"...Spader has created a realm that feels just uncharted enough for surprises to be lurking behind every tree."- Kirkus Reviews782 AD War rages for the heart of Europe and the soul of a warrior.Christians bargain with the Devil to ensure their domination. Pagans invoke ancient powers to defend their freedom. Between them stands Gerwulf, bastard son of a Christian woman and the formidable leader of the heathen resistance. Gerwulf wears the Christian cross, but his blood boils with his father's savage wolf spirit. He is Wulfedinn.King Karl, the legendary Charlemagne, needs the Wulfedinn to conquer the fearsome pagan Saxons. Surviving near-fatal wounds inflicted by the heathens, Gerwulf has broken free from Vala, their mystical shield maiden, the Walkyrie. He returns to the king with crucial knowledge of the rebels' tactics.Gerwulf is poised to become a hero of the new Christian order-if he can conquer the raging beast within and the beguiling Vala, who haunts his soul.