BooksBarbecue
Back A Burning Sea
Chapters (54)
  1. CAST OF CHARACTERS
  2. PART ONE
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. PART TWO
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. PART THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. PART FOUR
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  53. HISTORICAL NOTE
  54. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As he did so, he saw he had blood on his fingers.

Unless you drink the blood of the king of kings. . .

Unless. . .

Cautiously, he reached behind the nape of the emperor’s neck. The blood there was still warm to the touch. He brought up his hand to his face and for a second stared at his fingers.

With a sudden movement he shoved them into his mouth and sucked on them, tasting metal on his tongue. He swallowed down the blood, half-gagging, and waited. Waited. . . for what? For something. . .

But nothing happened. Nothing!

His heart cracked with disappointment.

Kill him, a voice snarled in his head. Kill the whoreson now.

‘No,’ he answered aloud.

A soft moan sounded under him, jolting him from his dark thoughts. He slipped an arm round Leo’s shoulders and levered him up until the emperor’s head lay in his lap. Leo moaned again.

‘Where. . .’ he murmured. ‘What. . .’

‘Lie still,’ Erlan said in a numb whisper. ‘You’re safe.’ And then he called for help and went on calling, while his eyes burned with bitter tears.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Illustration

Erlan leaned forward on the couch to scratch at Aska’s ears and winced. His entire back was blue from his fall. He felt like an old man – and a failure. At least the dog seemed to feel some sympathy for him, he reflected. Aska lifted his muzzle and let Erlan tug at the scraggy coat covering his chest.

‘He’ll be fat as Einar if you keep feeding him so much,’ he called out to Grusha in the next room. The hound buried his nose in Erlan’s lap for another scratch. ‘Won’t you, you old flea-bag?’

‘He’s your dog,’ answered Grusha, appearing at the door with a heap of folded robes in her arms. ‘Take him for a walk in the gardens if you’re so bothered.’

‘He needs a forest not a bunch of herb beds and pruned bushes. He needs the scent of a hind.’

‘Well, he’s not like to get that for a while. Oh, I nearly forgot,’ said Gerutha, laying down her pile and rummaging around in the pouch at her belt. ‘I have something for you.’ Eventually she produced a small, ivory-handled knife. ‘I found it in a stall on the Mese near Constantine’s Forum. I thought you’d like it. Here.’

He took it from her. The blade was hardly three inches long. ‘What do you expect me to do with that? Peel fruit?’

‘I don’t know,’ she laughed. ‘You’re always saying a man can never have too many knives. So there’s one more. You could just say thank you.’

‘All right then. Thank you,’ he said, and slid the little blade inside his boot.

‘Is there any word on the emperor?’ asked Lilla, who was sitting before her mirror arranging the last details of her hair.