The Flame Bearer (The Last Kingdom Series, Book 10)
Read The Flame Bearer (The Last Kingdom Series, Book 10) Online
Authors: Bernard Cornwell
Tags: #Thriller, #Mystery, #Historical, #Thriller & Suspense, #War, #Crime, #Action & Adventure, #Historical Fiction, #Literature & Fiction, #Thrillers & Suspense, #War & Military, #Military, #Genre Fiction, #Heist, #Thrillers
The Flame Bearer (The Last Kingdom Series, Book 10)
Bernard Cornwell
HarperCollins (2016)
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Thriller & Suspense, War & Military, Genre Fiction, Historical, Military, War, Thrillers & Suspense, Crime, Heist, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Thrillers
Literature & Fictionttt Action & Adventurettt Mystery; Thriller & Suspensettt Thriller & Suspensettt War & Militaryttt Genre Fictionttt Historicalttt Militaryttt Warttt Thrillers & Suspensettt Crimettt Heistttt Thrillerttt Historical Fictionttt Thrillersttt
The brand new novel in Bernard Cornwell’s number one bestselling series on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
BBC2’s major TV show THE LAST KINGDOM is based on the first two books in the series.
From the day it was stolen from me I had dreamed of recapturing Bebbanburg. The great fort was built on a rock that was almost an island, it was massive, it could only be approached on land by a single narrow track – and it was mine.
Britain is in a state of uneasy peace. Northumbria’s Viking ruler, Sigtryggr, and Mercia’s Saxon Queen Aethelflaed have agreed a truce. And so England’s greatest warrior, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, at last has the chance to take back the home his traitorous uncle stole from him so many years ago – and which his scheming cousin still occupies.
But fate is inexorable and the enemies Uhtred has made and the oaths he has sworn combine to distract him from his dream of recapturing Bebbanburg. New enemies enter into the fight for England’s kingdoms: the redoubtable Constantin of Scotland seizes an opportunity for conquest and leads his armies south. Britain’s precarious peace threatens to turn into a war of annihilation.
But Uhtred is determined that nothing, neither the new enemies nor the old foes who combine against him, will keep him from his birthright. He is the Lord of Bebbanburg, but he will need all the skills he has learned in a lifetime of war to make his dream come true.
**
THE FLAME BEARER
BERNARD CORNWELL
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.
HarperCollins
Publishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperCollins
Publishers
2016
Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2016
Bernard Cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
Map © John Gilkes 2016
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books
Source ISBN: 9780007504213
Ebook Edition © 2016 ISBN: 9780007504237
Version: 16-08-26
The Flame Bearer
is for Kevin Scott Callahan,
1992–2015
Wyrd bið ful ãræd
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Part Four: The Return to Bebbanburg
Eleven
Twelve
The spelling of place names in Anglo-Saxon England was an uncertain business, with no consistency and no agreement even about the name itself. Thus London was variously rendered as Lundonia, Lundenberg, Lundenne, Lundene, Lundenwic, Lundenceaster and Lundres. Doubtless some readers will prefer other versions of the names listed below, but I have usually employed whichever spelling is cited in either the
Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names
or the
Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names
for the years nearest or contained within Alfred’s reign,
AD
871–899, but even that solution is not foolproof. Hayling Island, in 956, was written as both Heilincigae and Hæglingaiggæ. Nor have I been consistent myself; I have preferred the modern form Northumbria to Norðhymbralond to avoid the suggestion that the boundaries of the ancient kingdom coincide with those of the modern county. So this list, like the spellings, is capricious.
| Ætgefrin | Yeavering Bell, Northumberland |
| Alba | A kingdom comprising much of modern Scotland |
| Beamfleot | Benfleet, Essex |
| Bebbanburg | Bamburgh, Northumberland |
| Beina | River Bain |
| Cair Ligualid | Carlisle, Cumbria |
| Ceaster | Chester, Cheshire |
| Cirrenceastre | Cirencester, Gloucestershire |
| Cocuedes | Coquet Island, Northumberland |
| Contwaraburg | Canterbury, Kent |
| Dumnoc | Dunwich, Suffolk (now mostly vanished beneath |
| | the sea) |
| Dunholm | Durham, County Durham |
| Eoferwic | York, Yorkshire |
| (Danish name: Jorvik) | |
| Ethandun | Edington, Wiltshire |
| The Gewasc | The Wash |
| Godmundcestre | Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire |
| Grimesbi | Grimsby, Humberside |
| Gyruum | Jarrow, Tyne & Wear |
| Hornecastre | Horncastle, Lincolnshire |
| Humbre | River Humber |
| Huntandun | Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire |
| Ledecestre | Leicester, Leicestershire |
| Lindcolne | Lincoln, Lincolnshire |
| Lindisfarena | Lindisfarne (Holy Island), Northumberland |
| Lundene | London |
| Mældunesburh | Malmesbury, Wiltshire |
| Steanford | Stamford, Lincolnshire |
| Strath Clota | Strathclyde |
| Sumorsæte | Somerset |
| Tinan | River Tyne |
| Use | River Ouse (Northumbria), also Great Ouse (East |
| | Anglia) |
| Wavenhe | River Waveney |
| Weallbyrig | Fictional name for a fort on Hadrian’s Wall |
| Wiire | River Wear |
| Wiltunscir | Wiltshire |
| Wintanceaster | Winchester, Hampshire |
It began with three ships.
Now there were four.
The three ships had come to the Northumbrian coast when I was a child, and within days my elder brother was dead and within weeks my father had followed him to the grave, my uncle had stolen my land and I had become an exile. Now, so many years later, I was on the same beach watching four ships come to the coast.