This carefully researched historical novel tells the story of the Swedish Vikings who founded Russia in the ninth century and went on to besiege the fabled Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Alternate chapters follow the Swedish archeologists a thousand years later who excavated the grave of a female Viking warrior (a Russian queen?) and raised the mighty Vasa warship from Stockholm's harbor. Along the way the archeologists learn from Cold War spies that the end of the world foretold by the Vikings might turn out to be nuclear Armageddon. By the same author, The Ship in the Hill tells the story of the start of the Viking age in Norway, The Ship in the Sand describes the Danes' conquest of England, and The Ship in the Ice tells of the Vikings' fateful voyages to Iceland and America.