant conflict, this is a tale of a dark age where the strong oppress the weak in the struggle for life and dignity. Amid the dangers of battle, sorcery, and slavery only the undaunted will endure and thrive. It is a world without pity where each man and woman must stand or fall by their own abilities, armed with no other weapons than the iron blade, the stratagems of guile, or the scented whisperings of necromancy.

Ealdræd, a spearman of the Pæga clan of Aenglia, is a tough veteran adventurer exiled from his homeland. Although more than forty years of age, he survives when others of his generation have long since perished. Seeking a mercenary’s pay in the resurgent clash of arms along the Wehnbrian Marches, he rides south. As he travels through his world he is confronted by many different cultures. On his journey he will meet a number of fascinating characters, including a notorious female spy from the Duchy of Bhel, her sexually submissive lady-in-waiting, and a magnificently volatile girl from the distant Menghis Steppes whose fate is closely entwined with his own.

The ‘Warriors of the Iron Blade’ saga tells of a bloody epoch of worldly appetites and spiritual obscenities. It is an era when a mercenary soldier skilled in the arts of war was respected for his martial virtues, and the wanton indulgence of lusty passions brought with it no mewling guilt or shame. To each age its own beliefs and values. This is an age of violence, hunger, degradation, and courage.

Chapters: 1. Written in Salt. 2. The Aberstowe Brethren. 3. Witchery in Wehnbria. 4. Mercenary Justice. 5. Daughter of the Steppes. 6. A Tower in Piccoli. 7. The Matriarchs of Gathkar. 8. A Scattering Upon the Sea. 9. The Canbrai Accursed. 10. An Exile’s Tread on Forbidden Soil.