Viggo

Written By J.J. Sutherland

All Camelot was in an uproar. Though no official alarm had been sounded, the streets had quickly cleared as soldiers streamed down from the citadel, ordering everyone into their homes. People stood in their windows watching, listening, desperately trying to guess what was happening. They soon found out. The soldiers went door to door, scouring every home within the city walls, searching – they said – for a Saxon spy.

Atop the outermost wall a lone Saxon watched, appearing to onlookers like a sentry at his post. Had anyone thought to look closer they would have noticed he was soaked to the skin, his blond hair still plastered to his face, his grey eyes gleaming with the thrill of knowing something he wasn’t supposed to.

He had learned King Arthur’s secret, a secret that would change everything when he got back to Saxony and told it.

All he had to do was escape.

From his vantage point atop the wall, he was able to observe runners as they were dispatched along the roadways, charged with carrying news of his escape to every town and village within the Kingdom. Soldiers were sent out after the runners, organized into contingents to find him. Most of them marched east, which made sense; Saxony and all the territories under its control lay to the east. They knew he would have no choice but to go east if he wanted to get home, and so he made up his mind that after nightfall he would go west instead. He would find some other way of getting home.

There was always another way…

In the midst of a bloody war between the Britons and their Saxon invaders, Viggo is alone behind enemy lines, searching for a way home. The mighty, fabled fortress of Camelot and all of King Arthur’s soldiers are merely challenges to be overcome – and Viggo rather enjoys a challenge.

While he might occasionally be overconfident, he isn’t careless. He dodges every patrol, making good time to the west where he hopes to find a seaport and a ship that will eventually take him home. He is driven by two things: a powerful secret, and a simple, life-long refusal to believe in the impossible.

Then he meets Violet.

He accepts her help in a moment of necessity but soon realizes she is not what she seems. She claims ties to no nation, has no discernable loyalties, and is mysteriously outcast in her own village. The more he learns about her, the less any of it makes sense; yet Viggo is soon drawn into the midst of a daring deception, where everything hinges upon trusting her. Despite the urgency of his mission, Viggo cannot help but try to understand her mysterious motives, and in doing so he learns more – and risks more – than he ever could have imagined possible.

Their secrets converge in an unforgettable adventure, a tale destined to be lost beneath the enduring legend of King Arthur – a once and forgotten thing.