Muus, Kjelle and Tuuri; three young men, separated by allegiance but intertwined by Fate. Birthe and Moirra; two young women with their own goals. Muus found the mysterious blue stone that crashed down near his home. Now he is both a Runemaster, learning the terrible power of the runes, and the Shardheld, on whose shoulders rests the fate of the world's magic. He is desperately trying to resist the pull of the skyshard before it takes over his mind. Step by step, Fate brings him nearer to Falrom, the Burning Land, and the standing stone that waits for the skyshard. Kjelle is the dispossessed Lord, whose disgruntled men are the Norden's line of defense against hordes of Fynni barbarians plundering the lands. He has to stop the Fynni from reaching their goal, the return of the Old Gods and with them, all the horrors from the distant past. Tuuri, follower of the powerful warlord bent on conquering the north. Troubled by doubts, hatred of his Fynni heritage, hunted by both sides of the conflict, he hurries south to a choice he doesn't yet know he has to make. Birthe, widow and mother at sixteen, both Völva - mistress of the magic of the Nords - and huntmaster, accompanies Kjelle in the hope of finding a new purpose now everyone she loved, is dead. Moirra, the Un-a-Dach druidess, small, doughty and wise, joins Muus on his journey to Falrom, the Burning Land. But she has secrets in her past, and a purpose she doesn’t speak of. And there are others, like the far too clever boy Hraab, the young Prince Ottil, the fearsome bear berserker Ajkell and the Lady Paladin Valiantrude. Join them on their journeys through danger in the lands of Brytanna, Gaul and Lotharn, for theirs is high adventure in a world filled with rebels, Vikings and idolaters of false Gods. Follow their gripping story in Runemaster, the second book of The Shardheld Saga. An epic tale of magic, sword fighting, love and betrayal.