by Richard Swan
Part of Empire of the Wolf
First published 2025
Fifteen years before Vonvalt earned his reputation across the Empire, he was a younger man still learning what the law cost. When a fellow justice ends up imprisoned on a murder charge, Vonvalt and his partner Bressinger ride out to untangle what happened. The accused is one of their own, a man who carries the same imperial warrant they do, and that makes the case personal in ways a straightforward investigation never would be. Vonvalt digs into the circumstances of the imprisonment, and the deeper he goes, the clearer it becomes that the law is not a clean instrument. The people who wield it are fallible. The systems meant to deliver justice can be turned against the very men sworn to uphold it. Bressinger is at his side, practical and unsentimental, as the two of them push toward a truth that may not be comfortable for anyone involved. The Scour is a prequel to The Justice of Kings, set in the same world of imperial law and hard moral choices. It shows Vonvalt before the weight of later years settled on him, doing the same work, facing the same crooked angles, and already paying the price that work demands.
Genres: fiction, drama, mystery, crime, fantasy, legal-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, gritty, introspective, morally-complex, thought-provoking
Tropes: institutional-corruption, investigation, mentor-and-apprentice, partnership
Setting: The Empire
145 pages · Kindle Edition · Grimdark Magazine
Content warnings: murder, violence