Corban Loosestrife's life changed one clear morning years ago, when he
returned from hunting to his family steading in Ireland and found it
destroyed by Vikings and his father, mother, and brothers, slain. But
his twin sister Mav was not among the dead, and so he knew that she had
been taken as a slave. Corban set out to find her and redeem her, if he
could, and in doing so became a man. Corban found his sister through
blood and battle, now the property of the sorcerous Lady of Hedeby and
pregnant with Eric Bloodaxe's child, gotten in rape. Corban took his
revenge; he killed Eric, then the King of Jorvik, and in doing so he
became bound in the net of alliances and blood debt that marked the
battles for kingship among the Vikings.
Upon the death of Eric
Bloodaxe, Corban Loosestrife and his wife Benna fled into the west with
Corban's sister Mav and her son. There they made a home for themselves
in Vinland, hunting, fishing, raising crops to support themselves and
their growing family. There they were happy, until one day when a ship
appeared on the horizon, bringing Benna's sister and her husband,
bringing a summons to Corban to return to Jorvik and intrigues of those
who would be King.
With Corban goes his son Conn and his
sister-son Raef, young men now, ready to prove themselves in war.
Waiting for them in Denmark is Gunnhild Kings-mother, a woman of great
power, who was Eric's wife. Her son Harald Ericsson is now King of
Norway, and he has become a Christian. In Jorvik, there is no King,
just an Archbishop who owes fealty to Harald. And in Hedeby there
awaits the unquiet spirit of the Lady, to whom Corban swore an oath.
It
is a clash of clan against clan, and army against army, in the coming
war of succession, while the new power of the Christ strives with the
ancient worship of Thor. Corban must tread a careful path between those
who hate him, and those would be his ally, while concealing Raef's true
parentage. And meanwhile, in Vinland, the native tribes are eyeing
Corban's fortified island, and wondering if the strangers can finally
be driven away.
