Tales of the Greatcoats

PREFACE There’s a scene in Tyrant’s Throne, the fourth and final book in the Greatcoats Quartet, when an enemy general tries to humiliate both Falcio and those foolish enough to follow him. This general argues – persuasively, I might add, that the true origins of the King’s Travelling Magistrates come not out of some mythical past, but instead emerge from Falcio’s shame over his failure to protect the woman he loved. It’s one of my favourite scenes because the very trauma the antagonist tries to use against Falcio is precisely what makes him so vital to the times in which he lives: he’s someone who took his pain, his loss and his guilt, and turned those into a force for justice the likes of which even he could never have envisioned. For all the sword fights and swashbuckling, the intrigues and grand political schemes, the Greatcoats Quartet is in many ways the story of one broken man trying to make sense of a world where his ideals seem to fail at every turn. It’s Falcio val Mond’s story, and everyone else is just living in it. That, dear reader, is why this first volume of Tales of the Greatcoats exists. There’s so much about the King’s Travelling Magistrates that excites and interests me, characters, places, and events I wanted to explore and that readers would ask me about, but to force those stories into the quartet would have violated the fundamental law governing that series: that this was Falcio’s story. Here then, are the stories those other Greatcoats. You’ll meet Estevar Valejan Duerisi Borros, the King’s Crucible. Part Hercule Poirot, part Mulder from the X-Files, upon whose broad shoulders (and, let’s be honest, somewhat ample figure) falls the task of investigating incidents of the supernatural in Tristia. Almost from the moment he hit the page, I became enamoured of his intellect, his compassion, and perhaps most of all, his proclivity for pomposity. I decided early on that at least once in each story he would announce his full name to everyone around him. You’ll also travel with Murielle de Vierre, the King’s Thorn, to the north of the country in search of answers and redemption. You’ll follow in the footsteps of an assassin on the hunt for the greatest swashbuckler ever known, and stand beside a common wheelwright as she faces an impossible duel in the Court of Blades with only the strength of her heart and the counsel of a mysterious stranger. Falcio himself makes an appearance or two, as does a certain taciturn swordsman who hasn’t stopped searching for justice in his own inimitable fashion. Please be aware that all the stories in this book save one take place after the events of the Greatcoats Quartet. If you’d like to enjoy those books first, begin with Traitor’s Blade, and from there pick up Knight’s Shadow, Saint’s Blood, and Tyrant’s Throne. As a final note, my gratitude to Peter Darbyshire, Kim Tough, and Lauren Campbell for their feedback and advice. I’m also indebted to Dr. Guy Windsor for making sure some of my bolder sword fighting tricks were actually possible. Sebastien de Castell Vancouver, Canada November 4th , 2021