Following King Alfred's execution in 878, the entirety of Wessex and Mercia came under Danish rule. Twenty-five years on, however, some still fight to restore Saxon kingdoms. To head off such a threat, extraordinary siblings, Øfura 'The Blood' and her brother Ræf 'The Ghost' are sent in pursuit of Alfred's grandchildren. It is a dangerous, adventurous mission that takes them the breadth of a country reshaped by Pagan Danish control, though, in turn, with some Anglo-Saxon attitudes altering the settlers to form a distinct Nordic people in the British Isles.