Edmund of the English, Anlaf Sihtriccson of York, Ragnall Gothfrithsson of York, the aged Constantin of Scotland, now in retirement, with his successor Mael Coluim finally in control, Athelstan Half King of the English, Hywel of the Ancient Britons (Welsh). The year is 945 and Edmund of the English, finally coming into his own as the second English king now has the power and the ability to push back England's borders even further; his eye firmly set on not just retaking the Viking kingdom of Jorvik but on the lands of Strathclyde and even the land of the Scots, floundering under its new ruler, all united in their desire to bring Edmund low; to stop the seemingly unstoppable rise of the new English kingdom. Can Edmund better his older half-brother Athelstan with his hopes of treaty and peace and instead use the power of his sword and the might of his warriors to ensure that this time, England stays whole, that the victory so fleetingly won at the battle of Brunanburh in 937, comes to mean more than just a passing phase in the changing fortunes of the petty kingdoms that make up the British Isles? The Second English King is the third part in the Chronicles of the English; a first person, multi-viewpoint, narrative, focusing on the shifting alliances at play in the British Isles during the period from 925 - 946, when 'England' was truly born, and when Strathclyde, the land of the Scots, the Viking kingdom of Dublin and York, and the petty Ancient Britons kingdoms were a mass of complex alliances and counter-alliances; when England was by no means assured in its existence, and when men believed they could simply take whatever they wanted by force, and sometimes by word.