The Breach of Nivenrile

Conraid Littletree wanders the woodlands of Nivenrile as a lonely wordrunner, finding it easier to run than go home and face sorrow. That is, until he stumbles upon a startling sight that shakes his sense of safety. The steadfast Bulwark, a wall standing 500 years strong and 150 feet tall, has guarded the peaceful land from woes. But now uncouth threats are creeping into Nivenrile, from spying eyes and a stalking huntress to smoke that lingers in the wind where it ought not to. Conraid’s discovery sets him on a stealthy pathmaking task, given by the king himself, to seek out the root of the woes: whispers of a breach in the Bulwark. With ragtag fellows—a froggish nore, a homesick atheling, a stoneworking umberknight, and a defensive shieldthane—Conraid soon finds the mission is more than mending a broken wall. Over sheer heights and through dark underways, they unearth threats to Nivenrile more invasive and insidious than they imagined. Drawn into a fight for the land he loves, Conraid’s limits are tested, from otherworldly foes to reckoning with the sorrow he keeps outrunning. Among his unlikely fellows, he must unearth the strength to withstand what is coming, find the worth in gifts he has long thought small, and seek a path he need not tread alone.