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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

Trusting the monks to help Mancas’ folk, we carried on northward. We didn’t speak much, each lost in his own thoughts. We were guided by the dark pillar of smoke and, as the smell of the fires grew stronger, so our mood soured. We had survived the attack, but the greasy smear of smoke in the sky above Gyruum told us all we needed to know about what we would find there.

The ships had only just departed when we arrived. We watched three dragon-ships, their oars rising and falling like great fluttering wings, slide out of the Tine and into the grey waters of the North Sea.

“If only we had come sooner,” said Gersine, his voice trembling with passion. Out on the swell, one after the other, the ships’ sails unfurled to catch the afternoon breeze.

Taking in the devastation of the monastery, Hereward shook his head.

“Thank the Almighty that we did not,” he said, his voice hollow.

“But we could have fought,” Gersine said. “We might have saved some of the brethren here.”

Hereward shook his head and walked away from the young man.

The buildings still burnt. Their heat was strong on my face. Most of the roofs had fallen in, leaving jagged dark timbers reaching from the flames and smoke like desperate fingers clawing at the sky. Corpses littered the ground all the way from the river bank to the blazing minster buildings. Some bodies bobbed in the shallow waters of the Tine.

I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the horror, but the stench of burning meat stung my throat. There was no escape from that nightmare. The sights and smells brought back vividly my memories of the previous summer.

“We should have fought, shouldn’t we?” asked Gersine.

I turned my back on him and stalked away, following Hereward into the hell of the minster’s destruction. Out on the Whale Road, the Norse ships’ sails billowed with wind, pulling the heathen raiders away from Northumbria and towards their homeland. I thought of Aelfwyn, her husband slain before her eyes, and then carried off as a thrall, and a sudden rage filled me.

“If God wills it,” I said to Gersine, “we will meet those men on our travels and we will make them pay for what they have done.”

Thirteen

“I don’t know,” Gamal said, shaking his head. “I still don’t understand that abbot.” He reached for a piece of bread, soaking up the remnants of the pottage in his bowl.

Hereward did not answer immediately. Lifting his cup, he drank deeply.

“I think any man would be angry to see his people killed,” he said at last with a sigh. “To watch his home destroyed.”