The Landwaster: a story of Harald Hardraada

A lonely convent on the Breton coast is devastated by Vikings bent on food, loot and rape. Among the souvenirs is a crippled teenage boy taken on a whim as a curiosity and nicknamed “The Scraeling’ in derision. For his very survival he learns to put his considerable intellectual and management skills at the disposal of the band and its fearsome leader, the "Landwaster’, so that he becomes indispensable. In fact he grows to become chief of staff to the Landwaster, also known to history as Harald Hardraada, commander of Constantinople’s Varanger Guard; king of Norway and arguably the foremost soldier of the 11th century. However, built on the ashes of his former life, the Scraeling’s lifetime and secret ambition is not only the destruction of Hardraada but a world freed of the Viking scourge, and he works tirelessly to bring this about until the three-way contest in 1066 for the English throne presents a once-in-a-lifetime chance …