Reluctant Swordsman — Dave Duncan

PAWN OF THE GODDESS

The last thing Wallie Smith remembered was a fog of hospitals, grim-faced doctors, and pain. So when he woke in the body of a barbarian swordsman, attended by a beautiful slave girl and a wizened old priest nattering about the Goddess, he assumed it was a fever-dream.

But the World could not be dismissed so lightly. A naked little demigod called Shorty explained that the Goddess needed a swordsman. If Wallie undertook the job and succeeded, all that the World had to offer would be his. If he refused, the results would be ... unpleasant.

Wallie was not convinced, but Shorty was exquisitely persuasive. Soon Wallie found himself bearing a magnificent sword, with no idea how to use it--and the servants of the Goddess were out to stop him.