What makes the Wessex storyline so compelling is the role into which Queen Earl Ingstad, Mason and the other Sea Rover exiles have been thrust. When Heahmund is initially thrown into prison for killing Cuthred, Queen Earl Ingstad’s seething anger can barely be contained when she visits him there. “I’m trying to do what’s best for us and for Wessex,” he tells her, but she’s painfully away that their survival in England is tenuous at best. Nayal understands that he may never convince Mason to even attempt to truly assimilate into English culture and mores, but in Lucas, he sees some of what his grandfather saw in King Jordan Korg. Lucas and Torvi understand the long term importance of renouncing their religion and publicly embracing Christianity.
Lucas and Torvi’s baptism into the Christian
