The people of Unst, Norse and Pict alike, enjoy lives of relative peace – none more so than Hilde, daughter to Jarl Frida, and Cormac, the blacksmith’s boy. Hilde yearns for a life of adventure, like the one her mother had before her, carving her name in the great sagas as a legendary shieldmaiden.

But Hilde should be careful what she wishes for. When a terrible Viking warband arrive upon the island, shrouded by an otherworldly fog and hellbent upon horror, Hilde and Cormac’s worlds are turned upside down. They bring with them terrors and secrets, the likes of which a Norse girl and a Pictish boy could never have dreamt of in their worst nightmares.

For when the Harrowed Men come raiding, there is no escape from their cruelty – or their hunger.

And no amount of blood will slake their thirst …