BooksBarbecue
Back A Night of Flames Save as PDF
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

“I know, Runolf,” I said. “I know. But if we remain here, we will both die, as sure as the sun rises in the east.” He shook his head and I could see that my words were not reaching him. “Your own daughter is down there by the river,” I said, panic from the heat and the crashing from the door sharpening my tone. “Her mother was killed by these people. Some of those children and women watched while that bastard, Chlotar, put out Estrid’s eyes.” I saw the pain my words caused him, but now was not the time for softness. “Would you make Revna an orphan?”

Finally, these words hit their target and Runolf shoved me aside. He swung his great axe into the sill of the window, snapping timber and crumbling whitewashed daub. Behind us, the doors opened. The crowd hesitated in the face of the smoke-filled conflagration that met them.

“Find them!” screamed the young warrior who now led them. “Find them and put out their eyes that they might not see the light where the Master now resides.”

Runolf wrenched his axe free and took another swing at the window. He was determined now, and the wall would not hold him for long. A third and then a fourth stroke fell, hammering through the lattice of branches, dried mud and manure. Runolf lifted his foot and kicked the wall, further broadening the rent his axe had made.

“There they are!” the young warrior screeched from the doors, and, the sight of us impelling them at last into action, several of the armed men rushed into the hall.

Seeing the urgency, Runolf pushed me through the gash he had made with his axe. Splinters and shattered twigs caught at my linen robe and tore at my flesh. Then I was outside, sprawling into the dew-wet grass.

“Come on!” I shouted, and Runolf flung himself through the jagged opening. I grabbed hold of his arms and heaved. It was a tight fit, and his bulk snagged on the debris, but he was one of the strongest men I have ever known, and where the wall still impeded his movement, he smashed through it with brute force, kicking and hacking his way out of the smoke and into the cool air of the dawn.

As he cleared the gap, the warriors arrived and I slashed my sword at their faces. My blade connected, cutting one man across the nose. He fell back with a scream of pain, toppling and tripping his comrades.

Runolf hauled me away.

“Time to run,” he shouted, and we turned and sprinted down the slope towards the river, the burning hall and the fire of the rising sun lighting the sky at our backs.

Sixty