by Impromptus
On the frontier of a kingdom at war, João dreams of a life greater than the one fate gave him. He is thirteen years old, his hands calloused from work, with little else to inherit besides a stubborn patch of land and his father's old mace — a man he has known only through his mother's stories. João wants to follow in his footsteps. He wants to leave little Ervedosa behind, enlist in the border companies, and find out just how far his own strength can carry him. For a boy with no name, no fortune, and no noble blood, war seems to be one of the few roads that could lead him beyond the life he was born to have. But João may not need to go looking for it. Beyond the hills, villages are starting to burn. Refugees crowd the roads. Food is growing scarce. Old powers weaken as others begin to rise, and the border that for so long seemed distant draws nearer with each passing day. João is not yet a soldier. Not a knight. Not lord to any man. He is only a boy building a stone wall to protect his mother. But war is coming to Ervedosa. And when it finally knocks on his door, João will have to discover what kind of man he means to become.
