The Dragons of Archenfield When, in the previously peaceful border region of Archenfield, Warnod, a Saxon thegn is brutally murdered, the finger of blame points firmly at his Welsh neighbours. For why else would the sign of the blood-red dragon be carved outside his home and his Welsh Servant miraculously escape injury in the attack?
Summoned to Archenfield to settle an ownership dispute, Domesday Commissioners Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret soon find that they are short of two vital witnesses: the dead Warnod, and the sheriff conveniently investigating his murder. This leaves only the two warring landowners, Orbec and Damville, who soon show they would have had no qualms in disposing of their rival, Warnod. As the violence builds, Ralph and Gervase find themselves increasingly drawn into a world of mysteries and dangerous attractions. And all the while the red dragon is stirring unrest along the Welsh border.. .
First British Edition Headline (1994)
The Wolves of Savernake Volume I of the Domesday Books
Twenty years after the Battle of Hastings England remains a divided land, one which the Conqueror's rigorous tax survey, the Domesday Book, does little to unite. As Domesday Commissioners, the sensitive half-Saxon lawyer Gervase Bret and the bluff veteran soldier Ralph Delchard are rarely welcome in the communities to which they are sent. The Wiltshire town of Bedwyn, rife with the intrigue of rival landowners and riven by hatred between Saxon and Norman, is no exception.
Scarcely have Gervase and Ralph set foot in the town when a mangled body is found in the adjacent forest, torn apart by teeth and claws. The victim, it emerges, is Alric Longdon, the man whose letters of complaint prompted Gervase and Ralph's investigation. Suddenly, in the midst of attempting to settle disputes, collect taxes and negotiate their way through Bedwyn's tangled politics, the two men are plunged into the hunt for a killer whose fearsome violence continues to terrorise the town...
Introducing Gervase Bret and Ralph Delchard, characters whose humanity and wit will appeal to lovers of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael, and inspired by an actual entry in the Domesday Book.
The Dragons of Archenfield
The Wolves of Savernake