Surrender None — Elizabeth Moon

In the three books of The Deed of Paksenarrion Elizabeth Moon swept us away to an extraordinary fantasy world where we met a Sheepfarmer's Daughter and watched her become first a warrior among warriors, and then a paladin beyond compare. But Paks could never have become a fighter at all--say nothing of a paladin dedicated to the extirpation of evil -- had it not been for him who had come before: Gird, the bumptious peasant. Gird, the Armsman. Gird the Liberator, who taught his people that they could fight--and win against oppression. This is his story: SURRENDER NONE, the Legacy of Gird.