The Crown of Good Intentions

Synopsis

In the world of Valdenmoor, a realm of ancient forests, crumbling kingdoms, and shadow-haunted mountains, the Obsidian Ring — forged by the Void-Lord Malachar in the depths of the Ashen Peaks — is the last key to his final awakening. When the unlikely courier tasked with carrying the Ring to its destruction is overwhelmed at the edge of the Deadmarsh, it is Calder Voss, celebrated champion of the Covenant of Light and beloved protector of the free peoples, who seizes it with the purest of motives: to wield it once against Malachar, destroy him utterly, and then surrender the Ring to oblivion. His companions — the wandering scholar Senna, the reclusive elf-archer Taervyn, the dwarf siege-master Brokk, and the young innkeeper's daughter Wren who carries the original mission in her heart — watch in helpless admiration as Calder marches on the Ashen Peaks and wins the most stunning military victory in living memory. Malachar is unmade. The dark armies dissolve like morning frost. Valdenmoor erupts in celebration. But the Ring is not surrendered. Weeks pass. Then months. Calder's justice becomes edict, his edicts become law, and his law becomes iron. Roads are built over sacred groves. Dissenters vanish into fortresses built for their own protection. Wars are waged on distant peoples for their liberation. Each decree arrives cloaked in benevolence and enforced by unstoppable power. Senna, Taervyn, Brokk, and Wren must confront the unbearable truth: that their greatest hero has become something no dark lord ever managed to be — beloved, legitimate, and absolute. The Ring did not corrupt Calder by making him evil. It corrupted him by making him certain he was good. The companions must find a way to destroy both the Ring and the man they love before his paradise swallows the last free breath in the world.