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The Titus Chronicles-Berserker Returns
The Titus Chronicles-Berserker Returns
The Titus Chronicles-Berserker Returns
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The Titus Chronicles-Berserker Returns

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In the Year of Our Lord 885, the tenuous and fragile peace between King Alfred and King Guthrum has grown increasingly strained, exacerbated by raids from Northmen from across The Narrow Sea. One such foray, the besieging of Rochester in Cent, rouses King Alfred to call on his Thanes to march to the relief of the besieged city, and among them are the men of Wiltun, led by Lord Eadwig and his son Eadward. Unknown to Eadward, Lord Eadwig has determined that this will be his last campaign, unwilling to endure a long decline into old age, and wanting to free Eadward to make a decision concerning the hulking Saxon warrior that Eadwig had banished after Titus was ambushed by a grieving husband who deduced that his wife Isolde died bearing not his child but Titus’, and who Titus killed with his bare hands.

Across The Narrow Sea, Titus is now in the service of the Margrave of Flanders, Count Baldwin II, as a member of the Count’s personal bodyguard, Flanders being part of the Kingdom of West Frankia. The Count takes an interest in Titus after the Saxon displays his prowess in repelling a Northmen raid on one of the towns under Baldwin’s protection, where his exploits confirm that the appellation Berserker is justified. What Titus doesn’t know is that Baldwin’s interest is not just based in Titus’ abilities, but also because the King of Wessex, learning of Titus’ whereabouts, has communicated his interest in the Saxon warrior.

When the Northman leader Sigfred mysteriously vacates the fortress port of Boulogne, which has served as the primary base for the raids that plague the Saxons across The Narrow Sea, it prompts Count Baldwin to lead his army in an assault, spearheaded by Titus and nine of his comrades. While it is at a terrible cost, thanks to Titus the Berserker, Boulogne falls, while Titus’ life is saved from an act of treachery by a rival Frankish warrior by an unlikely savior, a young spearman named Eudes.

In Cent, the siege of Rochester is broken, and Lord Eadwig fulfills his promise to himself, falling in battle, leaving his son and heir as the Lord of Wiltun, whose first act is to summon Titus from exile, but to Eadward’s shock, he learns that his whereabouts are not only known by his King, but Alfred has a proposal of his own concerning not just the Berserker, but the future of one of his children. The question is: will Titus the Berserker accept Lord Eadward’s offer, and if he does not, will it impact the rest of King Alfred’s proposal?

LanguageEnglish
PublisherR.W. Peake
Release dateOct 8, 2022
ISBN9781941226599
The Titus Chronicles-Berserker Returns
Author

R.W. Peake

I am a 63 year old retired Infantry Marine, born and raised in Texas and currently living on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. I have been writing since my first novel, written at the age of 10, when my friends and yours truly fought off the Soviet hordes, who just happened to pick my block to launch their invasion. That was their big mistake.But like a lot of dreams, it got sidetracked until recently, when I decided to focus my passion on an era and subject that interested me a great deal. Like my characters in Ancient Rome, I have served as the pointy tip of the spear of our nation's policy, and it is with this perspective that I tell the story of Titus Pullus and his friends.Marching With Caesar-Birth of the 10th Legion was my first published novel, and is the first in a completed series that covers the career of Titus Pullus, his adopted son Gaius Porcinianus Pullus, grandson Titus Porcinianus Pullus, and his great-grandson Gnaeus Volusenianus Pullus. The most recent release is Volume XIX, Marching With Caesar-Catualda the Usurper.I also have a completed alternate history series, Caesar Ascending, that imagines a world in which Gaius Julius Caesar survives the Ides of March, embarks on his historical campaign against Parthian...then keeps going. Originally it's a bid to outstrip the Macedonian King Alexander by reaching the Ganges River, but evolves into a decade-long campaign that finds Caesar and his Legions marching to the end of the known world in the form of the mysterious Islands of Wa, modern-day Japan.Finally, in 2020, I began The Titus Chronicles, with Volume I titled Eagle and Wyvern, which tells the story of a descendant of Titus Pullus, (though he's unaware of any connection), named Titus of Cyssanbyrig, who at the age of fourteen answers the fyrd sounded by the Saxon King Alfred, marching with Alfred and his army to confront the Danish King Guthrum, culminating at the Battle of Edington. Blessed with the same prodigious size and strength as his ancestor, young Titus learns he is the recipient of a darker gift, and in his first battle earns the nickname The Berserker.The Titus Chronicles mark the first of an extended genealogy of the original Titus that will extend across the ages as the story of a line of men who have been born and bred for war, and are witnesses to some of the great historical events of the ages.

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