Life is secure and peaceful for young Prosper until the day Prince Gorthyn arrives with his hunting party to kill the white hart. Prosper tries to save the unusual beast and, when found out, is surprised to learn that Prince Gorthyn admires his daring. Prosper asks to serve the prince, but it isn't until two years later that he receives a summons: King Mynyddog is raising a war host of three hundred younger sons to fight the invading Saxons, and Gorthyn needs a second shieldbearer. Answering the call, Prosper sets out immediately to meet the prince and travel to King Mynyddog's fortress at Dyn Eidin.
For a year the three hundred men—the Companions—and their shieldbearers train until they can think and act as one fighting brotherhood. And when word reaches them that the Saxon leader has taken yet another kingdom, they set out at once to attack the Saxon stronghold at Catraeth. It is here that Prosper must face his greatest challenge, as treachery strikes the Companions from a most unexpected source.
Set in A. D. 600, and based on The Gododdin, the earliest surviving North British poem, Prosper's story is one of adventure and heroism against impossible odds.
—from the dust jacket
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