In their darkest hour, a hero will rise, and give the people of the North their last great weapon: Hope.

Alternate history - 1119 AD. The bright banner of the Crusade flies over the ruins of Uppsala. The Norse army is shattered, the survivors scattered to the winds, and the sword that was fated to save them is lost to the enemy. A small band of refugees flees before the relentless foe, searching for a new place to call home.

Gjaldir goes with them, choosing to fight for his erstwhile captors and the woman and child he loves, rather than seek shelter with his Christian kin, the men who have brought death and destruction to the lands he once hated.

The great victorious host of the crusade marches on the last free lands of the Norse and there is nothing left to stand in their way. As the iron fist of their rule closes around the Northlands, for the people entombed within its grasp, survival is the only victory left to fight for.

In the cruel, icy embrace of winter, the final battle for the soul of the north draws near.

Alternate history - 1118 AD. Two armies went into the deep woods of southern Sweden. The forces of the Crusade, fresh from triumph and conquests, marched proud and confident into the forest under the blazing banner of the cross. The lords of the west, so close to victory, must first defeat the land, political rivals, and the winter itself to claim the rewards.

On the walls of Jönköping the men of the north made their stand and held the Crusade at bay, paying the price in blood and the death of kinsmen. The Norse jarls, shaken and bloodied, must rally around their wounded and weakened king, or choose an alternative path to cling to power.

As the icy grip of winter falls, and the snow and the mud and the blood bind the oath-sworn enemies together in a lethal contest, hopes of glory are cast aside in the desperate fight for survival. Two armies marched into the deep woods in winter, only the Norns know who will emerge from the cruel embrace of the Frostforge.

The cruel blade of fate takes the bravest hearts first. New heroes will be forged in the fire of the fallen.

Alternate history - 1117 AD. The first Crusade has torn its way through Denmark, bringing fire and the sword to all who refuse to submit to the soldiers of Christendom. The lords of the west stand astride the ruins of Jutland and turn their eyes eastward across the cold sea, to the homeland of the Aesir themselves.

Ordulf faces the consequences of capture by a Norse warband. Taken to their capital in slavery, he now serves the enemies of the cross, making the very weapons they carry against his people. He faces a terrible choice; to accept his fate, or be destroyed by it.

Reeling from the loss of three kings and a kingdom, the Norse gather in the home of their gods to choose a new ruler and prepare to meet the coming storm. The great host of the crusade will march again, and the people of the North will meet them with steel and shields and the death cries of their heroes.