The smoke did not rise so much as hang, a thick, greasy shroud over the ruins of Grantaceaster. Leofric, son of Aldwyn, knelt in the mud that had once been his father’s hall. A charred banner—a golden dragon on faded red—lay crumpled beneath a collapsed beam.
Here’s a short, atmospheric narrative inspired by the game’s setting—the Viking invasion of Anglo-Saxon England during the late 9th century. The Ashes of Wessex
“We cannot fight them head to head,” Leofric said, rising. “Not yet. But a war is not one battle. A war is harvests burned, loyalties turned, and kings who die alone in the dark.”
A young Saxon thegn, betrayed by his own lord, must unite rival shires and forge an uneasy alliance with a Danish warlord to prevent a bloodthirsty Viking host from extinguishing the last flame of Christian England.
Torf-Einar poured mead into a cracked horn. “Go on, little Saxon. Tempt me with treason.”
Leofric’s younger sister, Aelfwyn, tugged his sleeve. “Thegn,” she whispered, using his new, unwanted title. “The ships have not left. They are building a burh . On our holy ground.”
