Books like The Dragon Lord by David Drake

In this alternate Arthurian tale, the characters are completely different from those in the original Arthurian legends. The Arthur of the book is a club-footed, venal Merlin and a powerful witch girlfriend, with Mael and Starkad on the Irish/Danish team to defend Britain against invaders from the North in a tale of swordfights, battles, and magical adventures in a universe where the Arthur of legend is replaced by a more sinister version of the character, Merlin the Magician, and the Arthur of the book is a villainous figure with a poor sense of self-control and a lack of knowledge about his powers, leading to the downfall of the kingdom of Britain. The story is told through the eyes of Mael, a former highly skilled personal guard to an Irish king, and Starkad, a Dane who is huge and strong by anyone's standards.

First publish date: 1979