With his ship crippled and his crew dead, Jarl Hawkins fights for survival in space as his dying spaceship, the Cassiopeia, drifts out of control. But there is nothing he can do, and his own death is certain.

Oddly enough, rescue comes in the form of an old wizard named Kvasir, who offers Jarl his chance at a new life on Vanir, a planet unlike anything Jarl has ever encountered. There, the King fights his rivals for control of his kingdom, wild nomads roam the northern Ghost Plains, wizards and witches use magic, and an all-powerful church viciously suppresses independent thought...

With his ship crippled and his crew dead, Jarl Hawkins fights for survival in space as his dying spaceship, the Cassiopeia, drifts out of control. But there is nothing he can do, and his own death is certain.

Oddly enough, rescue comes in the form of an old wizard named Kvasir, who offers Jarl his chance at a new life on Vanir, a planet unlike anything Jarl has ever encountered. There, the King fights his rivals for control of his kingdom, wild nomads roam the northern Ghost Plains, wizards and witches use magic, and an all-powerful church viciously suppresses independent thought...

The battle for Orrins Fort is a fairly easy endeavor. Not one shot is fired and only Navee Ordor bloodies a blade. Taking this fort gives the Scarecrow, Jarl Hawkins, and his small force a warm base from which to operate and fight against the Glasseys. Hawkins, an ex-geographer from the planet Earth and ex-partisan from the planet Jubal, is marooned on Vanir--a backward world with sorcerers, black-powder weapons, and nomad raiders.

In Book Three of the Vanir Trilogy, Hawkins continues to help his friend, Will James, the king, fight the invading Glassey armies. At the same time, he;...