Chapter Summaries

At Fulford, Lynch’s offer of tribute for York was rejected, and the English and Viking armies prepared to fight as the tide receded. Allen arrived and activated a magical formation to conceal his harvesting of the fallen, then began cursing the battlefield as combat approached.

• Lynch offered the northern English tribute and livestock in exchange for surrendering York, but the old earl refused.
• More than six thousand Vikings faced the North English army across Fulford’s waterlogged ditch while the tide held them apart.
• Lynch rallied his Berserkers for battle as both armies shouted insults and waited for the water to recede.
• Allen reached Fulford, used a Disillusionment Charm to set up an illusion and Confundus barrier along both banks, and activated it.
• Allen placed a red magic stone on a boulder and began cursing the wounded so he could drain their life force and collect their souls.

Harald Hardrada and Tostig defeated the English at Fulford through a pincer attack, while Allen secretly harvested souls and blood for the Sorcerer’s Stone. After the Vikings took York, Allen summoned a five-headed dragon Patronus and confirmed that his magic had changed its form.

• The Vikings and York’s English defenders fought across the ditch as Lynch and the Berserkers led the assault.
• Harald and Tostig brought their elite troops around the river bend and attacked the English from behind, trapping them in a pincer movement.
• The English counterattacked, but their shield wall broke apart and the Vikings slaughtered them; Lynch found the old earl’s illusory corpse and noticed a three-eyed Raven watching him.
• Allen gathered souls and blood through his staff and the red magic stone, then stored the Sorcerer’s Stone base material in his waist pouch.
• The victorious Vikings took York, and Allen cast a five-headed dragon Patronus, confirming that it had replaced his former Phoenix Patronus.

Allen entered York under the guise of Baron Allen Harris and persuaded Harald Hardrada that his rubies could grant Viking champions Odin’s protection. He placed Enslavement Gems on the Viking officers, preparing them to stand firm in the coming battle against Harold.

• William of Normandy ordered Saint Valery’s remains carried in procession while he prayed for the storm to end.
• Allen followed Lynch into York’s hall and presented himself to Harald Hardrada as the master of Hogwarts Castle.
• Allen offered Harald 333 rubies and claimed they could protect Viking champions from fear in battle.
• At Allen’s instruction, Lynch pressed a ruby to his forehead, and Allen then summoned Viking officers and placed gems on them.
• Allen decided to use the gems to keep the Vikings fighting when the next battle turned against them.

Harold’s army reached Stamford Bridge after a rapid march north, catching the Vikings unprepared while they gathered tribute and hostages. As the Vikings rushed to organize and cross the river, Lynch went alone to defend the narrow bridge.

• Odda carried the injured Tofi on his shoulder and told Leofric to carry Tofi’s weapons and shield.
• At the Viking camp, Lynch rallied the soldiers as Yorkshire residents brought livestock, harvests, and children as tribute and hostages.
• The Vikings heard Harold’s approaching army across the River Derwent and realized they had been caught unprepared.
• Tostig advised Harald to retreat to the ships and arm the troops, but Harald refused under the Enslavement Gem’s influence.
• Harald sent the Berserker guards to hold the bridge while the other Vikings formed ranks.
• Lynch dismissed his Berserkers, armed himself with two giant axes, and stood alone on the bridge to face the English army.

Lynch held the narrow bridge at Stamford Bridge, killing scores of English fighters while Allen watched through a three-eyed Raven and decided to turn Viking Berserkers into Death Knights. After cutting down more than sixty Anglo-Saxons, Lynch ordered the other Berserkers to retreat and faced the English still across the bridge.

• An English spearman challenged Lynch, but Lynch dodged his attacks and split him in two with his axe.
• Lynch killed an English dual-axeman with a forceful jab from his giant axe, then continued cutting down the Englishmen who approached the bridge.
• Allen watched Lynch through the three-eyed Raven and considered making elite Viking Berserkers into Death Knights for their strength, skills, and usefulness in the Underworld.
• After killing more than sixty Anglo-Saxons, Lynch paused to ease his aching shoulders and ordered the other Berserkers back toward their camp.
• Lynch turned toward the English militiamen on the far side of the bridge.

Lynch held the English militia at the bridge while Odda secretly sent Leoclif beneath it with a plan. As Lynch fought on and the assembled Vikings approached, Odda confronted him under the pretense of negotiation and gave the signal for the plan.

• Harold rallied the English militia, but Lynch cut down their advancing ranks and kept them from crossing the bridge.
• Tofi and Leofric watched from within the shield wall as Odda returned and stopped Leoclif from joining the fight.
• Odda led Leoclif to the river, whispered a plan, and sent him under the bridge inside a barrel.
• Leoclif reached the bridge underside while Lynch continued fighting, even biting through a militiaman’s throat as his strength began to fade.
• The Viking force advanced as the English hesitated, and Odda stepped forward claiming he had come to negotiate surrender.
• Odda stomped on the bridge to signal his plan while Lynch questioned his offer.

Leoclif killed the Berserker champion Lynch with a spear from beneath Stamford Bridge, while Allen secretly captured Lynch’s corpse. Harold’s forces defeated the Vikings, but two days later William’s Norman fleet sailed for England’s undefended southern coast, opening the next invasion.

• Leoclif fatally stabbed Lynch from beneath the bridge, and Odda’s troops cheered his name as the Berserker champion fell.
• Allen used magic to conceal and take Lynch’s corpse, then watched the battle as the English pursued the Vikings.
• Harold’s forces broke the Viking resistance; Harald Hardrada died from an arrow, and Harold killed Tostig.
• The exhausted Norwegian reinforcements briefly slowed the English before the Viking army collapsed, with only twenty-four of its three hundred ships returning to Norway.
• Two days later, William the Bastard Duke sailed from Normandy with seven hundred ships and fourteen thousand troops toward England’s southern coast.

Allen confronted William aboard the lone flagship after a fog separated it from the rest of the fleet, then revealed he had controlled the storm that trapped William in the Channel. Armand Malfoy arrived to defend William but quickly surrendered, leaving William bound and forced to hear Allen out.

• William woke aboard his flagship and learned that the fog had separated it from the rest of his fleet.
• Allen appeared before William, and William's sword transformed into a python that bound him while his crew remained oblivious.
• Armand Malfoy Apparated onto the ship and threatened Allen, but Allen burned Armand's wand to ash, prompting him to surrender.
• Allen recognized Armand as an ancestor of the Malfoy Family, which had served William and gained land and wealth in return.
• Allen warned William not to move and admitted that he had created and controlled the storm that had trapped him.

Allen explained that Harold's forces were weakened and offered to return William safely to his fleet and help him land in England in exchange for a magical contract granting Allen's ownership of land around Hogwarts. William pretended to inspect the contract, but Allen discovered that the Duke of Normandy was completely illiterate.

• Allen told William that Harold had defeated the Vikings but was resting in Yorkshire, leaving southern England poorly defended.
• Allen offered to return William to his fleet and ensure a safe landing in England if William and future heirs recognized Allen's ownership of barren land in Scotland around Hogwarts.
• William resisted making a deal with a wizard but, tempted by England's throne and threatened by being stranded at sea, agreed to consider Allen's terms.
• Allen conjured a Latin contract, and William demanded to inspect it before deciding whether to sign.
• Allen realized through Legilimency that William could not read a word of the contract and shouted at him for pretending to read it.

Allen forced William to negotiate and sign a Devil's Contract that granted Allen land and independence while binding William and his heirs to its hidden clauses. William and Armand Malfoy returned to the fleet drenched, with William furious but unable to challenge the contract.

• William demanded that Allen help him kill Harold in exchange for recognizing Allen's claim to the land, and Allen agreed to help if William's army reached a stalemate.
• Allen added a clause to the contract, and Armand Malfoy read the visible terms to William without noticing the hidden clauses in its patterned border.
• William signed the contract, and after Allen signed it too, the contract revealed its hidden obligations to William.
• Allen warned William against bargaining with someone he could not resist, then drenched William and Armand and told them to claim they had swum there.
• After Allen left, William accused Malfoy of failing to discover the hidden clauses, but Malfoy advised him to accept Allen's terms rather than risk magical control.
• The giant python returned to its original form, William and Malfoy faced questions from the guards, and William's fleet reappeared in the dawn light.

William landed in England and turned his fall on the beach into a claim that God had given him the kingdom. The Normans attacked Crowhurst Village, where the Bowl-cut Knight questioned Aethelwulf about the missing men while Judith and Merlin watched helplessly.

• William sailed with his fleet to England and fell while coming ashore, then declared that he had taken hold of his kingdom by the Lord’s grace.
• The Normans reached Crowhurst Village and attacked while its men were away serving as militia.
• Merlin spotted the invaders and warned the farmworkers, who fled as the Normans seized the villagers and killed those who resisted.
• The Red-haired Knight stopped a soldier from assaulting a farmwoman and ordered the troops not to kill the women who surrendered.
• The Bowl-cut Knight dragged Aethelwulf from his house and demanded to know where the village men had gone, but Aethelwulf stayed silent as Judith and Merlin watched.

Mordred slaughtered Aethelwulf and burned the village while Merlin hid and vowed to remember his killer. Elsewhere, Allen raised thirty-three Viking Berserkers as Death Knights and led them through a teleportation gate toward Hastings.

• Mordred killed Aethelwulf after Aethelwulf revealed that the men had gone north to fight the Vikings, while Ai Wutailefo tried to protect the captives.
• Merlin watched his father's death from hiding and memorized Mordred's face as the knight set the village and his hiding place on fire.
• Allen raised Lynch as a Death Knight and spent the following days turning thirty-three Viking Berserkers into an undead force.
• Allen opened a skull-shaped Gate and rode through it toward Hastings with the Death Knights following on Bone Steeds.

After learning that the Normans had landed in Sussex and occupied Pevensey and Hastings, Odda’s exhausted militia marched south. When they found burned women’s bodies, Odda sent Tofi and Leofric ahead to Crowhurst to look for survivors and gather men.

• A messenger told Odda that the Normans had landed in Sussex and taken Pevensey and Hastings, prompting him to order the militia south.
• Odda promoted Leofric to captain for killing the Viking Berserker leader, while Tofi worried that their families in Crowhurst were in danger.
• The forced march exhausted the militia, and Odda refused Tofi’s request to return to Crowhurst alone, insisting the army preserve its strength.
• The militia found burned women’s corpses displayed on horses beside a destroyed cart, and Odda declared that they had to fight.
• Odda ordered Tofi and Leofric to ride to Crowhurst, find any surviving women, take them to a monastery, and recruit men for the coming army.

Leofric and Tofi returned to Crowhurst Village after escaping Ai Wutailefo, only to find it burned and its people dead. Allen revealed himself as a wizard and uncovered the surviving boy Merlin in the rubble.

• Ai Wutailefo chased Leofric and Tofi into a marsh, but let them go after Leofric surrendered to protect Tofi; Mordred witnessed his disobedience and threatened him.
• Leofric and Tofi reached Crowhurst Village and found its buildings burned and villagers slain.
• Leofric recognized his dead father, while Tofi searched in vain for his newly wedded wife Judith.
• Leofric cursed the Normans in grief and anger, and Tofi recognized Allen as a wizard.
• Allen moved the rubble from a collapsed ruin and revealed Merlin alive; Leofric hurried to the boy and took hold of his shoulders.

Allen discovered that Merlin had survived the attack on Crowhurst Village and agreed to help him rescue his sister and the other captured women. After Allen led the rescue, Judith reunited with Tofi, though she could not bring herself to describe what the Normans had done to her.

• Merlin emerged from the burned village and asked Allen to save his sister, while Leofric comforted him and Tofi searched for Judith.
• Allen used divination to determine that the village women were still alive and agreed to rescue them without changing the war's outcome.
• Allen used retrocognition and a Shadow Three-Eyed Raven to locate the Norman camp, then took Merlin, Leofric, and Tofi there.
• Allen's magic let Tofi and Leofric free the captive women while the Normans failed to notice them.
• Judith reunited with Tofi and recited a poem about their love, but fell silent when he asked what the Normans had done to her.

Allen helped Leoclif bring the women to a convent, where Judith found shelter, while Tofi agreed to join Leoclif on the road to Hastings. Merlin asked Allen to become his mentor, and Allen accepted, promising to teach him before sending him to Hogwarts.

• A nun initially refused Leoclif’s request to shelter the women, then opened the convent door and let them inside.
• Tofi refused to go to Hastings until Judith urged him to fight for their people, and he reluctantly agreed to leave her at the convent.
• Allen advised Leoclif and Tofi to hide in the mountains, but Leoclif insisted on fighting for England and the villagers.
• Merlin asked Allen to teach him magic, and Allen accepted him as an apprentice and told him he could attend Hogwarts.
• Allen gave the nun a heavy pouch of money before Judith entered the convent and the door closed on her farewell with Tofi.

Allen returned to Crowhurst Village with Merlin, began making a wand for his apprentice, and used magic to forge armor for his Death Knights. He taught Merlin about magical practice and gave him an enchanted dagger as a greeting gift.

• Allen measured Merlin and began preparing oak wand wood, explaining that wands were unique and that wizards should not rely on them too heavily.
• Allen used magic to forge heavy iron armor in the ruined smithy while Merlin watched and struggled to move a cooled suit.
• Allen sent Death Knights to fetch leather from the village tanner and taught Merlin to judge magic for himself rather than reject any kind of magic.
• Allen had the Death Knights wear armor lined with treated leather, then forged Merlin a rune-carved dagger that could pierce magical shields and remain sharp.
• Allen gave Merlin the dagger, and Merlin eagerly examined its mysterious runes.

Allen gave Merlin an Ancient Runes dagger called Pink Fluffy Rabbit and led him away from his burned homeland. Meanwhile, Harold chose to confront William near Hastings, but his attempted night raid was anticipated and trapped by the Normans.

• Allen warned Merlin how to use his dagger, named it Pink Fluffy Rabbit, and led him away after they buried the villagers.
• Harold weighed fighting William against holding London until Norman supplies ran low, while William’s forces ravaged the countryside to provoke him.
• After hearing reports of the destruction, Harold rejected his mother’s and Gyrth Godwinson’s advice and decided to fight William himself.
• Harold marched south toward Hastings and sent his fleet to block the Normans’ retreat across the English Channel.
• On October thirteenth, Harold’s night raid failed when William’s scouts and wizards detected the attack and prepared a trap.

Harold and William began the Battle of Hastings, with the English holding Senlac Hill against Norman archers and cavalry. As the fighting intensified, Allen and Merlin watched from concealment while Allen kept his wand ready.

• William rallied the Normans despite discovering that he had put on his mail shirt backwards, while Harold led the English to occupy the high ground.
• The English formed a shield wall on Senlac Hill, and Odda led them in swearing the Mead Oath in response to the Normans singing The Song of Roland.
• Mordred watched the English and resented the Red-haired Knight, whom William had appointed to lead a unit.
• Ai Wutailefo ordered Norman archers to fire volleys at the English shield wall, which held despite casualties.
• Norman knights charged uphill, killing and wounding English soldiers, while some cavalrymen fell from their horses to English spears.
• Allen and Merlin observed the battle from beneath an ancient apple tree, with Allen concealing them using a Muggle-Repelling Charm and Merlin eating the food in Allen's pouch.

As William’s forces fought the Normans, the wizards Allen had taken captive watched from a picnic while a desperate duel ended in Odda’s death. Allen captured Odda’s and Ai Wutailefo’s souls in Soul Gems, leaving Merlin shocked by the loss of the man who had protected him.

• Allen forced William’s recruited wizards to roast game while those who resisted knelt nearby with their wands burned.
• Mordred arranged for Ai Wutailefo to challenge the English, and Odda accepted the duel as the English militiamen cheered him on.
• Odda gained the advantage over Ai Wutailefo, who begged him to let him win so his family might be spared, then stabbed him with a dagger.
• Ai Wutailefo charged into the English formation, killed three men, and was cut down, while Merlin watched Odda fall.
• Allen appeared beside Odda’s body and captured his soul in a Soul Gem, then did the same to Ai Wutailefo after learning he had acted out of concern for his family and regret over betraying his ideals.