Maxwell Tart has returned to the land after 10 years at war. But the land is not the same as it was. Towns are bigger, people are different and the belief in the new god pushes out the old ways. Magic is now frowned upon. When he left he was just a boy. He is returning not only as a man but as the most reputable swordsman in the land. He even has a reputation and a nickname - The Forever Soldier. He remained in the fray for the entire war where others cycled home after a few years. Why did he stay? And what was he most afraid of upon returning to his hometown? He needed to find his mother, missing for the last two years, and what of the Red Lady, the Witch of the Black Oak? She was the only image in his head that he could never shake. She was the only woman he had ever wanted to be with, but he had not seen her since he was a boy of sixteen, heading off to war... Maxwell Tart was a soldier now, adept at killing. But some things never change...