The Swordmaster (The Atenla Chronicles)

Drug-fueled sorcery and swashbuckling swordplay combine in this epic fantasy tale of mystery and intrigue.

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The first time Turgeon sees the King's Swordmaster, the man kills his brother.

After cutting down the man who raised Turgeon, the Swordmaster drags the newly orphaned boy back to the castle to serve as his apprentice. Baffled as to why his brother, whom he believed to be a simple farmer, would draw a blade on the deadliest swordsman in the Kingdom of Falkaria, Turgeon resolves to hate his killer. Apprenticed to a man he hates in a court he doesn't understand, Turgeon trains in an ancient martial arts discipline the royal families have guarded for centuries, and begins to pull on a thread someone wants left alone.

Turgeon finds himself caught up in a mysterious assassin’s use of foul necromancy in the castle, but in a kingdom where magic is outlawed due to the corrupting effects of the drugs that fuel it, the arcane knowledge Turgeon needs to find and fight his hidden enemies is hard to come by. Neighboring nations are threatening a continent-wide war that would destroy Turgeon’s new home, and if Turgeon can’t stop the necromantic assassin in time, the kingdom will be plunged into chaos while it stands on the brink of war.

The world of Atenla features:
 - A magic system fueled by drug use
 - Realistic European martial arts progression system
 - An expansive fantasy world with a rich backstory and an ancient evil
 - Strong main character and multiple supplemental POVs, including a magic-using assassin
 - Court intrigue, combat and war, organized crime and a magic school