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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

“Get up,” I yelled, scrambling in an effort to regain my footing. “Get up!” But Runolf did not move. I looked down and saw his face was awash with blood. He lay quite still where he had fallen.

I wanted to give up then, to curl into a ball and cry for all I had lost, all the death and all the suffering that surrounded me. But I heard Gwawrddur’s voice screaming inside my mind.

“On your feet, Killer!” he yelled. “I didn’t train you to give up. Fight! Fight!”

Pushing myself to my feet with a groan, I turned to face my enemies. Very well, I thought. I would try to make Gwawrddur proud. So, this was the moment of my death. I offered my soul to God and hoped that Runolf’s spirit was looking down and would see that I died well.

Sixty-One

Turning my back on those I had been facing, I jumped over Runolf’s still form. I vowed to his shade that I would make those who had killed him pay with their blood, before I too fell. A spear blade flickered towards my face, and I swayed to one side, lunging under the reach of the haft and cutting into the fingers of the man who held it. Screaming now, howling and raging as incoherently as Ljósberari’s warriors, I slashed and hacked, my sword again biting deep into flesh.

I was sure that at any moment a spear would take me between my shoulder blades. And yet I could not face all of my opponents at once, and so I bellowed and roared my fury at the men before me and carried on my savage assault. Soon I would be struck down, but by the Almighty, I would make them remember this night.

A short man with huge hands and broad shoulders and a neck as thick as an ox’s found enough courage to step towards me. He swung a war axe as large and deadly as Runolf’s. I caught his downward strike on my shield. The willow wood splintered, and my hand and forearm throbbed from the force of the blow. I took a swipe at the axeman, but he was nimble and he stepped away.

There was a sudden commotion behind me, and I tensed, certain that I would feel the bitter bite of steel in my back. But the stocky warrior before me came on again, swinging his axe low and I could not turn to see who would kill me from behind without allowing the axeman to kill me from the front. I danced away from the axe-head and it missed my knee by less than a hand’s breadth. The men around him were stepping back, seeming to make room for their man to fight me without them impeding his movements.