"Intriguing followup to Danegeld."

Epona, Druid priestess, has a special gifu, her Gift, of being able to listen and talk to horses. But that gift is fading. Pony must find a mate and conceive a girl-child to pass on her Gift. Will she be able to accept what fate provides?

Valgar the Beast is currently fighting his own battles. He's returned to his Viking king and been asked to take over a section of Saxon land. Val and his group of Vikings secure the town and restructure the government. Pony lives outside the town and has been working with the young Saxon king, Alfred the Great, who sees her as a goddess of the old religion. Pony has been taught by her mother that men are to be ignored as much as possible. But when she's taken hostage by Val and tied to his wrist, she finds this is easier said than done when that man is Val.

This sequel to Danegeld starts a bit slow but soon becomes quite intriguing as you are absorbed in wanting to know what Pony, Val and King Alfred will do next. And how will the Saxons and Vikings resolve their conflicts as to who will eventually govern the land in question? A really good book, which I enjoyed.

Reviewed by Delia Larkins
Courtesy Old Book Barn Gazette
Posted February 13, 2003

She waits under the sign of the White Horse for the man who will father her girl-child. Will it be Saxon king or Danish outcast? Her choice will change the world. In Viking fire burns her destiny.

Epona waits beneath the sign of the White Horse, last of those who worship the Great Mother, for the man who will fulfill her destiny and give her a girl-child. Her gift is a connection to the natural world. Yet as the battle between Saxon and Viking sweeps across her land, it brings two men. One will become Alfred the Great. One is an outcast Viking warrior. The future of England hangs on Pony's choice. Even the nature of her gift is changing and she must embrace the very thing she fears to save it.

Summary

Out of Darkness, light. War swept England, and the dark ages grew darker as Vikings put Saxon strongholds to the torch and promised new rule. The horde found Epona, Daughter of the Goddess, on the hill beneath the Sign of the White Horse. There she had lived, awaiting the man who was fated to give her a child. In Viking fires burned her destiny.