Eslading's Exiles Book 1:
Forging a Resistance

Forging a Resistance picks up where The Vidoran Crisis, Broken Path, Unbroken Will leaves off. The few who escape the Raven takeover of Vidora and Eslading find themselves stateless, hunted, and without refuge. Drawing on hard-earned knowledge of history, geography, and politics, Hile works to keep the exiles alive while racing to warn the courts of the Seven Kingdoms of the danger advancing toward them.

As the Ravens press outward, Hile’s family becomes the spine of an emerging resistance, even as internal rivalries and deliberate betrayals threaten to fracture them from within. Every alliance carries a cost, and every compromise tightens the noose around those forced to make it.

Meanwhile, Elgyon, believing he has lost everything he loves, must balance justice against vengeance, and resistance against self-destruction, knowing that restraint may doom others while action may damn himself.

Can their efforts slow the Ravens’ advance? Can they survive exile while being systematically hunted? Eslading’s Exiles continues Hile’s tradition of upmarket speculative historical fiction, where unflinching moments of violence are used to reveal the full weight of choice and consequence, and where survival itself becomes a moral reckoning.

Ashira [AH-SHEE-RAH] is the wife of Hile and mother to their four sons, a central figure in both her household and the broader social life of Eslading. Known as much for her shrewd intellect as for her skilled parenting and compassionate involvement in community affairs, Ashira strikes a rare balance between warmth and strategy. A fixture in civic and social circles, she has a quiet talent for steering conversations—and people—toward outcomes that align with her priorities, even when it may not serve their own. Her influence is subtle but unmistakable, grounded in a deep devotion to her family and an instinctive grasp of power’s softer levers. In a world of overt authority, Ashira leads with grace, calculation, and purpose.

Aylman [AIL-MAN] is the eldest son of Hile, a driven and resourceful young man whose ambition often outpaces his scruples. At around twenty-four years old, he has already earned a reputation in Eslading for his skill, work ethic, and ability to navigate the blurred lines between enterprise and exploitation. Hardworking and clever, Aylman is also deeply pragmatic—comfortable bending rules and forging discreet alliances if it means gaining an edge. His dealings with local bandits and the Thieves Guild reflect a mindset shaped more by opportunity than by principle.

Yet, for all his moral flexibility, Aylman is not without conscience. He rarely sees his choices as harmful—until the harm becomes undeniable. And when it does, the quiet voice of guilt reminds him that some lines, once crossed, don’t vanish just because they were profitable.

Captain Belle, known to some as Maribel [MEHR-IH-BELL], leads one of the most effective and enigmatic paramilitary bands operating in the Vidoran wilds. Composed of outcasts, survivors, and hardened fighters, her group has earned a reputation for targeting robbers, slavers, and predators—often delivering justice where law and order fail to reach. Under Belle’s command, the gang functions with remarkable discipline and strategic clarity, a reflection of her personal transformation from survivor to tactician.

Belle’s past is marked by hardship and violence, much of it left unspoken. What’s clear is that her strength was not born from privilege, but from pain—and from the rare kindness of those who earned her trust along the way. Her loyalty is hard-won, her leadership unshakable, and her moral compass, though scarred, points fiercely toward protecting the vulnerable and punishing the wicked.

Whispers of her past follow her, and so do the echoes of old names and broken histories. But for those who ride under her banner, Captain Belle is not just a leader—she’s proof that strength can rise from ruin, and that justice doesn’t always wear a uniform.

Tavernkeeper of Neverharbor, Elaren [EE-LAHR-IN] is a quiet pillar of her community—graceful in movement, elven in appearance, and stronger than most realize. In her mid-thirties and long unmarried, some say she turned down every suitor because the tavern became her true companion: a place of warmth, laughter, and the fellowship she worked tirelessly to nurture. Inherited a decade ago from a distant uncle, the tavern grew under her care into a place where quarrels softened, strangers found welcome, and weary souls remembered what peace could feel like.

Elaren’s calm voice and steady judgment made her a natural reconciler, often called upon to cool rising tempers and mend fraying ties. She did not seek leadership, but in her corner of the world, she led by presence alone. Fiercely loyal to her friends, selfless when need called, and quietly devoted to the soul of Neverharbor, she was the heartbeat of the town—until the day everything burned.

From those ashes, Elaren would rise—scarred, grieving, and carrying more than memory. She would become the voice that warned the kingdoms: the Ravens are coming.

Belle’s past is marked by hardship and violence, much of it left unspoken. What’s clear is that her strength was not born from privilege, but from pain—and from the rare kindness of those who earned her trust along the way. Her loyalty is hard-won, her leadership unshakable, and her moral compass, though scarred, points fiercely toward protecting the vulnerable and punishing the wicked.

Whispers of her past follow her, and so do the echoes of old names and broken histories. But for those who ride under her banner, Captain Belle is not just a leader—she’s proof that strength can rise from ruin, and that justice doesn’t always wear a uniform.

Elgyon [ELG-YON] is the son of a hunter, raised in the wilderness and trained in the quiet skills of tracking, observation, and survival. Though he possesses all the instincts and precision of a master woodsman, he lacks the appetite for killing that often defines the hunter’s path. Instead, Elgyon channeled his talents into the shadows of society—rising through the ranks of the Information Guild, where silence, subtlety, and clarity of thought are prized above all else.

Now a high-ranking operative, Elgyon’s deep well of knowledge and personal connections make him an invaluable asset as Cendomvita’s political landscape begins to fracture. Sharp-eyed, disciplined, and guided by a quiet moral core, Elgyon is not the type to command a room—but he’s often the one who sees what others miss, and who moves when it matters most.

At fourteen, Phine [FA-IN] is Hile’s youngest son—and already far more than just a boy running errands. Energetic, curious, and relentlessly observant, Phine approaches every task with wide eyes and sharp questions, never content to follow orders without understanding their purpose. Though obedient by nature, he is no passive learner. He studies as hard as he works, developing a grasp of history, geography, and politics that often rivals the grown men around him. On the road, Phine’s knack for picking up regional dialects allows him to blend in effortlessly—sometimes even pass for a native. More than that, he has a rare talent for earning trust. Whether with hardened merchants or wary strangers, Phine has a way of drawing people close—and keeping them there. In a world darkened by suspicion, his gift for friendship shines bright.

Ramoz is in his mid-twenties and already a master of hand-to-hand combat. He served as the chief of personal security to Councilor Balna, a position he earned not through connections, but through the quiet certainty of results, until Chamaliak assassinated Balna on his watch, an act that ended Ramoz’s usefulness to others and began his loyalty to a cause.

He is a man of few words and fewer attachments, moving with the precision of someone who has long ago made peace with being used as a weapon, until necessity forced him to decide how that weapon would be wielded.

Ramoz’s discipline is absolute. His stoicism borders on the unnerving; no outburst, no hesitation, no wasted motion, no visible trace of fear or pride. Those who serve alongside him know better than to mistake his composure for loyalty. His allegiance was once professional and transactional, a bond measured in utility, not trust, but that calculus no longer governs him entirely.

He met Phine during the fall of Eslading. Cut off, hunted, and forced to rely on one another to survive, Ramoz learned to act not as an instrument of circumstance, but as its counterweight. Their shared trials forged a loyalty that tempered discipline with judgment, and sharpened duty with care.

To Balna, he was protection incarnate. To everyone else, he is a deliberate choice with a heartbeat. Balna’s assassination bound him permanently to Hile’s resistance, not through rhetoric or vengeance, but through resolve. When the balance of power shifts, and it always does, Ramoz will move as he always has: efficiently, decisively, and with intent fully his own.

Posted at the western edge of the coastal plains near Ostengate, Grimm serves as the fort’s Sergeant of the Guard and a living relic of the Old Guard. He is a man with deep knowledge of forgotten trails, hidden hamlets, and the buried history of Cendomvita. Long ago, Grimm joined the Vidoran army while searching for his kidnapped sister, Maribel, a pursuit that shaped both his career and his resolve. Over the years, he built a reputation as a capable and weathered soldier, practical in his ethics, occasionally amenable to a well-placed bribe, but equally known for offering help when it truly mattered. Many of his patrols, by chance or choice, passed near his family’s long-abandoned farmstead in the foothills. For most of his life, Grimm was married to the uniform. That changed when he crossed paths with Elgyon and Phine—two figures who stirred in him something long dormant: purpose beyond duty.