The Pale Horseman recap

Fresh from killing Ubba at Cynuit, Uhtred finds the credit stolen by Odda the Younger and his standing at Alfred's court poisoned. Bored and in debt, he turns half-pirate, raiding the British coast with his friend Leofric and carrying off Iseult, a Cornish shadow queen said to see the future, who becomes his lover. Accusations of raiding fall on him at court, and he survives a judicial fight against the giant Steapa only because news arrives that changes everything: at midwinter Guthrum has broken the peace and overrun Wessex in a surprise attack from Cippanhamm. Alfred becomes a fugitive in the marshes of Athelney with a handful of followers, Uhtred among them. Through a hard winter Uhtred fights, scouts, and helps the king rally the shires, and in spring Alfred's mustered army meets Guthrum at Ethandun and wins the battle that saves Wessex - at the cost of Leofric and Iseult, both killed. The last English kingdom survives, and Uhtred, its half-Danish champion, remains bound to a king he serves but does not love.

Previously, in The Last Kingdom: the Northumbrian boy Uhtred, heir to the fortress of Bebbanburg, was captured as a child by the Danish earl Ragnar the Fearless and raised as a Dane alongside the English girl Brida. His uncle Aelfric usurped Bebbanburg. When the banished shipmaster Kjartan burned Ragnar's hall and killed the earl, Uhtred drifted south to Wessex, the last English kingdom holding out against the Danes, and entered the reluctant service of its pious, clever king, Alfred. He married the Saxon Mildrith, gaining land and a Church debt with her. When the Danish leader Guthrum broke a truce and killed his Saxon hostages, Uhtred was saved by his Danish foster brother, Ragnar the Younger. At the Battle of Cynuit, Uhtred fought his first shield wall and killed the feared warlord Ubba Lothbrokson in single combat - but Odda the Younger claimed the credit, leaving Uhtred unrewarded, resentful, and still torn between the Saxons of his birth and the Danes of his upbringing.

Uhtred comes to Alfred's court expecting honour for killing Ubba at Cynuit and finds Odda the Younger already celebrated as the victor. Slighted, in debt through Mildrith's inheritance, and bored by the piety of Wessex, he takes to the sea with the blunt West Saxon warrior Leofric, one of the few men he counts a friend. Pretending to be Danish raiders, the two cruise the coasts of Cornwall and the Severn sea, plundering where they can. The raiding entangles Uhtred with the Danish chieftain Svein of the White Horse, an alliance of convenience between men who trust each other not at all, and from one raid Uhtred carries off Iseult, a young British shadow queen reputed to have the gift of prophecy, who becomes his lover. He returns to Wessex richer, but with deeds behind him that will not stay hidden.

Word of the raiding follows Uhtred home. Accused at court of attacking Christians under a false flag, he faces ruin, and the matter comes to a judicial fight against Steapa, a giant of a warrior devoted to Alfred, a duel Uhtred cannot realistically win. He is saved by catastrophe: in the depths of winter, Guthrum breaks the sworn peace and falls on Wessex in a surprise assault out of Cippanhamm. The kingdom collapses almost overnight - towns fall, the great men scatter or submit, and Alfred, the last English king, becomes a fugitive. Uhtred escapes the chaos with Iseult, and the fight with Steapa is abandoned as every man's survival is thrown into question. Wessex, the last kingdom, has effectively fallen; what remains is whether its king can live long enough to win it back.

Alfred takes refuge in the sodden marshes of Athelney with his family and a handful of followers, and Uhtred, almost by accident, becomes one of the fugitive king's chief protectors. Through a miserable winter the small band survives raids and treachery while Alfred, sick and stubborn, refuses to flee abroad and instead plans the recovery of his kingdom, sending word for the fyrds of the loyal shires to muster in the spring. Uhtred fights, scouts, and carries messages, drawing on his Danish upbringing to read the enemy, and Iseult's healing and foresight earn her a strange place in the Christian king's camp. Old enemies shift: Steapa, once Uhtred's would-be executioner, becomes a comrade. Slowly, from a swamp, Alfred assembles the threads of an army while Guthrum's Danes hold the towns of Wessex and believe the war already won.

In the spring of 878 Alfred rides out of the marshes to the muster at Ecgbryht's Stone, where the men of the loyal shires gather to him, and leads them against Guthrum's army at Ethandun. The battle is a long, grinding clash of shield walls on the downs, and Uhtred fights in the front rank, playing a pivotal part in breaking the Danish line. Wessex is saved: Guthrum's host is beaten and the last English kingdom stands. But the victory takes Uhtred's closest companions - Leofric is killed in the fighting, and Iseult too dies at Ethandun. The book closes with Alfred restored and stronger than before, and Uhtred proven as one of the great warriors of Wessex, grieving his dead, estranged from Mildrith as she turns toward the Church, and still sworn to a king he respects but cannot love, with Bebbanburg unclaimed in the far north.

The book ends with the Battle of Ethandun in 878. Alfred's army, gathered from the shires after his months as a fugitive in the Athelney marshes, meets Guthrum's Danes on the downs and breaks them; Uhtred fights in the front of the shield wall and plays a decisive part in the victory. The cost is heavy and personal: Leofric, Uhtred's closest friend among the Saxons, is killed in the fighting, and Iseult, the Cornish shadow queen who had become Uhtred's lover, also dies at Ethandun. Wessex is saved - the last English kingdom stands, and Guthrum's bid to extinguish it has failed - and Alfred's authority is restored greater than before. Uhtred ends the book proven beyond doubt as one of Alfred's most valuable warriors, but grieving, still bound by oath to a pious king he does not love, still married to Mildrith in name while she withdraws toward the Church, and still no closer to Bebbanburg, the stolen fortress in the north that remains his life's true aim.