The Raven & the Wolf is an epic saga-like tale of conflict, oaths, brotherhood and betrayal set in the throes of a divided and tumultuous 10th century Britain.
Excerpt
For me it is twilight. The firmament darkens, my fields fall fallow and that which is my legacy is now at all times poised to wither in the ignobility of age.
But such is not the way it has at all times been. I once defied all weakness, spurned the fate-weavers when they spun doom as certain as night must fall, shunned the imminence of wolves gathering in the realm of the darkest weald and thwarted the ever-turning circle of ravens that has long foreboded the nearness of death.
But while my lot has at often times turned for the worst I have held defiant even as all about me was mired in dread and futility. Such has been the bequest left by the kindred before me who ran afoul with the gods. And yet I have forged on, over the harshest seas, through the thickest snows and against the bloodiest tides of war.
Though I am old I can still heft a sword ably enough to make young men less learned in battle tremble behind their shields. My beard is as gray as a Northumbrian winter and while I no longer harbor such swiftness as has allowed me to evade the Valkyrie’s calling, I am without reluctance to take the field of battle one last time. And there, I expect, shall be where I make my final stand.
I should think that my days ahead are but few and because I know that fate is seldom foreseeable I must never stray far from the reach of my sword or neglect the consolation of an axe under my belt. For even in the quietest hour the threads of my undoing may at long last ensnare me.
I was, so I have come to accept, fated from birth to endure a path not of my own choosing but one that was laid down by those who, through a breach of oaths and misdeeds, wrought a legacy of hardship of such great burden that only death may assuage it.
Alas, the river of time runs dry and my ship must founder. Fortune is brittle and though one may long extol the gods in verse, offer sacrifice and exude all manner of homage, none is beyond the influence of Norn-craft.
As my saga shall attest, I have weathered the most onerous trials the gods have sought to impose on any man.
And I bear the scars to prove it.
Read more about The Raven & the Wolf: Blood Oath and Christopher Spellman HERE.
Copyright 2010 Christopher Spellman. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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