History records that England's last Saxon king, Harold, was killed at the Battle of Hastings but the chroniclers were writing at a time when the new Norman overlords were tightening their grip on the land and were demanding every justification for their brutal invasion. But what if King Harold survived? This is a soaring tale of two childhood friends, one becomes one of the Conqueror's most trusted and loyal knights, who is given a sword he names Fire of God, the other is the daughter of a captured Moor who rescues a badly wounded Harold from the battlefield and embarks on a desperate flight through a kingdom in turmoil, burning in the flames of William's self-righteous crusade.