The Flame Bearer (The Last Kingdom Series, Book 10)

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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

BOOK: The Flame Bearer (The Last Kingdom Series, Book 10)
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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

Copyright

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

www.harpercollins.co.uk

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

Dedication

The Flame Bearer

is for Kevin Scott Callahan,

1992–2015

Wyrd bið ful ãræd

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Place Names

Map

Part One: The King

One
Two

Part Two: The Trap

Three
Four
Five
Six

Part Three: The Mad Bishop

Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten

Part Four: The Return to Bebbanburg

Eleven
Twelve

Epilogue

Historical Note

Enjoyed
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About the Author

Also by Bernard Cornwell

About the Publisher

PLACE NAMES

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 

PART ONE

The King

One

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.

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