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

The king was a gluttonous pig and disgusting, but he was true to his word. He agreed that he would tell his people to no longer raid Northumbria’s coast, but they should begin to trade between our kingdoms. Mancas was delighted. He was also overjoyed to see Gersine again. He frowned when he saw his son limping, but when he heard of our adventures and how close Gersine had been to death, Mancas thanked me for keeping his son alive.

“There is no need to thank me,” I said. I too was pleased that my friend was well, and also that I would not need to impart the knowledge of his death to Lord Mancas. My soul had borne all the grief it could that summer and I think any more heartache would have broken me.

Mancas wished to set sail forthwith and we were pleased to be leaving. We introduced the women to him when we were safely aboard Brymsteda and we had put out to sea. Neither Revna nor Aelfwyn had entered the hall, instead staying on Grágás until our departure. This had been Eldgrim’s suggestion when we arrived at the king’s steading. Eldgrim was a good man.

“There is no need to burden the king with the presence of the women,” he’d said, as Grágás was being moored to the wharf. “There will be quite enough tidings to keep him occupied.”

We understood the words Eldgrim did not say, and Runolf nodded his thanks to the warmaster. I remembered the cries of the thrall in the night and shivered at the memory. Revna and Aelfwyn had surely suffered enough without falling foul of the king’s lustful appetites.

It was on the second day of our journey homeward when Ahmad came to speak to me. The wind had dropped out of the sky and we had become becalmed. Runolf had ordered us to row to a small island where we moored Brymsteda and made camp on the beach. There we would wait out the calm, for we would not risk trying to row across the North Sea.

I missed Leofstan terribly, and it was only then, when I was able to rest, with nothing to trouble my mind and no enemies seeking my death, that I could begin to truly take in how lonely I felt without my old mentor. The men around me were my friends, family even. They would fight for me, give their lives for me. And yet none of them understood me as Leofstan had. When there was a moment of peace I would pray alone, reciting the familiar words of the different offices of the day, but it was not the same without Leofstan’s voice blending with mine.