War of the Wolf
At the fortress of the eagles, three kings will fight …Uhtred of Bebbanburg has won back his ancestral home but, threatened from all sides by enemies both old and new, he doesn’t have long to enjoy the victory.In Mercia, rebellion is in the air as King Edward tries to seize control. In Wessex, rival parties scramble to settle on the identity of the next king. And across the country invading Norsemen continue their relentless incursion, ever hungry for land.Uhtred – a legendary warrior, admired and sought as an ally, feared as an adversary – finds himself once again torn between his two heritages: fighting on what he considers the wrong side, cursed by misfortune and tragedy and facing one of his most formidable enemies. Only the most astute cunning, the greatest loyalty and the most spectacular courage can save him.For decades, Uhtred has stood at the intersection between Pagan and Christian, between Saxon and Viking, between the old world he was born into and the new world being forged around him. But as the winds of change gather pace, the pressure on Uhtred as father, as politician and as warrior grows as never before.
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WAR OF THE WOLF
BERNARD CORNWELL
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2018
Map © John Gilkes 2018
Plan of the Roman fort adapted from a drawing by Thomas Sopwith
Jacket design © HarperCollâinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Jacket photography © CollaborationJS
Bernard Cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008183837
Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2018 ISBN: 9780008183851
Version 2018-08-02
War of the Wolf
is dedicated to the memory of
Toby Eady,
my agent and dear friend.
1941â2017
The spelling of place names in ninth- and tenth-century Britain was an uncertain business, with no consistency and no agreement even about the name itself. Thus London was variously rendered as Lundonia, Lundenberg, Lundenne, Lundene, Lundenwic, Lundenceaster and Lundres. Doubtless some readers will prefer other versions of the names listed below, but I have usually employed whichever spelling is cited in either the Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names or the Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names for the years nearest or contained within Alfredâs reign, AD 871â899, but even that solution is not foolproof. Hayling Island, in 956, was written as both Heilincigae and Hæglingaiggæ. Nor have I been consistent myself; I have preferred the modern form Northumbria to Norðhymbralond to avoid the suggestion that the boundaries of the ancient kingdom coincide with those of the modern county. So this list, like the spellings themselves, is capricious.
Bebbanburg â Bamburgh, Northumberland
Berewic â Berwick on Tweed, Northumberland
Brunanburh â Bromborough, Cheshire
Cair Ligualid â Carlisle, Cumbria
Ceaster â Chester, Cheshire
Cent â Kent
Contwaraburg â Canterbury, Kent
Dunholm â Durham, County Durham
Dyflin â Dublin, Eire
Eoferwic â York, Yorkshire (Saxon name)
Fagranforda â Fairford, Gloucestershire
Farnea Islands â Farne Islands, Northumberland
Gleawecestre â Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Heagostealdes â Hexham, Northumberland
Heahburh â Whitley Castle, Alston, Cumbria
(fictional name)
Hedene â River Eden, Cumbria
Huntandun â Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
Hwite â Whitchurch, Shropshire
Irthinam â River Irthing
Jorvik â York, Yorkshire (Danish/Norse name)
Lindcolne â Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lindisfarena â Lindisfarne (Holy Island), Northumberland
Lundene â London
Mædlak â River Medlock, Lancashire
Mærse â River Mersey
Mameceaster â Manchester
Monez â Anglesey, Wales
Ribbel â River Ribble, Lancashire
Ribelcastre â Ribchester, Lancashire
Snæland â Iceland
Spura â Birdoswald Roman fort, Cumbria (fictional name)
Sumorsæte â Somerset
Tamweorthin â Tamworth, Staffordshire
Temes â River Thames
Tine â River Tyne
Usa â River Ouse, Yorkshire
Wevere â River Weaver, Cheshire
Wiltunscir â Wiltshire
Wintanceaster â Winchester, Hampshire
Wirhealum â The Wirral, Cheshire
I did not go to Ãthelflaedâs funeral.
She was buried in Gleawecestre in the same vault as her husband, whom she had hated.
Her brother, King Edward of Wessex, was chief mourner and, when the rites were done and Ãthelflaedâs corpse had been walled up, he stayed in Gleawecestre. His sisterâs strange banner of the holy goose was lowered over the palace, and the dragon of Wessex was hoisted in its place. The message could not have been plainer. Mercia no longer existed. In all the British lands south of Northumbria and east of Wales there was only one kingdom and one king. Edward sent me a summons, demanding I travel to Gleawecestre and swear fealty to him for the lands I owned in what had been Mercia, and the summons bore his name followed by the words
