<DIV>In the dead of night, a band of Vikings ravage a lonely convent on the Brittany coast—and their fearsome leader makes a decision that will eventually lead to his downfall. Ranulf de Lannion is fifteen years old. Crippled, deformed, and abandoned by his family to the charity of the convent, he is seized by the Vikings during a midnight raid. Contemptuously nicknamed “the Scraeling" by his captors, his future appears grim. Harald Sigurdsson, or “Hardrada” as he will come to be known, is the leader of the Viking band. A violent mercenary with designs on the throne of Norway, Hardrada abducts the Scraeling on a whim. Having sworn secret revenge upon Hardrada for the murders at the convent, Ranulf vows to end the day of the Viking forever. When the king of Norway launches an attack against the Anglo-Saxon throne of England in 1066, what role will the Scraeling play in bringing the age of the Viking to an end?</div>