Sword for Hire

by Griff Hosker Book 1 in the Border Knight series.

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After his father is killed at Arsuf while protecting Richard the Lionheart, Thomas is knighted but loses hope of inheriting the family manor when Prince John consolidates power during the king’s absence. With only a small following, Sir Thomas leaves England and travels to Sweden in search of service.

There he joins Jarl Birger Brosa in campaigns involving Estonians, Karelians and Slavic forces. Baltic winter warfare hardens Thomas and his men while exposing them to a political world in which bishops, kings and princes pursue competing claims to land and authority. His new career as a hired knight offers military opportunity but also teaches him that service to powerful patrons can demand compromises as dangerous as battle itself.