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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

“Yes,” replied Mancas, his expression unchanging, but a lightness entering his tone at the mention of his land. “I have several hides of land south of the River Uuir, where it meets the North Sea. Across the river lie the twin minsters of Gyruum and Uuiremutha. It is there, at the mouth of the Uuir, where we shall build your ship.”

Eight

And so we came to Uuiremutha, where the stone church, named like so many churches after Saint Peter, rose high on the north bank of the Uuir. The structure served as a constant reminder of the minster and the brethren I had left behind. Mancas’ lands were south of Werceworthe, closer to Eoforwic, so we did not return to the minster we had defended against the Norse; the home I had known for years and had been helping to rebuild. We were all excited to see the place where we could see our plan come to fruition.

Runolf was pleased with what we found there. There were many huts built along the southern bank of the wide river. It was a small but prosperous settlement of fishermen and shipwrights. The winter months were usually a quiet time for the people there, short days and long nights when they would repair their boats and mend their nets, eating slowly through their stocks of salted and smoked mackerel and herring while the North Sea raged in the cold winds.

But after a few desultory grumbles, there were no serious complaints when Mancas called upon the men to follow Runolf’s commands and help him to build a great ship. Mancas promised them silver if they could complete the task before midsummer, but as Runolf described the ship he planned to build, sometimes stumbling over words and turning to me to interpret to the listening villagers, I realised that it was not the desire for riches that would make them labour for long months, often in the biting chill of the winter. I saw the glint in the eyes of the weather-worn faces of the craftsmen as Runolf’s strangely accented words painted a picture of the great ship in their minds. These were men who had the hunger to learn what Runolf could teach them. They had all heard of the Norse attacks further north, and some had seen the sleek craft the Norsemen sailed on the Whale Road and wished to learn the secrets of those dragon-prowed vessels. They understood what the knowledge might mean for the kingdom of Northumbria, but most of them merely wished to understand. I recognised in them that passion for learning. They looked at the lines of strakes that made up the walls of a ship in the same way that I thought of the words on the pages of a book. They were things of beauty, but they were also something to be deciphered, picked apart, and then, when understanding had been reached, replicated.