The Flame Bearer (the Saxon Stories, #10)

The 10th installment in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales series, set in early 10th-century Britain, follows the warrior Uhtred of Bebbanburg as he pursues his lifelong ambition to recapture his ancestral fortress on the Northumbrian coast. A Saxon lord raised by Danes, Uhtred has spent decades fighting for the Christian kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia while worshipping the old Norse gods.

Uhtred has brought roughly 200 warriors north to besiege Bebbanburg, stolen from him in childhood by his uncle and now held by his cousin. For a month, he has ravaged the surrounding lands to starve the garrison into surrender, but this plan collapses when four Norse warships arrive carrying mercenaries under Einar the White, who begin resupplying the fortress by sea and constructing a new outer palisade.

Before Uhtred can adapt, Father Eadig arrives with an urgent summons from King Sigtryggr, Uhtred's Norse son-in-law and King of Northumbria: West Saxon forces have occupied Hornecastre, a fort in southern Northumbria. Uhtred reluctantly abandons his siege and rides south. At Weallbyrig, a fort on the old Roman wall, he encounters Causantín mac Áeda (Constantin), King of Alba (Scotland), who has occupied the territory around Bebbanburg and claims the Roman wall as the border between Scotland and Saxon lands. Uhtred realizes that the scouts watching his forces for days were Constantin's, and that the Scottish king had planned to destroy his small army in the open. Outnumbered, Uhtred is forced south, vowing to reclaim his home.

At Lindcolne (Lincoln), where his daughter Stiorra commands the garrison, Uhtred learns that Ealdorman Æthelhelm, the most powerful noble in Wessex and King Edward's father-in-law, wants the Northumbrians to attack Hornecastre to justify a full-scale invasion. Æthelhelm's broader ambition is to secure the throne for his grandson Ælfweard, Edward's younger son, over the elder Prince Æthelstan. Despite Stiorra's warnings, Uhtred rides to Hornecastre, where he meets the courteous commander Brunulf and Father Herefrith, a belligerent priest who proposes a meeting in two days. Uhtred deduces the trap: Æthelhelm's agents, disguised as Northumbrians carrying Sigtryggr's red axe badge, will slaughter Brunulf's delegation to manufacture a cause for war. On the appointed morning, Uhtred ambushes the impostors from concealment, protecting Brunulf and capturing the ringleaders, including Brice, Æthelhelm's enforcer.

Uhtred rides to the assembly at Godmundcestre, where Edward, Æthelflaed of Mercia, Sigtryggr, and Æthelhelm have gathered. He spreads a false rumor that he killed Brunulf, then interrupts a sermon demanding war by producing the living Brunulf, who testifies that his attackers were Æthelhelm's own men. The resulting settlement extends the truce until All Saints' Day the following year. Uhtred takes Prince Æthelstan as his hostage. In private, Edward reveals that Æthelflaed is dying and urges Uhtred to protect Æthelstan, acknowledging that Æthelhelm is too powerful to oppose openly. Uhtred visits the ailing Æthelflaed, promises to guard her daughter Ælfwynn, and bids her farewell for the last time.

Riding north with Sigtryggr, Uhtred reveals his plan to retake Bebbanburg and secures a promise of men who will not need to fight directly. He launches an elaborate deception, instructing his young warrior Berg to buy three fighting ships in Eoferwic (York) while spreading false word that Uhtred is abandoning Britain for Frisia, a land across the North Sea. To reinforce the ruse, Uhtred moves all his followers to Grimesbi, a fishing port at the mouth of the Humbre (Humber).

A letter from Merewalh, commander of Æthelflaed's household warriors, reveals that Æthelhelm is assembling a fleet at the East Anglian port of Dumnoc (Dunwich) to resupply Bebbanburg. Uhtred travels there in disguise and discovers that Æthelhelm's daughter Ælswyth is intended as a bride for his cousin, part of a scheme to garrison the fortress with Æthelhelm's own army. Also present is Ieremias, self-proclaimed Bishop of Gyruum whose real name is Dagfinnr, a figure playing all sides. At dawn, ships serving Constantin raid the harbor and burn most of Æthelhelm's fleet. Uhtred escapes in the chaos, gaining crucial time while Æthelhelm regroups.

At Grimesbi, Uhtred disguises his three warships with Christian crosses on their prows and Æthelhelm's leaping stag painted on a sail, making them resemble the expected relief fleet. After a difficult voyage north, he assaults Ieremias's settlement at Gyruum, captures the bishop, and through an elaborate ruse extracts vital intelligence about Bebbanburg's defenses.

Four ships depart Gyruum in darkness: the three warships and Ieremias's captured Guds Moder, with Uhtred's man Swithun disguised as Ieremias at the bow. As they approach Bebbanburg the following afternoon, Æthelhelm's surviving ships appear on the southern horizon, closing fast. The plan depends on Uhtred's cousin seeing what he expects: Ieremias's recognizable ship leading a relief fleet. The four ships drive into the harbor channel and ground beside the rock-cut steps to the Sea Gate. Swithun capers on the beach while men carry empty barrels as though delivering supplies.

The gate opens. Uhtred's son and Berg enter first, then climb to the upper gate in the wooden palisade, where Kettil, one of Uhtred's warriors, kills a guard to secure the entrance. Uhtred leaves Gerbruht, a trusted warrior, to hold the Sea Gate with a dozen men, then leads the rest into the fortress.

The battle inside is chaotic and nearly disastrous. After seizing the great hall, Uhtred must rush to defend the Sea Gate when fleeing defenders threaten to unbar it. Gerbruht holds the archway in a desperate shield wall while Finan, Uhtred's chief lieutenant, attacks the fugitives from behind. Then Waldhere, commander of Uhtred's cousin's household troops, exploits a sallyport, a concealed postern gate in the western ramparts that Uhtred did not know existed, to infiltrate Æthelhelm and some 70 household warriors. Uhtred is trapped between two enemy forces.

Waldhere demands surrender. Uhtred refuses and challenges him to single combat, but then Æthelstan, who secretly accompanied the expedition hidden among the crew, steps forward. In a devastating duel, the prince parries Waldhere's thrust with an iron-stripped glove, smashes his sword pommel into Waldhere's eye, and kills him with a backhand cut to the neck. The death of Bebbanburg's champion demoralizes the defenders.

Uhtred leads a massed assault up the steep stone ramp, with spearmen hidden in the second rank thrusting at the defenders' exposed thighs. The shield wall breaks, and Æthelstan calls on the survivors to surrender. Uhtred turns to face his cousin's forces below, walking alone toward the enemy line. His cousin, terrified on horseback, cannot speak. The defenders collapse. Uhtred gives his cousin a sword; the cousin refuses to fight. Uhtred hacks him to death with Serpent-Breath, his sword, and orders the remains disposed of.

Æthelstan sounds a horn to end the killing. The Scots plunder Æthelhelm's ships but withdraw when Æthelstan declares Bebbanburg under King Edward's protection and Sigtryggr's army approaches. Æthelhelm survives, having surrendered in the church; Æthelstan forbids Uhtred from killing him, arguing a massive ransom will weaken the ealdorman more effectively than martyring him. Ælswyth is kept as a hostage. At the feast that night, Uhtred stands on the rock ledge outside the great hall, watches moonlight on the sea, and weeps, because after a lifetime of war and exile, he is home.