Ravens Hill
The Atheling Chronicles
by Garth Pettersen
When Harald, the second son of King Cnute, returns from fighting the king's enemies in Northern Wales, he expects his life to return to normal⸺farming in the Midlands, overseeing his few tenants, evening walks with his beloved Selia⸺an idyllic life, far from the power-mongering of King Cnute's court. But the king has other plans for Harald and his wife—he grants them a large landholding, a gift they cannot refuse.
On arriving at their new holding, Ravens Hill, Harald and Selia receive a tepid welcome⸺from belligerent housecarls, a conniving steward, an uncompromising abbess, bitter at not adding their estate to her abbey lands, a priest with roaming hands, and a grieving daughter of the previous landholder, who has entered the nunnery.
Harald and Selia wish to improve the lot of their tenant farmers but they face obstacles at every turn, and Harald’s generosity is seen as weakness. They also learn the lands come with an unexpected millstone—an unsolved murder.
And then the trouble begins.
Fans of Bernard Cornwell will love Ravens Hill—part of the award-winning Atheling Chronicles series.
Harald Harefoot, Protagonist of The Atheling Chronicles
Harald Harefoot, the main character of my historical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles, is an eleventh century figure about whom little is known, though we can infer from his byname that he was a fast runner. Harald is a perfect character for historical fiction because the sources are thin. I can be wildly creative as long as I have him show up when the records put him in a specific place at a particular moment, such as when the witan—the gathering of major thegns and bishops—consider whether to make him king. The spaces in between historical events are vacant and ready to be filled in by my imagination. In The Swan’s Road I have Harald joining his father, King Cnute, on his historic journey to Rome. In truth, there is no record of Harald going, though it is possible.
In researching Harald, one encounters another problem. The major source for that time is the Encomium Regina, which Queen Emma of Normandy, Harald’s (wicked?) stepmother had written, and it paints Harald in a dreadful light.
Emma did everything in her power after King Cnute died, to make sure her son and Harald’s half-brother, Harthacnute, ascended to the throne. She took every opportunity to discredit Harald, including casting doubt that he was even Cnute’s son.
In creating the character of Harald I decided to make him a reluctant hero with admirable qualities. He is steadfast, loyal to a fault, skilled in weaponry, deadly in battle, and protective of the downtrodden. But Harald is not infallible. He often derides himself for being cocky and doubts his decisions and intentions.
In The Atheling Chronicles (Ravens Hill is book #5) Harald finds fulfillment in his marriage to Selia, whom he meets on the way to Rome in the first book. She is strong and self-reliant, supportive of Harald and yet quick to deflate his arrogance.
Harald comes to loath the scheming of his brother, half-brother, and the other athelings (throne-worthy princelings) and tries to fade into a quiet life farming. His attempts are disrupted by enemies and by his father, the king, who not-so-subtly tries to prepare him for kingship by sending him on missions as his representative.
Harald grows more confident as he gains experience in battle and in diplomacy. At the same time, he learns to appreciate and deal fairly with the common folk he encounters, valuing those who toil on the land to feed their families, those who practice trades and take pride in their work, women who lose children during birthing yet carry on. In Ravens Hill, King Cnute grants Harald and Selia a large landholding where they will manage tenant farmers and deal with problems such as drought, thievery, and murder. The couple are forced to draw on every resource they possess, in order to survive and make a success of the venture.
They are also tested by the stern abbess of the neighbouring convent, who wishes to add their estate to the abbey. While not a godly man, Harald follows the Christian beliefs of the time, but is not averse to consider praying to the old Norse gods in times of trouble.
As a tún-lord or estate-owner, Harald attempts to be firm but fair, though his kindness is seen by some as weakness. It is only when he must deal with callous and brutal housecarls (guards) that Harald establishes his strength.
At the beginning of the series, Harald has no ambition to accede to the throne upon his father’s death, but over time Harald matures and changes. His experience of leading men in battle, of standing in judgement over those guilty of crimes, and of having the power to better the lives of others, opens him to the possibility of doing good on a wider scale and carrying on the work of his father, Cnute the Great.
And that road will be followed in the next book.
Prologue
Engla-lond 1030 C.E. – Mædmonath (Meadow Month – June)
Making no sound, Udele closed the door to her father’s house and stepped out into the moonlight. She scanned the collection of buildings to see if anyone was stirring—she knew her father’s housecarls slept like bearns—even when on watch—and if they rose at all, it would be just to piss onto the scattered rushes that covered the hall’s floor. The two hounds Cyning and Cwēn padded over, seeking attention. She stroked their heads but said nothing. Udele made her way to the horsefold where she bridled her favorite gelding. Bats flittered above her, catching flying insects, and though the night was warm, her body gave a shiver. She wore a tunic and long-sleeved under-tunic, a cæppe to cover her head, and a mantle over the shoulders. Udele scanned the broad valley, saw the shadows of clouds crossing the moon travel over the fields of wheat and barley. She remembered her purpose and hurried. He would be waiting.
Udele led her horse down the track from Ravens Hill, and only mounted when she was well away from the large steading. When she thought it safe, Udele urged the horse into a controlled canter, the road visible in the moonlight. The small hamlet of Déorfald lay but a mile distant and their meeting place was not far from there. Déorfald was a small place with mill, bakehouse, and smithy near cottages with small holdings. The place she and Aloc met secretly lay downstream on a wooded clay bank above where cliff swallows burrowed. The thought of Aloc waiting made her heartrate quicken. He was the miller’s son, tall and handsome, and though not of the thegn class like herself, he would make a fine husband. Her father would come to the same conclusion in time. Poor Aloc fretted over Thegn Wulfrun’s disapproval and sometimes he would despair of ever marrying her. But Udele knew she would have him in time.
Where the track straightened, she spurred her horse faster, beneath the clouds scudding across the face of the moon. In time, she slowed to a trot and then to a walk, to veer onto a path that would bypass the hamlet. Udele followed the track, watching for low-hanging branches of birch and rowan that could sweep her from the horse’s back. Once past Déorfald, the path crossed the north road. She re-entered the wood on the other side.
Her way was a lattice of moonlight and shadow. An owl hooted from high in one of the trees, then remained silent as she passed. Where the trees grew taller and broader, less light reached the forest floor, but Udele knew the way. She and Aloc had been meeting often since the spring, keeping the late frost away with the heat of their bodies. As she drew close to her destination, her heart quickened once more. Then her horse raised its head and knickered. Odd, as Aloc would be on foot⸺her horse would not have scented another. She dismounted.
“Aloc?” she called softly.
There was no response.
Udele proceeded on foot, feeling her way between the trunks of the trees. She could hear the whisper-ripples of the shallow water flowing in the Burna close by.
“Aloc?”
If only it were not so dark.
And then, groping as if blind, she stumbled over something and fell headlong. Dry moss softened her fall. Udele picked herself up and wiped the dirt from her face. She turned and retraced her steps. It had felt like an animal carcass that caused her to trip. She could just see the dark shape on the forest floor. A deer? She knelt and reached out expecting the hair of a deer hide. Instead, her fingers touched homespun cloth. Udele recoiled but then realized who it must be.
“Aloc!” Udele cried, touching him, shaking him. He lay on his front, so she turned him over—roughly, in her panic. She cupped his face with her hands. “Aloc! Can you hear me? Wake up.” Frantic, she moved a hand to his chest to see if she could it feel it rising and falling with his breathing. Her fingers found instead a great wetness of blood, and then the antler-hilt of a knife protruding from beneath Aloc’s lowest rib.
Udele’s screams awakened the night.
Garth Pettersen
Garth Pettersen is an award-winning Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC, Canada where he and his wife board horses. Pettersen has a BA in History from the University of Victoria and is a retired teacher.
His short stories have appeared in anthologies and in journals such as Blank Spaces, The Spadina Literary Review, and The Opening Line Literary 'Zine.
Garth Pettersen's historical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles, is published by Tirgearr Publishing and is available through most online outlets. Book #4 in the series, The Sea’s Edge, received a first-place Incipere Award. Book #5, Ravens Hill, was released on April 15, 2025.
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