'A thrilling series... Climaxing with the First Crusade. Pacy and gripping.' Oliver Webb-Carter, Aspects of History

Blood Debt
1064.

Harold Godwinson sails for Normandy, seeking the release of his kinsmen from captivity in Duke William’s court. In his company is Cadman, a young warrior who hungers for glory.

The price of freedom for Harold’s relatives is that he join William on his campaign against Brittany. There, Cadman proves his worth.

After the death of King Edward, with England facing threats from all sides, it falls to Harold as the most powerful man in England to secure the crown.

Cadman enters the dangerous world of the royal court where he contends with the hatred of Stefan de Longueville, the man who killed his father and stole his birthright.

As Harold prepares for invasions from Harald Hardrada and William of Normandy, wealth and renown are within Cadman’s reach, but his life is torn apart as de Longueville conspires against him and drives him into exile.

When Harold and William finally face each other on the battlefield of Hastings, and the fate of England hangs in the balance, Cadman returns to fight for honour and revenge.

De Longueville waits for him. A debt must be repaid.


Oath Breaker
1068

It is two years since King Harold Godwinson was defeated at the Battle of Hastings. His son, Godwin, is in exile and amassing an army to invade England and reclaim the English crown. At his side is Cadman, survivor of the battle and leader of a small band of English warriors.

As Cadman watches Godwin lose control of the wild mercenaries - and sees them ravage the land they had come to free - he knows that he can no longer serve Godwin with honour.

Exiled from his homeland, Cadman and his warriors travel to Byzantium to seek their fortune.

On their journey they encounter Pecheneg raiders, and survive a shipwreck on the Black Sea coast, only to be captured by a company of the Varangian Guard.

About to be sold into slavery, Cadman proves his ability as a warrior, and so enters Byzantium with a famous name.

In Constantinople, Emperor Michael is weak.

Rivals plot to seize power. Conflict rages across the empire, ally becomes foe as one general betrays another. If Cadman is to survive, he must be as ruthless as those who stand against him.

Amidst it all, one good man fights to save the empire from the turmoil. Alexios, cousin to the emperor, needs Cadman’s skills to help him do so. The path to power is bloody and treacherous - and will show Cadman the price of honour and the value of an oath.


Crusader
1096.

Byzantium is on its knees.

In desperation, Emperor Alexios calls to the Pope in the West for help. Expecting a force of mercenaries, instead he receives a vast host of warrior pilgrims who are fired by the religious zeal of the First Crusade. The horde is led by ambitious, European nobleman who are driven by the desire to make kingdoms of their own in the East.

At Alexios’ side is Cadman, a veteran Anglo-Saxon warrior and commander of the elite Varangian Guard. Amongst the followers of the army is Matilda, Cadman’s first love, who is now in Byzantium with her husband and their son.

Cadman discovers that Matilda’s husband holds the English lands that were taken from him when he was a boy. Those lands are also coveted by Odo, her husband’s cousin, and a ruthless knight who will stop at nothing to make them his own.

From the siege of Antioch to the sack of Jerusalem, Cadman must navigate the plots of the leaders, fight for the empire, and keep his oath to Matilda to protect her son from Odo - who hunts him in the chaos of battle.

There will be a reckoning.

Adam Staten served as a medical officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He now works as a GP and writes both fiction and non-fiction.