Sven Thorvaldson, is a Varangian mercenary from the icy fjords of Norðvegr. He has troubles. He owes men money. There is an old enemy in pursuit of him. And, following an ambush and a disastrous defeat at the Gates of Trajan, he has doubts about the competence of Basil II Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, the man to whom he sold his sword and his allegiance. Furthermore, he was born an Úlfhéðinn, never fully in control of the wolf in his nature. And there is a woman. “It is always a woman,” he growls acerbically to Lakepenos the exiled former Imperial Chamberlain he has been sent to assassinate. Thus begins The Serpentine Key, the first book in The Varangian Chronicles.
After Sven is sent to take out men Basil is convinced are part of a plot to unseat him from his throne, he stumbles upon a much deeper conspiracy. Hidden among the pillared streets and shadowed halls of Constantinople, is a circle of men who hold the secrets of the undoing of kingdoms and empires. At the center of it all is a mysterious casket unlocked by three keys. And one of them is in the possession of Sven’s estranged lover. Soon it becomes apparent that Sven may have to make some difficult decisions. Time is running out.