Norway, AD 785 - a vow of vengeance must be kept . . . Sigurd Haraldarson has proved himself a great warrior . . . and a dangerous enemy. He has gone a long way towards avenging the murder of his family. And yet the oath-breaker King Gorm, who betrayed Sigurd's father, still lives. And so long as he draws breath, the scales remain unbalanced. The sacred vow to avenge his family burns in Sigurd's veins, but he must be patient and bide his time. He knows that he and his band of warriors are not yet strong enough to confront the treacherous king. They need silver, they need more spear-brothers to rally to the young Viking's banner - but more than these, they need to win fame upon the battlefield. And so the fellowship venture west, to Sweden, to fight as mercenaries. And it is there - in the face of betrayal and bloodshed, on a journey that will take him all too close to the halls of Valhalla - that Sigurd's destiny will be forged. There, in the inferno of winter's fire . . .

Author Biography

Family history (he is half Norwegian) and a passion for the fiction of Bernard Cornwell inspired GILES KRISTIAN to write. Set in the Viking world, his bestselling 'Raven' and 'The Rise of Sigurd' trilogies have been acclaimed by his peers, reviewers and readers alike. The novels The Bleeding Land and Brothers' Fury tell the story of a family torn apart by the English Civil War, and he co-wrote Wilbur Smith's No.1 bestseller, Golden Lion. In his new novel, Lancelot, Giles plunges into the rich and swirling waters of our greatest island 'history'- the Arthurian legend. Giles Kristian lives in Leicestershire.