The Warfarer's Exodus — Stephen Donald Huff

The Wilderlands exist in an alternate past or a possible future. Depending on perspective, it is a realm inhabited by mysterious wizards or learned disciples of a new religion evolved from the practice of ancient science. Magic or high technology rules the world. Epsilon Three is a Holy Warfarer of the Martial Rite, the most recent Hero of Alcorde, a weeks-long festival of violence and bloodletting engaged by many competitors but won by a single triumphant combatant. Every year, Empire produces a new hero with completion of the festival's final, most violent contest. The dubious honors of victory include both unimaginable reward and capital conviction, because Empire fears the Rite. Its maniacal rulers long ago established the brutal Ritual of Alcorde to purge its ranks. Thus, for all his martial acumen and fortune in gladiatorial combat, tradition condemns The Warfarer to permanent banishment beyond the Barricade Wall into the deadly expanse of the Wilderlands. None return.