The Effigy Engine — Scott Lynch

Meet the Honorable Company of Red Hats. Misfits, eccentrics, pranksters, nonconformists... and professional killers without peer. Mercenaries for hire in a war-torn world, the Red Hats always seem to end up fighting for sides that are more righteous than strong, for clients who are more desperate than wealthy, in circumstances that are more exciting than survivable.

In this, the first excerpt from the chronicles of the Red Hats, as told by their self-appointed historian, the sorcerer called Watchdog, the company faces an armed and armored war machine that threatens to crush a free republic beneath its steel tread.

Originally anthologized in 2013, "The Effigy Engine" is a black powder fantasy of magic, musketry, and mercenary banter from internationally best-selling fantasist Scott Lynch, creator of Locke Lamora and the Gentleman Bastard Sequence. "The Effigy Engine" appears here for the first time in a standalone digital edition, with a new introduction from the author.