Bernard Cornwell · 2005 · overland

Bernard Cornwell's 2005 novel, second of the Saxon Stories. Uhtred wins at Cynuit and is robbed of the credit, goes raiding in Cornwall out of boredom, and is on trial for it when Guthrum breaks the truce and takes Wessex in a single winter. Alfred ends up hiding in a marsh with a handful of men, and everything turns on one gamble at Ethandun.

1. 1
   Exanceaster

   Fresh from killing Ubba at Cynuit, Uhtred goes home to his wife instead of to the king - and by the time he reaches Alfred at Exanceaster, Odda the Younger has claimed the victory and the credit is gone.

2. 2
   Cornwalum

   Bored on his own farm, he takes one of Alfred's ships west to go raiding in Cornwall disguised as a Dane, betrays a British king, and comes away with silver and with Iseult - which will cost him everything at law.

3. 3
   Cippanhamm

   Summoned to answer for the raid, Uhtred is condemned to trial by combat at Cippanhamm - and the duel is interrupted by Guthrum's Danes attacking in the middle of a truce, which scatters the court and effectively ends Wessex.

4. 4
   Athelney

   Alfred is reduced to a fugitive on an island in the Somerset marshes with a few dozen followers, burning cakes and rebuilding an army out of nothing - and Uhtred, of all people, is one of the men who stays.

5. 5
   Ethandun

   The fyrd is summoned in secret and Alfred marches on Guthrum at Ethandun, and the whole future of England is decided by a shield wall on a Wiltshire hillside that the Saxons very nearly lose.