900 A.D. A time of turmoil. A kingdom in dispute. An unlikely hero...

Athelfled, wife to the aging and sickly Lord of Mercia, is only too aware of the threat her brother, King Edward of Wessex, poses to her husband's kingdom. The preservation of Mercia is in her hands.

In an attempt to unite the kingdom behind her, she seizes on the prospect of rediscovering St. Oswald's bones, rumoured to be buried in the hostile north, around Lincoln. She sends her secretary, Wulfgar, northward to retrieve them and on this perilous journey Wulfgar will be forced to use reserves of courage he was unaware he possessed.