For those of you who have read my previous novels (or any new readers come to that) a Kindle version of 'The Knife Edge' is now available and a paperback version should also be available via Amazon in the next few days. amazon.co.uk/dp/B01EDZRZ8W Here's a taster! Chapter 1 A land at peace. It was difficult to think of it as anything more than words after a lifetime believing every bush could hide a heathen jarl and every shout might signal a Danish raid. One thing Alfred’s settlement with Guthrum couldn’t do though was bring calm to the river. Winfrith watched the creamy brown water crash against the bank, tearing away dark clods of earth and stripping leaves from overhanging branches. The wooden fish traps had been swept away, leaving only the line of guiding stones to churn up the surface and send spray high into the air. A fallen tree was dragged reluctantly downstream, its blackened branches reaching out of the water like a drowning man. Winfrith pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, deciding it was time to go back. She stood up, at the last moment feeling reluctant to leave. She lingered on the bank, watching another casualty of the storm being carried along by the current. Now and again it broke the surface, once flung sharply upwards by rocks below before plunging back into the foaming torrent. Winfrith caught only the briefest glance before it disappeared but it was enough to set her running along the bank. She was convinced that what had caught her eye was not another tree branch but a white sleeve with the pallid fingers of a human hand protruding from it. It might have been her imagination of course. She slowed to a walk, remembering Eadgyth’s child, swept away the previous winter amid claims villagers had heard a spirit whining and cackling among the trees. It was all nonsense, Winfrith told herself…made up to keep other little ones away from the river. She continued along the path, carefully picking her way between the puddles and casting occasional glances across the turbulent water. It was impossible to make out anything below the surface until she reached a bend in the river. Here a line of mossy boulders diverted calmer water into a black pool which circled slowly before rejoining the torrent. Along the pool’s edge was strewn a tangle of dripping logs, branches, weed and, nestling among them, a dead pigeon. Winfrith approached cautiously, hoping to put her mind at rest but slightly nervous about what she might find. And there it was. She hadn’t dreamt up the hand and the sleeve. Half submerged and marked with streaks of mud and slimy weed, a body was being gently washed against the bank. It was clearly lifeless, but that was not what struck Winfrith first. His pale blue eyes, staring without seeing, and the tangle of straw-coloured hair might have suggested who he was but it was the gold arm band, showing clearly under the murky water, which settled it. It had to be one of Guthrum’s men, though why he’d been wearing the long white robe was more of a puzzle. It seemed odd to find him in the river too. An old woman, a child or a weakling might easily have been carried off, but a fully grown man, and a powerful one by the look of him, would surely have had the strength to battle his way out? Wessex men liked to say that Danes had no head for strong Saxon ale of course. Perhaps he had been in no state to struggle. Winfrith stood staring down at the body. She ought to do something, but what? The gold arm band meant this was no heathen ploughman but someone of rank, most probably a Danish jarl. It wouldn’t be long before he was missed, especially now that a truce had been agreed and the killing of Saxons and Danes had stopped, for the time being at least. She hastily pulled off her shoes and stepped into the water. Ripples slapped against her ankles as she waded cautiously round the body. She bent down to take a closer look at the arm band wondering whether she ought to try and remove it, not because she had any desire to keep it for herself but from a vague sense that it might save trouble later. It proved more difficult than she’d expected. The dead Dane lay on his back so Winfrith reached below the surface for one of the white sleeves, lifting the arm with the gold band clear of the water and laying it across his chest. She tugged at the band but her fingers were too cold and wet to get a firm grip on it. She tried loosening the white cloth from his arm but the sight of the blotched and swollen flesh underneath was enough to make her give up. The result of her efforts was to edge the body back towards deeper water where the current slowly began to roll it onto its side. The folds of the white robe fanned out as the body turned and at once it was plain to see that the Dane’s presence in the river had been neither accident nor drunken folly. A faded brown stain still showed between the man’s shoulder blades and though the body was drifting away there was no mistaking what was sticking out from the middle of it, the bone handle of a knife. Winfrith splashed her way back onto the bank. A month ago a dead Danish jarl would have been welcomed but things were different now. Oaths of loyalty had been sworn and anyone expressing mistrust of Danes made sure they did so out of the king’s hearing. The news that one of Guthrum’s men had been stabbed in the back would put all of that at risk. She briefly considered returning to Wedmore and acting as though she had seen nothing but decided against it. The gold band said this was a man whose absence would be noticed and, awkward as it might be, she would have to tell someone. The manner of his death couldn’t be hidden for ever but it would take considerable skill to avoid it setting thegns and jarls at each other’s throats again.
Timed in nicely theo - I will be in hospital soon for another knee replacement & need something for my kindle...
I hope it will help pass the time, BB, and that the op goes smoothly! I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.
I wonder if I disguised my IP address as I can when I wish to watch the iPlayer, could I do the same for down loading a book as Amazon say it is only for the UK. Must give it a try.
It should be available in a whole list of European countries I think, OFH. Is there an amazon.co.fr? I certainly ticked a number of separate amazon markets and I know copies of previous books have been purchased in Denmark and Germany before. I'll happily send you a copy if all else fails!
The postman has just delivered 12 shiny new paperback copies of 'The Knife Edge'. It's still a pleasure to get your hands on something you spent a long time creating, however modest the final outcome!
10,000 words into another Winfrith story...this one set in Winchester where a tanner is found drowned in his own soaking pit. Had some good feedback about 'The Knife Edge' but only one review. Any of you who've been good enough to read it and have time for a review however brief would be much appreciated by me!
Finally managed to download from Amazon Fr. a Kindle version of The Glint of Silver. I am afraid you will not be dining out on the proceeds Theo as it cost me €1.12. This is the first book I have downloaded as I rather like to feel paper in my hands, but having read chapter 1 I think I will soon get into this modern medium. When I have finished it I will add some comments to both the English and French sites.
That's good news, OFH. I do hope you enjoy it and any review, however brief, will be much appreciated. Perhaps I should save the euro for my next venture into Europe and hope that by then it will at least buy a glass of tap water! The fourth novel, 'The Knife Edge', has 18,000 words so far...slow but steady progress.
