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

As difficult as our voyage upriver had been, so our trip downriver was smooth and uninterrupted by further tragedy or strife. Eadmaer had cut loose the boats from the wharfs, sending them out into the river, where the current took them away. Revna and Aelfwyn awaited us in the two remaining log boats. Each vessel could bear five or six people, but they were light enough that we could carry them beside the river when we reached treacherous rapids or the waterfall. Runolf grumbled that they were even less worthy than Gullbringa, or Skítrbringa, as he still referred to Ingvar’s boat. But he did not protest too much as we clambered aboard and paddled away from the burning hall. The sun rose above the mountains in the east, and as we drifted away on the dark waters, the shore became clogged with Ljósberari’s people. They did not howl any longer, nor did they make any attempt to prevent us leaving. Eadmaer, taking charge of steering the foremost boat, took us as close to the far bank as possible, perhaps fearing that the people would loose arrows or throw spears. And yet no projectiles flew towards us, and the silent throng was still standing there, silhouetted against the flames and the fiery dawn sky, when we rounded a bend in the river and they were lost to sight from us forever. I never learnt what happened to them, those children of the damned and freed thralls, but I have never less regretted taking a life than that of Ljósberari. The man’s soul had been warped beyond reason and I would like to think that with him gone, his evil spell was broken and those who had been faithful to him were able to find a life of peace.

I wondered what it had been like to live there, surrounded by zealous followers, guided by the hand of a madman whose mind had been twisted beyond all reckoning by the traumas he had suffered, and the words of a long-dead prophet. When it seemed clear that none of his people had come after us, I asked Aelfwyn of her time with Ljósberari. She would say little about it, save that there had been others who, like Revna and her, had not been taken in by his teachings. But they had not known how to escape, and so they had remained, living each day in fear.