Jarl Dragonheart is approaching seventy after a lifetime of raiding, war and settlement, but old age offers no peace. Enemies gather to destroy both him and the Clan of the Wolf, including threats close enough to turn familiar ground into a battlefield. Dragonheart must rely on the warriors and family he has spent decades shaping, testing whether the clan can survive when its founder can no longer answer every danger by strength alone.
Dragonheart’s age changes the nature of command. He can still inspire warriors, but the clan’s future increasingly depends on whether younger leaders have absorbed his judgement rather than merely his appetite for battle. Enemies exploit the possibility that removing one old jarl could fracture the community.
The conflict therefore becomes a test of succession before any formal transfer of power. Family members and oathsworn must act without waiting for Dragonheart to solve every crisis, showing whether the institutions and loyalties he built are strong enough to survive beyond the man who created them.
Bernard Cornwell
57 books
M J Porter
49 books
K. M. Ashman
37 books
Cecelia Holland
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Sharon Kay Penman
14 books