Niclaus has just one aim in life - to win the Trial of Endurance to become the next leader of his village in Norway. The Trial is not without risks, and many have perished trying to complete it.

But little does he realise that Cado, leader and oracle of Newgrange, has very different plans for him; plans that involve taking on the might of the Norse lord Hakon, and travelling far from everything he knows, to Ireland and the home of the Book of Kells, to defend the Christian White Cross Followers.

Hakon's savagery knows no bounds; battle lines are forming; power beyond imagining is at stake - at the heart of it all is Niclaus. Will he have the strength to fulfil his destiny?