Harvest of the dead

"Trust people, Gard. They sense it and reciprocate," his father used to say, but that truth crumbled along with the Fors family's prosperity. Now, Gard is forced to survive on the filthy streets, stealing from and swindling merchants. A cold, calculating mind helps him adapt, and the young man soon joins a forest gang known as the "Black Thorns." However, this brotherhood of thieves proves to be a nest of vipers where anyone would slit a comrade's throat for a single extra copper coin; meanwhile, the envy of an associate nicknamed "Bushy" turns every raid into a deadly gamble. Everything changes during a night raid on a merchant caravan: instead of easy pickings inside a locked wagon, Gard discovers a strange old man who wields terrifying magic and somehow knows his name.