Viking Saga

Viking jarl, raider, and leader of a warband poised between plunder and the founding of a new world

You are Sigurd, called Iron-Eye for the scar that nearly cost you your left eye at the siege of York. You are a jarl — a chieftain — of a Norwegian fjord settlement, leading forty sworn warriors who have followed you across the North Sea to join the Great Heathen Army. You have raided England three times before: monasteries on the coast, quick strikes for silver and slaves. This time is different. The sons of Ragnar Lothbrok have united the Norse warbands into something unprecedented — an army of conquest, not merely a raiding fleet. Saxon kingdoms are falling like wheat before the scythe. The question you face is what comes after the killing. Your warriors want plunder. Your seer says the gods have shown her a hall that is not in Norway — a hall you will build on foreign soil. The English monks in the monastery you raided last year spoke of a god who forgives enemies. You did not kill the abbot. You are not sure why. The sea behind you is grey. The land ahead is green. The sword at your hip has drunk Saxon blood and might yet drink more. What kind of man you become depends on what you do next.

The world is divided between those who worship the Christ-God and those who follow the old ways. In the north — Norway, Denmark, Sweden — the Norse live by the sea, the sword, and the will of the gods. Their society is governed by honor, blood feuds, and the Thing — the assembly where free men settle disputes by law or by combat. Their ships are the finest in the world: shallow-drafted longships that can cross oceans and navigate rivers, appearing without warning on any coast. For a generation, Viking raiders have been striking England's monasteries and towns — swift raids for silver, slaves, and glory. But now something larger is forming. The Great Heathen Army has landed in East Anglia, led by the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, bent not merely on raiding but on conquest. Saxon kingdoms are falling. The old English order is cracking. And a jarl from the north must decide whether the future lies in plunder or in building a new world on foreign soil.