We have a special treat on the Hive today!

To celebrate the publication of The Iron Road, the final instalment in David Wragg’s Tales of the Plains trilogy, we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with the people at the very heart of the adventure – Ree, Javani, and Captain Manatas!

Before I hand you over to the stars of the show, here’s the official blurb of The Iron Road:

Ree is at war. Determined to free the townships from the Guild’s larcenous rule, she can’t take her eyes off victory. Not now, with the scent of blood in the air. Not for her consort, not even for her kid.

Javani is ready for her own adventures. She’s no longer a child and determined to blaze her own trail, even if that means leaving Ree behind.

With rebellion stirring, the past Ree’s been running from and the future Javani’s striving for will collide. As tensions rise between mother and daughter, Guild and rebels – and with the fate of the Plains on the line – all that’s certain is an explosive finale on the Iron Road.

So, first things first, welcome to the Hive all!

Now the dust has settled, how are you all?

Manatas: While it has been something of a long road, with many perils and chasms both literal and metaphorical, I am pleased to report that in spite of traumas which might, at other times, have proved fatal or as close to as makes no odds, that we are wending our way in the manner collective as well as singular towards a place of recovery and, dare I say, strength.

Ree: Fine.

Javani: Yeah, fine.

And before we go too much further, Javani – how’s my favourite foul-mouthed archer doing?

J: Anri’s all right. I think. It’s hard to tell with him, cos he moans when he’s happy and is happy when he’s moaning. He still pongs, though.

For those of our readers who haven’t previously had the pleasure, can you tell us a little about yourselves?

R: I’d rather not. My business is my own.

M: What my good lady Ree means is that she has travelled many roads in her lived experience, some bright, others shrouded, and telling but a brief part of her story would do injustice to the whole.

R: That is not what I meant at all. I am a simple horse-farmer.

M: There is nothing simple about you, my dear.

R: I wish I could say the same in reply.

M: Hey, now!

J: She was a spy, all right? And probably a thief and an assassin and definitely a general of an insurgency.

R: I was a diplomat for a time, that’s all.

J: Everyone knows that means spy. Manatas is a failed ranger and failed mercenary–

M: Hey, now!

J: –who has done an admirable job serving in the rebellion as Ree’s second.

M: Well thank you.

J: …I suppose. And I’m just your common-or-garden greatest rider, archer, climber and rope-specialist in existence, basically the closest thing to a true horse-archer to ride the plains in decades. Edigu said that — you don’t know who that is, but he knows a thing or two, believe me — so you know it’s true.

M: The young lady is not far wrong, although she remains unburdened by modesty.

R: And any sense of prudence whatsoever.

Are things on the Serican Plains a little calmer now? Is everyone behaving themselves? Javani I hope you’re not too bored…?

R: Unfortunately my daughter is cursed with a terminal case of pants-ants and cannot sit still for longer than the duration of a gnat’s fart.

J: I bloody can. I simply choose not to.

Let’s take things back a little… Ree and Javani you obviously go way back, but Captain Manatas, your introduction to the group is not only more recent but also somewhat, um, unconventional? The least said the better I guess, but what were your first impressions of each other? 

M: What can I say? From that first sight across the ravine, I was mesmerised. And while we were, initially at least, at odds in our goals and motivations, I could not escape the sense that we shared a common understanding, and more than that, a bond. I could not keep away, try as I might – I was drawn, of course, to her beauty, but her mind is as sharp as a diamond, and she does not hold back.

R: I thought he was a garrulous tit.

You’ve been through some pretty epic adventures together! Are there any that stand out to you as your favourite?

R: One of the privileges of enjoying a series of near-death experiences is the freedom not to relive them afterwards.

J: Gods, you’re such a misery! Oh boo hoo, I once again escaped death by doing something cool, or being rescued by the Plains’ greatest horse archer, woe is me, I wish I’d died.

R: When you’ve lived as long as I have, kid–

J: I’ll be way less boring?

R: What am I saying? At this rate you won’t make it to half my age.

J: Yeah but I’ll have a fascinating obituary.

M: Without wishing to speak out of turn, I would, perhaps, propose the extraordinarily successful asymmetrical campaign that Ree launched against the Guild, across the span of what approaches three years, driving them to their knees, in spite of their reach and power?

R: Yes, I suppose that was all right.

In what ways do you think you may have grown from said adventures? What’s the biggest lesson you feel you’ve learned?

M: While I wish I could point to any one single act of learning, in truth the last few years have been a constant broadening of my horizons, about both myself and the world at large, without of course mentioning the extraordinary women in whose company I have found myself. We have, collectively, achieved the impossible, we have turned the world as we knew it on its head, and none of us could have done it alone. I have learned what it is to be part of something bigger than oneself, something important, and to put both the needs of the cause and those I cherish before my own. I have been humbled and blessed by this experience, and despite almost losing life and limb, I would not trade these memories for every gemstone that ever passed through a Guildhouse vault.

R: Nothing springs to mind, really.

J: Ma!

R: Fine, very well. I have, despite myself, learned a little bit about parenting, and perhaps a little bit about the need to balance the professional – important as it is – with the personal. Even when what you’re engaged in is utterly vital to the lives and wellbeing of thousands, if not tens of thousands… that’s no excuse to be a horrible cow to those you love.

M: I love you too, my lady Ree.

R: You’re all right, Captain Mantlebrass.

J: Er, ahem. I guess I’ve learned that… [quietly] sometimes Ree is right about things, [louder] but being right isn’t the same as being kind. I met someone, someone who thought they were doing right their whole life, but they weren’t, and they didn’t know… but they did know that they weren’t happy. And I think that’s what matters, right? You’ve got to be happy. And sometimes, I suppose, that means listening to your mother.

Right, just for fun, one of our favourite questions on the Hive is what fantastical creature would you ride into battle and why?

M: I am struck by the sheer variety of beasts of myth and mystery, which while no doubt of tremendous military potence, may in turn introduce no small matter of risk in their handling and deployment, especially in light of–

R: Dragon. Fire-breathing.

J: Definitely something with wings. Like a hippogriff, but a plains pony. Then I could be the world’s greatest horse archer in both land and air.

M: –perhaps arrayed behind battle lines for indirect fire–

R: He’ll have a dragon too. Just make it smaller than mine.

Lastly, where do you all see your lives heading? Have you got plenty more adventures to come?

J: Oh yeah, heaps. I’ve got that obituary to fill out, right?

R: Don’t joke about that, kid.

J: Fine, I’ll be careful. A bit. But yeah, I’m definitely looking out for new horizons.

R: I’ll be looking to stay out of the limelight from here on, I think. My adventuring days are done, and now I really would like to raise some horses. I might even rest my leg for a bit.

J: Yeah, right. You’re as incapable of stasis as I am.

R: …On the other hand, I’ll still need to keep one eye on this disaster-child, so who knows where we’ll end up?

J: Hey!

M: It is perhaps redundant to state, but nonetheless: wherever you go, my dear, I will be at your side, for so long as you wish me there.

R: Likewise, old fruit. New horizons, then?

J: New horizons.

The Iron Road is available now – you can order your copy on Bookshop.org

David Wragg is the author of the Articles of Faith series and the Tales of the Plains trilogy. He lives in Hertfordshire, UK, with his family and an increasing number of animals, and bumps his head on low doorways.

You can find him on various social media at bio.link/davewragg, or visit his website at www.davewragg.com.