The Titus Chronicles-Revenge

In Volume IV of The Titus Chronicles-Revenge, it is the Year of our Lord 885, and newly elevated Thegn Titus of Wiltun does not have much time to enjoy the moment as King Alfred orders him and the other men of Wiltun, led by Lord Eadward, to the sea again, this time to run down a fleet of sixteen Northmen longships raiding the coast of Kent and East Anglia. Achieving a resounding victory over these Northmen at the mouth of the Stour River, the men of Alfred’s fleet have less than a day to enjoy the fruits of this success. While in Frankia, Titus had learned that his Danish friend, Einarr Thorsten, was rumored to be defecting from King Guthrum. This is confirmed as fact in a horrible manner, when the very next day Einarr leads a fleet of ships and, taking advantage of an unexpected fogbank, ambushes the victorious Saxons and scatters them. During the ambush, Einarr commits an act so barbarous and dishonorable that Titus swears an oath to hunt Einarr down and kill him.

Across the Narrow Sea, Yanna is living in Paris with her sister, agonizing over her decision to remain in Frankia when, to her surprise and dismay, she learns she is pregnant. This event prompts Yanna to decide to sail to Wessex to be with Titus; before she can, on November 25th, a massive army led by Sigfred, the Norse nobleman who has offered a bounty on Titus’ head, appears outside the walls. For the next several months, Yanna and her fellow Parisians will endure one of the most brutal sieges of their time, testing their courage and grit.

Returning to Wiltun after their time at sea, Titus settles into the duties of a Saxon Thegn, but it is not destined to last long as, immediately after Yule, their King summons the fyrd again, this time to march on London, in response to the news that Guthrum has withdrawn from the city. After achieving a largely bloodless takeover, London is where Titus is destined to spend the next several months, desperate for any news of the siege of Paris, while waiting for Sigfred to try and take his revenge. When the moment he’s expecting comes, however, it’s not Sigfred, but a man he never expected, nor that this man would use the woman he loved as his weapon for revenge.