Waylander

Waylander is an assassin who takes a contract against his own instincts. The man who hired him is Kaem, called the killer of nations. Waylander completes the kill, and as he goes to collect his gold, he understands he has been betrayed.

Now the Dark Brotherhood and the hounds of chaos are on his trail. Meanwhile Kaem's armies attack the Drenai lands with orders to kill every man, woman and child. The Drenai soldiers face certain defeat, and chaos is close to ruling.

A strange old man offers Waylander one way to turn the war. The legendary Armor of Bronze lies hidden deep in a shadow-haunted land, and Waylander must retrieve it. He will be hunted the whole way, and failure is likely.

The old man gives the order in the name of his son, the king, who was slain by an assassin. That assassin is Waylander, the Slayer, a traitor and the least likely hero the Drenai could send. It is a heroic fantasy with a dark, hard-edged tone, and it turns on whether a hated killer can save the people who despise him.