The Land Remembered Its Death

Render was Luko's strongest general. He married the King's daughter, Lina, and buried his past. When Lina dies, his four eldest sons abandon the palace. Only the youngest stays - Mpukane, the weakest, the one they call the Night Crawler. To prevent civil war, Render divides the Forbidden Lands like cards: Diamond - the finest warrior - gets the Center. Heart gets the East. Leo and Leon, the inseparable Spade Twins who share one wife, get the Northeast. Sinn, last of the Sinners, gets the West. Mpukane - the son who buried his mother - gets the palace itself. The price for their land? They must help Render cross the Liyeza Forest and find his father in the Dark Lands. But the Dark Lands are ruled by his uncle, *Commander Charles* - a man who hasn't aged in 20 years. He commands the Pegs, beast-soldiers whose claws shred armor, and he owns a Medura Box that can bring the dead back. Render owns the second one. When Render and Sinn are captured, it falls to Mpukane to raise an army. He earns his mask in mud and blood, shouting "For the K9! K9 FOREVER!" - for the King of Seas, General of Waters, the old god they all pray to. He has a notebook stolen from a prisoner named Pen. First page: how to kill Pegs. Last page: "Father, use Shotguns, not Spears." Brother turns on brother. Yellow villages burn. Beheaded princes line the road. The Medura Boxes demand sacrifice. By the time Commander brings his Peg army to the Card Palace walls, Render has lost more than a kingdom. He has five sons. The enemy is taking their heads, one by one. And the Liyeza Forest - the only way back - is about to be set on fire.