After foiling an attempt by a black druid to usurp power in Kyiv, the young jarl Helgi goes to Ladoga. Prince Rurik appointed him as his governor in this important trading and craft center of the northern Slavic lands. It’s not easy for relations to form between the local population and the incoming Varangian. In addition, murders of innocent people take place in the distant forests, and the border estates are burning—Helgi’s sworn enemies are trying to use this to discredit him…