It is the year 871. Of seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, five have fallen to the invading Vikings. No trait is more valued than loyalty, and no possession more precious than one's steel. Across this war-torn landscape travels fifteen year old Ceridwen, now thrust into the lives of the conquerors.

Epic...immensely satisfying...an impressive achievement - Historical Novel Society

Lost in the frozen woods, Ceridwen is discovered by the warriors accompanying young AElfwyn, daughter of a Saxon lord, sold against her will in marriage as part of a peace treaty with a marauding...

An uncontrolled passion. A heart-breaking decision. A battle that seals the Fate of all.

Ninth-century Saxon England crumbles under the onslaught of a relentless foe - the Danish Vikings. Ceridwen, a young woman with divided loyalties, watches as the peace and plenty she enjoys at the Saxon stronghold of Kilton gives way to wary watchfulness. Her dearest friend, AElfwyn, sold in marriage to a Dane in a desperate bid for peace, travels to Kilton and recounts the events that befell the fortress of Four Stones in captured Lindisse. But Ceridwen is also confronted by Sidroc,...

How long can you fight Fate? How far must you go to claim what is yours?

Sidroc the Dane has been in Angle-land for twelve years. The first nine were all hard fighting. He has won treasure beyond counting, and now peace for his men. But there is one thing he still desires: Ceridwen as his wife.

Now Fate conspires to tear Ceridwen and Sidroc away from Angle-land. Thrust together amidst great danger and hardship they fight to survive -- and fight each other. Each day takes them farther from the loyalties and laws of the lands they have called home, and deeper into new...

It is said that every man is haunted by one mistake...

The year is 881. Ten years have passed since fifteen year old Ceridwen set out from her Priory home to make her own life. She has known love and loss, triumph and heartbreak. Yet the Circle which has moved about her is largely intact, although the counterpoint has changed, bringing with it the hope of renewed love. Ceridwen and Sidroc build their new lives together on the Baltic island of Gotland, where they are free and unknown. The bond between them, always strong even when years and wars separated them, deepens...

The Lady of the Forest, Freyja, the Goddess of all woodland beasts, appears here on Midgard as a white hind. So great is her love for her deer that she herself comes in their guise. None has ever seen her; but if she permitted man but a glance, that is what they would see..

Tindr is handsome, kind, and the best hunter on 9th century Gotland. He possesses a deep empathy with animals, which powers his reverence towards the game he takes to survive. But he is also deaf, which closes him off from the society that surrounds him - and seemingly, from finding love.

Devoted...

A Peace which must be defended. A vow which must be broken.

It is the final decade of the ninth century. The Peace between Wessex and the Danes long-settled in the Danelaw erodes. A new onslaught of Danes attacks Angle-land, trying once and for all to destroy Ælfred.

Ceric of Kilton, now a young man, travels across Kingdoms to visit his friend, Hrald of Four Stones - and to see Ashild, who he desires for his wife. But renewed hostilities threaten Ceric's hopes for deeper ties between strongholds.

And hundreds of leagues away on...