Could all that King Arthur fought for be lost? From the author of The Merlin Prophecy , a trilogy that Kirkus Reviews proclaimed, will “appeal to those who thrill to Game of Thrones ,” the second installment in the action-packed historical trilogy is the epic tale of Arthur’s efforts to save the heart of his kingdom. Warrior of the West – King Arthur’s Journey Continues. Twelve years have passed since Arthur was crowned High King. Against all odds, he has united Celtic Britain and banished the Saxons. Although he’s succeeded in defeating all external threats and his kingdom is at its zenith, it is now being undermined from within. Arthur has chosen evil Wenhaver as his queen and second wife. Wenhaver will always love what she cannot have and have what she cannot love, and her bitterness threatens to bring down all those around her. Arthur is betrayed by his wife and also learns of appalling perversion at the heart of his kingdom. With his guide and master tactician, Myrddion, gone, Arthur must decide how to proceed if he wishes to see Britain stand strong. The fate of a kingdom rests on his shoulders and his selflessness is put to the test. Could all that Arthur has bought for be lost forever? Hume resumes her Arthurian trilogy with a bang in Warrior of the West. Twelve years have passed since the conclusion of Dragon’s Child and Artor’s reign continues to be characterized by great accomplishment and uneasy danger. Though he successfully unites Celtic Britain, unification is achieved at a brutally high cost. Ousting the Saxons serves as a temporary and bloody distraction, but enemies lurk within and without the fortress of Cadbury Tor (Camelot). When Artor takes the scheming, dissatisfied beauty Wenhaver as his wife, she drives a wedge between the king and one of his most trusted men. The BloodyCup resumes this stellar trilogy with an originally wrought quest for the Holy Grail. As Artor ages and his kingdom shows signs of fracture, the significance of symbolic objects increases dramatically. As Pagans vie with Christians and Celts square off against Picts, it becomes clear that Artor’s glory days are on the wane. Proving that he still has some fight left in him, the beleaguered High King takes to the battlefield for one final, bloody, and ultimately tragic showdown against his nephew, Mordred. Fantastical elements abound in this earthy and historically grounded retelling of a beloved legend. --Margaret Flanagan M. K. Hume is a retired academic. She received her MA and PhD in Arthurian literature and is the author of The Merlin Prophecy, a historical trilogy about the legend of Merlin. She lives in Australia with her husband and two sons. King Arthur Trilogy Book Two: Warrior of the West Chapter I BLOOD GUILT Then all the councillors, together with that proud tyrant Vortigern, the British king, were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country, they sealed its doom by inviting in among them (like wolves into the sheepfold), the fierce and impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and men, to repel the invasions of the northern nations. —GILDAS Artor stood on the summit of the imposing earthworks of Cadbury Tor and stared down at his domain. Below him, like the peeled skin of an apple, the ramparts and cobbled roadways leading to the flagged fortress curled around the tor. Regular redoubts guarded heavy log gates that could be closed and barred to seal any enemy between its walls of wood and stone. If any fortress could be considered impregnable, then Cadbury was one such, for in its long history it had never fallen. As he stared down at what he had rebuilt, Artor recalled his first, crucial campaign against the western Saxons twelve years earlier. Older Celts still remembered, and resented, the foolishness of King Vortigern, who had been so lost to reason that when the strong, golden legs of Rowena, his Saxon queen, were wrapped round his waist, he was prepared to accede to her every request. While in her thrall, Vortigern permitted the Saxons to settle in the lands of the Demetae, and for generations Celts and Saxons had dwelt together uneasily, until the Saxons had eventually sought to extend their power by forming an alliance with Katigern Oakheart in the east. Cadbury and Environs Glastonbury and Environs But early in his reign, Artor had ridden north out of Cadbury and defeated the invaders at a time when he was still untried, both as a king and as a leader. For the first time, and in bloody attrition, Artor had used his cavalry against that most fearsome of barbarian tactics, the Saxon shield wall. A double line of Saxons wedged their circular wooden, bull hide, and bronze shields together in unconscious imitation of the old Roman tortoise. But the Saxons stood well over six feet in height, unlike the Romans, who were rarely taller than five and a half feet. The second row protected the heads of the front row with their shields, and once the shield wall was