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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

That changed when I moved south to Uuiremutha with Runolf and the others. We left Leofstan behind and, with his absence, I took another step away from my past and grasped my future with both hands.

Wistan had found me with those hands full of his betrothed’s breasts.

It had been going on for several days before he caught us, and I had grown increasingly brash about it. I was full of self-importance. We had newly come from Eoforwic with orders from King Æthelred himself and I swaggered about, overseeing the construction of the ship, or at least relaying Runolf’s orders to the carpenters, smiths and labourers who helped with the work.

Cwenswith smiled at me whenever I passed by, and her pretty green eyes followed me as I sauntered past. I knew that she was promised to one of the carpenters, but I did not care. As soon as I had seen her interest in me, I could not push her from my thoughts. Whenever I saw her, I puffed out my chest like a robin, and grinned. Just as my demeanour and inflated ego seemed to rankle the older men, my very disdain for them appeared to be what fanned the flames of Cwenswith’s desire.

When she first followed me into one of the storage huts, I was as powerless to resist as if I had tried to halt the tides. I had never lain with a woman before, and when she caressed my skin, her tender touch made me tremble with excitement.

I wondered whether she had ever stroked Wistan like that.

As he looked back at me, for a heartbeat I saw a new emotion there in his dark eyes. Gone was the fury. It had been replaced by abject sorrow.

“Cut him, Hunlaf,” Cwenswith screamed again, and the sound of her voice, breathless and filled with excitement, made me flinch. Such was the tone of her gasps when we had been locked together, as she clawed at my back and I grunted and thrust. Did the prospect of seeing Wistan’s blood arouse her?

The crowd about us was hushed. Only Cwenswith made a sound, shouting for me to kill her betrothed. All the talking had been done the day before. Gwawrddur and Hereward had made me offer weregild for my offence, but Wistan, also young, proud and foolish, had refused my silver. I spied Wistan’s father, grim-faced and silent, like a man attending a funeral. His wife’s face, gaunt and thin from a life of hard work, was tear-streaked.