The Rise of Haduwas: A Fruit of Life & Death Novel (The Fruit of Life and Death)

Left behind in a great migration, a prince is condemned by false omens and sent into the Underworld by priests who are shaping the kingdom's future through a second, favoured bloodline.

In a remote bronze age village at the edge of his father's kingdom, Haduwas has spent years cut off from court, orders and certainty of his father's rule.

The King has remarried into the house of priests, binding the future of the kingdom to their chosen line. For the priests, Haduwas is not a forgotten son but the one remaining obstacle to that future. When Haduwas returns to the city of his father, the priests offer him only one path forward:

Descend into the Underworld.
Return with a relic of divine favour.
Or disappear into obscurity.

But the Underworld does not test strength. It judges the soul.
And no man who enters the Underworld is meant to return.

Epic Historical Fantasy meets Mythological Retelling in Bronze Age-inspired political fantasy about a principled heir confronting succession politics, divine law, and a system designed to replace him.
Perfect for readers of Circe and mythic Bronze Age fantasy traditions with echoes of Elric of Melnibone.