The Black Company

The Black Company is a mercenary unit with a long record, and it is the last of the Free Companies of Khatovar. Its latest contract puts it in the pay of the Lady, a sorceress who rules a northern empire she has brought back from the dead.

Croaker, the Company's physician and annalist, writes down everything that follows. His account is the soldier's view of events: the camp, the march and the orders, with little sight of the people who give them.

The Lady's Taken are former enemies now bound to serve her, and they scheme against one another. Far to the south, a rebellion is gathering under wizards and around a prophesied White Rose.

The soldiers are neither heroes nor villains. They want to stay alive and to keep faith with their brothers in arms, even though the cause they serve may be monstrous. The tone is gritty and grounded in the ranks.

First published in 1984, this opens the Books of the North and is a founding work of soldier's-eye military fantasy. The question it turns on is how long loyalty to the Company can last when the employer may be the enemy worth fighting.