As King Svenson Two-Sword is about to embark upon his summer viking, Eric steals the king's most-prized heirloom and sails to England ... leaving behind a message of where he's going. Arriving at Castle Bristlen, Eric offers the king's golden heirloom as a gift, and they allow Eric inside. Seven hours later, the angry king sails up with his fleet, seven thousand Viking warriors, to recapture his property.

With old age sapping his fighting prowess, Eric seeks to impress the Valkyrie by earning the most-glorious death any Norse warrior has ever enjoyed. Unfortunately, his horrified Catholic companions refuse to sacrifice their lives so he can earn his death. Yet they can't stop Eric from dragging them into every deadly danger he can find or invent on his quest to enter Valhalla.

Fleeing across Northumbria with the treasure they stole from Castle Bristlen before it was sacked, and chased by the vengeful Viking army, Eric's companions must try to keep him (and themselves!) alive until the Saxons raise an army to slay the viking invaders and the war Eric purposefully-engineered begins!