Under The Dragon

by S.M. Davies

The 5th Century A.D. The Dark Age.

The wheel of power has turned. Rome is a memory, and Britain stands alone. Now VORTIGERN wears the crown; High King at last. At his side is a young warrior who has earned a new name – ‘The King’s Right Arm’. Kerin Brightspear, the king-maker, Vortigern’s greatest ally, has proved himself to the man who saved his life. But as they confront the Picts at Hadrian’s Wall, enemies within are already plotting Vortigern’s downfall. Mercenary captain Hengist and his Jute warriors have sworn allegiance, but will they betray him too?

Amidst chaos and bloodshed, Kerin faces his greatest test. The woman he loves is Gael, daughter of his nemesis, Bertil Redknife; niece to bitter rival, Eldof of Glevum. A family hungry for Vortigern’s power. For Kerin, an impossible choice between loyalty and love. But something else is about to happen – an event which even Kerin has not foreseen. It will rock the foundations of his life and reveal his true purpose, as the kingdom lurches towards civil war.

The HIGH KING series. At one of the most dangerous moments in British history, a man of the West known as Vortigern became King of all the Britons. Centuries later, the legends would call him a villain, but his people called him the High King. This is his story, seen through the eyes of the young warrior who becomes his devoted companion.

479 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2023

About the author

I was born and grew up in Swansea, South Wales. I read English at Cambridge, where I discovered my love for medieval literature and the spellbinding legends which inspired it. But I also became interested in exploring the history of the so-called ‘Dark Age’, in finding a reality beneath the tales of wizards, dragons and magic swords. What really happened in Britain after the Romans left? I knew that I wanted to write historical fiction, and that this was where I would start.

All this was put on hold when I graduated. Literary ambition is all very well, but you can’t eat it. I worked as a professional indexer for leading publishers, mostly on historical texts – everything from Ancient Babylon to the Celts to World War Two. Since then I have spent my working life on the Gower Peninsula, first as a farmer, then a hotelier, and finally as a pub and nightclub owner. During these years I continued my research into Dark Age history, and got hooked on the story of Vortigern. I wrote the first draft of the ‘High King’ series in the back office of the nightclub, in between pulling pints, working on the door and driving customers home in our minibus at closing time. I don’t really know how I got out with a manuscript, but somehow I did. The first two books in this series of four, The West Rises and Under the Dragon, are now out in the wild! I still live on the edge of Gower, close to my children and their families, and share my home with my sheepdog.