The Last Sword of Vellmarch

About this book

Absalom Ketter has given the walled river city of Vellmarch a hundred and forty-one clean deaths, and he has written every name in his family's book. He is the Sword: executioner, torturer, and the bonesetter people visit only after dark. Then the old Margrave flees, a reforming Council abolishes torture and the hereditary office, and orders a new machine called the Measure to give every condemned person the same quick death. Absalom must test it, run it, and teach four strangers to replace him. His children are suddenly free to choose new lives, and every choice they make cuts him. As bread prices climb and the lists grow, the Measure works faster and better than any man. What does a teacher owe the people he trained when the world no longer wants what he knows?