Altdorf. The Forest Knights, #1

William Tell did not exist...but the men and women who inspired the legend did. End of the 13th century: Five hundred orphans and second sons are rounded up from villages in the Alpine countryside and sold to the Hospitaller Knights of St John. Trained to serve as Soldiers of Christ, they fight in eastern lands they know nothing about, for a cause they do not understand. Thomas Schwyzer, released from his vows, returns to the land of his birth a stranger.
Once a leader of men, and captain of the Order's most famous war galley, he now settles into the simple life of a ferryman. Seraina, considered a witch by most, a healer by some, is a young woman with a purpose. A Priestess of the Old Religion, and the last druid disciple of the Helvetii Celts, she has been gifted by the Great Weave to see what others cannot. Her people need her guidance and protection now more than ever.
For Duke Leopold of Habsburg builds a great Austrian fortress in Altdorf. Once finished, the Habsburg occupation will be complete, but the atrocities visited upon her people will have just begun. Set against a backdrop of the majestic mountains, wild forests, and clear, glacier-fed lakes of medieval Switzerland, ALTDORF is the first book in The Forest Knights series."With over 1, 000 5-Star ratings on Goodreads, Swift's Forest Knights series is destined to be a classic."