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Back A Night of Flames
Chapters (76)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise forMATTHEW HARFFY
  3. BY MATTHEW HARFFY
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright
  6. Dedication
  7. Maps
  8. Epigraph
  9. Contents
  10. Place Names
  11. One
  12. Two
  13. Three
  14. Four
  15. Five
  16. Six
  17. Seven
  18. Eight
  19. Nine
  20. Ten
  21. Eleven
  22. Twelve
  23. Thirteen
  24. Fourteen
  25. Fifteen
  26. Sixteen
  27. Seventeen
  28. Eighteen
  29. Nineteen
  30. Twenty
  31. Twenty-One
  32. Twenty-Two
  33. Twenty-Three
  34. Twenty-Four
  35. Twenty-Five
  36. Twenty-Six
  37. Twenty-Seven
  38. Twenty-Eight
  39. Twenty-Nine
  40. Thirty
  41. Thirty-One
  42. Thirty-Two
  43. Thirty-Three
  44. Thirty-Four
  45. Thirty-Five
  46. Thirty-Six
  47. Thirty-Seven
  48. Thirty-Eight
  49. Thirty-Nine
  50. Forty
  51. Forty-One
  52. Forty-Two
  53. Forty-Three
  54. Forty-Four
  55. Forty-Five
  56. Forty-Six
  57. Forty-Seven
  58. Forty-Eight
  59. Forty-Nine
  60. Fifty
  61. Fifty-One
  62. Fifty-Two
  63. Fifty-Three
  64. Fifty-Four
  65. Fifty-Five
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Fifty-Seven
  68. Fifty-Eight
  69. Fifty-Nine
  70. Sixty
  71. Sixty-One
  72. Sixty-Two
  73. Author’s Note
  74. Acknowledgements
  75. About the Author
  76. An Invitation from the Publisher

“You are few here,” I said. “Undefended. Why don’t men merely take what you have?”

Thurid looked at me sharply, perhaps imagining that the crew of Brymsteda posed a threat to her folk.

“We are not weaklings,” she said, her tone clipped with pride and anger at the implication that Tannskári’s people could not defend themselves. “My father has close to a score of men who would fight to protect what is ours. It would be no easy thing to take from us.” I thought of the torch-bearing warriors in the night and nodded. “Besides,” she went on, looking away from me and striding ahead, “it would be an unwise skipper who did not foresee a time he might again be in need of my father’s aid. Better to know that Tannskári’s hall is here for such a time as a ship needs a safe haven.”

I pondered her words, silently berating myself for angering her. I hurried to keep up, Gersine close beside me. I could see our destination now. Several huge, weathered stones, as tall as a man, jutted from the ground, far apart around the rim of the rise, forming a large circular area surrounded by the ring of stones. A large group of people were gathered there.

“There you are,” called Os. “We thought you’d got lost.” He winked and glanced at Thurid lasciviously. “Though none of us would have blamed you for dallying for a time!” He laughed at his own quip and was joined by some of Brymsteda’s crew. None of Tannskári’s folk laughed.

“Well, I did not get lost, as you can see,” I said, angry that Os had so readily imagined my feelings towards Thurid. I was also surprised that the mood had changed so drastically from the night before when we had faced each other with weapons in our hands. Now it appeared that the Norsemen of this island and those who had sailed into the sound in the night were like old friends. There was the air of a festival day about them.

Most of the folk who thronged around the stones were men, I noticed. A large number of Brymsteda’s crew, those who were not needed on the ship, I assumed, and several of the men who had met us on the beach the night before. The children and dogs from the beach had followed us up the hill too, but as far as I could see, there were no women there, apart from Thurid.

A tall, dark-haired man with the round face of the woman in the hall and Tannskári’s swagger, sauntered towards us. He eyed me for a moment and I sensed the challenge in his gaze.

“Thank you, sister,” he said to Thurid. “Now you had best be back home to help the women with the cooking.”