The Empty Throne (The Last Kingdom, #8)

by Bernard Cornwell

I led the war-band. I was just twenty-one years old and some of the men behind me were almost twice my age with many times my experience, but I was the son of Uhtred, a lord, and so I commanded.

‘There are many gods,’ he had told me so often, ‘and you never know which one of them is awake, so pray to them all.’