On their way to laying their fallen leader, Dante Blackhart, to rest, the Blades - a highly atypical mercenary band - accept a job offer. It soon becomes clear, however, that their employer has a hidden agenda and is being far from honest with them. Before they know it, the Blades are embroiled in sorcerous shenanigans and the disappearance of a queen, which leads to them defending a besieged city against an invading army in the face of impossible odds. Fortunately, they have a trick or two up their collective sleeves, but at what cost, and will even that be enough?In The Blackhart Blades, David Gullen delivers a novella of swashbuckling adventure and duplicity, told with wry humour; a fantasy of found family, dangerous magic, good food, war, heroism, betrayal... and terrible poetry.