1062, a time many fear is the End of Days. With the English King Edward heirless and ailing, across the grey seas in Normandy the brutal William the Bastard waits for the moment when he can drown England in a tide of blood. The ravens of war are gathering. But as the king's closest advisors scheme and squabble amongst themselves, hopes of resisting the ambition of the Norman duke come to rest with just one man: Hereward.

But in his country's hour of greatest need, his enemies at court have made him outlaw. To stay alive-and a free man-he must carve a bloody swathe from the frozen lands outside the court.

The tale of a man whose deeds will become the stuff of legend, this is also the story of two mismatched allies: Hereward the man of war, and Alric, a man of peace, a monk. One will risk everything to save the land he loves, the other to save his friend's soul . . .