The Hound on the Hill
A terrifying howl echoes through the night air over Stanhām.
With his father and the village warriors away serving the king, twelve-year-old Theodric is left behind with a heavy burden: protect the village. The safety of his family now rests on his young shoulders—armed with nothing but a wooden sword and his father’s final command:
“Be strong. Be watchful.”
When something breaches the village walls and leaves behind only blood and a tuft of coarse black fur, Theodric suspects the whispers are true—Old Shuck, the monstrous hound of legend, may be more than a fireside tale.
The elders refuse to believe it. But duty doesn’t wait for permission.
The Wild men of the Woods
Strange footprints have appeared near the crumbling Roman ruins, a place the villagers fear and avoid.
Some say it's cursed. Others whisper of the Woses, wild men said to dwell deep in the woods and places long forgotten. Theodric has heard the stories from his great-grandfather. Now, those tales feel dangerously close.
With the warriors still away, Theodric is left to help protect Stanhām. But when the elders order him to stay away from the ruins, and his brother urges him to investigate, he faces an impossible choice.
To uncover the truth, he must leave the safety of the village and step into the shadowed forest, where the line between myth and reality grows thin.
Has something ancient awakened in the woods? Are the wild men just stories?
The Elf Shot Arrow
An unseen danger haunts Stanhām, a silent threat that rides the wind.
Hringwulf calls it elf-shot—a wasting sickness said to come from the ancient burial mounds across the river. Theodric wants to believe it’s only an old tale, until his youngest brother, Wulfstan, is struck by a strange and sudden illness. Burning fever. Swollen leg. Just like the legend.
As Wulfstan weakens and remedies fail, Theodric learns of a single, desperate hope: a rare herb that may cure him. But it grows only in one place—the mist-shrouded barrow fields, where the ælf are said to dwell.
To save his brother, Theodric must face the village’s oldest fears, cross the dark river, and risk the poisoned arrows of the ancient folk.
Will courage be enough to face what cannot be seen?
The Neck of the River
A chilling new legend haunts Stanhām—the Nixie, a grieving spirit who drowns trespassers in the marshes known as the Neck of the River.
To Theodric, it’s just another of his great-grandfather’s tales, meant to scare children away from danger. But with a drought choking the fields and food growing scarce, the village faces a hard truth: hunt beyond the safe lands, or go hungry.
For the first time, Theodric and his friends are called to join the men, tracking deer into the fog-shrouded marsh. It’s a place thick with legend and fear—and when night falls, trapping them in the heart of the Neck, the old stories no longer feel like just stories.
Is the true threat a sorrowful spirit, or has something far more dangerous been drawn to the hunt?
The Day of the Dragon
An ancient prophecy stirs in Stanhām: when courage fails, the dragon will return.
With the village warriors still away at war, Hringwulf’s tales of a fire-breathing Wyrm no longer feel like distant legend. Theodric clings to hope, watching the river for his father’s ship. But from the top of Wyrmhōh, he sees not friendly sails—but a black column of smoke rising from the south.
The war-horn sounds. Raiders are coming.
With Stanhām's defenders too few, Theodric must take up a sword and fight to protect everything he holds dear.
The enemy is at the gates, their numbers overwhelming. Is the real dragon a beast of fire and fang—or the one who wields sword and torch, come to burn their world to ash?
The Stanhām Chronicles:
The Complete First Series
When the warriors of Stanhām sail to fight for the king, the burden of protecting the village falls to those left behind. For twelve-year-old Theodric, the chieftain’s eldest son, that duty feels impossibly heavy—armed with only a wooden sword and his father’s final command: “Be strong. Be watchful.”
As the summer deepens, terrifying old legends seem to come alive.
From haunted woods and ancient ruins to forbidden barrows and firelit marshes, Theodric must face dangers both seen and unseen. With his brothers, his best friend, and the wisdom of his great-grandfather Hringwulf, he’ll uncover truths buried deep in the land and find that courage can grow even in the darkest places.
A world where myth walks beside history.
This volume includes the first five thrilling tales from The Stanhām Chronicles—a complete saga of myth, memory, and bravery in early medieval England. Join Theodric as he journeys from boyhood to leadership in a land where saints are prayed to by day and dragons feared by night.