Cheated of his glorious afterlife, Eric faces a terrible doom. If his companions can't save him then he'll be forever barred from Valhalla and rot in icy, hopeless Niflheim.

Outlawed and hunted, with prices upon their heads, Eric's companions must secretly flee from England, but a terrible curse delays them time and again. Allied with a snobbish Druid Seer, who alone can help them rescue Eric, they strike a terrible bargain: to seek "the crack in the world," a mystical doorway to the forbidden realms of the Norse Gods.

Escaping from the sadistic Eorl of Northumbria, the companions face mystical enemies determined to thwart their quest. With the help of Seren, a wise, aging prostitute, they reluctantly cross the once-bountiful lands their merry chase helped ruin ... where peaceful villages once thrived.

However, when they finally recover Eric's dragonship, they face an even worse threat: the cold, stormy North Sea, upon which they must sail to an unknown destination, and none of them are experienced sailors.