J C Duncan

Ordulf faces the consequences of capture by a Norse warband. Taken to their capital in slavery, he now serves the enemies of the cross, making the very weapons they carry against his people. He faces a terrible choice: to accept his fate or be destroyed by it....

Three hundred years of cruel Viking raids have finally united Christian Europe against the pagan Northlands. A great crusade has been called to pacify the wild Norse kingdoms. The banner of the cross has been raised against the North, and all the power and fury of the West rides under it....

In their darkest hour, a hero will rise, and give the people of the North their last great weapon: Hope.

On the walls of Jönköping, the men of the north made their stand and held the Crusade at bay, paying the price in blood and the death of kinsmen. The Norse jarls, shaken and bloodied, must rally around their wounded and weakened king or choose an alternative path to cling to power.

Their kings are dead, their armies scattered and beaten. If they want to live free again, the ordinary people must rise and fight for their right to a future.