The Burning Land recap

Two Danish armies fall on Wessex: the treacherous jarl Haesten lands in Kent talking peace, while the savage Harald Bloodhair burns his way inland. Uhtred captures Skade, Harald's sorceress lover, and crushes Harald's army in battle at Fearnhamme - but Gisela, his wife, dies in childbirth, and when a cleric insults her memory Uhtred kills the man in Alfred's own court. Refusing the humiliating penance and a new oath to young Edward, he flees north with Skade to his foster brother Ragnar at Dunholm, renouncing Wessex and plotting to invade it at the head of a Danish army. Aethelflaed, who holds an old oath of his, calls him back: he abandons the invasion, becomes her sworn man, and leads Mercia's forces against the Danes. Skade, who left him with a curse and returned to Harald, is killed by Harald himself. The campaign climaxes with the storming and burning of the Danish stronghold at Beamfleot, breaking Haesten's power, though Haesten escapes. Uhtred ends the book as Aethelflaed's warrior and lover, bound to Mercia while Alfred fades toward death.

Previously: Uhtred of Bebbanburg - Saxon-born, raised by the Dane Ragnar the Fearless, robbed of his fortress by his uncle - rose to be King Alfred's greatest warrior: he killed Ubba at Cynuit, helped save Wessex at Ethandun (losing his friend Leofric and his lover Iseult), and in the north avenged his foster father, taking Dunholm with his foster brother Ragnar, who killed the murderer Kjartan; Uhtred killed the warlord Ivarr and married Gisela, sister of King Guthred. He survived two years chained at a slaver's oar - gaining his inseparable Irish companion Finan - after Guthred betrayed him. In Sword Song, Alfred's daughter Aethelflaed was married to Uhtred's vain cousin Aethelred of Mercia; Uhtred stormed Lundene and became its governor. Aethelflaed was captured and held at Beamfleot, where she and the Norse lord Erik Thurgilson fell in love; the treacherous jarl Haesten wrecked their planned escape, Erik died at his brother Sigefrid's hand, Uhtred's men destroyed the brothers, and Haesten slipped away. Aethelflaed returned to her loveless marriage carrying a hidden grief and a lasting bond with Uhtred, who serves Alfred's dream of England without sharing it - Bebbanburg still stolen, his oath still binding.

Through the end of Part One (The Warlord): the long-feared storm breaks on Wessex from two directions. Haesten, the smiling and faithless jarl, lands an army in Kent professing peaceful intentions no one believes, while the savage earl Harald Bloodhair brings a second, larger fleet and begins burning his way across the land - the two Danish forces less allies than rivals for the same prize. Early in the campaign Uhtred captures Skade, the beautiful and cruel sorceress who is Harald's woman, and her curses and ambition make her as dangerous a captive as she was an enemy; holding her draws Harald's fury after Uhtred personally. Uhtred, commanding with Finan and his household troops, shapes the defence of Wessex and lures Harald's army into a trap, meeting it in battle at Fearnhamme, where the Danish host is shattered and Harald himself is terribly wounded, his broken remnant driven to bay on an island in the river. The warlord who was to conquer Wessex is crippled and contained - but Haesten's untouched army still watches from the east, waiting to profit from other men's ruin.

Through the end of Part Two (Viking): victory costs Uhtred everything at home. Gisela, his wife of ten years, dies in childbirth, and grief hollows him. When a cleric publicly insults her memory, Uhtred kills the man - a mortal offence in Alfred's Christian court - and the price named is abject penance and a new oath binding him to Alfred's young son Edward. Uhtred refuses. With Skade now his lover and his crews at his back he sails north, renouncing Wessex and its priests, and finds welcome at Dunholm with his foster brother Ragnar and Brida. Through the northern winter he lives as a Dane again and joins in planning the great dream of the northern lords: a Danish invasion to destroy Wessex itself, with Uhtred's knowledge of its defences as the key to the plan. But the old bond holds him yet - word comes from the south that Aethelflaed, Alfred's daughter, unhappy wife of Mercia's lord and the holder of an oath Uhtred cannot shed, needs him. Torn between the Danish life he loves and the woman who trusts him, Uhtred chooses: he abandons the invasion and turns south, a betrayal of Ragnar's hopes that he makes with open eyes.

Through the end of Part Three (Battle's Edge) - the book's close: Uhtred becomes Aethelflaed's sworn man, giving his oath to her rather than to Wessex or its heir, and leads Mercia's forces against the Danes ravaging the land. Skade, who abandoned Uhtred with a curse and made her way back to Harald Bloodhair, meets her end at Harald's own hands, and the crippled warlord's menace is finally extinguished. The campaign's great stroke falls at Beamfleot, the creek-side fortress where Uhtred once lost Erik and Sigefrid: he storms the Danish camp, and the stronghold is taken and burned, its garrison slaughtered or scattered and its ships taken or destroyed. Haesten's power is broken - though Haesten himself, elsewhere as ever when the blow lands, escapes to scheme another day. The book ends with Uhtred as Mercia's shield rather than Wessex's: Gisela dead, his rift with Alfred's court unhealed, his oath resting with Aethelflaed, who is now his lover as well as his lady. Alfred is failing fast, Edward's succession draws near, and the pagan warlord on whom the Christian kingdoms depend faces the coming death of a king bound to the one person he chose freely.

The book ends with Uhtred fighting for Mercia and bound, at last, by an oath he chose. Called back from the Danish north by Aethelflaed's need, he abandons the planned invasion of Wessex he had been plotting with Ragnar and becomes Aethelflaed's sworn man, leading her forces against the Danes ravaging Mercia. Skade, who had cursed Uhtred and gone to Harald Bloodhair, is killed by Harald himself, and the crippled warlord's menace is finally extinguished. The campaign's great stroke is the storming of the Danish camp at Beamfleot, the same creek-side fortress where Uhtred once lost Erik and Sigefrid: the stronghold is taken and burned, its garrison slaughtered or scattered, and Haesten's power is broken, though Haesten himself is elsewhere and survives to scheme again. Gisela is dead, lost in childbirth, and with her much of what tied Uhtred to his old life; his rift with Alfred's court over the cleric he killed in his grief is unhealed, and he did not return to Wessex's service. Instead his oath now rests with Aethelflaed, who has become his lover as well as his lady. Alfred is failing fast, Edward's succession approaches, and Uhtred - the pagan sword on whom the Christian kingdoms depend - ends the book as Mercia's shield rather than Wessex's.