The Fire of the Fallen

Alternate history—1117 AD. The first Crusade has torn its way through Denmark, bringing fire and the sword to all who refuse to submit to the soldiers of Christendom. The lords of the west stand astride the ruins of Jutland and turn their eyes eastward across the cold sea to the homeland of the Aesir themselves. 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. Reeling from the loss of three kings and a kingdom, the Norse gather in the home of their gods to choose a new ruler and prepare to meet the coming storm. The great host of the crusade will march again, and the people of the North will meet them with steel and shields and the death cries of their heroes.