Uhtred trusts Æthelflaed to protect his children.Įager to use his newfound freedom and encouraged by Skade, Uhtred goes Viking. Furious, Uhtred reneges on his oath to Alfred and sails, with Skade, to his old friend Ragnar. Alfred holds Uhtred’s children as hostage to his terms, and places them in the custody of Æthelflaed, Alfred’s daughter and wife of Aelthelred, the ealdorman of Mercia. Retreating back to his house, Uhtred’s old mentor, Father Boecca, tells him that Alfred has ordered Uhtred to pay a huge fine and swear an oath to Alfred’s son Edward the Æthling. Uhtred flies into a rage and kills Godwin, though he says that he only meant to silence him. When Uhtred and Skade return to London, Alfred’s advisor, Brother Asser (whose dislike of Uhtred long predates this story) uses the mad brother Godwin to denounce Gisela’s name, ranting that Gisela was the devil’s whore, and has come back from the dead as Skade.
While celebrating the Saxon victory at Farnham, Uhtred is devastated by news that his beloved wife, Gisela, has died in childbirth, along with the child she bore. There, with few followers, he is able to use the island’s natural defences, and a palisade he builds to repel later attempts to defeat him. Harald is severely wounded, but escapes to Torneie Island (Thorney Island).
Uhtred and his men, however, defeat Harald’s forces at Farnham, and again take Skade prisoner. Skade intones an ominous curse against Uhtred as she and Harold make their escape. After he butchers one woman in front of her child, Uhtred releases Skade to him. However, Harald approaches Uhtred leading a line of Saxon captive women, and threatens to kill all of them if Skade is not returned to him. She and her party are captured while raiding a Mercian village. Skade is a formidable fighter in her own right, and leads one of Harald’s war parties. While travelling to meet Alfred, now free to lead an army against Harald, Uhtred captures Skade, Harald’s woman. However, Uhtred knows that the hostages are fake and that if Harald defeats Alfred, Haesten will attack London. Haesten and Alfred reach an accord, and Haesten leaves hostages and accepts missionaries.
Alfred cannot attack Haesten, because another Dane, Harald Bloodhair, has attacked at Cent. It is 893 and the Danes are massing again, planning yet another invasion of the Saxon lands in their never ending dream of conquering England for themselves.Īt Alfred’s behest, Uhtred delivers a message to Haesten that Wessex would pay a ransom for Haesten to leave. In the fifth installment of British author Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon stories, The Burning Land, Lord Uhtred of Bebbanburg continues his fight for Alfred of Wessex, bound by oath. “The Burning Land,” by Bernard Cornwell (378p)
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