The Captive Flame

Aoth Fezim, a battle-scarred war-mage exiled from Thay, leads the mercenary company called the Brotherhood of the Griffon into a conflict he can't simply fight his way out of, as old loyalties to the homeland that cast him out resurface. Richard Lee Byers opens a series built around sellswords caught between empires rather than heroes fighting for a clean cause. The Captive Flame sets up a war that will occupy several more novels of griffon-riding mercenaries and Thayan intrigue.