Alfred the Great has been dead for a decade. His legacy: an uneasy alliance between the neighbouring kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia.

Wulfgar, a young priest in training, more at home with his books than with a sword, has been tasked with an impossible mission. He must travel secretly to the badlands of the North and find the bones of a long lost saint.

But the Northern territories are under the rule of Viking invaders. And if Wulfgar is discovered, they will have his head...