Uhtred and Alfred's men rout Harald's forces and again take Skade prisoner. Uhtred devises a plan to lure Harald into a trap. Skade curses Uhtred as she and Harald make their escape. When he starts butchering his prisoners before Uhtred's eyes, Uhtred releases Skade. Harald arrives, leading Saxon captive women, and threatens to kill all of them if Skade is not returned to him. While travelling with a small force to meet Alfred, Uhtred captures Skade, Harald's woman and a reputed sorceress. Uhtred objects to the bribe, as he knows that Haesten is completely untrustworthy.

Uhtred delivers Alfred's bribe to Jarl (Earl) Haesten, who leads the smaller army, to get him to leave, so that he can deal with the more serious threat posed by Jarl Harald Bloodhair. Wessex is threatened by two separate Danish forces who have landed in Cent (Kent).

Uhtred is military governor of Lundene (London), sharing power with Bishop Erkenwald, whom he dislikes, but respects. Uhtred is unwilling to do so, as that would interfere with his yearning to retake his family's stronghold at Bebbanburg in Northumbria, stolen from him by his uncle Aelfric after his father's death. Always in poor health, Alfred urges him to swear an oath to Alfred's son and presumptive heir, Edward. One reviewer remarks 'Vivid descriptions of merciless battlefield slaughter, rape, and destruction are artfully related by a masterful storyteller.' Another comments on the series and its viewpoint varying from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, saying 'Historical novels stand or fall on detail, and Mr Cornwell writes as if he has been to ninth-century Wessex and back.' Another again praises Cornwell's eye for historical detail, and 'his capacity for pulling off deft reverses are still in place, which helps to keep the narrative turning briskly along.' Plot summary Ĩ92 – 893: Uhtred of Bebbanburg is now the preeminent warlord of Wessex, Alfred the Great's kingdom. This novel, and the series of which it is the fifth part, has been well received. Instead, Uthred breaks his oath to Alfred and sets off viking, but eventually returns to Mercia because of his oath to Aethelflaed, Alfred's daughter, and ends the (immediate) Danish threat. When Uhtred unintentionally kills a Christian priest who insulted his dead wife, Alfred demands heavy reparations of Uhtred. Uhtred of Bebbanburg wins a victory against Danish invaders threatening Alfred the Great's kingdom of Wessex. The first half of season 3 of the British television series The Last Kingdom is based on this novel. The story is set in the 9th-century Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Wessex, Northumbria and Mercia. The Burning Land is the fifth historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2009.

The burning land book