I am Murgen, Standardbearer of the Black Company, though I bear the shame of having lost that standard in battle. I am keeping these Annals because Croaker is dead, One-Eye won't, and hardly anyone else can read or write. I will be your guide for however long it takes the Shadowlanders to force our present predicament to its inevitable end. . .

The Return of the Black Company comprises the novels Bleak Seasons and She is the Darkness--the third omnibus volume of Glen Cook's fantasy epic Chronicles of the Black Company.