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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

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Illustration

‘The Bulgars, hey?’ said Einar. ‘What have they got to do with it?’

‘Not enough, yet.’ Erlan circled the base of his earthenware cup on the rough wood of the tavern table. The place was quiet, the few other drinkers keeping to their own business, and certainly not minded to interrupt the two dangerous-looking men in the corner conversing in a foreign tongue.

Einar poured out the last few drops from their wine-jug and scowled. ‘Bah. . .! Hey, Damianus! Another of these when you can.’

The tavern owner nodded obligingly and started digging behind his counter. He and Einar had become firm allies over the winter in the karl’s epic struggle to keep his belly full of wine. The tavern was a small, respectable place in the heart of the leather-makers’ quarter, a little north of the Hippodrome. Not far from where Einar had taken up residence with a certain actress, who was either famous about the city or notorious, depending on one’s view of the stage.

‘Anyway,’ said Erlan, ‘all you need to know is that we’ll be getting out of the city for a while. And that we leave tomorrow.’

‘Hel, I’m ready to leave now if you want.’ Damianus arrived with the wine and Einar eagerly held out his cup for a refill. ‘Aha! To the top, to the top. That’s it! Good man.’ He took a long draught.

‘Why so keen to get out?’

‘Because I’ve come to the view that time away from Orlana would do me good.’

‘I thought you liked her.’

‘I do. . . or rather did. No, do.’ He looked confused. ‘Damn it, sometimes I feel like I’ve caught a wolf by the tail. She’s bloody exhausting. And not in a good way.’

Erlan chuckled.

‘Oh, don’t get me wrong. She’s exhausting in a good way, too. The feats she performs. . .’ He shook his head in admiration. ‘Sometimes, afterwards, all a fellow can do is lean back and clap.’

‘Sounds awful. You poor man.’

‘No – it’s the rest of it, boy! I mean, I’ve known moody women, believe me. But the worst of them couldn’t hold a flame to Orlana. I swear I don’t know how she has a cup or a plate left in the place – she spends half the day smashing stuff up.’

‘It’s the heat down here. Makes them fiery.’

‘Fiery? Gods, you can say that again! And she’s only worse since some official had the bright idea to ban the racing while the siege continues, and that means the entertainment that goes with it. That’s her main source of income, she says – and she rages at the eparch for a thief, and drinks and weeps and rages some more. . . I tell you, she’ll make me an old man before my time!’

Erlan laughed. ‘I guess you didn’t come to Byzantium for a new wife.’