Year 417 - Autumn

When the leaves burn gold, Fairborne prepares for war. The long summer has ended, and the fires on the horizon are no longer distant. At Fairborne Estate, harvest brings not celebration, but the first quiet tremors of war. When news of the prince's death spreads through the valley, duty and faith begin to fracture. Lords weigh loyalty against survival. Servants whisper of omens in the smoke. And between them all, life at Fairborne goes on — candles lit, bread baked, swords forged — as the world around them prepares to burn. In Year 417 – Autumn, the third volume of the Fairborne Chronicles, Eli Taff Jr. returns to his world of quiet heroism and creeping dread with ten tales told in exactly 500 words each. Every story is a glimpse into lives suspended between peace and ruin — from a tutor's lesson beneath the glasshouse to the blackening of the river that feeds the mines. Here, epic fantasy finds its truth not in battlefields, but in the small mercies and unspoken fears of those waiting for history to arrive at their door. Told with precision, beauty, and restraint, Year 417 – Autumn captures the fragile grace of a world at the turning of the year — when faith falters, courage deepens, and the first winds of winter begin to howl.