A time for swords / Matthew Harffy.

Maps on end papers.

AD 793, Lindisfarne. There had been portents famine, whirlwinds, lightning from clear skies, serpents seen flying through the air. But when the raiders came, no one was prepared. They came from the North, their dragon-prowed longships gliding out of the dawn mist as they descended on the kingdom's most sacred site. It is 8th June AD793, and with the pillage of the monastery on Lindisfarne, the Viking Age has begun. While his fellow monks flee before the Norse onslaught, one young novice stands his ground. As if kindled by the sparks billowing from the thatched roof of the scriptorium, a rage ignites within Hunlaf of Ubbanford. He has been taught to turn the other cheek, but faced with the slaughter of his brothers and the pagan desecration of his church, forgiveness is impossible. Hunlaf soon learns that there is a time for faith and prayer and there is a time for swords.