The Forfeit - a teaser from Majesty of Defeat

Last month I started, and mostly finished, a medieval-ish novella (my first story set before roughly present days).

A wandering young fighter happened upon what seemed like a casual ad-hoc battle game of some sort. Hoping to make his name, or at least his living, in the world outside his hometown, he took a challenge here. And he did better than he expected.

But Davian of West Fork has defeated someone more significant than a random city dweller looking to make a few coins on the betting going on around the arena.

His life is about to change in a major way.

Here's the start of the story.

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I stood in the middle of a public arena. It was probably about four in the afternoon.

Plain men sat at rough-hewn benches around the outer bounds of the arena. Some had mugs of certain beer, plates of finger food, others sitting undistracted by food or drink.

This was the sort of place the working men would bring whatever money their wives hadn’t claimed for the household, spending half on grog and bites, the other half going into the apron of a bookie walking around, taking bets on the fights. We’d had one of these in my hometown, and they were always raucous even during the battle.

The arena today, though, was almost silent. I heard the birds, and the breeze through trees outside the walls of this place, but barely a breath.

I was tired, sore, nicked up a bit, with a bit of blood on me. Some of it was even mine.

But some had formerly been inside the young woman laying on the ground in front of me.

She was a beautiful woman, despite looking mean and, of course, beaten in fair battle. A slim leather helmet of sorts betrayed a wisp or two of blonde hair. Her armor was of modest size, but must have cost her parents a fortune. It looked perfectly fitted to her body, especially in the areas that most male fighters didn’t need to accommodate. Her boots were tiny, probably a size D compared to mine being nearly H. Her face, aside from the distraction of exhaustion and fear, looked perfectly proportioned beneath the dirt and grime.

And I was happy, almost ecstatic, to see the breastplate of her armor raising and dropping again. Not because I was enjoying the view of her endowment… well, not entirely. But with the last hit, she fell over like a tackle dummy, and I worried I’d done her in.

She looked up at me, slowly opening her eyes.

“You know what you must do now.”

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Majesty of Defeat by Marklin Foster, coming to Amazon in January 2025. I may put the whole first chapter up later in the month. And the cover is subject to change.

Let me know what you think.