A Tale of Scorched Ash and Elm

A Viking warrior, a half-elf freedom fighter, a witch in training, and the dragon that's burning the world downThe gods are gone. The sword of Freyr has been lost for generations. And a warlord atop a dragon is burning everything left behind. When the Wexian Thegn unleashes his chained dragon on the shores of Leifthasir, he isn't just waging war-he's hunting a relic. The god-forged sword Sumarbrander, lost when the elves of Alfheim fell, is the one weapon that could make his conquest complete. To find it, his forces are seizing and enslaving the Völva, the witch seers of the old blood, and forcing their sight to scry where the blade is hidden. The survivors of dragon fire stand in the path of that ambition, bound together by grief, duty, and the desperate hope that the old magic isn't dead yet. Gunvald is a Viking warrior whose quest for vengeance has brought him to Leifthasir's shores, looking for a fight and finding something larger than himself. Glyrna is a witch barely into her training, whose gifts are growing faster than anyone prepared her for. And Balti is a half-elf, son of the enemy and the elf woman in captivity, a man who belongs to neither world and owes debts to both. To stop the dragon and find Sumarbrander before the Wexians do, they'll have to cross a land already scarred by occupation, forge unlikely alliances among the war chiefs of Leifthasir, and reckon with the weight of a prophecy none of them asked for. The sword doesn't just choose who carries it. It judges them. Rooted in the Eddas, the Sagas, and the material culture of the Viking Age, A Tale of Scorched Ash and Elm is the debut novel in the Leifthasir's Saga series; an epic that braids fantasy drama with the sweep of legend, and treats the small things (law and longhouses, ships and seasonal light) with the same care as the battles that shape nations. For readers who love: - Norse fantasy with the scope of an epic and the intimacy of a family saga- Ensemble casts where every character carries real weight- Protagonists caught between worlds- Dragon-riders, blood feuds, and the politics of occupation- Fantasy grounded in historical research rather than Hollywood Viking clichés

Pages: 472, Paperback, Independently published